Thursday, November 27, 2008

What type of Camera are you?

Nikon

You're a Nikonian and a true Professional. Forever the perfectionist who always wants the most from the equipment. You see the world in tiny details and a day job as "pixel peeper" would probably be a dream come true.

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Wednesday, October 1, 2008

James Natchtwey and the TED prize.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Canon Vs Nikon

When I was buying my DSLR, a big step for me, I was torn between Nikon and Canon. Canon was by far the market leader and also, ahead of Nikon in terms of technology. Nikon has a long history of making great SLRs and one of close friends had bought an Nikon DSLR. Besides, I was more of an amateur than I am now, though still an amateur. I had to make an informed decision. I had to think about what I will do with the camera.

At that time, I never thought I would be buying any more lenses than what came with the camera. I tried Canon and Nikon, and I liked the intuitiveness of the Nikon camera. In the end, it was a simple decision for me. Technology wise, I guess Canon has been a step ahead but I was sure that Nikon will catch up and overtake Canon as it had made a lot of progress in a very short time.

Even though it took five years after Canon's 5D for Nikon to come up with its first full frame camera, I was never shaken with doubt about my choice. The lenses I get for Nikon are comparable to Canon's and the results from the camera are similar. Besides, it is the person behind the camera who matters and not the camera itself, right?

After seeing this, for the first time I am wondering whether I should have gone Canon...

The EOS 5D mark II seems to be an absolutely stunning camera. The reviews and the pre-release shots are unprecedented and I have a feeling that Canon has dealt a body blow to Nikon here. Or perhaps, I speak too soon. Only time will tell.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Experiments with a laundry bag..

Matrix (by amathad)

Location: Shot at home!

This was shot with a very cheap close up lens. It is not as sharp as I would want it to be, mainly for two reasons, one, because the light was low and I had to shoot at slow shutter speed and two, the close up lens makes the depth of field incredibly low. It is very hard to keep things in focus... I will experiment more with these new attachments and will post the results on my flickr stream.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

17 Mile Drive, Monterey

DSC_0105.jpg (by amathad)

Location: 17 mile drive, Monterey, Californiahttp://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&sspn=47.033113,114.257812&ie=UTF8&ll=36.575904,-121.965837&spn=0.023435,0.05579&z=15

Monday, September 1, 2008

Unreal...

Unreal (by amathad)

Location: 100ft Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore

Friday, August 29, 2008

Bubble's up

Bubble's up

Location: At home.

My first attempt with reverse macro. I did not have a reversing ring. So, I just held the lens tightly in front of the camera. Though I shot quite a bunch of pictures with this toy, this was the only one I liked. :)

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Early morning mist

Early Morning Mist (by amathad)

Location: Baba Budangiri Hills

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Another side of the olympics



More here.

Firefly

Firefly

Location: Muthodi Nature Camp, Badra Wildlife Sanctuary

Monday, August 25, 2008

Street photography...

I guess street photography is one of those things that you get inspired to do at some point in time. Particularly, if you see the pictures of Bresson or Erwitt and find something great in them that appeals to you. Besides being an interesting topic, it is also very accessible to all of us. After all, we do live in civilisation and we often are in cities with streets bustling with activity. To go out there and take pictures is perhaps the easiest thing to do.

But there are several issues to deal with. How comfortable are you shooting strangers? I am not the most outgoing of persons and would classify myself as an introvert and consequently, I have a lot of trouble asking people whether I can take their picture. Also, I fear that they might not be very happy about me clicking their picture without their knowledge and that I might run into angry people who might want to know why I took their picture. This was the primary reason why I chose to use a zoom lens on my expeditions on the street. I did get a lot of candid pictures but more often than not, my subjects would be far off in the pictures or the pictures would be context-free portraits that kind of suck. Also, carrying a big lens is a pain particularly when you have to compose and click very fast. It also meant that people asked more questions regarding my purpose with the camera. With such a big lens, I think they assumed that I was a press photographer or something which is interesting. And I could not always explain my activities as art...

This is where the internet comes in. I started reading a lot on street photography and almost all of them suggest that my fears are unwarranted. And also, all of them say that one should use a non-descript camera, like a Leica (if you can afford one). Me, being a poor techie, who cannot imagine ever buying a rangefinder, though I do drool over them from time to time on amazon, have to settle with using an SLR with a petite lens. Using my D80 with an 50mm Ai lens, I have noticed a major difference in the way people react to my camera. They no more ask too many questions and more often than not, they are least bothered about my camera. I still would classify myself as a newbie in the street photography field but I discover something about myself and my skill doing it. Good practise, I would say...

Check out this link if you have time:
http://www.beyondphototips.com/2008/08/17/obvious-street-photography-tips/

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Ghat road...

Ghat Road - II (by amathad)

Location: Baba Budangiri Hills, Western Ghats

Friday, August 22, 2008

The restaurant at the end of the... plank!

The restaurant at the end of the plank... :) (by amathad)

Location: Maldives

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Film or digital?

uncut (by puja) When I started learning photography, I convinced my dad to part with his old film camera of East German make. It was a manual camera which means that everything had to be set manually - focus, aperture, shutter speed. It had a light meter in it but it hadn't functioned in years which meant that I had to learn exposure the hard way. I was in college at that time and I had no money nor did I have a father with deep pockets. Which meant that films were expensive to me. But it was fun learning about the camera. The numerous mistakes made it all the more exciting and I think I really got good at exposure using that camera. That is, till I got a digital camera and it ruined everything!

