My favourites of my 2006 images

Looking back at some of the images that I shot in 2006, in no particular order:



I spent a couple of days shooting wildlife and landscapes in Corbett National Park. Foggy mornings made the whole park look magical. Here is an image of one such mornings.



An image of this kind is something I had been dreaming for a couple of years. I hoped to make one such image if sunrise in the mountains, but finally made it during sunset. The mountain in the image is Mt.Nanda Devi, one of the highest peaks in India. Picture taken from Auli ski lodge at the base of Nanda Devi National Park.



I am not sure what is about this image that made me like this. It could be the colorful saris or the lady walking past or the composition of the entire frame or something else altogether. Image from the ghats of river Ganges in Varanasi.



A pair of jungle babblers, shot in Dandeli, Karnataka, India. I was standing very close to them and they did not seem to be bothered. They sat together for less than a minute and I went on shooting as much as possible. This is the only one that I liked and retained.



Golden Langurs are endemic to Bhutan and North Eastern parts of India. One of the very few technically good wildlife shots I have managed is also one of the widely appreciated image.



I had been hoping to photograph Indian Rollers for a few years but had not managed it. Finally, I found a co-operating guy in Rajaji National Park, India, early this year. I loved the perfect background as much as the beautiful bird.



We gave her a lift in our car somewhere near Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, India. She had such an infectious smile, we could not help but ask her for a photograph. While my fellow traveller asked her for a picture, she appeared a bit shy, and my camera stole the moment.



Another image from Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh.



Yet another image from Tawang.



This image is from Rishikesh, India, during Ganga Aarati, a daily ritual of worshipping the river that happens on the banks of the Ganges. I spent 4 days photographing the ritual and found this kid to be very active and devout.



At Chikmagalur in Karnataka, India. I made two trips to the town this year and made this image during the second trip. I had got this composition in mind during the first trip, but did not have a tripod with me then. So all I had managed was a blurry image. The next time I was there, I made sure I carried the tripod.



I have spent some time photographing at stage shows recently, and have been understanding the challenges of low lit environment with fast moving subjects. It is a tough job and is very hard to get good results. Here is one I liked, which was shot in Bangalore at a program to showcase folk arts of Karnataka. The person on the stage, comedian as you can guess, is an artist performing Yakshagaana, a kind of opera from Karnataka.

LOOKING BACK AT 2006 ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY WORLD

2006 was a good year at Digital Photography World. I made a total 134 posts at an average of around one post every three days. Here is a list of 20 prominent posts.

1. Raw/Jpeg Experiences
2. Local Contrast Enhancement
3. Improving the exposure of the image with digital photography
4. Dealing with sensor dust when you are on the road
5. Storing images when travelling
6. Trying to make the best posiible image
7. Trying to stretch image stabilization"
8. Importance of image background
9. 100-400L user review
10. Making greens look greener with selective colors
11. My digital photography workflow
12. Upgrading my camera firmware
13. Grittiness of CF cards
14. Understanding Histograms
15. Photography gear for long trips and treks
16. Dealing with fungus on the lens
17. Will 10mp be a standard?
18. Photographing Children
19. Adjusting levels to improve contrast
20. Photographing Birds

I wish all the readers a very happy a new year, and may you take great photographs in the year to come.

JANUARY 2007 DESKTOP CALENDAR

I thought picture of sunrise would be apt for desktop wallpaper calendar to begin the new year. Click on the image to get the wallpaper in 1024x768 size.



About the image: This image was made at Matanga Paravatha, Hampi in Karnataka, India, in Dec 2004. For more information on Hampi, see my travel blog.

TKexe Calendar: FOR CREATING PHOTO CALENDARS

Thanks a response to my previous post - I discovered TKexe Calendar, a software for making monthly calendars with my own images. I had searched for a freeware for sometime but had not found any. But this one, a freeware seems to be much better and feature rich than many paid softwares. I have decided to use this for making calendars and post on the web.


A sample file I made when I was playing around with the software

It provides rich customization to the level of fonts, sizes, shapes and of course the calendar layout. It takes a bit of time to get used to the menus, but once you start using, the going is easy.

CALENDAR SOFTWARE HELP

I have been looking for software that can help me create a calendar(monthly) with photos. What I am looking for is to create jpeg images, with a photograph occupying most area or the entire image, with a month's calendar at the bottom or right of the image or overlaying the image. I intend to create photo-calendar wallpaper and put them up here doe download at the beginning of every month. I searched for such software, and there seem to be plenty of softwares that can do this. But before I consider buying any, I am trying to find if there is a free software available. I searched considerably but could not find any. Is there something that you can suggest?

