A Perfect Getaway

Solo trip to Northern Ireland

2018-06-24T11:22:00.002-07:00

When you hear the term 'Solo Trip' first question which comes in most of us' mind is ‘Why?’. I mean, why you want to go for a trip all by yourself when you can enjoy that place with your cool, happening travel partner(s). And that quench to find that answer forced me to go for my first (and could be the last) Solo Trip.
So how I planned the trip, how I reached there, how those planning turned out and did I get my answer from that trip – if you want to know then continue reading, otherwise you know.. you can go back to your "valuable" work.

@Whiterocks beach | Shot with Nikon D5100

There are few steps (self-taught though) you need to follow for such trips. Here it goes.

Planning : Well this step has to be part and parcel of your trip. Being a novice in travelling, that too in a different country, it takes some amount of planning and courage to take the final decision. I’ll come to the “courage” part later on. So for now let’s stick to the Planning & start without further due.

1. There are lot of travel agencies which conduct excursions around different parts of Northern Ireland but my first goal was to not to take any one of them and visit the places all by myself by public transport. So first, I checked for the transport connectivity around the places I wanted to visit. After surfing through internet, I understood that if I want to see all those places either I have to drive by myself or I have to take any tour agency and as both of them were out of my plate, I decided to cut down the number of places and settle down for a few which were Giant’s Causeway, Bushmill Distillery, Whiterocks beach and if time permits then Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. So my travel plan was something like this –

· Dublin (Aircoach Bus) – Belfast (Have some breakfast and coffee)

· Belfast Great Victoria Street railway station – Portrush (By rail if you didn’t get the mode of transport).

· Portursh (Ulster bus) – Giant’s Causeway.

· Giant’s Causeway (same bus in opposite direction) – Whiterocks beach (my B&B).

· Next morning: Whiterocks beach (same bus) - Carrick-a-Rede Rope bridge.

· While coming back from Rope Bridge, visit the Bushmill Distillery

· Then from Portrush – Belfast - Dublin

Sounds pretty decent plan, doesn’t it? Let me assure you here, your

plan is going to be screwed up somehow in some manner. Hence, comes my

next step which is - Flexibility.

Flexibility: There were not once, not twice, but 3 times when I had to change my so called ‘plan’ due to something without any option.

· First one was due to heavy snowfall in Ireland, whole country got shut down for 3 days including that weekend when I planned my travel. But thanks to my host @Airbnb he promptly agreed to change my travel date for upcoming week.

· Second one happened when I reached Giant’s Causeway. Though it was a cloudy day still there wasn’t any forecast (you HAVE to check weather forecast if you’re planning for a photography trip) for heavy rain. The moment I reached Causeway and started exploring the area, out of no-where it just started pouring down and chucked out my whole plan of shooting long-exposure of ‘World Heritage site’.

· Third one is a mixture of good and bad. Next morning I had plan to visit the Rope Bridge along with Bushmills Distillery but rain continued from the last night and my host suggested that with this kind of rain and wind they may not open the bridge at all. So with heavy heart, I thought to explore the Whiterocks beach which was just at the backside of my stay. So without wasting any time, I packed my camera gear and started exploring the beach. And boy oh boy.. Within few moments I found one small hidden beach with black and white rocks lying everywhere and a direct view to Dunluce castle and most importantly, not a single person in that area but me (By the way, I’m a bit introvert when I’m with my camera – just FYI).

Hidden beach just for me I guess

What have I experienced in this journey?

There were two aspects of this whole jaunt. First one was as the title

suggests Solo travel for first time and the second one was Photography.

From the photography perspective, it wasn’t that great to be honest. I

mean I have captured a few good pictures but those are not ‘Keeper’. I

wanted to shoot that unique structure of Causeway with some setting sun in

the background. But thanks to the rain, I couldn’t even take out my camera.

Got few shots only from that beach but needless to say I wasn't

disappointed at all from this fact.

But when it comes to travelling, I have learned so many things from this trip

I can’t explain them all. Even though I couldn’t visit all those places which I

planned to but just sitting on a beach in front of mighty Atlantic gave me

lots of perspective. I heard this term somewhere that Travelling changes

people in a way that you couldn’t imagine. And I think I got to experience

that saying that day.

Only snap of Causeway from my action camera.

I know I have bored you all enough so coming to Conclusion.

There are a few quirks I have to mention which I have felt during this

journey. First thing is that if you are going to do solo travelling for the first

time there will be a point when you’ll feel like giving up. In my case, that

point was day before my travel date and I can’t explain how many times I

had thought of cancelling that trip but you have to overcome that step by

yourself with all the courage you have. I know I’m not a professional

traveller who can ask you to trust my words but trust me on this – go for a

solo travel once and it’ll be a life-long experience for you.

Second point which I think is mandatory to discuss. You’ll be lonely if you go

for solo and there is no denying in that. But if you’re willing to embrace that

part by hook or by crook you’ll find a different version of yourself. You can

bring your kindle/book if you’re a book-worm or you can keep the latest

episode of the series which you’re watching so that those things can give you

some company when you do not feel like travelling or exploring places.

Having said these downsides of solo travel, there are lots of upside in there

too. Your foolproof plan may go all the way wrong, you may not get good

images, you may not be able to visit all the places but still the amount of

experience you’ll gather that’ll be unmatched. With that said, signing off for

now. Ciao.

P.S. All the images are taken by me.

@Giant Causeway coastal trail. Forgot the name of this shoe like stone

Shot with Nikon D5100 at Whiterocks beach

Post-Processing with Photoscape

2012-07-01T18:28:00.000-07:00

For photography purpose,Post Processing(PP) is an integral part..Because it's not possible to click every single image with proper settings of camera..Those who use manual mode,it's quite impossible to set their camera settings perfect before each shot..So PP is quite necessary at that stage..Personally I don't like too much editing in any photos,because it cuts down the originality of the photo & as well as the photographic sense of yours..But some things has to be processed with some kind of editing software..There are so many editing software..Most popular are Adobe Photoshop(PS) & Lightroom(LR)..But you have to first learn these software thoroughly if you wanna use them as your Post Processing tools..Personally I haven't use Lightroom,but I heard that it's really good & many professional photographers use it for their editing purpose..In case of Photoshop,I realize that there are so many options,& if you really wanna use this firstly you have to learn the each & every functions..If you are shooting with RAW,then you can change the whole camera settings in your desktop using PS..
Apart from these two softwares,there are 2 more popular PP software i.e. Picasa & Photoscape..I think all of you familiar with Picasa..For beginner level,Picasa is quite popular because it's so easy to use..As a beginner,I also use Picasa for my PP & sometimes I try to explore the PS..Today I use another software Photoscape..It's looks like quite easy to me..Functions are easily understandable..Some options are quite good for making a different kind of photos..Wanna show my edited photos-


original picture

Now open this picture in Photoscape

Do "Auto Contrast" to balance the brightness,contrast,gamma..If your exposure settings is not upto your satisfaction level then do it manually from the "Bright,Color" option..

To add some extra effect,go to the "filter" menu

there are so many options..you can choose any one of them & see the effect..I did the editing in this way..go to the "film effect" option

choose any kind of filter as per your choice..I choose "Afga-low" for this one..Now go to the "Antique photo" option from "filter"

It'll be set to "sepia" as default..Change that to "original" and choose no 4

your final image looks like this -

Photoscape can be said as upgraded version of Picasa..It's quite easy to use with some charming editing options..It's really useful for entry-level photographer like me..But still if you want to do some real good quality editing you have to use PS & LR..
Hope you like my Post processing..If you want to give any kind of suggestion you are always welcome..feel free to comment.. :)

Old is....'good'..can't say gold.. :)

2012-06-28T12:23:00.001-07:00

Have nothing to do in these days..So I was taking a look around my old snaps which I clicked at the very first month after bought the camera..Some of them are average,some of them are not so good,don't know too much about my camera.So have to do some editing on them..
Just wanna share those clicks..Hope you'll like those clicks..Take a look around,suggest me,point my errors..I'll be really happy to see your comments.. :)

An early "Cloudy" morning

2012-06-17T16:36:00.003-07:00

Few days back, I haven't slept whole night due to some personal reasons. So around 5 in the morning, I went to my roof just to roam around a bit. After a while, it started raining & my mind started to cool off. When the rain stopped, I quickly took out my camera to click some snaps. I was able to capture a Morning Bokeh too.

Photography is not about some time-bounded staff and it definitely does not require DSLR or other costly equipment all the time..It just needs photogenic objects & your vision to look at that them. But in case if you're carrying your camera then do capture it. :)

Beginner’s Guide to Shutter Speed, ISO, Aperture

2012-06-06T03:24:00.001-07:00

Nowadays, more digital point and shoot cameras are now equipped with manual functions. These manual functions allow you to be more flexible and creative in your approach to photography..By changing the shutter speed, aperture and ISO,we can now able to spread the photography in different field..

1.Shutter Speed:
Shutter speed is a common term used to discuss exposure time, the effective length of time a camera's shutter is open. In still cameras, the term shutter speed represents the time that the shutter remains open when taking a photograph.In addition to its effect on exposure, the shutter speed changes the way movement appears in the picture. Very short shutter speeds can be used to freeze fast-moving subjects, for example at sporting events. Very long shutter speeds are used to intentionally blur a moving subject for artistic effect. Short exposure times are sometimes called "fast", and long exposure times "slow".

Slower shutter speeds are often selected to suggest movement in a still photograph of a moving subject.
Excessively fast shutter speeds can cause a moving subject to appear unnaturally frozen. For instance, a running person may be caught with both feet in the air with all indication of movement lost in the frozen moment.

