The Technique (Goblet Art)

Here's how I achieved these photographs,

The Ingredients:
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1. A Table of enough height (I am pretty tall, so needed it, to avoid straining myself.)
2. A Table Lamp (+ A Regular Bulb of atleast 40W Power, higher the power, better the result)
3. A Shiny Surface (I used a white board with a bit of texture on it.) Black Granite would give impressive results, atleast I think so.
4. A Bright reflective Background (I used a White thermocole piece, big enough, to cover my composition's area, in the camera's viewfinder)
5. A Camera (I prefered using a Digital SLR, as I could see instant results and alter my settings to improve the exposure levels)
6. Camera Focal Length Range: 50mm onwards (I suggest nothing less than 50mm, if you don't have large thermocole and the Table lamp is not covering most of the thermocole's area. Also here I used a 50mm Prime lens)

The Recipe
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The Base:
On the Table, lay down the shiny board which you have.

The Background:
Arrange the Thermocole Piece such that it's approximately vertically standing on the table. Arrange the Table Lamp such that it's light falls properly on the thermocole surface.

The Goblets:
Arrange the Goblets on the shiny white board just in between the background and you (the camera).

Now, that everything's set, it's time to get going. Compose the Goblets in such a way through your camera that your background is as bright as possible. Also note that, the light shouldn't be falling on the goblets.

Try overexposing by 1 or 1.5 point (You may have to find out the best value yourself) to achieve better results.

That's all folks.

Some more...

I am Back!

Hey guys/gals,
I am back. Of course, as Sudarshan keeps saying in his blog, I too haven't quit Blogging! :D

Now, here's something I wanna share with you all. Have been long when I tried something in Photography, this time used a Digital SLR instead.

Critique/Comment Please!

Farewell Michael Schumacher

The Roar, the Power, the Team-Tactics, the Tire-Team partnerships. All of them have been showing their magic in Formula 1, since long. While Schumacher's Rivals are quitely looking the German walk off. I, like some others here (may be), feel that it could have been a year or some more before he took this decision.

As the name suggests, Formula 1, the no. 1 formula for a Car and it's Engine, on Earth at those restrictions and regulations, put forth by the F1 community, is not just about the machine, its about so many things. The Proper tuning of the car for the track, the Tires Selections, etc., Keep the Combination right, and the driver is inside the Podium.

Schumi, has been, undoubtedly an outstanding F1 driver. His 90 F1 Race wins, 7 World Titles and records of fastest laps are not to be just mentioned. They are well understood. There's something special in Schumi-Driving, however!. The Shortest Curves, the highest speeds at longest lines, and ofcourse, an Undivided Focus to "Driving". Naw!!! I know.. it's Michael Schumacher.

The World has seen many drivers, F1 drivers. But, this German fellow has something special.

Hats off to you Michael, we'll always miss you.

Photograph courtesy Car Magazine

Finally.. Munna Bhai!

Although I am Late to post on this topic. And most of you, might have already gone through posts on various blogs on this topic, I would still like to speak my mind on Lage Raho Munna Bhai.

After a long long wait, I got to see it with my full family. That was not the best part, the best was my dad who doesn't like the Mumbaiyya Accent (Local Language of Mumbai), too liked it. And he got glued to the Chair I'd rooted myself into. hahhahahaahaaaaaaa!

It's the Movie with a difference, with the essence of Mahatma Gandhi blended into it.

My Rating: 9/10
Ask why not 10? That's because, I like many movies, what sin they've commited to not get full marks? Hee heeee heeeee.

I guess, the movie's way of making a love story (Common in most of Bollywood Movies) different by making it interesting at the other parts of the movie (when they're not together), is what attracts the most out of me. It's so colorful, Munna Bhai is back with his crazy ability to make every moment, but Gandhigiri, this time!.

Must Watch, if you wanna learn a bit about Mahatma Gandhi.

Version 2

Web-kid (dineshkhairate ver 2.0)

Have Updated the blog totally, with a custom template, lots of fine tuning went in. In the end, had to remove the side bar with Chat box (cBox) too :( , sorry Elaine and Friends for keeping it off, suddenly from my blog. Expect it soon, with lots of other stuffs fitted into it.

My First Full Dish

Today I Made my first ever South Indian dish called "Phaddu" right from Scratch. I tried looking for a photograph of it on the Internet, but, all in vain. So Sorry folks, I can't show you how it looks. :(

So sad, this wonderful dish flavoured with a paste (Chutni) of Mint Leaves (Pudina) which is energized with Green Chillies, Tomatoes and Sugar, to make it that special HOT, is not so famous on the internet :( I guess, I will have to click it all by myself. :-/

Yeaaaaahooooooo I don't have to worry about my wife being dumb! ;)

I can survive. :D

The Ride to Muktimath - Glimpse 2

Have a Look at this Chain. What do you notice? Let me tell you, (if you are not knowing about these kind of artwork) one small mistake costs the job for the carver involved. As that mistake while it's been created, breaks the entire chain!


