photoblog

End of Photoblog

Suprada — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 04:58:32 +0000

It is time. I started this photoblog almost 7 years ago as a means of sharing my photos. Then I started adding some text along with my photos. Then I started writing other articles. Of late, I have been letting this photoblog languish.

And so, like all things, this photoblog is ending today, in this incarnation.

I am still taking photos. And I am still writing, a lot more. But just not here. You can look at my photos on flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/suprada.

Someday, if fancy strikes me, then I might start a different format of sharing photo works again. But for now, goodbye!

Gogol

Suprada — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 15:00:11 +0000

Gogol, Saratoga, CA

Kodak Tri-X 400. From the Leica year challenge.

Technical Details:

Camera: Leica M6 TTL Chrome
Exposure: 1/125 @ f/2
Focal Length: 35mm
Lens: Leica Summilux 35mm
ISO: 400

Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Beach Mural

Suprada — Mon, 13 Oct 2014 15:00:41 +0000

Beach Mural, Monterey, CA

Kodak Tri-X 400. From the Leica year challenge.

Technical Details:

Camera: Leica M6 TTL Chrome
Exposure: 1/250 @ f/5.6
Focal Length: 35mm
Lens: Leica Summilux 35mm
ISO: 400

Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Looking out

Suprada — Sat, 11 Oct 2014 15:00:55 +0000

Looking out, Santa Clara, CA

Kodak Tri-X 400. From the Leica year challenge.

Technical Details:

Camera: Leica M6 TTL Chrome
Exposure: 1/500 @ f/5.6
Focal Length: 35mm
Lens: Leica Summilux 35mm
ISO: 400

Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Light on tiles

Suprada — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 15:00:47 +0000

Light on Tiles, Santa Clara, CA

Kodak Tri-X 400. From the Leica year challenge.

Technical Details:

Camera: Leica M6 TTL Chrome
Exposure: 1/125 @ f/4
Focal Length: 35mm
Lens: Leica Summilux 35mm
ISO: 400

Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Wild grass

Suprada — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 15:00:59 +0000

Wild Grass, Palo Alto, CA

Kodak Tri-X 400. From the Leica year challenge.

Technical Details:

Camera: Leica M6 TTL Chrome
Exposure: 1/125 @ f/5.6
Focal Length: 35mm
Lens: Leica Summilux 35mm
ISO: 400

Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Leica Year Doldrums

Suprada — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 15:00:58 +0000

I started the Leica year with a lot of excitement and commitment. The usual ‘new thing’ rush. And now, I am in the dip – the valley of death. I think I have been in this valley for over 3 months now, and am only now accepting it.

What do I do from here? Try again? Or let go of this project? And accept that this was one more project I am abandoning?

The first 2 weeks of my Leica year project were great. I actually hit all goals. But after that everything just died. The only rule I’ve been able to keep – take photos with the Leica and film only. And the reason I’ve kept this rule – I don’t take photos any more.

It’s not that I don’t want to. But I can’t. And I don’t know what to shoot.

Over the past 4 months, these are the problems I faced:

1. I am taking a very long time to get used to the 35mm focal length. I just crave for the 50mm. But is this because I don’t have the 50mm? Is this just GAS?

2. It took me a while to learn to focus this camera and learn about zone focusing. I found most of my photos initially were way out of focus especially wide open.

3. I under-appreciated how low the depth of field on film is compared to digital. This compared with shooting in low light, wide open apertures and no knowledge of zone focusing = way out of focus photos.

4. I don’t know what to shoot. I have always been attracted to landscape photography. A film camera combined with a baby at home and full time work means I need to shoot whatever is around – city life / home life / suburban life / cats / dogs / street asphalt and traffic lights / whatever. This is very difficult and I don’t know what to shoot. I need to learn.

5. Rolls of film wasted because I didn’t load them properly. Demoralizing not to mention waste of money. How can I get better at film photography if I can’t even load the camera properly?

6. Utter fails in developing – because I wasn’t concentrating on details enough. Developer too warm. Not enough washing. Ugh.

7. The manual light meter part of my challenge – I just cannot judge my exposure settings well. Most of the time I am way off the mark. And combine this with out of focus photos and no attention to detail!

Yeah, this Leica year is much tougher than I thought. It’s a steep learning curve – which I’m just slipping off of – all the time.

Or maybe it’s not me that is the problem? Maybe it’s that the Leica M6 camera just hates me?

All I know is that I’m miserable. Miserable because I want to take photos but I cannot. Because I cannot make myself. Oh, I carry the camera everywhere! But I do not take any photos

Maybe, my problem is this: Am I enjoying wallowing in self pity so much that I cannot get off my bum?

Maybe my problem is that I am not carving out a unique time just for taking photos with my Leica?

So this is what I will try this week

A 1 hr date with my camera – just my camera and me. And my phone (for the Lightmeter app – yeah it’s a kind of cheating – that’s a post for some other time). Maybe some exclusive one on one time and my camera will hate me less?

Wish me luck folks!

Exit blobs

Suprada — Sat, 04 Oct 2014 15:00:13 +0000

Exit blobs, Santa Clara, CA

Kodak Tri-X 400. From the Leica year challenge.

Technical Details:

Camera: Leica M6 TTL Chrome
Exposure: 1/125 @ f/4
Focal Length: 35mm
Lens: Leica Summilux 35mm
ISO: 400

Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Tree reflections on buildings

Suprada — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 15:00:42 +0000

Tree reflections on buildings, Santa Clara, CA

Kodak Tri-X 400. From the Leica year challenge.

Technical Details:

Camera: Leica M6 TTL Chrome
Exposure: 1/125 @ f/16
Focal Length: 35mm
Lens: Leica Summilux 35mm
ISO: 400

Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Shadow play sidewalk

Suprada — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 15:00:46 +0000

Shadow play sidewalk, San Francisco, CA

Kodak Tri-X 400. From the Leica year challenge.

Technical Details:

Camera: Leica M6 TTL Chrome
Exposure: 1/125 @ f/5.6
Focal Length: 35mm
Lens: Leica Summilux 35mm
ISO: 400
Date: May 2014

Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Potted plant

Suprada — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 13:26:37 +0000

Potted plant, Saratoga, CA

Kodak Tri-X 400. From the Leica year challenge.
Slighty overdeveloped: Developer – Kodak D-76 6.15min at 80F, Kodak Rapid Fixer with hardener (5 min at 80F).

Technical Details:

Camera: Leica M6 TTL Chrome
Exposure: 1/125 @ f/5.6
Focal Length: 35mm
Lens: Leica Summilux 35mm
ISO: 400
Date: May 2014

Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Black and White Film Development – Try 1

Suprada — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 15:05:26 +0000

D-76 powder –
1/2 packet + hot tap water at 80F to make 800ml of solution

Rapid Fixer
Made 0.95 liter
Water used – regular tap water
0.475L of water + ~ 236.5 of Solution A + 26ml (1/4 of bottle) solution B added with lots of agitation + tap Water to fill up to 0.95l

What I did:
– 1:1 D76 at 80F (150ml of D-76 solution + 150 ml of water), one reel in development tank, 6.15 mins
I used the Massive Development Timer app to scale my processing. For the settings I chose, the app scaled the development time of D-76 at 80F to 6.30 mins.
– Dump developer
– Stop Bath – 1min – regular water as per app agitation directions
– Again refill water – 1 min agitation for 10 s
– Fixer – 4 mins, as per app recommendation
– Saved fixer for reuse
– Wash – 8 mins, agitation as per app – changed water three times
– Add 2 drops of formaflo wetting agent, water, – 5mins – agitate as per app

What I did wrong above:
1. Developer (D-76) temperature wrong – needs to eb between 65 to 75F
2. Did not measure fixer temperate – needs to be between 65 to 70F
3. Kodak literature suggested times: D-76, 1:1 at 68F – 93/4 mins
4. Need to learn stop bath times / methods when using water
5. Washing all wrong: Need to use running water for 20 minutes (since the fixer I am using is a hardening fixer).

So my steps for next roll:

1. D76 (1:1) at 68F – 9.5 mins – agitation as per app
2. Dump developer
3. Fixer at 68C – 4 mins – agitation as per app
4. Save fixer (max reuse – 3)
5. Wash with running water under tap for 20 mins
6. Add 2 drops Formaflo + fresh water into tank – 1 min with agitation
7. Rinse and dry film

(This post was written in early May 2014).

Morning bench

Suprada — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 13:24:16 +0000

Morning bench, Santa Clara, CA

Kodak Tri-X 400. From the Leica year challenge.
Slighty overdeveloped: Developer – Kodak D-76 6.15min at 80F, Kodak Rapid Fixer with hardener (5 min at 80F).

Technical Details:

Camera: Leica M6 TTL Chrome
Exposure: 1/125 @ f/5.6
Focal Length: 35mm
Lens: Leica Summilux 35mm
ISO: 400
Date: May 2014

Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Waiting at the carwash

Suprada — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 13:45:04 +0000

Waiting at the carwash, Santa Clara, CA

Kodak Tri-X 400. From the Leica year challenge.
Slighty overdeveloped: Developer – Kodak D-76 6.15min at 80F, Kodak Rapid Fixer with hardener (5 min at 80F).

Technical Details:

Camera: Leica M6 TTL Chrome
Exposure: 1/125 @ f/5.6
Focal Length: 35mm
Lens: Leica Summilux 35mm
ISO: 400
Date: May 2014

Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Birds

Suprada — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 15:14:57 +0000

Birds on a electric line, Mission peak Regional Preserve, Fremont, CA

Hiking on a Saturday morning just after sunrise, at Mission peak Regional Preserve. Test drive of my LMMM setup. Simple, minimalist photos are so hard to take. But it is an aesthetic I seem to be liking more and more.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-P5
Exposure: 1/250s at f/?
Focal Length: 50mm (35mm conversion – 100mm)
Lens: Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1.7 with Konica AR to Micro 4/3rds adaptor
ISO: 1000
Date: Dec 21, 2013

Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

In Preparation for Black and White Film Development

Suprada — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 15:39:57 +0000

One of the rules/goals of the Leica Year is to shoot black and white film, and another one is to develop it myself with constant monitored settings. So before starting on my Leica year, I need to get acquainted with this exciting world of home film development.

I spent a few weeks reading up on what to do, and what I need. Here is the summary of my research.

Links I used to learn about developing film (I am sure you will find lots of others on the web – I used these the most):
– Developing your own film – a how to guide
– How to Choose Black and White Film
– How to start processing black and white film at home (I borrowed the sock hanger idea from here)

YouTube Videos which helped me (a lot!). Nothing like watching these videos (a lot!) to help internalize the process – that way, when you actually do it for the first time, it won’t be totally alien to your brain (kind of).

– How To Load 35mm Film Into A Paterson Tank System 4 – This video is highly recommended if you are an absolute, total, green newbie (like me!)
– Developing Black and White Film with Kodak D-76 – This video was very useful to me as well.