CANON NEW CAMERA RUMORS: 40D AND 1Ds Mk III

I logged into photography-on-the.net Canon forums, and decided to visit rumors section which I had not seen for a while. The hottest rumor posted recently is about a new Canon 40D on the cards. It says that the new camera could come with a 10.1MP to 12MP sensor and ISO 3200 and no more new exciting features. The same thread also talks about new versions of 5D - a basic one and premium one with higher megapixel count.

In another thread, there is a picture of a pro body, supposedly a new camera, but no more information. But people are talking about 1Ds Mk III likely to come out soon.

A GREAT WAY TO GET LATEST DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY CONTENT

If you are always looking for latest digital photography content of all kind like I do, including technology update, post processing, learning photography, camera and other latest news and what not, you would have seen plenty of resources scattered on the internet, and at the end would have been confused where to go. I had always thought if there is one place where I can get everything. Digital Camera Headlines seems to do just that. It is a one page headlines aggregator which pulls in recent updates related digital photography from various sources including dpreview, letsgodigital, imagingresource, digg, reddit, Google news and many many more. It is a great way to stay updated on nearly everything about digital photography. Have a look, I am pretty sure you will bookmark it!

MITCHELL KANASHKEVICH'S PORTRAITS OF TRIBALS

I had been seeing with interest for last several months the excellent images that Mitchell Kanashkevich was posting on travelphotographers.net. I have also got some useful constructive feedback from Michell on my photos from Arunachal Pradesh, India. Now all those excellent images from Michell on the tribal people of Tripura, India are available in one page at travelphotographers.net. As I have come to understand, Mitchell has spent a lot of time and energy in getting these images. And all that effort has resulted in really fine images. I also found a link on the same page to Mitchell's personal gallery.

SHOOTING IN A STAGE SHOW

Last week, I made my first attempt at shooting a stage performance. Knowing that there will be low light, I took full advantage of Image Stabilization in my 100-400L. I still had to shoot at higher ISOs - between 400 and 1600. Most of the images were made at ISO 400. I did not want to carry tripod because people moved quickly on the stage, and before I could adjust the tripod, things would have changed completely and I may never get the composition I wanted. Instead of focusing on entire groups on the stage, I decided to make portraits. Here is an image of a comedian.



Exif: Canon EOS 350D, 100-400L, 1/200sec, f/5.6, ISO1600

LOOSING PHOTOGRAPHS

Finally it happened to me too. I keep hearing about people loosing their images either because something was wrong with their CF card or camera had misbehaved somehow. But with me, it was my own fault.

I had spent a week in Kerala last month, and had not gone out with the camera after coming back from there. Last weekend I decided to go on a photo shoot, and as I normally do, cleaned up the CF card before I headed out. I had assumed that I had copied the images from Kerala to hard disk, but I had not done that! All the images from a week's tour were wiped out in minutes!

Luckily for me, I had not spent any serious time doing photography in the whole trip and there were hardly any images that I considered precious. But it was still a loss and a lesson tough learnt.

I was thinking about possible solutions to avoid this from happening. One solution was to lock the CF card at the end of the trip or photo shoot. I looked for this feature in the camera, and was surprised to see that I can lock individual images but can't lock the entire card. Now, I think that is a useful feature and wonder why it is not there!

ADOBE DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDES

Adobe had brought out many pdf guides on various topics in digital photography. There are guides on topics like black and white conversion, calibrating your digital darkroom, a black and white conversion action, color managed raw workflow and a few more. Go here to download any of them.

PHOTOGRAPHING BIRDS

This is the summary of four part series on photographing birds. For more details and some more photographs, see the link to individual articles of the series at the end of this post.

Birds are fascinating subjects for photography. They are colorful and beautiful and are photogenic subjects. But they are also small, shy and agile and photographing them is not easy. Here is a primer for photographing birds.

OBSERVE YOUR SUBJECT

Spend time observing your subject. The more time you spend watching them, the more you know about them and easier it is to photograph them. Best images are often a result of days of observation and understanding the behaviour.


I spent a lot of tailing this bird, before managing to catch it in the frame.

GET THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT

Having the right equipment is crucial in bird photography. Being small subjects, it is essential to have long telephoto lenses to be able to shoot them. A 400mm or longer lens is required. Since they can be very agile, it is also important for your lens to be able to focus quickly. Mornings and evenings is the best time to photograph birds, and faster lenses that let in more light will be useful. And your camera must be good enough to be able to support and drive a telephoto lens. A sturdy tripod is also useful.


