March 30, 2006
Photochallenge winner
My photo received the most votes and was the winner of Photochallenge #158. Yay!
February 06, 2006
Photo Booth
Photo Booth is quite cool. Check out....
July 28, 2005
A visitor
We found an uninvited visitor in the veggie garden this evening. Ashwini was happy to see a real life version of the hero of her favorite book, The very hungry caterpillar
June 07, 2005
Cleaning the CCD
After I wrote about the dust on the CCD of my Nikon D70 yesterday, did some digging around on the web and found that this is a common problem. Don't have to hyperventilate, thinking that I did something wrong. Eventhough I take all the precautions such as, holding the camera pointing down while changing the lens, the process of changing lenses allows some dust to go inside. Especially, if it is done outdoors, which I do while attaching the camera to the telescope. So, the dust on CCD is going to be a fact of life for me and I shouldn't worry about it.
Here are a couple of nice descriptions for cleaning the CCD:
The tools for cleaning the CCD:
I have already ordered my supplies for the cleanup. Hopefully, they will be here before the weekend and I can clean the camera for a weekend shootout.
June 06, 2005
Problem with Nikon D70
Noticed that a couple of small particles of dust and small fiber have gotten onto the CCD of my Nikon D70. I can see it there when I open the shutter, But, I don't want to touch it before knowing more. Does anyone have experience with cleaning such dust from the CCD? Should I use a small bulb blower or a can of compressed air? Any comments or suggestions will be very appreciated.
Cloning...
No. We don't have sextuplets.
April 20, 2005
Sunrise on April 19, 2005
March 09, 2005
Post-processing of digital photos
A lot of people scoff at digital photos that are post-processed using softwares like Photoshop and Gimp. I think what they don't realise is that there is a lot of processing art involved in slide/print photography as well. Use of filters while taking the pictures, using different mixtures of chemicals while processing the film, and dodge/burn techniques while making a print are the very same things that are achieved with the use of post-processing software in the case of digital photos. Great photographers like Ansel Adams spent days in their darkrooms to get the precise contrast and right level of details which make their photos such pieces of art. All this processing (film or digital) is necessary because no camera lens can duplicate what the human eye sees. The photographers try all kinds of processing tricks to create a photo that resembles what they remember of the original image seen through their eye.
One of my favorite photoblogs is [daily dose of imagery]. All the photos posted there are quite excellent. The author, Sam Javanrouh, is a professional artist, so, it is not a surprise that he is so good at it. He wrote a few tutorials about post processing to describe his workflow. Here is one of them that shows how the original photo is transformed into a brilliant image. Many of us take photos that look like his original but it takes the knowledge and expertise of a professional to convert them into something outstanding.
February 21, 2005
Nikon 50mm f/1.8
I recently bought a Nikon 50mm, f/1.8 lens for my D70. The shallow depth of field in this photo of 'cookies before they went inside the oven' is from the f/1.8 setting on the lens. The lens is so bright. I like that very much given my dislike for flash.
December 02, 2004
Biggest panoramic photo
Ever tried taking two or three photos and stitched them together to make a panoramic view? Here is
an extreme panoramic photo taken at Delft University by a company called TNO.
modern consumer cameras can easily take a picture with 5 million pixels.
...
One with 2.5 billion pixels - that's 500 times more pixels. If this photo were printed, it would measure 6.67 m by 2.67 m (300 dpi).
June 24, 2004
First photos with Nikon D70
I am just amazed with this camera on the first day. It is so fast. There is no delay after pressing the button. The photo quality is absolutely excellent. Check out the 'sky' photo below. No manual settings, no filters, nothing. Just shot in the auto mode. The color of the sky is beautiful. Can see myself happy with a camera for a long time to come.
First photo. Of course, it is Ashwini.
Another one of Ashwini.
Sky
June 18, 2004
PHLOG: From the South Rim
http://www.parablog.com/phlog/archives/000625.html
May 23, 2004
May 22, 2004
May 14, 2004
Spring/Summer storms
Watching the thunderstorms rumbling last night, reminded me of this photo that I took last year. Some of you may have seen it before.
May 03, 2004
Spring flowers
April 30, 2004
Spring is here...
Signs of spring have been around for quite some time. But, it took 2 days of almost 80F heat to coax these redbud buds to finally bloom. We planted this tree last year after Ashwini's birth. It is good to see that it survived the winter successfully and growing as well as Ashwini is. The redbud flowers are so pink and delicious, but, unfortunately, they don't have any fragrance.
April 27, 2004
A pot of gold
Saw this pot of gold in the backyard this morning. It disappeared by the time I got out to pick it up.
April 22, 2004
April 20, 2004
April 12, 2004
Tahquamenon Falls in Fall '02
At Tahquamenon Falls from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, winter started to show itself in the middle of fall. It snowed pretty hard that day in October. Red Maple leaves looked prettier than ever with snow on them.
April 06, 2004
Where are the people?
When I show my photographs taken on a trip, everyone always complains that there are no people in most of those pictures. Upon hearing the same kind of complaint the Master Photographer, Ansel Adams had this to say:
To the complaint, 'There are no people in these photographs,' I respond, 'There are always two people: the photographer and the viewer.'-Ansel Adams, photographer (1902-1984)
Needless to say, I completely agree with Ansel. :)
Thanks to a friend for pointing to this quote.
February 03, 2004
February 02, 2004
January 29, 2004
January 21, 2004
Taos
I was here one year ago. It was fun skiing in Taos. Hope to do some skiing this year, too.
January 18, 2004
October 22, 2003
September 29, 2003
July 28, 2003
July 08, 2003
Wish I was here just
