The Self Critic Shutterbug

Av: F/5.6; Tv: 0.02s (1/50); f: 47 mm; ISO: 200

I shot this photo during a “Mosaru Kudike” (Dahi Handi) parade during Krishna Janmashtami this year in Mangalore. This was a show put up on one of the tableau – the famous “Hulivesha” (Tiger Dance). The troop here was playing with the fire. It made for some wonderful photographs & photogenic moments.
The night parades are both a boon and a bane for taking photos. On one hand, the whole setting looks wonderful at night, with the main show catching our attention. But, there is the problem of inadequate light making it tough to capture the moment, especially so when there is a lot of movement happening on the scene. On many occasions, you can’t use the flash as the subject is far away and the flash-light won’t reach it. Hence, it becomes important to use higher ISOs like 400 or 800. Of course, if it is very dark, you’ll end up getting a lot grains on the image.
In this photo, I love the towering and menacing fire and the stunt put up by the tiger dancers. I always wanted to catch the Tiger Dacers in action; with this photo, I have just started at that job.
I would have loved to get a closer shot of the person in action with more of his face showing as the source of the fire.
I would also have loved to make away with the disturbing ad boards in the background.

Tags: Festival, Fire, Mangalore, Tiger Dance

Av: F/7.1; Tv: 0.01s (1/100); f: 55 mm; ISO: 200

I clicked this photo as I was walking through a busy market street in Bengaluru. The shops were just opening and the vendors were just starting to set up shop as I saw this old vendor laying out his stuff across the road from me. I clicked a couple of photos of his, across the street; throwing my camera settings to Black and White with increased Sharpness, for the effect.
I did play around a little with this photo in Adobe Lightroom and used a very nice preset for the White Balance and Lens Corrections. I switched over to Photoshop for the borders.

What I like about this photo is obviously the whole emotion of the photo and the varied graduated shades which are on display. The extra dark areas in this photo give a lot of depth to this photo. The textures on the door behind the vendor is one of my favorites & I’m glad this image has captured the different shades in the background alone.

Improvements I would like in this photo include a better visualization of the face and a closer look capture of the facial expressions. I should have made better use of the opportunity to try a few more shots from closer quarters.

Tags: bengaluru, Black and white, roadside, shopkeeper, vendor