Photographer, blogger, traveller. Addicted to yoga.
Alumnus of College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram and Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai.
Born in /Kerala. Resident of Mumbai.
Queen of the NightQueen of the Night blooms at night. By next day morning, the flower would have withered. Furthermore, the flowers bloom only once a year. The short life means that the flowers cannot be photographed if one is not ready at the right time.
When a Queen of the Night started to open in my garden, I kept a watch. At around 10 at night, the petals had opened up. But the light was low and I could hardly make out the flower in the darkness.
A flash did not produce the desired result. I then used an LED light. It was directed upwards at the flower. Exposure was f/4.5 at 1/50 sec. ISO rating was 400. Subject distance was 380 mm. I made several shots and then photomerged them together in Photoshop.
PeriwinkleWhen I shot this Periwinkle in my garden, I had to take my camera very close. The depth of field was low, as you can see from the image. A breeze was blowing and the flower was moving with the wind. The challenge was to get a sharp picture all over the flower.
I used the nine focal points of my Canon EOS 550D to shoot several images with the focus on different parts of the Periwinkle, from the farthest to nearest. I then used Photoshop to stitch all the photos together.
The shutter speed was at 1/160 sec to avoid motion blur.
To do a Photomerge, open all the images in Photoshop. Then select File>Automate>Photomerge. In the Photomerge dialog box, click on Add Open Files. Then click OK.
ImpressionI was riding my Honda Activa a few days back in Vasai. It was late evening and darkness was falling. Although the monsoon season was coming to a close, there were some clouds low in the sky. The sky had taken on an orange shade.
It was a good photo opportunity which could not be passed by. The aperture was at f/6.3 at a focal length of 18 mm. To get sharpness all over the image was a challenge. I decided to focus on different areas in the scene and later merge them together in Photoshop. I merged eight different shots and here is the end product.
To merge photos, open all the images in Photoshop. Then select File>Automate>Photomerge (more on this in a separate post).
Green MeadowOnam is the harvest festival of Kerala. It is celebrated in the Malayalam month of Chingam which follows the months of south-west monsoon. Today, 16 September 2013, is Thiruvonam. Happy Onam to all my Malayali friends!
This image I captured when I was travelling on Konkan Rail two months back, when the summer monsoon was at its peak. What was striking was that the whole countryside had been carpeted with green grass. The lush green carpet spread out as far as the eye could see. The train had stopped at a signal. So I was able to get down and take a few shots. Incidentally I used my Sony Cybershot point and shot camera.
The image has more than 6600 views and close to 100 favourites on flickr. It has also made it to Flickr Explore. You may like to see it on my flickr page. The picture on right shows a few of my photos on Explore.
By the way, now you will be able to get my email newsletter and it will be through Google feedburner. Go to the Follow page on my site to see the mail subscription link.
Photos look best when they are sharp and clear. Our camera and lens decisions impact on the sharpness and depth of field. All our shots, even with the best cameras, may not turn out sharp. Here are some ways in which you can get sharper photos.
What causes soft images
The main reasons why one ends up with a soft photo are camera shake, subject motion and focus errors.
If most parts of your image is blurred, the most likely …