[Click on the Image to see a larger view]

The Ride to Muktimath

Recently had been to an Auspicious place, 26km from my house. Took my 2-wheeler out with mom sitting at the back. Cruising down the concrete highway, we reached there in approximately 30 mins. Which was quite fast, I guess. Thanks to the lazy Sunday roads of my town. :D

The Place is Muktimath. Now, please don't ask the name of the Swamiji for whom that "math" has been spiritualised, as I couldn't remember his name, it's not that I am ignorant, but, it's really a difficult name, will ask my parents and surely let you know, if at all you are interested. I was mainly interested in a Cruising ride to the much disputed Karnataka-Maharashtra Border, had heard a lot about the sexy roads there, which is absent inside my town :D (Belgaum, also popular for it's hopeless roads).

Could capture few snaps of that place, sharing one here.



This man is the Gardener of this place, who's so indulged in his work that he din't want to distract himself off, by looking at the camera, and making my shot a non-candid. Well, you may wonder this shot is candid, but, it isn't by the definition atleast! It just looks to be. The old man knows, I was there!

Child Portraits

Clicking portraits is my favorite, among other kinds of Photography. It gives such an immense satisfaction. Clicking portraits of an Adult is still fine as there's a good way of communicating with the model. The Photographer can communicate in the plain language, with the model, as to for a particular pose/expression.

The challenge in portraits, is when the subject is a Child. Child portrait involves a lot of involvement. It's not just a portrait, it's a Child's Portrait, so, it should have the charm and innocence, that the child-model carries, Well for most photographers, communicating with the Child is the biggest challenge, Children are prone to distractions. If the surrounding is distractive, the child will hardly be prepared for the photograph. May be that's y most Good Child portraits are clicked indoor (may be in a Studio).

Don't worry, good portraits outdoor could also be done easily, with certain things in mind. Whatever I have learned/experienced, I put forth here. If you think, there could be better solutions to this, please pour in your thoughts.

1. Keep the Surrounding Free from Distractions:

• Like other Children of the same age group,
• Avoid noisy places (like a busy street, Shopping mall), Children are uncomfortable!
• Away from the TV, most Children stare at the screen like there's a ghost!
  

2. Focus at their Eyes:
Children's best feature is their soft and clear eyes. Focus at the eyes, and your portrait is going to be very catchy.

As in the picture below, the Child's pose, isn't that great, but, it's a bit different, as the eyes are kept in focus.





















3. Find out their Best Expressions:
Well if it's your child, then no problem, you know what expression is the best your child would give, but, for those like me (bachelor, heee heeee), ask the Child's parent/guardian for the same, and let the child be in that expression when you click.

4. Use Action in your Shots:
While clicking, try to keep your Shutter speed above 1/250 sec, and let the child move and be playful, the best expressions are guaranteed. sufficient for now, try them on and see the difference.

Well for those, who already knew these things, please don't blame me, as I am just a learner too here. LOL.

Keep Clicking :)

A Wallpaper by me

Sometimes Sitting Idle has it's consequences. I made this wally (Wallpaper) as an effect of such a consequence. Hope you like it! :)There are more for big boys (esp.). Boys, can contact me for those. :)

DOF (Depth of Field)

As the name suggests, DOF means the amount of sharp portion (Sharp field of view) when looking thru your camera's viewfinder, before or behind the focussed subject. The DOF is controlled by the Aperture of the Camera.

There are many types of camera in the market, but, every camera has got the Aperture, the one like KODAK KB10 (Compact Camera), has a fixed Aperture (which the user can't change). A Camera like NIKON FM10 (Professional in layman's terms or SLR Camera), has a dedicated ring, rotating which sets the Aperture, so here the User has the option to select his/her choice of Aperture.

Aperture, as the Name suggests is the small opening through which the light enters before falling on the Film/Sensor (Sensor in case of Digital Cameras)

As a rule:
Smaller the Aperture size, higher the DOF (means more amount of Field of View is Sharpened). And similarly, Bigger the Aperture, lower the DOF (means less amount of Field of View is Sharpened).

The convention:
The aperture is denoted by the f-stops as something like this as simple numbers (The following is of one of the Nikkor Lenses, these variations at the extremeties, could vary with varying Lenses):

22 16 11 8 5.6 3.5

Now the main convention followed is:
Higher the Value of the f-stop, lesser is the Apperture size.

As can be seen Above, f22 has the smallest Aperture opening, and f5.6 has the largest.

The Challange:
For Any Photographer, the real challange is to select the right aperture before clicking the shot. For example, f16 or higher means everything in the picture (literally) would be sharp, so, it's advisable to select higher f-stops (f11, f16, f22) for Landscapes (f11 is usually suggested, as anything higher does purple fringing, contributed by stray Ultra Violet Rays)

Similarly for Macro Photography (Closing in to the subject and shooting), blurring out the background makes a good sense, as the subject that close will show lot of details, so, it's good to focus the thing we want to show the most. So, it's advisable to select lower f-stops (f1.8, f3.4, f5.6) for Macros.

Please note that, as we go nearer to any object, it's background gets blurred.

In the Public Interest

Hello Everyone,
Comments have been opened for Everyone, so, