Tips for a great photo!

It has never been about the camera or the lens when it comes to clicking a good photo. Yes, they do play a major role in the picture quality but a monkey having a flagship DSLR doesn’t make it a good photographer!

So how do you make your ordinary picture extraordinary? Pretty simple. Given below are a few tips to capture an amazing picture

The right aperture.

What is Aperture? In the simplest terms, it is the depth of field. Aperture is usually denoted as f/1.4, f/2, etc. Greater the f – number (or smaller the aperture i.e. ½ is smaller than 1/1.4), larger is depth of field. So what is depth of field? If the depth of field is more, it brings both the foreground and background into focus. Greater the aperture, the background is blurred and the foreground comes more into focus.

While shooting landscape photos, it is best suited if aperture is very small so that the entire shot comes into focus. Likewise, when shooting a portrait, it is advisable that the aperture is very high so that only the foreground is in focus.

ISO: 400

Shutter Speed: 1/400 s

Aperture: f/5.0

Focal Length: 56.0 mm

ISO: 400

Shutter Speed: 1/125 s

Aperture: f/22.0

Focal Length: 18.0 mm

The right ISO.

ISO is the level of sensitivity of your camera to available light. Lesser the ISO, lesser the sensitivity to the light. Lower ISO is to be used when there is ample light around the subject of the picture. In darker conditions, higher ISO is to be used to capture photographs without the help of a flash. Every camera has a base ISO for example few of the Nikon cameras have a base ISO of 200 while Canons have a base ISO of 100. Lesser the ISO, better the quality of the photograph. It is recommended to click pictures at the least possible ISO so that it is clear. Higher ISOs will cause ‘noise’ or ‘grains’ in the picture thus decreasing the picture quality. Lower ISOs can be used to click pictures in Sunny – Moderately lit conditions while higher ISOs should be used in Dark – Very Dark conditions.

The right shutter speed.

A picture with the perfect ISO and aperture would be useless if the shutter speed is not proper. Shutter speed is the amount of the camera shutter is open to expose light into the camera sensor. Higher shutter speeds are used to capture fast moving objects but risks the photograph being dark. Lower shutter speeds could add a blur to the photograph if the camera is not held still but allows more light into the sensor. Shutter speed is very important as a picture can be clicked at a lower ISO but a higher shutter speed to capture quality photographs in low light conditions. Lower shutter speeds require a tripod as even the most minor shakes could ruin the photograph. Meanwhile, increasing the shutter speed to a very high value could also be a problem as not enough light will be exposed to the camera lens hence making the photograph darker.

ISO: 800

Shutter Speed: 1/20 s

Aperture: f/5.0

Focal Length: 45.0 mm

Fill the frame.

A common mistake everyone does while taking photographs is to leave a lot of space between the subject and the edge of the frame. These only apply to photographs containing a subject and not plain landscape photographs. If a lot of space is left between the edge of the frame and the subject, it makes the subject look small and insignificant. But on the other hand, the picture would look awkward if the subject is zoomed in to an extent where his/her head is cropped off.

ISO: 640

Shutter Speed: 1.0 s

Aperture: f/4.5

Focal Length: 42.0 mm 

Shoot in RAW format.

When I bought my first DSLR, in the initial days, I would always shoot in JPEG thus ruining the quality of the photograph while processing it. Shooting in RAW format captures all the details in depth allowing you to process the picture without the risk of decreasing the quality. Picture in RAW format need to be processed by your computer before it can be used. RAW also consumes a lot of memory space as the picture is uncompressed. In contrast, a JPEG consumes lesser memory space compared to the RAW format and the picture is ready to use. But that is the deal. The picture in JPEG is already processed by the firmware of your camera thus any further processing done in the system would ruin the quality. Pictures taken in JPEG are compressed and hence the colour and the resolution of the picture is lost and and on some cameras there is slightly more noise in a JPEG than its Raw version. If memory space is not an issue, pictures taken in RAW offer a great deal more compared to picture in JPEG. Also, RAW pictures need a special software to process which is easy to acquire. I recommend Adobe Lightroom as it is very efficient and user friendly.

One last thing!