Equipment I bought:
– 1 Film Changing Bag off ebay – $18.99
Off Craigslist I bought for the following used for $35.00:
– 1 Paterson 600ml Graduat cylinder
– 4 1-quart size Darkroom Chemical Containers
– Paterson Super System 4 Multi Reel tank with 2 reels (tank can hold 3 35mm reels)
– Thermometer
– Tongs
– Sock dryer / hanger (20 peg, all plastic, round, two sets of rings) off amazon to dry film in the bathroom shower stall – 11.95
Chemicals
– Kodak D-76 powder to make 1 liter – $5.70
– Kodak Liquid Rapid Fixer Part A & B – 15.117
– Photographers Formulary FormaFlo wetting agent (4oz)- $4.30
Software
Smartphone app to help with timers, tracking, and what to do next – Massive Dev Chart Timer App – $8.99
Total Cost – $100.1 (Camera, Lens, film rolls not counted)

My plan is to scan the developed film. For this I plan to use the scanner I already have – The Epson V300 flatbed scanner with film holder. I now need to look into the world of film scanning – of course, after I develop my first roll!

Tip: Watch the YouTube video, and read the links – many times – before trying to develop film for the first time

The Leica Year – Prelude

Suprada — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 16:16:53 +0000

The LMMM challenge I set myself earlier this year was an attempt to figure out if I wanted to challenge myself with the Leica Year. Yes! I am ready (almost).

The source / inspiration for this challenge is a post by Mike Johnston in his TOP blog: ‘The Leica as Teacher’ post. Top make things harder for myself, I am combining this with the ‘Train your brain to guess exposure’ – exercise again set forth by Mike.

Here is a summary of rules / goals I plan to abide by:
1. Leica year is from March 24, 2014 to March 24, 2015.
2. Use one Leica Rangefinder for this one year- I bought myself a Leica M6 TTL.
2. Use the camera with only one lens, single focal length the whole year – Leica Summilux 35mm f1.4 is my choice.
3. Shoot only one type of black and white film – Tri-X 400
4. Develop my own film
5. Pick standard developer, standard time – Kodak D-76, (development time to be set later)
6. Do not use light meter for exposure – I will use my M6 with battery removed.
7. Carry camera everywhere.
8. Shoot 2-6 film rolls per week
9. In a notebook write down exposure settings , and maybe scene details for every shot
10. Proof roll films and file them in a notebook. File exposure notes as well.
11. Get 1-6 work prints per roll
12. Every 5-10 rolls or so, get a ‘nice print’ made

Another blog I found helped me formulate my goals and what I plan to do: Tripodplaces.

What do I get out of this?

Here is what Mike says:
“A year with a single Leica and a single lens, looking at light and ignoring color, will teach you as much about actually seeing photographs as three years in any photo school, and as much as ten or fifteen years (or more) of mucking about buying and selling and shopping for gear like the average hobbyist.”

and from here:

“If you’re a younger photographer, you may also have heard tales you found hard to believe, of grizzled old pros and hard-bitten photojournalists working in the days before light meters were common, guessing their exposures by looking at the light. If you’ve grown up with automatically-coupled, multi-segmented in-camera metering, letting the camera set itself and barely paying attention to what was going on, such feats may seem as unreal and unlikely as the exploits of Hercules.”

“…GSOTPANWASTOTZSS …”

“What is it? Essentially, it’s a way to train yourself to guess exposures, just like those semi-mythical pros from days of yore. Don’t guffaw—read on. If you’re willing to do the work to train your brain, guessing can actually be an appropriate substitute for more technically precise methodologies.”

and

“What’s so great about training your brain to guess exposures is, rather, the way it heightens your conscious awareness of what you’re doing, and your intuitive feeling for light. You’ve made yourself into a sort of servo-mechanism. As you go back and forth from guessing the light to inspecting your negs, guessing the light to inspecting your negs, you quickly perceive—visually, not based on numbers in a book or computer—what exposure each type of light requires. You acquire a real sense of how to handle difficult scenes. Your confidence grows and grows. ”

and finally,

“What’s really required is awareness. Either by taking notes or just remembering, you have to be fully mindful of what you’ve done—and then, of what you get”.

I like that. I would love to become one of those ‘semi-mythical pros’ who’s not mythical, and who’s not a pro! But I will settle for learning to be a better photographer – however much the ‘better’ might be compared to my skill now.

LMMM completion

Suprada — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 15:59:03 +0000

My self imposed LMMM challenge is over as of yesterday Feb 16.

I was looking back and I made approximately 600 or so images over a span of 8 weeks. Not great, but not lousy either. And most of them are photos of my daughter! The other ‘topic’ I photographed the most, if I can call that is what I see on my commute. I have been intentionally intently looking around when driving, especially when stopped at traffic lights – and now I am amazed that what I thought was a dead subject where I could not make any photos at all – now there are some very nice photos I can see. It is still very very tough to try to make a lyrical, beautiful image out of a bunch of cars waiting in front of me…but sometimes, the way the evening sun falls partially on yellow bins in the middle of the road (what are they? I never saw them before!) making some of their yellows so bright and beautiful juxtaposed with the dark somber almost grey, but sometimes chocolatey asphalt, beautiful!

I was supposed to be shooting in black and white only for the past 8 weeks, and that is what I did – except for two occasions where I had to take color photographs. I think this exercise is supposed to help with seeing luminosity. Now I do seem to see light, glorious light almost all the time, a split second before evaluating the subject – because of Black and White or because I am trying hard to make this into a habit…I am not sure. And I see beautiful color, subtle pastels, glowing bright amazing colors. I wonder how I will fare for one year of no color. I used to think I loved black and white – now I know that I love color too!

I was supposed to use only one lens throughout this 8 week period. And I mostly did – for 6 weeks. I have fallen even more in love with my Konica Hexanon 50mm f1.7 – and I cannot express in words wht I like about the pictures that lens draws…it just talks to me (like my EP5). However I switched my lens out to a newly acquired Leica M Summilux 35mm f1.4 for Week 7 and Week 8. I bought this lens in preparation for my Leica year. I am getting better at using manual lenses. Somewhere halfway, I came across the idea of “zone focusing” manual lenses – link from Ming Thein. And this is what I am practicing now. A method to how to focus manually – without having to look at the focus ring!

During this challenge, I did not use the light meter on the camera, and I tried to manually calculate the correct exposure (in my head). This is still very very hard for me. I wa sinitially almost randomly bracketing – but then over the last two weeks, I have been using the ‘Sunny 16″ rule and its variants. This is still a project for the future, and I have this link on – learning ‘GSOTPANWASTOTZSS’ to help me out.

Over this time, I have come to enjoy using my Olympus E-P5 even more. Thsi is teh first camera I have ever owned which feels special. The fact that I had to use the EVF which was bulky was annoying. And the olympus menu system is annoying (sometimes). But overall, I look upon this cameras flaws fondly! And despite its flaws and issues, I really love using it and cant think of using any other camera. I made a purse insert for it and now my camera is with me almost always, incognito in my purse..

Overall, a successful challenge for me – for it served its purpose. I learnt a lot – and am learning a lot. What next? Well, just take more photos and get ready for the Leica year.

Mesh on Leaf

Suprada — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 13:46:39 +0000

Mesh on leaf, Kotetsu Ramen, Santa Clara, CA

Day One of LMMM. The reflection of the mesh screen on the plant next to my table at lunch.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-P5
Exposure: 1/400s at f/?
Focal Length: 50mm (35mm conversion – 100mm)
Lens: Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1.7 with Konica AR to Micro 4/3rds adaptor
ISO: 1000
Date: Dec 23, 2013

Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Cow

Suprada — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 14:04:07 +0000

Cow, Mission peak Reginal Preserve, Fremont, CA

Hiking on a Saturday morning just after sunrise, at Mission peak Regional Preserve. Test drive of my LMMM setup.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-P5
Exposure: 1/400s at f/?
Focal Length: 50mm (35mm conversion – 100mm)
Lens: Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1.7 with Konica AR to Micro 4/3rds adaptor
ISO: 1000
Date: Dec 21, 2013

Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Recording Aperture when using Legacy lens

Suprada — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 17:19:16 +0000

As a part of my LMMM challenge, I am using a legacy Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1.7 lens via adapter with my Olympus Pen E-P5. This lens has a manual aperture ring on the lens barrel. The camera, also does not recognize the lens – because of which the EXIF information in the photographs do not contain aperture information.

As a part of LMMM, I wanted to try to record the aperture information somehow, so I can embed that information in my photographs as a part of my post-processing workflow. Here is how the information is embedded in the photograph EXIF via Lightroom: Adding Legacy Lens EXIF Info for Lightroom metadata.

But the question remained on how to capture that information when taking photographs. The method of writing down the photograph number and corresponding aperture using pen/paper, for each photograph seemed too cumbersome. The other option recommended a lot is to use a voice-recorder (or teh voice recorder option in your phone) which also seemed cumbersome – this info is stored on another device! I found my answer on this forum thread:
Olympus cameras offer the option to embed audio when reviewing images.
* In playback mode, when reviewing the image,
* press \’OK\’,
* then press the \’microphone\’,
* and record voice.
This is stored as a .wav file with the same filename as the image being reviewed. When you review the image now, you can just play your recorded voice.

So my workflow is now like this:
At the beginning of the day
* Format memory Card (assuming you have downloaded all the images from your memory card)
* Take first photograph
* Review this photograph and voice-record aperture information.
* Continue to take photographs
* Every time aperture is changed, only then for that photograph, review that photograph and record aperture.

The aperture information of a photograph is the same as the aperture in the previous photograph unless it has a .wav file with aperture information in it.
And this system is working great for now!

Last Bench

Suprada — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 13:44:10 +0000

Last Bench, Mission Peak Regional Preserve, Fremont, CA

The last bench on the trail. It was cold drizzly day and the trail was empty. And beautiful. Good to be with one\’s thoughts.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-P5
Exposure: 1/320s at f/9
Focal Length: 17mm (35mm conversion – 34mm)
Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f1.8
ISO: 200
Date: Dec 7, 2013

Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

LMMM – Week 2 in review

Suprada — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 17:22:26 +0000

I am now in week 3 of my LMMM challenge. 5 more weeks to go. Week 2 was a little better compared to week 1. I did take a lot of photos of my daughter – and took one I just love! And a few of my cat. But birds on lines – didn\’t happen in week 2. I feel my technical skills have also improved in week 2.

Here is a brief summary:
Total Photos: 102 photos, 3 videos
Out of Focus Photos: 26 photos
Underexposed: 55 photos
Overexposed: 2

What I learned from Week 2:
1. Taking photos of fast-moving toddlers in low light indoors is very challenging – especially with manual focus and manual exposure.
2. It is also a lot of fun!
3. It helps to think forward and decide on aperture for the entire possible scene. Basically it helps to think about what your aperture means. I am understanding aperture selections a lot more!
4. I can make photos I like without even stepping out of the house!

What to work on for week 3::
1. take more photos (try to take some everyday!)
2. Take photos of everything around.
3. Especially of the cat, and birds on lines
4. Work more on nailing desired exposure.
5. Take more photos.
6. Maybe take portraits of friends and colleagues? (I was not a portrait/people photographer – but am I mutating?)

