Looky looky

One Timers (3)

This owlet has been stuff made up of dreams! Well, its actually not that dramatic. But the very fact that I had been searching for a shot of this elusive creature for 3 years definitely added to the drama for me and also made me a bit of a blithering idiot before I could at least get a documentary shot of the creature :)

From One time wonders

For all that, its a common bird resident in open farmlands and near human habitation. It feasts on insects and rodents and so the proximity to human habitats.

Exif Info:
ISO - 200
Aperture - 5.6
Exposure - 1/400 sec
Focal Length - 432mm

Jaguar (Panthera Onca)

One Timers (2)

2. I have always wanted to take a shot of one of these creatures looking directly at me. That was relatively simple if you find their habitat close by. But what was important was to make the look appear to be sinister and foreboding. So I elected to shot this specimen at the Nehru Zoo Park in Hyderabad on a warm summer afternoon so that the warmish hued light could bounce off the ground in to the Jaguar's eyes. The effect is here to see . . .

From One time wonders

Exif info:
ISO - 200
Exposure - 1/80
Aperture - 6.3
Focal Length - 500mm

Note that I had to get really close to the iron cage to be in a position to take out the iron mesh out of the equation. I also had to turn off AF and move in to manual territory for this shot for exactly the same reason.

One Timers...

Over the last year and half, I have been shooting pictures of many a fancy. I have tried to capture the details and the motivation behind these pictures here in this column. The objective is to share some technical information about some of these pics and also give a inkling in to my thoughts behind these pictures. So, here goes . . .

1. Lightning Strikes Twice!

From One time wonders

Lightning never fails to amaze me! This exhibition of raw power of nature can literally send shivers up my spine. My foray in to lightning photography finds its way back to about a couple of years when in a burst of inspiration I set up a tripod and tried to capture that one sliver of light on my camera quite unsuccessfully on a rainy day in Chennai. The disappointing experience took me back to the drawing board and I spent time diligently reading up expert speak about getting 'that' perfect exposure. More efforts followed in the ensuing monsoons, but nothing 'eye popping' showed up. During this period I even considered investing in a lightning trigger, but somehow I ended up feeling that it was only a matter of time before I got what I have been chasing all along.
This lightning streak was part of a sharp summer shower in Hyderabad on the 21st of June in 2009. The previous day was very similar with a sharp downpour preceded by severe lightning and thunderstorms around Hitec city. So the next day I packed up earlier than usual and went home and sat this one up. I kept tracking the progress of the lightning streak until I felt reasonably sure about exposing myself outdoors to take this shot. Remember, lightning is unpredictable and extremely dangerous.

Exposure: 1/2 Sec
ISO: 400
Aperture: 7.1
Focal Length: 18mm
Post processing: yes, added saturation, increased shadow and to accentuate lightning streak as it turned out to be very bright.