Eastern Washington – A photo Excursion
August 26th, 2010
I had an opportunity to visit Palouse one last time before I leave US and move back home. If you had been following my photographic journey, you might very well know that Palouse is one of my favorite places to visit to take pictures. Pictures from both of my previous trips have been very well received by a lot of viewers. So I would not want to let go of this chance to photograph the harvest season. The initial plan was for me was to drive alone. When I was talking about this to fellow photographers Siddharth and Vinayak, they showed immediate interest to go with me. I’m always excited to be with photo enthusiasts. Vin later put a FB message and asked for models to join our trip. We managed to find a model(Morgan) who was interested in joining us. Sid’s friend Lily also joined us and volunteered to be a model. So there we were, 3 photogs and 2 models, set out to capture the beauty of the rolling hills and wheat farms.
My pictures from the first two trips were very different and this time I wanted them to be a lot different compared to the previous two trips. I have been thinking about how I can make them unique. So I got some props like umbrella, hats and other stuffs ready. Also I was envisioning a shot with a very long fabric and got a 10 yard fabric cloth. Although the shot I was thinking about did not turn out exactly the same, I still managed to make some good pictures. We also carried lights and soft boxes which we ended up using very little than what we thought.
Here’s the first installment of pictures. I have also posted some behind the scenes shot. Have a look at them and provide your comments.
Come back for more pictures.
Single tree obsession
June 1st, 2010
A single tree in the frame is one of my favorite subjects. They almost always make for a wonderful composition. Here are some of my single tree frames. This is not everything that I have. One of these days I’ll come up with a sequel for this post.
Slot Canyon
May 11th, 2010
This is one of the naturally amazing places I have seen in my life. I have seen and heard a lot about this place for a long time and every time longed about photographing it. Finally I got a chance to do it and boy was I excited? We got there at the right time and the guides who helped us were wonderful. Here are some of the shots I made on the upper canyons. More details about the canyons and how to shoot the canyons will follow in a couple of days. Keep checking back.
Light Flare at the Bar
April 27th, 2010
Ever since I saw the “Light Fare at the Bar” post from Strobist website, I wanted to try this. So I mailed my mentor Marv Heston and asked him if he will be interested in trying this. He was immediately ready for some experimentation and we set out to reproduce a similar effect. I should tell you how much fun we had doing this. It was like working on a high school project with so many tiny little things to worry about and we finally came out with some great pictures. Special thanks to Marv. This is actually a test shoot before the shoot with an expensive bottle in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned for the steps to create these pictures with setup shot and more.
Meanwhile please leave your comments and thoughts about the pictures.
Caring the withered beauties – II
April 20th, 2010
This is a continuation to my fallen series. Whenever I think about shooting a tulipfest, one thing that comes to my mind instantly is that there are thousands of pictures out there online because it is the most visited event every year. If you think about a composition its highly likely that you have seen it before.
With that pretext in mind I wanted to shoot something that will be ignored mostly and one of the things that instantly struck the cord was the fallen tulips because no one really cared about it. Keep coming back for more because there is going to be more coming up in the next few days.
Seeing the unseen – II
April 15th, 2010
This is another shot in the series of delightful pictures that I got out of Tulip gardens, Skagit Valley WA. Take pictures in a tulip festival is very challenging because there are 1000s of pictures already taken and you have to make sure that you are not adding to the already existing pool of pictures. So I took only pictures that I thought were not commonly seen in a tulip festival set. Enjoy and let me know your comments. See the entire series here.
The god in monochrome !!
April 13th, 2010
I’m in no way exaggerating when I use the word god. For me, this mozart from Madras has been giving some scintillating musical experience for almost 18 years now and he still continues to do so. I still remember the days when walkman was the only source of music when I’m at home and I would play his tracks on repeat mode and eagerly wait for sundays to watch the superhit muqabla so I can have a glimpse of Oorvasi Oorvasi !! His songs continuously being in number one position is also another reason to wait for those sundays. I grew up listening to his songs.
I had been to Rahman’s concert during both his 2003 and 2007 US tours. I was so fortunate to take some pictures during his 2007 tour although I have to admit that I knew nothing about photography then which I fret even today. Only if I were more fortunate, I would have at least known to take the pictures in RAW. But thats fine. I don’t have any complaints!! Who knows he might see this post and give me a chance to photograph him in this year’s Jai Ho tour.
Caring the fallen ones
April 12th, 2010
This is first of the series of images that I’m going to come up with Tulip pictures. Whenever I think about shooting a tulipfest, one thing that comes to my mind instantly is that there are thousands of pictures out there online because it is the most visited event every year. If you think about a composition its highly likely that you have seen it before.
With that pretext in mind I wanted to shoot something that will be ignored mostly and one of the things that instantly struck the cord was the fallen tulips because no one really cared about it. Keep coming back for more because there is going to be more coming up in the next few days.
Dandelions
March 28th, 2010
It’s spring and time for some dandelions shot. Please let me know what you think about the pictures. I love shooting the dandelions. They are so much fun. Please go through the pictures and let me know your comments.
Colorfully haphazard !!
March 25th, 2010
I was scared to death when taking the picture of these cups. This is my wife’s favorite cutlery and if had I broke this then – god save me !!
Strobist Info:
I used a 580 EX II on camera left shot directly on the cups to avoid glare. I used a white foam sheet on the right side of the cup to fill the shadows. You can see the reflection of the sheet on the cups. I used another lens with a blue gel shot pointed on the background shoot through a snoot. The picture was shot using a canon T1i and a 100mm macro lens.
How to shoot objects coming out of water !!
March 24th, 2010
As promised here’s my setup details for pictures of objects coming out of water. I’m going to let a secret out at the end. This is a very basic setup until you do the magic in post processing. I used a Canon 580 EX II shot through an umbrella from the floor pointed towards the fish tank that was placed on a table. Behind the table and just below it I used another flash pointed to the background which can be any color. I used white mostly and for some shots red as you can see here. I pointed my camera towards the surface of the water from an angle of 45 deg. Now I used remote triggers for the flashes and also my camera. The remote trigger has a 2 second timer and I would switch it on and insert the object into water. I get lucky 1 out of 15 shots approximately. I know i need a motion activated trigger. I push the object or drop them into the water to create a dragging effect in water. Thats it we are done here. Yes its that simple.
Post Processing:
This is where the secret is and you will be surprised to hear it. I just rotated the picture 180 degrees to make it as if its coming out of water when its actually going into the water. !!! Now you should be able to understand the effect.
Please leave your valuable comments about what you liked and what you did not like.
I’m an emerging player !!
March 23rd, 2010
I have been thinking about doing this shot after inspired by a fellow flickrite and when I was thinking about the objects that I can use to get the effect, super heroes came to my mind suddenly but I could not find one in the local toy store next to my house. So I settle for a baseball player. I loved the output. Please leave your valuable comments.