Here are links to older posts:
Week 1 Review
LMMM Challenge

Self Portrait – 2

Suprada — Sun, 05 Jan 2014 16:55:38 +0000

Self portrait – 2, Mission Peak Regional Preserve, Fremont, CA

What\’s this? Yet another self-portrait? 2013 is after all the year of the \’Selfie\’. And I am now shamelessly copying Vivian Maier\’s self portraits. Many many more of these to come. Be warned.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-P5
Exposure: 1/320s at f/9
Focal Length: 17mm (35mm conversion – 34mm)
Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f1.8
ISO: 200
Date: Dec 7, 2013

Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Dizzy Dried Grass

Suprada — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 16:50:48 +0000

Dizzy Dried Grass, Mission Peak Regional Preserve, Fremont, CA

Playing with camera motion on the golden dried grass on Mission Peak just after sunrise.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-P5
Exposure: 1/20s at f/22
Focal Length: 17mm (35mm conversion – 35mm)
Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f1.8
ISO: 200
Date: Dec 7, 2013

Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Self Portrait

Suprada — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 03:06:15 +0000

Self Portrait, Mission Peak Regional Preserve, Fremont, CA

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-P5
Exposure: 1/125s at f/9
Focal Length: 17mm (35mm conversion – 35mm)
Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f1.8
ISO: 200
Date: Dec 7, 2013

Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

LMMM – Week One in Review

Suprada — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 18:05:16 +0000

One week up in my LMMM challenge. 7 more to go.
Overall rating for week one – I feel quite bad about my week one.

The ugly:
1. I shot about 160 photos – not enough.
2. More than 50% of these are out of focus – and that too with focus peaking enabled.
3. Even worse, 97% of my photos are underexposed.
4. And the other 3% are overexposed.
5. What to shoot has become very tough – and how to make nice (to-me) photos of everyday life.

The Good:
1. I am back on track keeping my photos organized.
2. I am taking a lot more photos of my daughter. Underexposed, slightly out-of-focus – whatever – I got a few nice photos which I will treasure.
3. I now have a realistic view on how tough this is going to be
4. I\’m writing here more often!
5. I\’m getting to play with some nice plugins!

Looking forward to Week two, here is what I hope to do:

1. Take photos of my cat (Yes! The world needs more cat photos!)
2. Take more photos of my daughter.
3. Take photos of birds on hanging out on electric lines, traffic lights and telephone lines. (This project has been simmering in my head for quite some time)
4. Be more conscious of by aperture / depth of field – try to nail exposure more often.

So, on to week two. Time to find my cat…

Here is a list of all posts and photos from my LMMM challenge.

Adding Legacy Lens EXIF Info for Lightroom metadata

Suprada — Fri, 27 Dec 2013 04:29:00 +0000

The LMMM challenge is introducing me to new problems. Lightroom is my go to tool for managing, organizing and editing my photographs. So this morning, I was trying to add the aperture information and lens information to the photograph’s metadata after importing them into Lightroom. And I could not figure out how to do this. A little bit of searching the internet – and the answer was obvious. You cannot do this in Lightroom…by itself…you need to use plugins. So here I am installing a software – Exif Tool and a Lightroom plugin: LensTagger.

The first ‘Exif Tool’ by Phil Harvey (freeware). Description excerpt from Phil’s website:“ExifTool is a platform-independent Perl library plus a command-line application for reading, writing and editing meta information in a wide variety of files.”

Lens Tagger is the plugin by Dirk Essel for Lightroom (freeware).Description excerpt: “LensTagger is a Lightroom plugin that adds EXIF data to photos directly out of Lightroom.”

Here is my image metadata just after importing:

Here is the screenshot of the Lens Tagger Window:

And here is my metadata after.

In the screenshot after Lens tagger, you can see that the ‘Exposure’ field now has the aperture value, the ‘focal length’ is filled and the Lens field now has the correct lens information. Very very cool.

I will be donating towards Lens Tagger and Exif Tool I’m thinking. They are totally worth two nice meals (at the minimum).

Mirrors and Windows (and a camera)

Suprada — Thu, 26 Dec 2013 16:35:44 +0000

Mirrors and Windows (and a camera), Kotetsu Ramen, Santa Clara, CA

Never realized \’selfies\’ are this much fun! What fun eating ramen for lunch, good conversation with friends and taking photographs. This is from Day One of LMMM.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-P5
Exposure: 1/800s at f/?
Focal Length: 50mm (35mm conversion – 100mm)
Lens: Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1.7 with Konica AR to Micro 4/3rds adaptor
ISO: 1000
Date: Dec 23, 2013

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Man checking phone

Suprada — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 15:57:09 +0000

Man checking phone, Outside a restaurant, Santa Clara, CA

Taken through a mesh screen at a Japanese restaurant – Kotetsu Ramen in Santa Clara, CA. The man in the photograph was sitting on a bench outside the restaurant while waiting for his table. I was, luckily, seated right by the window.

This was day one of the LMMMs. This is hard. I am realizing how much I don\’t know about dialing in the right shutter speed and focal length for a given ISO. I never knew I depended on the in-camera metering this much. Setting the ISO fixes to 1000 was a good idea.

Why did I choose 1000? Well, I know it is pretty high. But if I am to take photos every day, it will mostly be indoors, and I need a decent ISO to make low light photographs, and my camera can handle it. Day one has been very enjoyable so far. I am loving the look of my Konica Hexanon lens. It is not perfect – flares easily, soft wide-open….but so what! I love how the photos look. Someday I will have the vocabulary to describe what is so different, so nice about images from this lens.

What to change / add tomorrow? I need to start noting what aperture I\’m using for my photos somehow – for every frame. Is this going to be a phone app , or old-fashioned pen and paper? I am also using focus peaking a lot for manually focusing. However, after a couple of weeks, I am hoping I\’ll get the hang of manual focus without needing the focus-peaking crutch.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-P5
Exposure: 1/800s at f/?
Focal Length: 50mm (35mm conversion – 100mm)
Lens: Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1.7 with Konica AR to Micro 4/3rds adaptor
ISO: 1000
Date: Dec 23, 2013

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A Mutation of the Leica Year – LMMMs

Suprada — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 14:06:07 +0000

Of late, it has been bothering me that I have not improved in my photography over the past 3-4 years. It feels like I\’ve been wallowing in mediocrity – not even attempting to better myself. And the other thought rattling around in my brain cage is this: Should I attempt the Leica year?

What is the \”Leica Year” you say? Go here and read the article – an exercise proposed by Mike Johnston of The Online Photographer. In short, it is a commitment of one camera ( a fully manual Leica), one lens and black and white film for one year. One whole year! Maybe someday, I\’ll jump in headfirst…but not right now.

Currently, I am unable to make myself spend the $1.5k in buying a Leica (though you can regain that money by selling this), when earlier this year, I spent a similar amount for my lovely, beautiful and scrumptious Olympus E-P5 with the VF-4 and the 17mm lens. But I really do need to improve, learn to see better and feel better. So here is my mutated Leica Year.

I will use only a Konica Hexanon 50mm AR f1.7 lens, with its Konica AR to M4/3rds adapter on my Oly beauty. Since this is a manual focus lens, with manual aperture controls, I will shoot in Shutter priority Mode only. I will also use only one ISO setting – ISO 1000. I will also shoot in at the native 4:3 aspect ratio and in monochrome only. Also no continuous shooting. Electronic viewfinder allowed. No histograms, guides or any such this. Only the shutter speed display is allowed. No framing on the LCD.

Cheats allowed: Focus Peaking is allowed. Chimping is allowed. Videos in color allowed – but with this lens only.

I will do this for a period of 8 weeks – Monday December 23, 2013 to February 17.2014. In this time period I will endeavor to shoot between 2 to 6 film rolls a week (2×24 to 6×24). I will also try to keep this blog posted with what I shoot.

So that is it. Today, the first day of the \”Legacy Manual Monochrome Months” (LMMMs) for short, my new exercise in bettering my photography begins. Wish me luck folks!

Tree without leaves

Suprada — Sun, 22 Dec 2013 07:01:24 +0000

Tree without leaves against dawn sky, Mission Peak Regional Preserve, Fremont, CA

Training hike on a cold cold morning. Training for hiking, training for photography. Winter tree, no leaves against sky before sunrise. Black and White in post-process via Lightroom.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-P5
Exposure: 1/6400s at f/1.8
Focal Length: 17mm (35mm conversion – 35mm)
Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f1.8
ISO: 2000
Date: Dec 7, 2013

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My favorite Lightroom Plugin – LR2/Mogrify

Suprada — Fri, 20 Dec 2013 23:29:41 +0000

Oh my! Oh my! You know what they say..when it rains, it pours. I’m actually writing my second article in as many days! This after an absence of oh so many months (or has it been years?)

The topic of today’s post is My Favorite Lightroom Plugin , and a few other plugins I’m trying out today. A little bit of background.

Over the last couple of weeks, I ended up buying a new SSD hard disk, and moved my Windows installation onto it. In the process, I reformatted my entire hard drive (and lost all my installations – but not data) and moved to Windows 8.1. And today, I moved to Lightroom 5.3. So I am in the process of re-installing all my favorite plugins (actually one favorite plugin) and trying out other plugins.

So on to my favorite plugin: it is LR2/Mogrify by Timothy Armes. This is a donation-ware plugin. It gives you 99.9% functionality for free – but if you donate, the functionality will go to a 100%.
From the LR2/Mogrify website :“The trial version limits the number of images that can be exported in one go to ten. Donating towards one of the projects removes this restriction and will give you a serial number that works with both.”

So what do I use this for? To add borders and logo to my image. For my post processing I almost always use Lightroom only. So after editing / developing the photographs, I add a 2px black border, followed by a wide white border followed by a 3 px black border. Then I want a watermark image – with my website name and logo on the bottom right of the image. Sometimes, I want to resize the final image output. And I can do all this with a user-defined preset using LR2/Mogrify. It is great!

Here are two screenshots of my LR2/Mogrify preset settings. This preset – i use to save the full h-resolution jpeg image, with the three borders and logo. It is also for the ‘landscape’ orientation of my 16MP camera output file. The size of my watermark png file: 350 x 139px

What other plugins am I trying out? here is a list with links. Since I am currently just evaluating the following plugins, in case I like them, I might just write more of these posts (Not promising!)

List of plugins under evaluation:

1. TPG LR Backup: Donation-ware by Matt Dawson. From the website “The TPG LR Backup plugin simplifies backing up your Lightroom environment. It does this by adding the ability to backup Lightroom’s configuration files, and compress Lightroom’s catalog backups, from within Lightroom itself. These tasks can occur automatically as the program starts or manually as required.

2.Jeffrey Freidl’s “Data Explorer” Lightroom Plugin: Donation-ware. This plugin for Adobe Lightroom allows you group photos and videos in your Lightroom catalog by more than 100 data criteria

3. Jeffrey Freidl’s “Folder Status”: Donation-ware. “This Lightroom plugin allows you to create a set of workflow-status yes/no fields that milestone your personal workflow, and maintain them for each folder in your Lightroom catalog. It’s quite useful to remind yourself, on a folder-by-folder basis, what processing you have done and what remains to be done….”

4.Jeffrey Freidl’s “Focal-Length Sort”:Donation-ware. “This plugin fills a specific hole in Lightroom’s “Grid Filter”, adding new fields by which you can filter images: “Focal Length” and “Focal Length in 35mm”…”

5.Jeffrey Freidl’s Video-Asset Management: Donation-ware. “This plugin for Adobe Lightroom allows you to keep track of your video files in Lightroom.”

Plugins I’d like to try someday

1. Snapshotter from “The Photographer’s Toolbox”
2. Find Similar Files from “The Photographer’s Toolbox”
3. Syncomatic from “The Photographer’s Toolbox

Uncopyright

Suprada — Fri, 20 Dec 2013 00:57:35 +0000

It\’s about time I did this. I am releasing copyright for all work in the past – my photographs, words in blog posts etc. As of today, Dec 19, 2013 they are all in the public domain.