Most of us would have bought a DSLR to capture memories and click great pictures. None of this can be achieved without experimenting with it. Unless you drop your camera, you cannot break it. You cannot ruin your camera by changing the settings and clicking pictures. You cannot break it by experimenting with the different modes and presets present. It is a crime to click pictures in auto mode unless you’re really unfamiliar with the model.

Choose Aperture Priority to have control over the aperture but not shutter speed or Shutter Priority to manipulate the shutter speed but not the aperture or Manual Mode where everything is in your control.

While candid pictures do make great memories, it is advisable that you plan your picture in advance and set your camera accordingly so that you don’t lose out on a moment.

Comment your thought below and share the post if you liked it!

My First Ride

My First Ride

Hi all! Sorry it has been such a long time since I posted. I was very busy with work so hardly had any time to write.

This post, as the heading says, will be on my first ride which was in July 2012. Back then, I had a TVS Scooty Pep+ which could barely hold my weight. It was in November 2013 when I bought my Royal Enfield Classic 350 so all the rides that I went on before that was on my friend’s bike.

My friend and I would pretty much be jobless during those days so we’d be riding in and around the city. For those of you who are from Mysuru or have heard of the place would have also heard of Chamundi Hills which was our favourite place to haunt.

One day, while we were returning home from Chamundi Hills, we saw this milepost that said

‘Madikeri – 126kms’. That is how it all started. We instantly made up plans to go to Madikeri which is in Coorg (Kodagu) district, came up with some rough estimates (mind you, this was our first ride and we had no clue what we’d need and we should take), begged for approval at our respective homes and we were set!

Route: Mysuru – Harangi Dam – Dubare Wildlife Sanctuary – Madikeri – Abbe Falls – Mysore.

We packed our bags, I got my camera, water bottles and all the basic necessities were taken. The next day, we left early around 6 a.m. and headed off to what would be one very memorable ride.

We stopped at Hunsur for breakfast around 7.30 a.m., had yummy idlis and hot coffee. Remember, we went on this ride in the fag end of July which was the rainy reason. The roads were covered with dense fog and hot breakfast was a welcome sight. We then went to Harangi Dam which is approximately 50 kms. We covered this distance in about 45 minutes to be met with a disappointing sight. The crest gates of the dam were closed and we were not allowed to go inside the dam as well. With the crest gates closed and no water to be seen anywhere around, we decided to click a few pics. It is when I took my camera out of my camera bag that I learnt a very important lesson that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.

Check whether the damn memory card is inside the camera!

Here we were in one of the most scenic places that I have ever seen and there was no memory card in the camera. We finally had to resort to clicking pictures in our smart phones and we moved on.

The next place in our agenda was Dubare Wildlife Sanctuary which houses a variety of wild animals but is famous for its elephants. Wild tuskers are brought to Dubare to be tamed and it’s the elephants which are trained here brought to Mysuru for its world famous Dasara Procession. The tamed elephants here are very friendly and even pat your head with its trunk if you offer them a coin. Once we were done with Dubare, we went to Kushalnagara which is enroute Madikeri and had our lunch there.

We then headed off to Madikeri and by then time we reached the city, it was nearly 2 p.m. and it was raining hard. Undeterred, we asked a local policeman for the route to Abbe Falls. Abbe Falls is 15 kms from the heart of the city and the road leading to it is pretty steep. Once we were in Abbe Falls, a lady, in one of the many stalls installed there, offered to rent us 2 umbrellas for 5 rupees each. Glad to have something protecting us from the heavy downpour, we took it and started climbing down to the falls.

Abbe Falls in rainy season is a magnificent sight. The water comes thundering down from a pretty high altitude and sprays all over you once it hits the rocks underneath. Realising that the umbrellas weren’t doing us much good, we discarded them and happily let the water spray drench us completely from head to toe.  Once we had our fill, we climbed back up, returned the umbrellas and headed off to Mysuru. We clicked few more pictures, spoke to a few locals there and left. It was still raining hard when we left Madikeri but it made no difference to us. We stopped at a small coffee shop and that was the first time I tasted Coorg coffee. For those of you who are planning to visit Coorg, please do drink their coffee. It is absolutely amazing and warms up your body instantly!

