Before and after!!!!!

The title is about making the photographs look better and not about the results of loosing 50 pounds in a week. The two images above are the two versions of the same photograph. The second one looks better. The first image is the as-is image from the camera.

I just did the basic adjustments of brightness, contrast and saturation on the as-is image. That is called "applying make-up" to the photograph in photographer pappu's terminology.

I use Photoshop to do the same; however there are many other free tools are available. If your computer is running windows then it will probably have Microsoft office picture manager. Just open the image and play with different values of contrast, brightness and saturation till you are satisfied. Just make sure that your photograph doesn’t look unreal. Many more things are possible with Photoshop and you can turn an ordinary photograph into an extraordinary one.

Some people say that they like virgin images without any make up. Well, no one is virgin in this world, life screws everyone (I know a bit out of context, but felt like using it :)). Decide whether to live with the virgin boring images or turn them into WOWW ones. The choice is yours!!!

Camera: Nikon D80
Location: San Francisco Sky line

Golden grass and golden sunset

The first one was clicked near 17 mile drive. People kept coming in between the lens and the object. When people werent there, my wife kept coming in between to disturb me. Finally I got what I wanted. I clicked three four shots from different angles.

The second one was clicked on the way to Vegas from LA. My wife clicked this one when I was driving. I am putting it on my blog (Copyright permissionss??? who cares!!! she says her money her money, my money her money. On similar lines I say my photos my photos, her photos my photos :) It was a different sunset angle and wasnt easy for her to focus from the running car, yet she managed to click this beauty. I wish the mirrors were cleaned properly though :(

चंदामामा!!!!!

On the occasion of the Tiranga painted impact probe landing successfully on the lunar surface, I remembered one of the moon photograph that I had clicked in 2005. I decided to post it here.

Never imagined an Indian impact probe would land somewhere on that pic! It is the same moon that causes low/high tides and it is the same moon on which countless bollywood songs are written (chandamama so gaye, dum bhar jo edhar muh fere, dheere dheere chal, khoya khoya chand etc )

Clicking this snap was not easy. That was the first time I was experimenting with shutter speed and exposure compensation seriously. I had to struggle for half an hour before I got this one. Today I wish, I had not used the digital zoom :(

Camera: Minolta Dimage Z1

Location: Sky :)

The Running Train

This is my first black and white post on the blog (The original pic was not B&W, I photoshopped it ). Many people have asked me about the way I clicked this pic without getting hit by the train. The first thing is that it is not an oncoming train, it was going away from the camera and the second thing is that I used the zoom lens. So even if it was an oncoming train, it would not have hit me.

This was one of the early images from my Nikon D80. I was very eager to click something with the camera, so we decided to head to Martinez to click something. Finally ended up clicking a few shots of Amtrak trains. I was not particularly happy with the original image, but after cropping a bit, modifying colors and making it B&W, I started liking it. Here is the final one.

Location: Martinez Amtrak station
Camera: Nikon D80
Click on the image for the best results.

Manhattan!!!!

No tripod, heavy camera, intention of using the shutter speed of 6-8 seconds and the expectations of a steady, unshaken, sharp and beautiful picture. Howz that possible? Well that's when the outdoor dining tables came to my help. But the life wasn't simpler after that. Even though I got a steady surface but the angle wasn't covering the buildings. I was running out of ideas and suddenly I put my hands in my pocket. I found the lens caps there. I used them as packing to adjust the angle. Finally I could manage to get the proper angle and the result is in front of you :)

Location : Manhattan, NY

Camera: Nikon D80

Oregon fall 2008

I always wanted to see the fall colors. I missed the opportunity in 2001 when just before fall I returned to India from Canada. In 2006 I landed in California but the state of California is not known for the bright fall colors. The nearest decent place for seeing the fall colors is the Oregon state. In 2007, we made plans to go to Oregon but for some reasons they were cancelled. 2008 plans were also following the footsteps of 2007 plan but I was determined to go this year. If required, I was ready to go alone.
Finally, Abhishek and Pranav decided to join me and we headed towards Portland, OR in my car. We left Fremont, CA on Friday evening and came on Monday early morning. These are some of the pics clicked in Oregon. Some quick facts on the trip:

Places Visited : Portland, Columbia river gorge, Mt. Hood river, Bend, Sea of lava, Scenic Hwy 126, McKenzie river, Oregon coast.