Now, you can use my content however you want. No need to email me for permission. You can use my photographs however you want – however many times you want. You can claim them as yours if you so choose (though that is extremely rude…where are your manners?). You can share them, re-post them, print them and put them on your wall, use them for advertising – whatever. It\’s yours to do whatever you want to do with it – if you want it.

Attribution

When you use my content – attribution is appreciated, will bring you good karma. Its awesome if you can just link back to the original photo or blog or just link to www.suprada.com. However it is not a legal necessity.

Why would you give attribution? Especially a link to my website? Apart from being a nice thing to do, so other people can find the stuff here so they can use it if they need it (More good karma for you).

Why Uncopyright?

Leo Babauta at Zen Habits says it better than I ever can: \”I’m not a big fan of copyright laws, especially as they’re being applied by corporations, used to crack down on the little guys so they can continue their large profits.

Copyrights are often said to protect the artist, but in most cases the artist gets very little while the corporations make most of the money. In the 4+ years I’ve done this experiment, releasing copyright has not hurt me, the creator of the content, a single bit.

I think, in most cases, the protectionism that is touted by “anti-piracy” campaigns and lawsuits and lobbying actually hurts the artist. Limiting distribution to protect profits isn’t a good thing.

The lack of copyright, and blatant copying by other artists and even businesses, never hurt Leonardo da Vinci when it comes to images such as the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, or the Vitruvian Man. It’s never hurt Shakespeare. I doubt that it’s ever really hurt any artist (although I might just be ignorant here).

And while I’m certainly not da Vinci or Shakespeare, copyright hasn’t helped me, and uncopyright hasn’t hurt me. If someone feels like sharing my content on their blog, or in any other form for that matter, that’s a good thing for me. If someone wanted to share my ebook with 100 friends, I don’t see how that hurts me. My work is being spread to many more people than I could do myself. That’s something to celebrate, as I see it.

And if someone wants to take my work and improve upon it, as artists have been doing for centuries, I think that’s a wonderful thing. If they can take my favorite posts and make something funny or inspiring or thought-provoking or even sad … I say more power to them. The creative community only benefits from derivations and inspirations.

This isn’t a new concept, of course, and I’m freely ripping ideas off here. Which is kinda the point.\”

I am very lucky in being able to earn a comfortable living, having a fulfilling job and at the same time being inspired by my horde of muses. There is so much more for me to create, to learn…and all this hanging on to my old stuff – the \’my\’ in this is somehow holding me back. After all, I am but a channel through which these things come into existence – I need to let go of them into the world too. Can\’t hold on to everything, can I? Need to make space for the new as well. There are so many new photos, new projects, new ideas in my head – creating is what makes me happy – not owning these things.

Yay! Hi-Res jpegs for one and all

So, from now on, when I post photos here, I will start posting the Hi-Res jpegs you all you good people to use – no obligations. It is too much work to go and add hi-res links to my older photos..but going forward, you will find the links.

I hope you can find good joyful uses for these photographs and words – wishing as much joy to the viewer as it was to create them!

Sunset on Carmel beach

Suprada — Fri, 13 Dec 2013 18:14:54 +0000

Sunset on Carmel beach, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Carmel beach sunset with the sun at the horizon. ‘Straight’ jpg from camera using the ‘Diorama’ ‘art’ filter. Love the waves crashing on the beach.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-P5
Exposure: 1/320s at f/2.8
Focal Length: 25mm (35mm conversion – 50mm)
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G Micro 4/3 LEICA DG SUMMILUX 25mm f/1.4 Leica Aspherical Lens
ISO: 200
Date: 10/9/2013 evening

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Sunset Chilling

Suprada — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 13:14:25 +0000

Chilling at sunset, Carmel Beach, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

A couple enjoying sunset on Carmel Beach on a Wednesday evening.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-P5
Exposure: 1/800s at f/1.6
Focal Length: 25mm (35mm conversion – 50mm)
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G Micro 4/3 LEICA DG SUMMILUX 25mm f/1.4 Leica Aspherical Lens
ISO: 200
Date: 10/9/2013 evening

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Dogs on beach – 3

Suprada — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 04:05:15 +0000

Dogs on Beach – 3, Carmel Beach, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Carmel beach, at sunset – on a Wednesday evening was filled with people and dogs and kids. It felt like it was a weekend. It was fun o see two passing dogs playing, chasing each other – just having fun.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-P5
Exposure: 1/640s at f/1.8
Focal Length: 25mm (35mm conversion – 50mm)
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G Micro 4/3 LEICA DG SUMMILUX 25mm f/1.4 Leica Aspherical Lens
ISO: 200
Date: 10/9/2013 evening

Dogs on Beach – 2

Suprada — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 05:06:36 +0000

Dogs on Beach – 2, Carmel Beach, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Olympus E-P5 with Panasonic Leica 25mm. Whats not to like with this combination? Light beautiful camera, the prettiest I have ever owned. Amazing lens – I cannot articulate why I like the images from this lens so much – but I do. My current favorite lens – the one with which I shoot most of the time. This was shot in Raw + JPG. What you are seeing is the \’straight out of camera\’ jpeg image.

A happy dog fetching his ball, running full tilt back to his master, on a gorgeous beach against the setting sun.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-P5
Exposure: 1/8000s at f/1.8
Focal Length: 25mm (35mm conversion – 50mm)
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G Micro 4/3 LEICA DG SUMMILUX 25mm f/1.4 Leica Aspherical Lens
ISO: 200
Date: 10/9/2013 evening

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Dogs on Beach – 1

Suprada — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 04:49:45 +0000

Dogs on Beach – 1, Carmel Beach, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Photographing outside after a long long time. Gone are my Canon equipment. Now shooting with Olympus Micro-thirds exclusively. And this is with my favourite 25mm lens! This was also shot in JPG – with \’art\’ filter – Diorama.

The little white dog looked like it was lost – and kept bothering all the dogs in a 5m radius. Later on, we saw the the owner – a stout old lady was sitting around, smoking and enjoying people\’s confusion and concern over her \’lost\’ dog. Crazy how some people entertain themselves!

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-P5
Exposure: 1/250s at f/2.5
Focal Length: 25mm (35mm conversion – 50mm)
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G Micro 4/3 LEICA DG SUMMILUX 25mm f/1.4 Leica Aspherical Lens
ISO: 200

Where the column meets the roof

Suprada — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 15:29:18 +0000

Where the column meets the roof – Modhera series
Modhera, Gujarat, India.

Photograph from the Sun Temple in Modhera, Gujarat. The pigeons who live in this temple are pretty amazing. They have pretty much taken over the temple. This one was sitting on top, in a almost-dark corner, where this intricately carved column met the even more beautiful ceiling.

I processed the photograph in Lightroom 4. Also used Tony Kuyper\’s Photoshop action – \’Make it Glow\’ for the subtle glow in the sandstone. Manually focused, aperture priority, using my Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1.7 with Konica AR to Micro 4/3rds adaptor. What a fun lens! A little heavy on my slim and trim EPL3 – but love the look of the images from it.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/60s (manual aperture, manual focus)
Focal Length: 50mm
Lens: Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1.7 with Konica AR to Micro 4/3rds adapter
ISO: 200

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Music vs. Images

Suprada — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 19:15:32 +0000

\’A picture is worth a thousand words\’ we hear again and again. But how much is a picture worth compared to music?

Just this morning, I was listening to some glorious opera music. And I was transported away to some place of soaring and moving and emotion. That made me wonder – For every person, there is a kind of music which makes them happy, makes them sad, cheers them up, inspires them, moves them to tears..

What is the equivalent of this in images? Does everyone have images which also makes them happy? sad? provides inspiration? calms them down? If so do we recognize that this is what the picture does – or does it get acknowledged only in the sub-conscious?

Is this because of all the visuals we are bombarded with everyday? What does this mean for us photographers who want to pour our emotions out into photographs? Will it be seen?

More questions than answers today, I\’m afraid!

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By the sun streaming window

Suprada — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 14:56:37 +0000

By the sun streaming window – Modhera series
Modhera, Gujarat, India.

Photograph from the Sun Temple in Modhera, Gujarat. The pigeons who live in this temple are pretty amazing. They have pretty much taken over the temple. This pigeon was in a contemplative pose, sitting on the ledge of the cool dark windows, perhaps contemplating life in the bright hot sun outside?

I processed the photograph in Lightroom 4. Manually focused, aperture priority, using my Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1.7 with Konica AR to Micro 4/3rds adaptor. What a fun lens! A little heavy on my slim and trim EPL3 – but love the look of the images from it.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/2500s (manual aperture, manual focus)
Focal Length: 50mm
Lens: Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1.7 with Konica AR to Micro 4/3rds adapter
ISO: 200

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Pigeons on carved ledges looking down

Suprada — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 16:22:39 +0000

Pigeons on carved ledges looking down – Modhera series
Modhera, Gujarat, India.

Photograph from the Sun Temple in Modhera, Gujarat. During my time there, I was enchanted by the pigeons who have made this temple their home, and how they have pretty much taken over the temple. Inside, the temple, one has to look up and see the exquisitely carved columns, and the roofs…and the pigeons hanging out there.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/15s (manual aperture, manual focus)
Focal Length: 50mm
Lens: Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1.7 with Konica AR to Micro 4/3rds adaptor
P.S. Love this lens! Would write poems in honor of it, if I could write poetry!
ISO: 200

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Make it Glow – In Lightroom?

Suprada — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 01:56:56 +0000

Have you heard about luminosity masks? These are masks or selections, in Photoshop or other image editing programs, based on the brightness of the pixels. So we can have a selection of all the \’light\’ pixels only, or all the \’dark\’ pixels only or all the \’dark shadow\’ pixels only … you get the point. Then you can use these selections to improve on certain selective parts of your image.

I was introduced to this concept of \’Luminosity Masking\’ sometime back – and found Tony Kuyper – Luminosity masking and Tony Kuyper are almost synonymous with each other. Tony has some excellent tutorials on Photoshop at his website, and here is the link to his Luminosity Masking explanation.

After going through the tutorial, making my masks, and using the masks, I was sold on them. I ended up buying Tony\’s set of actions (as a way to support him for all the excellent tutorials he writes for free). With that package of actions, I got a \’Make it Glow\’ action .

Tony recommends it for sandstone images and other southwest us landscapes. I used it on my photos of Lower Calf Creek Falls – and wow!, I love the way it looks!

Here\’s an excerpt of how the \’Make it Glow\’ action works from this blog post by Tony:

\”It simultaneously increases contrast and saturation in a smooth manner across the entire image. It essentially imparts a glow to the image that looks pretty natural. A low-contrast, low-saturation image that has lots of texture is a good place to try it. ”

And another excerpt from the same post
\”Since it makes a pretty dramatic change, lowering the opacity of the layer it’s on can help decrease the effect if it goes too far. Also, a vibrance mask on the layer can help restrict the effect to less-saturated areas of the image.”

This action is really awesome – but now, I\’m wondering, how I can create a similar effect in the develop module in Lightroom 4? Where do I start? I found this link on how to create the \’Orton Effect\’ in Lightroom ” by Helen Bradley. By playing with her technique and applying the concept behind the \’make it Glow\’ action, I\’m trying to figure out if I can actually create a \’Make it Glow\’ effect. So that is one of my new projects – making a \’Make it Glow\’ preset for Lightroom 4.

If you know of someone who has already done this, can you pretty please send me a link to their website / preset so I don’t have to figure this out by myself? Please?