I was sceptical about the whole digital phenomenon but was surprised by the amazing range of options that even a simple digital PnS offers. The different modes, the instant review, the ability to change ISO according the lighting situation (something that I will later discover can be done in medium format film cameras), the low cost of taking pictures and the fact that they are readily in the digital formats that makes it easier to share in the digital world, all these drew me almost immediately into the digital camera world. I got a DSLR very soon and I have been playing around with it for the last 18 months and I must say that I have improved from a novice to a pretty decent photographer in that time.
Flickr has played a very huge part in all of this. I have learned a lot from the flickr photographers and the groups are an absolute treasure trove of information. I learned how to use photoshop, why shooting in RAW was the smart thing to do and made a lot of friends who were really into this art form. If you divide the pictures in my stream in two groups - posted this year and everything else, you will notice a big difference. It is not that there aren't any good pictures in my older collections but I think I am a much improved photographer this year. The reason has primarily been an conscious choice that I made last year to concentrate on photography and it is something that I have stuck to since then. And I have been hugely aided because of the digital camera.


The digital camera has made it possible for anybody to be a photographer and it has made it easier for people to enter the field and experiment very, very cheaply (at virtually no cost). It brought an elitist field to the grasp of the common man. Well, not the common man. Let's just say that it has made photography more accessible and capturing memories cheaper. Also, a digital PnS takes much better picture than a film PnS most of the time. The medium has completely changed and celluloid has become archaic in this new digitised world. When Polaroid announced earlier this year that they are going to stop the production of the films, it is a sign of the changing times. But is film photography dead? I think that it is premature to announce that. For a lot of reasons, film is still better than digital (maybe I will discuss this in detail in another post) and this is why, film is still preferred over digital in commercial photography. Of course, this is changing quite rapidly. But celluloid is definitely on the way out but to rule it out completely would be foolish.

Currently, I own two SLRs and one DSLR. I prefer Nikon to Canon (another post, perhaps?) and I shoot digital most of the time. I dabble a little in films sometimes and I am considering returning to black and white film photography just for kicks.

Delhi Metro station

Delhi Metro station (by amathad)

Location: Rohini sub-city, New Delhi

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Haleebeedu

Haleebeedu temple (by amathad)

Location: Haleebeedu

Thursday, July 10, 2008

The sand is Hot!

Run, the sand is too hot!! (by amathad)

Location: Sun Island, Maldives

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

On the way to Haleebeedu

Prelude (by amathad)

Location: Between Hassan and Haleebeedu

Monday, July 7, 2008

Cavalry

Cavalry (by amathad)

Location: Haleebeedu, Karnataka

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Goodbye Virginia

Goodbye Virginia

Location: St Patrick's Cemetry, Bangalore

Thursday, June 26, 2008

A flag

Flag

Location: Downtown, Mountain View

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Temple lamp

Diya

Location: Thally

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Joe McNally in Google

Thursday, June 12, 2008

The glass is never empty!

The Glass is never empty!

Location: Maldives

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Stage perfomance

DSC_0122.jpg

Location: Koramangala, Bangalore

Sunday, June 8, 2008

A wet day for an old dog...

A wet day...

Location: Bagaluru, Outside Bangalore

Friday, June 6, 2008

On the way to LA

On the way to LA

Location: On the way to LA

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Signs

DSC_0303

Location: Venice Beach, LA

Monday, June 2, 2008

Guards

Guards

Location: CMH Road, Bangalore

Monday, May 26, 2008

Takeoff...

Ready to fly

Location: Sakleshpur

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Cat

Cat

Location: Chitradurga, Karnataka

Thursday, May 22, 2008

On the way to Dandeli

Viewing area

Location: Western Ghats on the way to Dandeli

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

My first photobook!

You can buy it here.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Vote for me!

Here and here.

Thirsty...

Thirsty...

Location: Sun Island, Maldives

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Sunrise in Sangam - A clichéd capture...

Sunrise in Sangam

Location: Sangam, near Bangalore

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Stares

Baby stares

Location: My hometown

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Funny moment

What is going on here?

Location: 100 ft road, Indiranagar, Bangalore

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Solitude

1

Location: Maldives

Friday, May 2, 2008

Dragonfly

Dragonfly

Location: Dhobi Ghat, Bangalore

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Tavern

Moonrise in the Tavern

Location: Tavern, Bangalore

Monday, April 28, 2008

Dhobi and the photographer

Dhobi and the photographer

Location: Dhobi Ghat, Bangalore

Friday, March 28, 2008

Atlas

DSC_0055.jpg

Location: MGM, The Strip, Las Vegas

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Time travel

Time travel

Location: MG Road, Bangalore

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

A dog's point of view

A dog's life

Location: 100ft Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore

Friday, March 14, 2008

Candle

Floating Candle

Location: Hotel Atria, Bangalore

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Bridge on the river Sharavati

DSC_0056.jpg

Location: Enroute to Jog Falls

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Minimalist

DSC_0002.jpg

Location: Somewhere in Bangalore

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Fascinating ride.

Jeep on top of the hill

Location: Honey Valley Resort, Coorg

Monday, March 10, 2008

A half eaten fish..

Half eaten fish

Location: Sun Island, Maldives

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Dog chases crow

Dog chases crow

I happened to catch this dog chasing an injured crow that seemed to have one of its wings broken. I am not sure if the dog was the cause of the injury but the dog was definitely trying to do more damage. After a few minutes of hide and seek, the crow hopped across the busy street and the dog gave up the chase.

Location: CMH Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Gokurna

DSC00997

Location: Gokurna

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Pointer

DSC00845

Location: Near Jog Falls

Friday, February 29, 2008

Frame

frame in a frame

Location: St Angelos Fort, Kannur