Fine Art Photography | Nature | Creative & Artistic

Recently in one of nature forums I came across a discussion related to ethics in post processing. Later I realized it may be a good idea define a boundary for myself and put it in black and white. This resulted in a small article –

Digital Post Processing Ethics – My frame of reference

24 April 08 – UPDATED

Made some quick changes to my gallery software to show how post processing is done for each of the images. I am yet to add the symbol UA,DE and DM to all files but I added that feature to my gallery software. For a sample image you can see this one.

Last week end I visited Ramanagar in southern India to see my favorite vultures. There were a few roosting there and weather was very pleasant too (for a change). The blue sky and beautifully lit vultures offered me some nice possibilities. When I saw this vulture on the edge of the cliff first backed off quite a bit to get the perspective I wanted and made a couple of images. Later I thought of diagonally balancing the blue sky with a little darker region in the frame. I found an unlit tree and its branches which offered me some possibilities. With some difficulty I could make a few images through an unlit branch such that I get a kind of natural burning effect which resulted in the image below.

Some how I tend to like this latter image a little more than the former. In field we often don’t have time to think – at least we think so!!

PS : For better quality you may want to click on each of the images above.

During our recent visit to Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary in India, as I mentioned in the previous blog below I was challenged to make natural looking images of bears. Second day I stayed off the usual place which photographers use to make images of bears from a vehicle hide. I thought of setting up a remote trigger at some place to try something different. So I set up a remote trigger at a place where there are good chances of seeing bears. Set up everything and at around 1pm I sat in my camouflage cloth covered car far away just waiting to see bears. Around 1:30pm it started getting very cloudy and there were very heavy thunder storms. I had setup my Nikon D200 with 50mm f1.8mm lens mounted and buried in ground and just covered the whole setup with a cotton camouflage cloth. I was sure my camera will get totally soaked in water with cotton camouflage cloth nicely adding to collect more water – yet I decided leave it there and take a chance. I was ready to foot repair bills for just one memorable image.

Sure, it continuously rained for next few hours. My whole setup took nice multiple showers for about next 4-5 hours. I just sat in my car thinking about my camera and lens. No bears showed up may be due to heavy rain. At around 5:30pm a few bears started coming down. I was just hoping to see them on the path where I set up the trigger. No, they did not show up there but went some where else. It is nature and luck. Can I expect to be successful with one day of experiment ? I realized I was dreaming.

At around 6pm it is time to return. I slowly drove down near my set up. Just out of curiosity pressed release button on my remote trigger. I could hear D200’s shutter releases !! Everything was working just fine even after getting soaked in water for 4-5 hours on the ground. I had all appreciations for the Nikon’s construction quality of both the camera and the lens. Though I came empty handed, my camera and lens were in the same state as it was before – may be better since it took a nice bath -:)

If successful I was hoping to get a view something like below (image credit – Shivakumar L. Thanks Shiv!). Instead of seeing yours truly there you would have seen a bear !!

I really cherish those moments of waiting in rain now even if I could not make any image. Sure I got some very valuable learnings from this experiment. It is not only the images which count but the experiences of making them are invaluable too – more so when we are doing something out of just passion.

I made a few days trip to Munnar and Kumarakom in Kerala, India. Since I went with my family I left my camera bag at home. Nevertheless, I had my wife’s Nikon Coolpix P-50 to experiment. Wish I had my gear for better control and quality but then it was meant to be a sight seeing trip with family ..

We spent a day at Kumarkom in house boat. Very relaxing day on house boat. Spent some time at Kumarkom bird sanctuary – If you plan to visit this place for bird photography I advice you don’t waste your time.

We spent next couple of days at Munnar hill station in Kerala. I really enjoyed seeing Ervikulam National Park – an amazing place to make images of Nilgiri Tahrs amidst breath taking back drops of Sahyadris. One can literally touch them – they come so close to humans. But what is interesting is opportunities for beautiful compositions. May be I will visit this place again in future just for photography…