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Pigeon and Sun

Suprada — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 15:30:37 +0000

Pigeon and Sun – Modhera series
Modhera, Gujarat, India.

Photograph from the Sun Temple in Modhera, Gujarat. During my time there, I was enchanted by the pigeons who have made this temple their home, and how they have pretty much taken over the temple. This pigeon with the puffed out chest was the first one to pose for me. In front of an exquisitely carved Sun God!

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/500s (manual aperture, manual focus)
Focal Length: 50mm
Lens: Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1.7 with Konica AR to Micro 4/3rds adaptor
P.S. Love this lens! Would write poems in honor of it, if I could write poetry!
ISO: 200

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Rows of Carvings

Suprada — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 14:21:46 +0000

Rows of Carvings – Modhera series
Modhera, Gujarat, India.

Photograph from the Sun Temple in Modhera, Gujarat. Like most Indian temples, the exterior of the temple features row upon row of carving – of animals, soldiers, musicians, people, dancers, gods and goddesses.

I processed the photograph in Lightroom 4.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/15s @ f11.0
Focal Length: 14mm
Lens: Lens: OLYMPUS M.14-42mm F3.5-5.6 II R
ISO: 200

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Musicians

Suprada — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 17:30:41 +0000

Musicians – Modhera series
Modhera, Gujarat, India.

Photograph from the Sun Temple in Modhera, Gujarat. A closeup of a row of musicians carved in one of the rows in the exterior of the temple.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/400s (manual aperture, manual focus)
Focal Length: 50mm
Lens: Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1.7 with Konica AR to Micro 4/3rds adaptor
P.S. Love this lens! Would write poems in honor of it, if I could write poetry!
ISO: 200

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Temple Exterior

Suprada — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 02:44:27 +0000

Temple Exterior – Modhera series
Modhera, Gujarat, India.

Another photograph from the Sun Temple in Modhera, Gujarat. This is just a photograph of the beautiful light on the equally beautiful, aged and carved exterior.

I processed the photograph in Lightroom 4.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/125s @ f11.0
Focal Length: 19mm
Lens: Lens: OLYMPUS M.14-42mm F3.5-5.6 II R
ISO: 200

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My way out of the Rut

Suprada — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 04:15:00 +0000

Are of course, writing the morning pages. I don’t know who pointed me to \’The Artist\’s Way\’ by Julia Cameron – a friend? a random blog post or an article? The who is lost in my memory – though I am eternally grateful that I came across the suggestion to read the book

I remember borrowing the book from the library, and reading it well past the due date while accruing enough fines to buy half the book. Then I actually went and bought the book too, and since then have recommended this to some people whom I though would benefit from it – you see, one need not be the artistic type to get something out of this book – one just needs to want to know oneself better and change their current status quo…

So what are these morning pages? In \’The Artist\’s Way\’, morning pages are one of the exercises which the author asks everyone to do – everyday – first thing in the morning. Here is the explanation from the author herself:
\”Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages– they are not high art. They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind– and they are for your eyes only. Occasionally colorful, more often than not Morning Pages are negative, fragmented, repetitive or bland. Good! Worrying about your job, the laundry, the weird look your friend gave you – all that stuff distracts you from your creativity. It eddies through your subconsciousness and muddies your day. Get it on the page first thing in the morning and move on with your day with a freer spirit. \”

For me, the morning pages work to bring some sanity in me – they help me if I\’m fighting with the people in my life or I\’m frustrated at work or if I\’m generally unhappy and cant figure out why or if I\’m in a creative rut. The list goes on. The morning pages help me clear my mind. And inspire me and motivate me to do what I need to do. It\’s almost like I\’m a better person overall when I write the morning pages.

So do I write them everyday? I try to but I mostly go in cycles with these (as much as anything else in my life). I\’ll write them with dedication for a month, maybe two…by then my mental state stabilizes, inspiration flows and I start working… then I get lazy and stop writing …then something happens – I fall into a rut or am upset or am depleted or a life-changing incident(or what feels like it) happens – and I get back to writing again…

One thing is for sure though – I may write the morning pages for a couple of days or for a couple of months – either ways, the changes in myself and my mental clarity on those days is amazing.

If you have actually read this post till here, as a reward for your persistence, I suggest you try writing the morning pages. Go to this link and check out what Julia says about morning pages, and watch the video.

It would be great if you would support Julia and buy her book – but even if you don\’t buy the book, try writing the morning pages for just two days! After all, all you need is a pen, paper and about 30-40 minutes in the morning. :).

And if you do feel like it, I would love to hear your experience on writing the morning pages. Do you feel any different after writing them? Am I deluded or are they really that amazing?

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Elephants

Suprada — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 05:04:17 +0000

Elephants – Modhera series
Modhera, Gujarat, India.

Another photograph from the Sun Temple in Modhera, Gujarat. As in a lot of temples in India, the temple in Modhera also had a \’frieze\’ of elephants. Basically, from bottom up, there are rows of elephants supporting the base of the temple.

Technical Details:

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What do I want from my photography?

Suprada — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 15:52:07 +0000

This is a question which I\’ve been thinking about for a while… what is it that I want from my photography?

I used to think I wanted my photographs to make me famous, like Ansel Adams or Anne Geddes – and be known as a great master photographer. Turns out, I don’t really care about the fame… I don’t deny my ego boost whenever someone looks at my photos and says something nice. But photographs making me famous – if it happens, sure…but I\’m not losing any sleep over it.

I used to think that what I want is for my photographs to spread joy – to uplift people when they look at my photos. Hmm..that\’s a lofty goal isnt it?

Well, turns out, I don’t really care….its good if people do find joy in a photo or two, or a photo or two makes them think…but if they don’t, doesn’t mean I\’m going to stop photographing.

I used to think that I want my photographs to make me a lot of money …but because they don’t, doesn\’t mean I \’m going to give up photography!

So what is it that I want out of photography? Well, I\’m still in search of an answer to that one…

Meanwhile, here is what I know now, as of now, my current truth: I photograph because I need to , and I post photographs here because I want to – and that’s about it…

Intricacies

Suprada — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 03:59:24 +0000

Intricacies – Modhera series
Modhera, Gujarat, India.

Photograph from the Sun Temple in Modhera, Gujarat.Some more intricate carvings of Gods and goddesses and apsaras of the Hindu pantheon.

I processed the photograph in Lightroom 4 and converted it to Black and White there, and of course had to add some toning.

Manually focused, aperture priority, using my Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1.7 with Konica AR to Micro 4/3rds adaptor. What a fun lens! A little heavy on my slim and trim EPL3 – but love the look of the images from it.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/1250s (manual aperture, manual focus)
Focal Length: 50mm
Lens: Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1.7 with Konica AR to Micro 4/3rds adaptor
P.S. Love this lens! Would write poems in honor of it, if I could write poetry!
ISO: 200

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Unfinished Carvings

Suprada — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 04:48:32 +0000

Unfinished Cravings – Modhera series
Modhera, Gujarat, India.

Photograph from the Sun Temple in Modhera, Gujarat. There was this rock lying around the perimeter which was only partially carved. Wonder why the artisans decided to leave it unfinished – or maybe some looters had chipped this part away from some other structure around the temple….

I processed the photograph in Lightroom 4 and converted it to Black and White there, and of course had to add some toning.

Technical Details:

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Aargh! My muse is dead!

Suprada — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 21:03:30 +0000

So I think I\’ve killed my muse. My fire to go out and photograph seems to be totally doused. When did this happen? Why did this happen? I don’t know… Was it because I decided to move camera systems? Don’t think so… because I still have my canon and my lovely little Olympus.

I just seem to have no drive to go to places to photograph anymore. And the fact that my drive\’s vanished is driving me crazy… I do still have the desire to go out and shoot – but when push comes to shove, I just sit on the couch! So what is this happening to me?

Just another boring yearly or bi-annual rut? Will I ever recover from this? Should I just find a corner and sit and cry?

Luckily over the weekend, I got my copy of Hugh Mc Leod\’s Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity. Recommended by Derek Sivers of sivers.org here. And the book kicked my butt… did something for me. Now instead of just sitting around and watching TV or reading Google News or other blog posts interminably, I am at least working on photographs … taken long ago, which are still in my \”To be Processed ” bucket and learning about post processing and photography again.

So maybe, once I slowly start working again on my photos, maybe the itch and the vision will come back? Maybe the muse will rise from the ashes ala Phoenix, and will bring the photographs along again?

Maybe?

The Last Supper diorama – Monsatir de Pedrables

Suprada — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 14:57:03 +0000

The Last Supper Diorama – Monastir de Pedrables, Monastir de Pedrables, Barcelona, Spain

A diorama of the last supper with Jesus. The lower level in the monastery at Pedrables had a bunch of these very beautiful dioramas depicting the story of Jesus Christ..

This monastery was founded in 1326 by Elisenda de Montcada Jaume II\’s queen as a place to retire to after the King passed away. You can read more about this monastery at Frommer\’s. Another link: www.barcelona.de.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus PEN E-PL3
Exposure: 1/60s at f1.7
Focal Length: 20mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH
ISO: 200
Date: March 02, 2012

Other photos from Barcelona:
– By La Rambla
– Pillars
– Arches
– Gothic Cathedral – Barcelona
– Cathedral Corner
– La Seu – Color or Monochrome?
– At Parc Guell
– Clock Tower in Town square
– Casa Amatller and Casa Batllo
– Building in Veils
– Dining Room – Monastir de Pedrables
– Hallway – Monastir de Pedrables
– Down the Cellar – Monastir de Pedrables
– Faded Murals – Tomb of Elisenda de Montcada
– Stairs Diorama – Monastir de Pedrables

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Stairs Diorama – Monastir de Pedrables

Suprada — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 02:05:25 +0000

Stairs Diorama – Monastir de Pedrables, Monastir de Pedrables, Barcelona, Spain

A diorama from the life of Jesus at the lower level in the monastery at Pedrables.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus PEN E-PL3
Exposure: 1/8s at f1.7
Focal Length: 20mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH
ISO: 200
Date: March 02, 2012

Other photos from Barcelona:
– By La Rambla
– Pillars
– Arches
– Gothic Cathedral – Barcelona
– Cathedral Corner
– La Seu – Color or Monochrome?
– At Parc Guell
– Clock Tower in Town square
– Casa Amatller and Casa Batllo
– Building in Veils
– Dining Room – Monastir de Pedrables
– Hallway – Monastir de Pedrables
– Down the Cellar – Monastir de Pedrables
– Faded Murals – Tomb of Elisenda de Montcada

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Faded Murals – Tomb of Elisenda de Montcada

Suprada — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 00:48:56 +0000

Faded Murals – Tomb of Elisenda de Montcada, Monastir de Pedrables, Barcelona, Spain

Gorgeous, faded murals on the tomb of queen Elisenda de Montcada, Jaume II\’s queen at the monastery complex at Pedrables, Barcelona. The queen\’s sacrophagus is double-sided. This is the back portion of the tomb as seen from the cloister, where Elisenda is depicted as a mourning widow. The other end of the tomb is in the adjoining Gothic church where she is depicted as a queen.