Shutter speed with 6sec-

shutter speed with 1/1600 sec

2.Aperture:

The aperture stop of a photographic lens can be adjusted to control the amount of light reaching the film or image sensor. In combination with variation of shutter speed, the aperture size will regulate the film's or image sensor's degree of exposure to light. Typically, a fast shutter speed will require a larger aperture to ensure sufficient light exposure, and a slow shutter speed will require a smaller aperture to avoid excessive exposure.
Every camera has a ‘pupil’ like our eye that changes diameter from wide aperture (letting lots of light in) to narrow aperture (letting less light in).

Shutter speed is measured in seconds, and the aperture diameter is measured by an f-number. A smaller f-number, like f1.8 or f3.2, refers to a wider aperture. While a high f-number, like f8.0, f22, refers to a narrower aperture. This is because the f-number is calculated by dividing focal length over the aperture diameter.

Aperture value f/8

Aperture value f/4.5

3.ISO:

ISO is a term that came from traditional film photography. It indicates how sensitive a film was to light. The lower the ISO (100, 200), the less sensitive it is to light. In digital photography, the ISO measures how sensitive the image sensor is. It’s the same principal as film photography. If you wish to capture more light in a dark environment, you would have to increase your ISO setting.
Now, before you crank up the ISO at any photo opportunity, you’d need to be aware that the higher the ISO, the more noise you’d have in your photos. The specks and graininess become more apparent when you enlarge the image. Generally speaking, you would have the ISO as low as possible.

with ISO 200

5 Tips on "Bokeh"

2012-06-05T04:01:00.000-07:00

Bokeh comes from the Japanese word ‘boke’, which means fuzzy. In photography, bokeh defines the quality of the blurred lights presented in a photo. We’re not referring to a badly taken photo that’s all out of focus, but rather the aesthetically pleasing background blur. Usually, this type of blur highlights the focused subject even more.
Bokeh is often most visible around small background highlights, such as specular reflections and light sources, which is why it is often associated with such areas. This type of photography is very interesting, and can make even the simplest objects look spontaneous and beautiful.

Here are some tips to get you started with bokeh photography:

1. Larger aperture works best, so use a low f-stop number like f1.4, f1.8 or f2.8.
2. You would need to set the shutter speed faster. Slower and I find the background lights getting blurred together, instead of rendering small circles. If it’s too dark, increase the ISO level rather than the f-stop number.
3. The closer you get to subject, the better. If you’re using a zoom lens, extend it to the longest focal length.
4. The further away the background, the better.
5. If you don’t have a subject and want to create the bokeh effect with the night lights, manually focus your camera..Set the focus on any object apart from that light source from which you wanna get the bokeh..

Hera a related video for bokeh tutorial- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPcdWxhLwoA

This picture was taken by me by using Canon Powershot SX150 IS-

Some more beautiful bokeh images are -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/irenesuchocki/5686955774/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cleaneugene/3119991219/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryaniceman/5872973746/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10649739@N00/3024953945/

Hope this article helps you to click some bokeh snaps..

Beautiful Black and White photography

2012-06-03T05:00:00.002-07:00

Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual art..Beautiful black and white photography doesn’t attract with its play of colors. Here close attention to composition, lighting, perspective and the context it is shot in are important..Some basic things which have to kept in your mind in case of B&W photography are-
1.Shoot in RAW-I know many readers can’t shoot in RAW (because their camera doesn’t offer it) or don’t shoot in RAW (because they either don’t know how or don’t like to) but for the most control in the post production phase of converting your color images into black and white ones – you’ll want to shoot in RAW if your camera does allow it. Of course shooting in JPEG doesn’t stop you shooting in black and white – but if it’s an option, give RAW a go, you might be surprised by what it offers you in post production..

2.Shoot in Color-
If your camera doesn’t allow you to shoot in RAW (or you choose not to) – shoot in color and do your conversion to black and white later on your computer.

3.Low ISO-
Shoot with the lowest possible ISO possible. While this is something that most of us do in color photography it is particularly important when it comes to black and white where noise created by ISO can become even more obvious. If you’re after this ‘noise’ (or grain) you can always add it later in your post production – but it’s harder to go the other way and take noise out.

4.Time of Shooting-
Many digital photographers actually prefer to shoot images for Black and White in low contrast situations. So an dark or overcast day can be a great time to shoot out door shots..

One more thing, you need to train yourself to look at shapes, tones and textures in your frame as points of interest. Pay particularly attention to shadows and highlights which will become a feature of your shot..
Another thing,When shooting black and white landscapes look for ‘active skies’.. I had watched some of professional clicks where the skies in his images were breathtaking with wonderful cloud formations and what often looked like storms about to break..

I want to share some personal b/w clicks with you..You are always welcome to give me any kind of suggestion

You can take a look at these professionals photos -http://500px.com/rootnode
http://500px.com/85mm?page=4