Total distance covered: 1771.2 miles = 2850.47 kms (Drove alone)

Camera used: Nikon D80

वो शाम कुछ अजीब थी !!!

It was a winter evening, the sun had just set and the colors were spread all over the sky. Yes, they are natural colors, no photoshopping. Sometimes point n shoot cameras produce results that are better than a SLR. The only challenge in clicking the photograph was the low temperatures and chilly wind. That’s true, even though there was fire in the sky, the temperature was freezing. The location was Lake Tahoe that attracts tourists in all weather. Before I could click this one, I had to click many trial ones adjusting the shutter speed and exposure compensation in that cold weather. Finally I managed to strike the balance and the result is in front of you.
Location: S Lake Tahoe Camera: Canon powershot S3 IS

Son of a.....

Do I need to write more??? ......

Taken with my mobile Motorola VE20

I feel I can fly

There is a beautiful drive which is about 10-15 kms along the coast between Harihareshwar and Dive agar with a lots of photography opportunities।

My wife conceived the idea of this photograph and she wanted to click the photograph of me in that pose. Knowing the history of screwing good photographs of me because of the poses that could give a complex to Kishan Kumar (‘aaj hi hamne badle hai kapde, aaj hi hum nahaye hue hai’ fame in case you don’t know him) or Himalaya (Husband of Bhagyashree), I decided to stay behind the camera and asked her to become the model. The colors in the background were just perfect. This silhouette is the result of a great idea, the beautiful background, the perfect pose (and the perfect photography). However I do not have the high resolution picture of this one, else I would have surely enlarged and framed it.
Location: Somewhere between Harihareshwar & Dive agar, Maharashtra Camera: Minolta Dimage Z1

Ice Ice Baby!!!

“At the count of three, you throw the snow into the air and I’ll capture it in the frame...” That’s what I told Sheetal before clicking this snap. Sounds so simple! Isn’t it? In reality, it was not that simple. Clicking exactly at the precise time in that cold weather was a challenge. Sometimes I clicked before she threw the snow and sometimes I clicked when the snow landed back on the ground. 

Finally when I managed to hit the perfect timing, there were two a**holes in the background clicking the snap which I could not see from the viewfinder. We were not in a position to repeat the exercise again as it was freezing cold and both of us were standing in knee high snow. (Burrrrr...).

I could have photoshopped them but that was a very tedious task so I decided against it. Here is the result of our combined efforts.

Location: S Lake Tahoe, CA, USA

Camera: Canon powershot S3 IS

Click on the image for the best results.

Iron Butt Bikenomads

That’s what bikenomad (a biking group in India) riders are called who manage to cover 1000 kms plus in 24 hrs on the bike. Well, the riders in these photographs and I are yet to achieve that milestone, but we are proud to be a part of such a fantabulous (Thanks to Suresh Wadkar ji for this word) group which has many iron butts within the group.

The first photograph is of nomad Capt. Nandu Chitnis on his first long bike ride from Pune to Goa. I was his riding partner for initial 100 kms before returning back home. I clicked this near Tamhini ghat near Mulshi. Well the photograph isn’t great from the photography point of view, but the effect that I gave in Photoshop is cool isn’t it?

The second photograph is of nomad Suyash (well he is young, in his early twenties) during a group ride to local destination Tamhini ghat near Mulshi (about 100 kms from Pune, bikenomads consider rides under 100kms as local rides). I like this photograph because of its composition and the beautiful background. 

The sad part is I do not have the high-resolution original images of these photographs :-( 

Location (both photos): Tamhani ghat, near Mulshi, Pune India 

Camera: Minolta Dimage Z1

Click on the image for the best results.

Chi Chi....

The title chi chi has no connection with Govinda. The testing was successful so decided to put my first post immediately. This photograph is very close to my heart. One fine day when we came back from the grocery store, we saw that this squirrel was posing on the bark. I had grocery bags in my hand instead of a camera. I cursed myself for not carrying the camera. My wife encouraged me to run and get the camera. I was not at all hopeful that I could click this picture as it involved climbing two floors, opening the camera, fixing the lens, run down two floors and click the snap. Inspite of that I did all that and to my surprise this squirrel was still there waiting to get clicked. It gave me 7-8 good snaps before running away and this one is best of the lot.

Thanks to my wife for encouraging me to get the camera and like an obedient husband I listened to her (as always). Both of us decided to name this squirrel Chi Chi :)

Location: Walnut Creek, CA

Camera: Nikon D80