This monastery was founded in 1326 by Elisenda de Montcada as a place to retire to after the King passed away. You can read more about this monastery at Frommer\’s. Another link: www.barcelona.de.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus PEN E-PL3
Exposure: 1/200s at f1.7
Focal Length: 20mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH
ISO: 200
Date: March 02, 2012

Other photos from Barcelona:
– By La Rambla
– Pillars
– Arches
– Gothic Cathedral – Barcelona
– Cathedral Corner
– La Seu – Color or Monochrome?
– At Parc Guell
– Clock Tower in Town square
– Casa Amatller and Casa Batllo
– Building in Veils
– Dining Room – Monastir de Pedrables
– Hallway – Monastir de Pedrables
– Down the Cellar – Monastir de Pedrables

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Down the cellar – Monastir de Pedrables

Suprada — Thu, 31 May 2012 17:00:59 +0000

Down the cellar – Monastir de Pedrables, Barcelona, Spain

This is the staircase leading from the wine cellar / living quarters of the nuns to a drinking well, and what I think should be a very nice outdoor area. This was at the the monastery complex at Pedrables, Barcelona founded in 1326 by Elisenda de Montcada, Jaume II\’s queen. Unfortunately, this area was cordoned off to visitors.

Again, I was drawn to by the light – diffused light inside the cellar – mixed with the warm tungsten lamp and the outdoor light at the end o the tunnel! Beautiful!

You can read more about this monastery at Frommer\’s

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus PEN E-PL3
Exposure: 1/8s at f1.7
Focal Length: 20mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH
ISO: 200
Date: March 02, 2012

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Hallway – Monastir de Pebrables

Suprada — Tue, 29 May 2012 18:41:34 +0000

Hallway – Monastir de Pedrables, Barcelona, Spain

This is a photograph of a hallway in the monastery complex at Pedrables, Barcelona founded in 1326 by Elisenda de Montcada, Jaume II\’s queen. You can tell why I had to take a photo. Creamy yellow colors, a repeating pleasing complex arched pattern on the ceiling – and the heavenly light difused light from the window down the hallway – whats not to like?

You can read more about this monastery at Frommer\’s

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus PEN E-PL3
Exposure: 1/13s at f1.7
Focal Length: 20mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH
ISO: 200
Date: March 02, 2012

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Dining room – Monastir de Pedrables

Suprada — Fri, 25 May 2012 17:58:22 +0000

Dining room – Monastir de Pedrables, Barcelona, Spain

We took the hop-on hop-off bus tour of Barcelona. This was one of the places where we got off the bus – and we were the only ones. I was a little apprehensive that no other tourist wanted to check out this monastery … and we ended up liking it. It is a very peaceful place, founded in 1326 by Elisenda de Montcada, Jaume II\’s queen, as a place where she could retire to after the king\’s death (What a mobrbid thought – but I guess that\’s how it was in those days). She is also buried here. More about this place from Frommer\’s

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus PEN E-PL3
Exposure: 1/15s at f1.7
Focal Length: 20mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH
ISO: 400
Date: March 02, 2012

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Weekly Inspiration #2

Suprada — Sat, 12 May 2012 19:30:29 +0000

Like all good things I start with, the starts are always accompanied with hiccups, with spurts and pauses… and so is this series. Here are this week\’s inspirations.

1. Rory Sutherland\’s Talk on TED Talks – \”Perspective is everything\”.

2.The Silliness of Busyness from Zen Habits.

I\’m too busy today to work on my photographs. I have too many things to do to play with my cat for the next 10 minutes. I have no time to read a verse of Dogen\’s poetry… And on and on and on it goes… No time to do things which bring me joy..but I do have ample time to shred old receipts (which need to be done..but at what cost?). The author here points out how silly our mindsets have become…a good one to read and contemplate.

3. Waka by Dogen

Dewdrops on a blade of grass,
Having so little time
Before the sun rises;
Let not the autumn wind
Blow so quickly on the field.

4. Peter Matthiessen from The Snow Leopard

All my life, I have hurried down between these walls, the sun crossing high over my head, voice swept away in the din of this green flood. The river, and life goin, the excruciating sun: why do I hurry?
– Peter Matthiessen

5. Amazing time lapse movie shared with me by a friend.
This beautiful work is by Luke Humphrey on Vimeo. I watch this in awe.

Intention for the week: Slow Down!

Barcelona Doors – #1

Suprada — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:56:57 +0000

Some door, Barcelona, Spain

I know I was fascinated by the doors, and the graffiti in Barcelona. Why? Maybe I was looking at photographs of doors before I went there?

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus PEN E-PL3
Exposure: 1/15s at f1.7
Focal Length: 20mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH
ISO: 400
Date: March 02, 2012

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Building in Veils

Suprada — Fri, 04 May 2012 16:32:57 +0000

Building in Veils, Barcelona, Spain

After a long day with a lot of walking we were looking for a coffee shop and happened to walk along this street. We found ourselves in front of the Palau de la Musica deCatalana – however what caught my attention was the building next to it. This one, was under some renovation of some kind, and looked like it was covered with veils. However this corner had torn its veil and was basking gold in the evening light and the the light of the lamps, with its veil fluttering in the wind.

The lovely architecture of Barcelona in the pale evening light.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/20s at f1.7
Focal Length: 20mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH
ISO: 400
Date: March 02, 2012

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Casa Amatller and Casa Batllo

Suprada — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:09:12 +0000

Casa Amatller and Casa Batllo, Paseig de Gracia, Barcelona, Spain

We were walking down the Paseig de Gracia, window shopping, since the prices were not that attractive at all the uber branded stores! (Really! 90 euros for a tie-die like t-shirt?). It was around sunset. And luckily for me, the sun happened to shine in this exquisite way on the two modernist buildings side by side – Casa Amatller and Casa Batllo.

Of course, I could identify only Casa Battlo. Antoni Gaudi. A bit of time on a search engine helped me identify Casa Amatller – with its colorful steps profile. Casa Amatller is the work of another Catalan architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch.

Anyway, after photographing this building, and how nice looked in the light, we walked on. I must say that one can never ignore a modernist building (unless of course you pass by it twice a day..). Love it or hate, but you will notice it!

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/4000s at f1.7
Focal Length: 20mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH
ISO: 200
Date: March 02, 2012

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Clock Tower in Town square

Suprada — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 01:30:45 +0000

Clock Tower at Placa Rius I Taulet, Barcelona, Spain

We visited Parc Guell in Barcelona, and decided to walk to this square which the person at the apartment we were saying told us about. Actually, we wanted to take a cab – but no cab was ready to take four adults and a three year old – and since we didn\’t know exactly where we wanted to, we decided to walk.

The person had described the Placa Rius i Taulet as the town square of an old village, which is now a part of greater Barcelona. (I found out the name of this place today after a lot of searching! In my mind it was a town square with click tower..not very descriptive) He had told us that it was a very charming place. In the evenings, all the locals come and sit around here, order coffees or a glass of wine while the children run around and play (soccer!). It was such a great suggestion!

And it was just like what he had described. We ended up eating some tapas at a restaurant called Bo – they had yummy patats bravas and the deep fried padron peppers! Yum!

Other photos from Barcelona:
– By La Rambla
– Pillars
– Arches
– Gothic Cathedral – Barcelona
– Cathedral Corner
– La Seu – Color or Monochrome?
– At Parc Guell

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/2000s at f1.7
Focal Length: 20mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH
ISO: 200
Date: March 02, 2012

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At Parc Guell

Suprada — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:15:30 +0000

At Parc Guell, Barcelona, Spain

This is a tiled mosaic inserted on the roof in a structure at Parc Guell in Barcelona. The tiled mosaic was made by Antoni Gaudi who was also the designer of this Parc. All this info from Wikipedia – here. Its a pretty nice place – though unfortunately, we didn\’t have enough time and energy to explore the entire parc.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/30s at f1.7
Focal Length: 20mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH
ISO: 800
Date: March 02, 2012

Other photos from Barcelona:
– By La Rambla
– Pillars
– Arches
– Gothic Cathedral – Barcelona
– Cathedral Corner
– La Seu – Color or Monochrome?

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La Seu – Color or Monochrome?

Suprada — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:48:35 +0000

Gothic Cathedral, Barcelona. Which do you prefer color or monochrome?

This is a photograph of La Seu the Gothic Cathedral. This is in Barcelona in the center of El Gotic – the Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulalia – This cathedral is dedicated to St.Eulalia, a co-patron saint of Barcelona.

I could not decide if I liked it better in black and white or color. What do you think?

Other photos from Barcelona:
– By La Rambla
– Pillars
– Arches
– Gothic Cathedral – Barcelona
– Cathedral Corner

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/250s at f1.7
Focal Length: 20mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH
ISO: 400
Date: March 01, 2012

By the way, this is not an HDR – just a straight photograph, with a little bump in contrast and a bit more of color destauration (in the color version).

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Cathedral Corner

Suprada — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:23:42 +0000

Gothic Cathedral, Barcelona

This is a photograph of a corner of the the Gothic Cathedral in Barcelona in the center of El Gotic- the Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulalia. This cathedral is dedicated to St.Eulalia, a co-patron saint of Barcelona who achieved sainthood by being tortured by the Romans when she was a young virgin of 13

Other photos from Barcelona:
By La Rambla – www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2183
Pillars – www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2192

Arches – www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2198
Gothic Cathedral – Barcelona – www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2259

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/20s at f1.7
Focal Length: 20mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH
ISO: 400
Date: March 02, 2012

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Gothic Cathedral – Barcelona

Suprada — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 15:36:39 +0000

Gothic Cathedral, Barcelona

In Barcelona, after work was done with, got time to just be a tourist and do a lot of sightseeing. On a Friday evening, walking past the Gothic cathedral, the doors were open, and I got to go in. This cathderal, full name \’Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulalia\’ is the first church in Europe I have visited and I was blown away at how gorgeous the interiors are – the soaring vaults and transepts – amazing – and the decorations and carvings (and bling) inside this gothic cathedral is indeed elaborate. I found out that this cathedral is dedicated to St.Eulalia, a co-patron saint of Barcelona who achieved sainthood by being tortured by the Romans when she was a young virgin of 13!

Processed in lightroom – almost no adjustments except bumping up the contrast a little bit and bringing the saturation down.

Other photos from Barcelona:
By La Rambla – www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2183
Pillars – www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2192
Arches – www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2198
Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/40s at f1.7
Focal Length: 20mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH
ISO: 400
Date: March 02, 2012

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Hong Kong Airport – 3

Suprada — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:52:24 +0000

Play of light and shadow on the roof of some terminal in the Hong Kong Airport. This is what one does after a 14 hour flight, and 7 1/2 hours to go separated by a 4 hour break in between….
This is the last of this series.

Other Images in this series:
Hong Kong Airport 1 – http://www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2100
Hong Kong Airport 2 – http://www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2102

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/1250s at f5.6
Focal Length: 41mm
Lens: OLYMPUS M.14-42mm F3.5-5.6 II R
ISO: 800

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Hong Kong Airport – 2

Suprada — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:33:57 +0000

Play of light and shadow on the roof of some terminal in the Hong Kong Airport. This is what one does after a 14 hour flight, and 7 1/2 hours to go separated by a 4 hour break in between….

Other Images in this series:
Hong Kong Airport 1 – http://www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2100

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/30s at f22.0
Focal Length: 42mm
Lens: OLYMPUS M.14-42mm F3.5-5.6 II R
ISO: 800

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Hong Kong Airport – 1

Suprada — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:25:52 +0000

Play of light and shadow on the roof of some terminal in the Hong Kong Airport. This is what one does after a 14 hour flight, and 7 1/2 hours to go separated by a 4 hour break in between….