To shoot small and agile birds like Plain Prinia, one needs a good telephoto lens that can also focus quickly.

APPROACHING THE BIRD

Be discreet when you are approaching the bird. Don't make sudden movements which can startle the bird and make it fly away. Use a hide if possible. Your car can serve as a good hide, as birds tend to be less afraid of an approaching car than a person. When you are approaching by foot, don't walk into the bird, but stalk around them. Try to hide behind a tree or bush or any such object where possible. Or the best way would be to wait hiding at a strategic location for the bird to turn up.


Yellow Browed Bulbuls are very agile and hard to catch. I was lucky to find this one hardly 3 meters away when I was in the car.

GETTING THE RIGHT COMPOSITION

Quality is an important factor in bird and wildlife photography. Your images need to be precisely exposed, and without any dark spots. Mornings and Evenings are ideal time to shoot, as the sun doesn't cast harsh shadows during these hours of the day. Try to get close to the bird and fill as much of the frame as possible with the bird. Try to include the atmosphere around the bird, like flowers, fruits, etc which the bird would be pecking. A bird with some food in its beak makes a nice subject. Also look for behaviour shots, like when the bird is bathing, in flight, calling, etc. Catch light in the birds eye is very important. Ensure that the background is clear and not cluttered.


Get behaviour shots.

One of the most important factors in bird photography is patience. You should be willing to spend long hours chasing and observing your subject. And this is where love for your subject also helps. The more time and effort you spend, and the more you know your subject, you are more likely to succeed and get good images.

LINKS

Below are the individual entries of the four part series on photographing birds. You can see more pictures and details in each of these posts. You can also see a few larger sized photographs in my image gallery's Birds and Animals section.

Photographing Birds - I: Observe your subjects
Photographing Birds - II: Get the right equipment
Photographing Birds - III: Approaching the bird
Photographing Birds - IV: Composition

PHOTOGRAPHING BIRDS - IV COMPOSITION

+ Go to beginning of the series

Bird and wildlife photography is very demanding when it comes to getting it technically correct, such as ensuring that the complete subject is sharp and in focus, there are no dark or burnt areas and exposure is precise. Thus, most bird photographers prefer to shoot only early in the morning or evening when the sun is near the horizon, and keeping sun at the back.

Common rules of composition, such as rule of thirds apply to bird photography too. There are many other things that are worth noting.

1. GET UP CLOSE AND FILL THE FRAME

Try to fill the frame with the bird. It happens very often, especially in the beginning, that your subject covers very small part of the frame. If you are trying to make a portrait shot, it is good to have the bird cover a third of the frame area or more. Sometimes, if you can't get so much of bird in the image, it is better to crop the image than have your subject in just a small portion of the frame.


Fill the frame

2. INCLUDE THE ATMOSPHERE

Try to add objects that complement the bird. For example, when you have a sunbird hunting for nectar, it is always nice to have a flower along with the bird. There could be other things such as fruit, leaves or other objects of interest. A bird with some food on its beak would be nice too. When you are shooting this way, you can often ignore Rule 1 above. And while you include the bird's surroundings, make sure it doesn't form a clutter.


Include the atmosphere

3. GET BEHAVIOR SHOTS

Spend time with the bird and catch various behaviour of the bird, such as when it is cuddling with it's partner, in flight, catching its food, calling, etc. It is usually discouraged to shoot a bird near its nest though, since it can disturb the birds.


Get behaviour shots

4. CHECK THE BACKGROUND

Getting a clutter-free background is important. It ensures that the subject is in focus while a cluttered background can be distracting. This is especially important when shooting birds because it is easy to get a background with too many twigs, branches or such distractions that can spoil the image.


A clear background can enhance the subject

5. GET CATCH LIGHT IN THE EYE

It is very very important to get at least a small flicker of light in the eye. Often, this alone can make or break the image. Keep waiting for the catch light to appear in the eye. Since birds keep looking here and there, you normally don't need to wait for long, but just click on the right moment.


Catch light in the eye is important

And of course, like in any other area of photography, the best images break the guidelines. If you find a rare bird that is hardly photographed, the best thing to do would be to keep shooting and ignore every rule in the book. You would be just happy to somehow find the bird in the frame. Some birds like warblers are very agile and you can't really think about getting a composition of your choice. Infact, they are hard even to find them through the viewfinder. Composition matures with practice and images improve overtime. Spending more time outside with the birds is more important than anything else.