We then rode back to Mysore and reached home around 8 p.m. We managed to visit 5 places covering 330 kms and marked the beginning of my riding journey

So places to visit if you are going to Madikeri?

Do visit the ‘Raja Seat’ which give you a breath taking view of the Coorg District. We sadly couldn’t visit the place in this ride but managed to go there in our next one. Next, you have the Abbe Falls which will be in full flow during July – November. You also have so many coffee and tea estates along the highway but be careful before you enter them as they are private property and you’d be trespassing if you haven’t taken the permission of the estate owner.

You can also visit ‘Mandalpatti’ which is 30 kms from Madikeri. A beautiful place which has a very challenging route leading to it but that’s for my next post! All the pictures were taken on my HTC ONE X+. Cheers! 

An introduction to what this blog is all about

Hey all! This blog is mainly about my experiences I’ve had while I’ve travelled, the fun people I came across, the amazing places I’ve visited, my love for photography and so on. As seen in my Google+ profile, I’m a Salesforce Developer by profession but my love lies in travelling and photography.

Let’s talk about my love for travelling first!

I’ve always loved to travel. When I was a kid, I used to love to travel as it would make me miss my school and it would help me escape from all the homework and school related stuff.

My earliest memory of me travelling with my family was to a waterfall called Shivanasamudra which is roughly around 80 kms from Mysore. It was a family vacation so we had planned the trip for a day. Lunch was packed, sun screen was taken and we headed off to one of the most memorable trips of my childhood. Since then we always made it a point to visit a different place every year so that we could get a break and hang out together as a family.

My real love for travelling was discovered after my mother bought me a Royal Enfield Classic 350. Damn, what a beast of a vehicle it was! I fell in love with the bike and my friend and I immediately planned a ride to Madikeri, a scenic hill station approximately 130 kms from Mysore. It was during this ride I discovered my love to travel by bike! The adrenaline rush, the satisfaction when you zoom past someone, the joy derived from riding in the hair pin curves! Man, oh man! Details of the ride will be published in the following posts. So this is my introduction on how I fell in love with travelling.

But where does photography fit into the picture??

While I always had travelled, I had never taken an interest in photography. My idea of photography was to pose for a picture and if the photo was good, admire the camera else curse the photographer! (I’m a software engineer so bear the If-Else clauses!)

The only camera we had in the house was a Kodak camera which had the reel loaded into it. This camera was ancient and could have been sold off as an antiquity! So, for my 18^th birthday, my mother decided to buy me a camera. Not a DSLR, mind you. A point and shoot camera or what we call, a digicam! So after much research, I decided to buy a Canon Powershot and went to the local store. I was trying to show off to my mother whatever facts I had read in the internet and a few facts that I had cooked up. When the camera was waiting to be billed, I was looking at an array of DSLRs kept for display. I was having a look at one of them (The costliest one kept in the display, obviously) when my mother walked up to me and asked me how the camera was. I, like anyone else who had no idea about DSLRs, exclaimed, “It’s a DSLR! Of course it’s awesome!” having no clue what made it so awesome!

My grandfather who had accompanied us to the store was an excellent photographer during his time made a deal with my mom (That is how it works here. Nothing can be got in one go. You have to make a lot of deals and sacrifices before something is bought!). He said that if my mom was willing to buy me a DSLR, he would pay half of its price and my mother would pay the other half. After much negotiations, the deal was struck and we cancelled the billing of the forgotten-till-now Powershot and I got my first DSLR, Canon 1100D!

It’s been four years since I laid my hands on it and much has changed but I’ve never looked back.

I am someone who loves to travel and is crazy about photography! For me photography is one thing and one things only. Capturing memories. I click pictures because when I look at them in future, I would want to remember the story behind them. I am not interested in shooting models (nor will I get a chance to!) so this blog will not have beautiful ladies adorning it! As mentioned in the beginning, I will be writing on my experiences I’ve had when I’ve travelled and a few tips on photography and how to enhance your pictures. Interested? Stay tuned for more!

If you want me to blog on any particular topic related to travelling and photography, do comment below so that I can have a look at it!