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/50s at f22.0
Focal Length: 21mm
Lens: OLYMPUS M.14-42mm F3.5-5.6 II R
ISO: 800

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Weekly Inspiration #1

Suprada — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 04:20:08 +0000

Here is the first post in a new series (all word, maybe some pictures some day?) called Weekly Inspiration which is about (I\’m sure you just can\’t guess this…) about what inspired me this week.

1. The War of Art by author Steven Pressfield.
I read about this book a while ago and bought it a while back as well. However, I keep going back and reading it again and again whenever in need of some motivation. It is a must read if you are an artist / entrepreneur / DIY enthusiast of any sort who has issues with doing what you want to. Basically, it will kick your butt and tell you to get moving and start doing what you want to in a foreceful, fun and emphatic manner. You should read the reviews on Amazon.

Kindle Amazon link: The War of Art – Kindle Edition
Amazon Paperback Link: The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles

2. Blog post link: An exceedingly simple Guide to a keeping a journal by Leo Babauta at Zen Habits
I have always read about poeple keeping journals, and have always wanted to write a journal. However I\’ve always had excuses – no time, takes too much time, too tired and rather sleep, woke up too late to write etc…Leo has a radical (and simple) new approach to journal keeping. If you are like me, then his method just might work for you. I am giving it a try since I read his post this week.

3.Blog post – What does it take to succeed in photography? by Kirk Tuck at The Visual Science Lab
I always feel like I suck at what I want to be good in – photography (and climbing and cycling and…). And like millions of others, I try to read up on what people who have made it – or on their way to making it have to say. In this post. Kirk talks about how discipline is what he considers is the top of the list. And I agree with him. You should go and read his post – its awesome.
Here are his suggestions quoted from his post.

\”Don\’t miss practice.
Practice good technique.
Don\’t cheat yourself.
Don\’t give in.
Don\’t give up.
Don\’t settle for less.
Work through the pains and disappointments.\”
– Kirk Tuck at VSL

Trees

Suprada — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:36:03 +0000

Trees on Mt. Hamilton Road, San Jose, California

Last spring, there was snow forecast down to 3000ft here in the bay area. There was snow on Mt. Hamilton (just like this spring). One Sunday morning, I decided to drive up there and see what I could photograph. Alas, the road all the way to the observatory was closed. And it was raining. And it was foggy. So, on my way down, I stopped by a couple of places and took a few photos. This is one of them. I love how these trees look in the fog – and the minute I saw these, I knew I had to try a black and white conversion.

Post Processing: Raw image + Lightroom 3 processing. I used this develop preset called Soft Highlights by Joop Snijder as a starting point and then did the black and white conversion. Here is the sample image and download link at Joop\’s blog. This lightroom preset is highly recommended – one of the staples in my workflow.

Other photographs in this series:
Barn: www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2250
Lake: www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2253

Technical Details:

Camera: Canon EOS 50D 15.1MP Digital SLR Camera
Exposure: 1/160 at f/4.0
Focal Length: 33mm
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm f4.0 L
ISO: 100
WB: Daylight
Date: February 19, 2011

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Lake

Suprada — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:17:38 +0000

Lake on Mt. Hamilton Road, San Jose, California

Post Processing: Raw image + Lightroom 3 processing. I used this develop preset called Soft Highlights by Joop Snijder as a starting point and tweaked some. Here is the sample image and download link at Joop\’s blog. This lightroom preset is highly recommended – one of the staples in my workflow.

Other photographs in this series:
Barn: /www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2250

Technical Details:

Camera: Canon EOS 50D 15.1MP Digital SLR Camera
Exposure: 1/160 at f/4.0
Focal Length: 36mm
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm f4.0 L
ISO: 100
WB: Daylight
Date: February 19, 2011

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Barn

Suprada — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:03:29 +0000

Some barn on Mt. Hamilton Road, San Jose, California

Technical Details:

Camera: Canon EOS 50D 15.1MP Digital SLR Camera
Exposure: 1/400 at f/4.0
Focal Length: 40mm
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm f4.0 L
ISO: 100
WB: Daylight
Date: February 19, 2011

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Looking Around – People at Modhera Series

Suprada — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:34:14 +0000

Locals visiting – People at Modhera series
Modhera, Gujarat, India.

Other tourists taking in the place at the Sun Temple in Modhera, Gujarat.

I processed the photograph in Lightroom 3, apart from some basic processing, used BoonDoggle 2 – a free develop preset available as a part of 14 free presets from Wonderland presets.

Other photos in the \”People at Modhera” series
School Kids – www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2145
The Sweeper – www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2155
Locals – http://www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2169

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/1600s (manual aperture, manual focus)
Focal Length: 50mm
Lens: Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1.7 with Konica AR to Micro 4/3rds adaptor
P.S. Love this lens!
ISO: 200
Tripod Used

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Locals – People at Modhera Series

Suprada — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 21:09:08 +0000

Locals visiting – People at Modhera series
Modhera, Gujarat, India.

I was resting at the Sun Temple in Modhera, Gujarat, after taking photos for a while. I saw these three locals, two in a traditional dress, and one man in modern attire taking in the place.

I processed the photograph in Lightroom 3, apart from some basic processing, used BoonDoggle 2 – a free develop preset available as a part of 14 free presets from Wonderland presets.

Other photos in the \”People at Modhera” series
School Kids – www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2145
The Sweeper – www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2155

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/20s (manual aperture, manual focus)
Focal Length: 50mm
Lens: Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1.7 with Konica AR to Micro 4/3rds adaptor
P.S. Love this lens!
ISO: 200
Tripod Used

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The Sweeper – People at Modhera Series

Suprada — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:29:42 +0000

The Sweeper – People at Modhera series
Modhera, Gujarat, India.

I was in Modhera, Gujarat, India during December 2011. The really old Sun temple here, built between 1022 – 1063 AD. is an awesome place with exquisite architecture. And since this is a ruined temple, only visitors were around. Since I reached there early (but not early enough for my liking), the caretaker there was still around, sweeping the place. Its like one of the cravings came to life, put on modern clothes and was taking care of the place for the fellow carvings (yeah..time to go get some coffee..).

I processed the photograph in Lightroom 3, apart from some basic processing, used BoonDoggle 2 – a free develop preset available as a part of 14 free presets from Wonderland presets.

Other photos in the \”People at Modhera” series
School Kids – www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2145

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/125s at f11.0
Focal Length: 14mm
Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko ED 14-42mm II f3.5-5.6
ISO: 200

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Sea Theme for Flogr / Flickr

Suprada — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:15:36 +0000

I have finally done it! After planning to do so for almost 2 years, I have finally come up with a free theme – Sea for Flogr for you to use!

Let me rewind a bit – If you have gone to the \”Flickr Gallery” section of my website, you will see photos in a web photo gallery format. These photographs are actually my Flickr Sets.

I use the excellent free program – Flogr by Mike Carruth for this section of my website. From Mike\’s description: \”Flogr is a flexible script that displays your flickr photos in a customizable photo gallery you host on your website. If you use flickr but want to have a different look and feel for your photo gallery you may like flogr.\”

What you do is: you install this script on your web host space (with your domain name), and point it to your Flickr account – now you have a website to showcase you photographs. You can see how convenient this is, can\’t you? All you have to do is manage your photographs on Flickr, organize into sets and tag them, and voila – you have a fully functional web gallery!

Well, for my website, a while back, I had customized the stock themes which came with Flogr to match the rest of my website and customized the pages I wanted it to show. Over time I had a lot of people ask me (ok… maybe just a few people…) how I did it. That had given me the ides of coming up with a similar theme and distributing it for free.

So after a lot of procrastinating, here it is! My new theme Sea is yours to download. It is a light bright serene theme which will relax and de-stress you while at the same time inspire you to take your photography to the next level – and it will stun visitors to your web gallery by how awesome your photos are and what a bad-ass photographer you are— all for free! (Is that a good marketing pitch or what!).

You can take the Sea theme for a test drive and find out for sure – here. And after that, since you were stunned and wanted to stun other people with your photos, you can download the theme here. And you can download Flogr here.

Enjoy! (All marketing speak aside, if you do use the theme, I would really appreciate a note!)

And for those of you who didn\’t want to read through all that, here are quick links.

Quick Links:
Download Sea: Here
Download Flogr: Here

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School Kids – People at Modhera series

Suprada — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:20:04 +0000

School Kids – People at Modhera series
Modhera, Gujarat, India.

I was in Gujarat, India during December 2011 and went to visit Modhera. Modhera, literally means \”The Mound of the Dead\”. The Sun temple here was built between 1022 – 1063 AD. – there is no active service / puja there anymore since the inner sanctum has been destroyed – by various invasions and earthquakes. I spent a good four hours getting a feel of the place, enjoying the architecture, checking out the pigeons and trying to not smell the bat guano.

While I was there, a huge batch of school kids came by on a school trip. I was trying to photograph the Ramakunda or the sacred tank when they all decided to sit to pose for a photograph. I took a break to enjoy their antics. As soon as the shutter clicked on the group photo, the kids all started scrambling up. That\’s when I had to turn and take this photograph.

Did you see the bird and the mooon in the photograph as well?

I processed the photograph in Lightroom 3. I used a preset called BoonDoggle – a free preset available as a part of 14 free presets from Wonderland presets. On top of that I played around with some settings in teh basic module.

http://www.wonderlandpresets.com/free-wonderland-presets/
Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/100s at f11.0
Focal Length: 14mm
Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko ED 14-42mm II f3.5-5.6
ISO: 200

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Berries and Shadows – 3

Suprada — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 18:19:24 +0000

Berries and Shadows, Santa Clara, CA

One afternoon, walking from one building to the next, I was entranced by the trees which had shed most of their leaves and had lots of berries. What leaves were remaining were with the berries. This tree was casting a shadow on the wall and also on the shiny glass wall. Perchance, I happened to have my camera, and shot this scene knowing I was going to turn it into monochome…

This is the last in this series.

For the previous images in the series, check out
Berries and Shadows – 1 : http://www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2084
Berries and Shadows – 2 : http://www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2087
Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/500s at f5.6
Focal Length: 42mm
Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko ED 14-42mm II f3.5-5.6
ISO: 200

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Berries and Shadows – 2

Suprada — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:08:27 +0000

Berries and Shadows, Santa Clara, CA

This is Part 2 in the series. For the previous image, check out
Berries and Shadows – 1 : http://www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2084
Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/60s at f5.6
Focal Length: 42mm
Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko ED 14-42mm II f3.5-5.6
ISO: 200

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Berries and Shadows – 1

Suprada — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 17:18:34 +0000

Berries and Shadows, Santa Clara, CA

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/4000s at f5.6
Focal Length: 41mm
Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko ED 14-42mm II f3.5-5.6
ISO: 10000

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Tree Rays

Suprada — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:18:02 +0000

Merced River outside Housekeeping camp, Yosemite National Park.

For the first time ever, I ended up staying at the housekeeping camp in Yosemite National Park. I have previously stayed at the tent city in Curry village – and this was a treat. The housekeeping cabin consisted of three concrete walls, concrete roof, one canvas entrance, beds, and a patio with a fire ring. It was also right next to the Merced river. It was so cold in the night that the two space
heaters we got were life savers.

