West Coast Trip

I am entering this blog with a different email id now, as I cannot anymore upload images using my old id.

Here are some pics from my recent west coast trip. Please leave your critiques and comments.

Thanks

Raj

Tried something on Meghana's post

Hi Meghana

I tried some post processing on your second picture. Cropped it...bumped up some colors, tweaked curves and framed. Hope you like it

Otherwise...feel free to kill me (This offer is not for Sameer :p)

Hi friends

I have started posting at TrekLens. Please have a look at some of the pictures and suggest. Here is the link

See more photos by Kpamu on TrekLens

Also on flick river -

Silhouettes at sunset

http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/dynoGallDetail.asp?photoID=9445805

Morainview State Park - Fall 2009

Please see below photos from small trip to near by State Park - Morainview.

MorainViewPark - Fall Color

3rd place in dpchallenge.com

http://www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=832563

Few of fall color pictures

Raj

Congratulations on your new ribbon :)

Blue Splash

I shot this using my Nikon D70s and Tamron 90mm macro lens. I used my SB800 for backlighting. ISO 200, f/11, 1/500s. I tied this glass to my son's toy (a bus) and rolled it on a table. When I gave a jerk to the setup, water splashed from the glass. I moved the setup with my left hand and fired remote with right. And yes, I placed this whole setup in my bath tub :)

IN MY STUDIO

WHITE IN WONDERLAND

CLOSE or OPEN

3rd place in dpchallenge.

Friends,

I got a 3rd place for a landscape shot that I submitted for a contest in dpchallenge.com.

The theme was High Dynamic Range (HDR). --> http://www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=821078

Critiques and comments are welcome.

Thanks
Raj

Jone's Creek Park

This is a random click at John's creek park in Georgia. Testing this upload for "Size Limit" problem as mentioned by Raj.

Hi All

When I try to upload an image, it says I have reached the limit of uploading images.

I tried after deleting my older posts. But, no change. I still get the same message.

Can someone let me know a solution for this or if someone is facing the same issue.

Thanks
Raj

Explosion of colors

Taken on July 4th, 2009 at Will's Park, Alpharetta.

Exposure: 10 secs, Aperture: 6.3, ISO: 100

Post-processing: "Burn" in Aperture to remove/reduce the effect of smoke.

Exposure: 13 secs, Aperture: 7.1, ISO: 100

Tips from DPS on Fireworks - HID!

How to Photograph Fireworks Displays - http://bit.ly/ZcL5Q

Happy clicking!

S@m

Just wanted to share - from DPS

From Digital Photography School: The Ultimate Mac Setup for Photographers (50 Apps) -http://bit.ly/T585u

Need to add new members?

Hello,

Can someone tell me how to add new people in here.

Some people asking how to join blog or so.

Please add below person

vsashi@gmail.com - Sasikumar Viswanath ( he is in BLM and interested in photography. Rajshekar knows him - I guess)

Some of recent photo shoots near Bloomington

This is from Sugar Grove Nature Center south of Bloomington.

Sugar Grove Nature Center

Another is from Pontiac Kite Festival, Pontiac, IL.  Attempt was to capture event

Pontiac Kite Festival

Thought share with all the activities we doing here in Bloomington.

For sugar grove I went with Deepak Gupta and at pontiac kite went with Vandana Bajikar.

Vinay

Friends
Here is one of my recent shots that reached finals in last month's contest conducted by Betterphoto. It did not win though :) Still, just wanted to share with you all.
http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Gallery.aspx?id=78840&cat=0&photoID=8133506&mp=V1

I used a macro lens and SB800 flash from side for lighting. The sidelighting is what brought out the details in the veins of the leaves. I am happy to answer any more questions about this shot.

The theme was "Macro & Details"

Shoes

I don't want to post the same thing here again and waste bytes - so here is the link to the post on my blog: LINK

Focal Price

A little off topic but of importance to us (photographers). Linked below is a web site that sells all your gadget stuff at a steep discount and with free shipping. They take paypal so it is safe as you are not disclosing your financial information directly to them.

Focal Price

Once you are there, click on the "Camera" section on the menu to the left. The first page is maninly the filters but get past them and you will see the goodies that I am talking about. Happy hunting!

Great Falls 2

This is another shot from the Great Falls. But this is from Virginia side and the previous one was from Maryland side. f/11 and ISO 200. Dont remember the shutter speed though. I used a neutral density filter (i think 2 stops) and a polarizer filer. Just trying to learn how these behave. But it certainly helped in slowing down the shutter speed to get that effect on water. In post processing, I merged three images and then as usual worked on layers with multiply mode to bring out the highlights, where required. I added a layer with amber color with a soft light blending mode to bring the warmth in the picture. I stopped dodging and burning when I started liking the image.

Orange Asiatic Lily

Shot in Auto mode (gasps..) with Kodak M1033 compact (but very capable) digital camera.
Here are the settings that the camera used -
1/1250 sec (there was plenty of sunlight), F4.7, ISO 80.

See the HD Videos (with the same camera) on my blog http://kodakm1033.blogspot.com/
You might have to scroll down a little to get to it.

Rose - Macro

An attempt at Macro in Apurture Priority mode.

F:F/3.2

Exposure: 1/125 sec

ISO: 64

This picture was taken while our friend (pro photographer) was capturing this rose in his garden.

I tried some shots (of course had some tips from him). Of the 3 shots i liked this best.

Post processing involves: Cropping, Fill light in Picasa.

Comments & Critiques welcome!

Lightning

 

This was taken on April 10th from my apartment in Alpharetta, sirens for a thunderstorm warning were going off and I was standing in the patio trying to take that perfect lightning picture that we always see.. 

This is as close as I came to getting it. 

Manual mode with 5s exposure and f/8.0 aperture. White Balance was set to Cloudy. 

Post processing: Cropped and sharpened. 

Early Spring

Images taken at Grand View Drive Peoria,IL.  Attempt was to catch spring flowers, but not much I found there.  So combincation of leaves and flowers.  All comments expected :).  Shoot in manual mode with mostly 55-200mm Nikon VR lens. 

I used an external flash to backlight the fern. And placed a black board as background. The white rim around the leaves and the sparkle in the drops are due to the light from the flash.

The star shapes in the drops are due to usage of higher f number (f/22 - smaller aperture). Other settings - ISO 200 and Shutter speed 1/320s.

Glow from within

I used a dimmer to bring down the intensity of the glow in the filament. Placed a piece of black board in thebackground. The white glow is because of the external flash that is bouncing light from the wall. ISO was 200; shutter speed was 1/320s and aperture was f/36. And cleaned the spots on the bulb surface using GIMP software.

Just clicking

Snapped this on the way up to Stone Mountain trek (in/near Atlanta, GA). Comments are welcome. Can't provide details of the shot as used my cell phone for this one :). Keep clicking!

Des Moines, IA - downtown

Hi Everyone!
This is shot with Kodak M1033 - a compact digital (that also takes HD videos - but more on that in some other post.)

This is downtown Des Moines - shot from 20th floor of another building.

ISO 64, Shutter 1/125, Aperture 3.1 and Focus set to Infinity.