Photoblog - Suprada Urval

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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