The Self Critic Shutterbug

Av: F/3.2; Tv: 6s; f: 11.5mm (35mm-equiv:69 mm); Ev : -0.33; ISO: 100

This is actually a very simple photo of an industry at night. It has a very well-balanced feel to it and just gives a feeling of tranquility.
To capture this photo, I used a tripod and a relatively long shutter speed of 6s. I tried an Exposure bias (Ev) of -0.33 in this photo to reduce the brightness and achieve black in certain areas, which would enhance the effect of the lights.

* The use of natural framing in this photo draws the attention of the observer towards the subject in the centre.
* The reflection of lights on the water surface is another plus point of this photo. The smoothness of the water surface was achieved by the long shutter speed. If not for the smoothness of the water, the photo wouldn’t have had the same effect.
* I did not have to resort to much post-processing for this. However, I had to use the clone tool to erase a glaring electric wire within the framing area.

Improvements I would like to see in this photo include

* The improvements in the quality of the photo with less noise, especially in the area of the lights.
* More emphasis on the framing with increased exposure would have made it a little more apparent, but that would have diminished the contrast between light and darkness.
* I could also have tried with a very narrow aperture to give a star-around-the lights effect.

Tags: Industry, Night, Reflection, Riverside, Water

Tv: 1/125 (0.008 ) s; Av: F/3.2; f: 31.3 mm (35mm-equiv: 189 mm); ISO 140

This is a photo which conveys a feeling… a feeling of faith. This photo was taken in an “Othekola”, a type of “Bhuta Kola“, a religious ceremony in Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka. I like the way the look in the eyes of the worshipers has come out on the photo, conveying a sense of awe, faith and a little bit of fear.

To be frank, while taking this photo I was not concentrating much about the expressions of the people. I was looking to get the motion blur while capturing the fall towards the pile of embers. But, I discovered that adding a bit more shadows and tweaking the levels and saturation gave a whole new meaning and dynamism to the photo. I like the noise in the photo which gives it an old, grainy, spoilt look to the photo.

However, the noise can be viewed as a drawback as well. Another drawback is that people may see it as a loss of a little naturality of the photo because of the effects in Photoshop; but I wanted a different colour tone for this picture and so was experimenting with it.

I would have been better if the subject was better focussed and the background was blurred out a little.

Tags: Faith, People, Religion, Traditional activities