Waking up in the morning and walking to the Merced is a treat in itself. Add to that the fog burning away, the smell of wood smoke and breakfast cooking at various campfires, the sound of the Merced flowing over the rocks, the muted sounds of humanity waking up…and the sun light streaming through the trees… what a sight! I had to try to photograph and this is what I ended up with.

Technical Details:

Camera: Canon EOS 50D 15.1MP Digital SLR Camera
Exposure: 0.6s at f22
Focal Length: 17mm
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras
ISO: 100
WB: Daylight
Date: October 8, 2011

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Housekeeping Camp

Suprada — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 03:45:37 +0000

Merced River outside Housekeeping camp, Yosemite National Park.

I was walking to the Merced to set up for a night shot – to try to stack for star trails (Click here to see what I got). I happened to look back and this is what I saw …Moon light and camplight almost merging all separated by these tall tall trees.

Technical Details:

Camera: Canon EOS 50D 15.1MP Digital SLR Camera
Exposure: 10s at f/4.0
Focal Length: 10mm
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-4.5
ISO: 3200
WB: Daylight
Date: October 8, 2011

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Star Trail on Merced

Suprada — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 20:49:12 +0000

Merced River outside Housekeeping camp, Yosemite National Park.

For the first time ever, I ended up staying at the housekeeping camp in Yosemite National Park. I have previously stayed at the tent city in Curry village – this was a treat. The housekeeping cabin consisted of three concrete walls, concrete roof, one canvas entrance, beds, and a patio with a fire ring. It was also right next to the Merced river. It was so cold in the night that the two space
heaters we got were life savers.

At night, I went and setup my camera and tripod with an intervelometer menaing to let it run through the night while I sleep happily. However, within about an hour, there was mist and then fog – I bailed out on this plan at this point. This photograph is a stack of the images in about a 50 min span.

Below are some links to tutorials about Star Trails for those interested:
Star Circle Academy star trails – http://blog.starcircleacademy.com/2011/03/star-trail-creation/
Photo extremist – some tricks – http://photoextremist.com/star-trails-tutorial
Another nice tutorial – http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/725769/0

Technical Details:

Camera: Canon EOS 50D 15.1MP Digital SLR Camera
Exposure: Stack of 120s, f4.0 exposures
Focal Length: 12mm
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-4.5
ISO: 100
WB: Daylight
Date: October 8, 2011

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Half Dome and Moon

Suprada — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 06:02:39 +0000

Half Dome from Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park.

I am back from Barcelona – a long two weeks of work and a little vacation. I\’ll have more photos from that trip in a bit. meanwhile, here is one from good old Yosemite.

We were at the Glacier View Point in Yosemite National Park for Sunset. It was very crowded, along with a range program about the history of Yosemite as a National park. He was talking about how the sunsets from Glacier Point are either \”Wow\’ or \”oh..that was all?\”..

Luckily for us we got a very nice sunset, with the sun kissing Half Dome and the snow topped mountains behind it. The moon in the sky was just the right touch.

Technical Details:

Camera: Canon EOS 50D 15.1MP Digital SLR Camera
Exposure: 1/13s at f/20.0
Focal Length: 17mm
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L
ISO: 400
WB: Daylight
Date: October 8, 2011

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Arches

Suprada — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 01:15:50 +0000

Arches – off Las Ramblas, Barcelona, Spain.

A photograph from walking around Barcelona\’s Las Ramblas with the Oly E-PL3 and the Panny 20mm. This was some old building in the Gothic Barri area, on the right side of Las Ramblas (right walking towards Playa Catalunya). There were chairs and tables setup underneath these arches – outdoor seating for a restaurant.

Processed in Lightroom Beta 4, using Mikey G\’s Kodak Film emulation preset – Kodak Technical Pan and then made some more adjustments.

Other photos from Barcelona:
By La Rambla – www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2183
Pillars – www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2192

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/20s at f1.7
Focal Length: 20mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH
ISO: 400
Date: February 19, 2012

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Pillars

Suprada — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:08:58 +0000

Pillars – Next to the La Boqueria market off Las Ramblas, Barcelona, Spain..

Another photograph from my first evening walking around Barcelona\’s Las Ramblas with the Oly E-PL3 and the Panny 20mm.

Processed in Lightroom Beta 4, using Mikey G\’s Kodak Film emulation preset – Kodak Technical Pan and then made some more adjustments.

Other photos from Barcelona:
Barcelona – By La Rambla – www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2183

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/13s at f1.7
Focal Length: 20mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH
ISO: 400

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Barcelona – by La Rambla

Suprada — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 03:27:16 +0000

Boys by an old water tap on the side of La Rambla.

My first day – actually evening at Barcelona, I was walking around with the E-PL3 and 20mm on the notorious Las Ramblas at night. This is one of the more satisfactory photographs from that evening – for some reason was not feeling inspired by Barcelona yet – maybe it was the jetlag?

Processed in Lightroom Beta 4, using Mikey G\’s Kodak Film emulation preset – Kodak Technical Pan and then made some more adjustments.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/15s at f1.7
Focal Length: 20mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH
ISO: 400

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Reading on the Plane

Suprada — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 10:58:34 +0000

Note: This seems so appropriate to post right now, sitting at the Frankfurt airport. Who knew I would be back travelling again – and taking photos at airports and planes. I don\’t even know if I should be sleeping or staying awake – messed up by time zones. This is only going to get worse over the next couple of weeks…sigh!

Reading on a airplane to somewhere…
About Photograph:

During my vacation in December 2011, I was on a lot of planes, travelling a lot on my vacation. At some point on this plane ride, I woke up and it was dark. However, there was this lady some seats to the left who was reading, and the lamp light was falling so beautifully on her shining hair. I had to take a photo using the extremely amazingly lovely Konica Hexanon 50mm F1.7 (did I tell you that I love that lens? almost more than my Canon 10-22mm EF-S?)

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/25s at f1.7 9manual aperture, manual focus)
Focal Length: 42mm
Lens: Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1.7 with Konica AR to Micro 4/3rds adaptor
ISO: 200

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Passion Flower – 3

Suprada — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:17:11 +0000

Passion Flower – 3 : The Top View

Photographed lovingly with the OLympus E-PL3, a Konica Hexanon 50m f1.7 lens attached to the camera with a Konica AR to Micro Four Thirds Adaptor, tripod. cotton cloth for background and available light.

Passion Flower – 1 : www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2117
Passion Flower – 2: www.suprada.com/photoblog/qrchives/2128

Technical Details:

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Passion Flower – 2

Suprada — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:03:23 +0000

Passion Flower

Passion Flower – 1 : www.suprada.com/photoblog/archives/2117

Technical Details:

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Passion Flower – 1

Suprada — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 06:28:45 +0000

At my parents place, they have this amazing looking flower with an intensely sweet scent – very attractive to humans and bees and butterflies alike. They call it the \”clock flower” (translated). Now with an hour on hand I had to absolutely try to photograph this.

And, what fun I had photographing this flower. My setup was my Olympus E-PL3 with the Konica Hexanon 50m f1.7 (which is a 100mm equivalent on my micro four thirds sensor). To get a dark backround, I found a black cotton cloth, tied it to a door handle and let it drape on a stand, the fabric draping down at at an angle. And then I rested the flower on it.

What do I like about this photograph? That it is one my very first macros. That I really like this particular flower. I looove the shallow DOF, the thin focus plane of this lens. And that the bokeh – the out of focus bits look so good. That I was manually focusing the lens, on a tripod, and this is quite good for a novice manual focusser.

I have two more photographs of this flower coming up in the following days.

Technical Details:

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Mission Peak Sunset

Suprada — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:27:45 +0000

Mission Peak, Bench at the Flagpole, Fremont, California.

This was an attempt at HDR. I was hiking up Mission Peak via the Ohlone trail with a friend, after work. We walked up to the bench next to the flagpole. And I set up there to photograph the glorious sunset over the bay area. It was awesome…until I strated getting bitten by mosquitoes. And thats when we headed down.

I used FDR Tools Advanced – Compressor algorithm to blend into HDR. It is an amazing piece of software… and I seem to like it much better than Photomatix.

Technical Details:

Camera: Canon EOS 50D 15.1MP Digital SLR Camera
Exposure: HDR blend of three exposures using FDR Tools Advanced
Focal Length: 22mm
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm f4.0 L
ISO: 100
WB: Daylight
Date: September 1, 2011

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Umbrellas

Suprada — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:51:32 +0000

Umbreallas, Great Mall, Milpitas

Bored of landscapes. Here\’s something different…nohing more to it than what you see…

Going to a mall, we were sitting out eating lunch. I happened to look up at the umbrellas, and I had to get my new E-PL3 out and shoot this. I loved the lines, the abstractedness and the RED color.

Technical Details:

Camera: Olympus E-PL3
Exposure: 1/100s at f4.0
Focal Length: 14mm
Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko ED 14-42mm II f3.5-5.6
ISO: 200

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Lightning from Barcroft Station

Suprada — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:58:43 +0000

Sunset on White Mountain, View from above Barcroft Station, California

In August (2011), I attended a workshop – \”Dark of the Night Star Photography\”. This was organized by the Pt. Reyes National Seashore Association and the instructors were the really good Harold Davis, Steven Christenson and Eric Harness. (Side Note: Check this interview I did with Harold Davis a while back – its an awesome read.)

On Day 2 of the workshop, we drove up to the Barcroft Research Station at 12500ft, and got a tour of the facility. After that we hiked up about 3/4th of a mile to a view point to see sunset on white mountain. I made it up there with difficult due to a bad case of altitude sickness.

We saw a spectacular sunset up there, and headed back down. As we were heading down back to our vehicles, thunder storms were playing in the sky opposite to us. This is the first photograph of lightning I have ever made.
Technical Details:

Camera: Canon EOS 50D 15.1MP Digital SLR Camera
Exposure: 1s at f/4.5
Focal Length: 20mm
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5
ISO: 1250
WB: Daylight
Date: August 27, 2011

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White Mountain Sunset

Suprada — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:46:59 +0000

Sunset on White Mountain, View from above Barcroft Station, California

View
In August (2011), I attended a workshop – \”Dark of the Night Star Photography\”. This was organized by the Pt. Reyes National Seashore Association and the instructors were the really good Harold Davis, Steven Christenson and Eric Harness. (Side Note: Check this interview I did with Harold Davis a while back – its an awesome read.)

Technical Details:

Camera: Canon EOS 50D 15.1MP Digital SLR Camera
Exposure: 1/20 at f/14.0
Focal Length: 40mm
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm f4.0 L
ISO: 1250
WB: Daylight
Date: August 27, 2011

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Bristlecone Pine and Blue Skies

Suprada — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:47:00 +0000

Bristlecone Pine and Blue Skies, Patriarch Grove, Ancient Bristlecone pines.

On this workshop, we stayed at the Crooked Creek Research Station at 10,200 feet altitude. The accomodation was good – clean, warm. Not your luxury accommodation you would find at a five star hotel, but dorm style with very clean bathrooms, and beds, and a heater and with a very nice view – just perfect for people on a photography workshop.

The point of the workshop – of course was night photography. However, one afternoon, my room mate (for the workshop) Debbie and I drove up to Patriarch grove to enjoy the place in daylight. This was a photograph taken then.

Technical Details:

Camera: Canon EOS 50D 15.1MP Digital SLR Camera
Exposure: 1/125 at f/16.0
Focal Length: 24mm
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm f4.0 L
ISO: 100
WB: Daylight
Date: August 28, 2011

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