Trigger Happy

Bangalore Skyline

bloglips — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 08:16:19 +0000

Bangalore 'Skyline'

A Nice Monsoon Rain in the Offing

bloglips — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 06:53:19 +0000

An Impending Downpour

Away in the Desert…

bloglips — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:30:27 +0000

Sorry for the long silence. I had been away in Abu Dhabi on work. Now I am back. This is a picture from the desert Safari there.

There is some good news. I am now a proud owner of a Nikon 24-85mm f/2.8-4D IF lens. So now I do not have to move backwards and more backwards to frame my shots. I am very happy about that.

Even though I haven’t had much time to test drive the lens other than a few indoor shots, here is my first impression. I realize how much I am going to miss my prime lens. (sob sob). The pictures aren’t as sharp and since this is a zoom, I am encountering camera shakes. Stay tuned for a picture from the new baby.

Still Towering Bangalore

bloglips — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:01:07 +0000

The other day, I looked out my office window and I saw these two guys cleaning the office window. They were taking time out for a snack and I was left with nothing more than my mobile phone to click. They remind me of the photograph of the workers having lunch on a beam during the Rockefeller Center construction.

Towering Bengaluru

bloglips — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:47:49 +0000

UB City

UB City at night. We went to Rajdhani there but didn’t manage to find a table.

As for my transitioning to digital photography, the journey has hit a plateau. Stay tuned for more updates.

Our Growing Bengaluru

bloglips — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 05:35:26 +0000

Every time I pass through CMH road or 100ft road in Indiranagar, I think they present excellent photo ops. This is what a growing nation looks like. Now, with my Nikon D80 it is possible to shoot these tricky scenes. I shot these pictures at ISO 3600 F8 1/13sec. Then touched them up in gimp to make them B&W and adjust levels.

Nothing Like a Glass of Water…

bloglips — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:43:31 +0000

glass at f&b through a nokia 2230

This is a snap of my glass of water at f&b, Bangalore. I was pleasantly surprised at what my mobile phone can do. I took this picture with a Nokia 2230. I tweaked it a little with gimp to improve levels and contrast.

Basic Tools 1: Level

bloglips — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 12:38:48 +0000

My life has never been the same since I discovered the Levels tool. You can find the levels tool in Photoshop CS or Elements or gimp. You can use this tool to analyze the highlights and shadows and fix any irregularities. If you are familiar with darkroom techniques, this is similar to exposing your photo paper for the right black and then exposing for the right contrast. Unlike the darkroom, this tool is not unforgiving. You can try various combinations and reset it and experiment until you get the right colors.

This tool also has an ‘auto’ feature where the software automatically fixes the levels for you. If you do not like what the software does for you, you can always reset it. Another cool feature is you can use this tool on just a selection instead of the whole image.

A more advanced version of this tool is curves. Here you can even play with different contrast settings for highlights and midtones etc. But curves for another day.

Getting Started

bloglips — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 05:33:03 +0000

First, I have to publish this disclaimer. I am an avid fan of photo.net. The website inspires, teaches and challenges me constantly. I turn to it for advise all the time and I am glad I have never been let down.

So as usual, when I was wondering what kind of workflows people use for digital photography I was browsing through photo.net and bumped into this excellent article which helped me understand the digital camera sensor and all the ho-hum about 8 bit, 12-bit and 16-bit images and processing.

Understanding the bits, I believe, is like understanding the basic chemistry in film photography. It makes you all the more wiser when you shoot and post-process.

Now, a little about my equipment and setup. I own a Nikon D80 and a AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D. I love the body but I love the lens even more. It is a sharp, fast and faithful workhorse. I got my composition (my perspective) right with this lens. It is a must have for any serious amateur. For post processing, I use an Apple macBook. I am still experimenting with software. For now, I am using gimp and PictureProject. I use gallery2 on my self-hosted website.

Welcome to my Adobe

bloglips — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:54:35 +0000

My Adobe

This page documents my journey from film camera SLR to digital SLR. I have owned an F80. I love this equipment. It is most reliable and rugged and there is plenty of room for experimenting and learning. Now I have acquired a D80. I am getting familiar with it and I have a feeling I am going to love it.

I used to maintain a darkroom with a rickety projector capable of 8×10 prints. Now I am learning light room techniques to work with my digital images.

I hope this page will capture all my experience and be of some use to other serious amateurs. I also hope this page turns out to be a place to share experiences and lessons learned.