Saturday, December 18, 2010

"Dashboard"

Trishul from Kausani

Friends,

The Himalayas have been a centre of attraction due to their wonderful formation, vastness and snow covered peaks since long. One can have a panoramic view of the Himalayan ranges from Uttarakhand (India). Here is a photograph of Trishul (trident) Peak of Himalayas. This photograph was taken in November 2010 from Kausani, a famous place in Uttarakhand. I, along with my friends, arrived at Kausani just an hour before the sun set. The driver led us to a high point called Anaasakti Ashram, from where we can have the best view of Himalayas. As we reached there, it was a thrilling moment to have a glance of the great Himalayan Peaks, especially “Trishul”. We set our cameras on tripods and waited for the right moment. The setting Sunlight painted the snow covered peaks red and created a charming ambience around us. Without wasting time, I concentrated on “Trishul “and clicked a few shots. This is one of them. This photograph is taken with a Nikon D 90 Camera with a Sigma, 170-500 mm lens. The ISO was set at 200 and the picture was clicked in aperture priority mode (at f 16).

--Dr. Pankaj Sharma


Saturday, December 11, 2010

“Youth Corner” - The Young and Creative: Rajeev Kashyap

“Youth Gallery”
.....The Young and Creative: Rajeev Kashyap
Friends,
Born and brought up in Ludhiana (Punjab, India), Rajeev Kashyap is a devoted photographer. He began his journey of art about 10 years back as an assistant of a commercial photographer. Due to his inborn talent and hard work, he soon established himself as an independent photo artist. Appetite to learn more provided him with the opportunity to meet the phenomenal photo-artist of Ludhiana, Mr. Rakesh Syal. Rajeev was hypnotized by Mr. Syal’s style of work and accepted him as his guru whole-heartedly. Here after, he started visiting Mr. Rakesh Syal’s place and breathed in the fine tips given by him. Syal suggested him to join IIPC and attend its workshops. He connected with IIPC and attended its workshop in Delhi in 2008. This Workshop raised the curtain from his eyes. He learnt a lot during this event. According to Rajeev, this workshop proved to be a ‘U-turn’ in his life.
Today he is a popular photo artist of his town. He is a true follower of pictorial photography and tries to add pictorial value even to his commercial shoots.
Rajeev regularly participates in the competitions of art photography for his delight. He has a number of awards and recognitions to his credit.
--Dr. Pankaj Sharma









Saturday, December 4, 2010

Learning : Photographing Birds

“Learning”

Photographing Birds

Friends,

Pretty birds attract a nature lover quite impulsively. Capturing them through camera is the innate desire of any nature photographer. A few points can help us photographing the birds perfectly.

1. Being a nature lover, our prime aim should be not harming the birds.

2. Before photographing them on a particular location, we have to study their behaviour and activities first. This supports clicking their pictures in a natural manner.

3. We have to position ourselves at a distance or behind a hide so that birds may not get alerted of our presence.

4. The ideal time to click the birds is that of early morning or late evening. The dynamic light of these situations helps in boosting the details and colours of these little creatures.

5. The use of a telephoto lens (such as 300 mm, 400 mm or 500 mm) or a long ranged zoom lens (such as 70-300 mm, 150-500 mm or 170-500 mm) is always recommended. The activities of the birds can be captured from a lengthy distance by using these lenses.

6. The use of high shutter speed (1/500 second or more) is a necessity for bird-photography as the birds are extremely quick in their activities. Here the need of high ISO setting (400 or more) automatically takes birth. Thus the combination of a high shutter speed and a high ISO is a necessity.

7. Due to the swiftness of birds, we should set our camera at continuous shooting and continuous focusing modes for all time. These modes help out during clicking flying birds. Applying these features and panning the camera properly will lead us towards perfect capture of these small beings.

8. Lastly, “the right click at a right moment” (with aesthetic sense) is the key to photograph the birds aptly.

--Dr. Pankaj Sharma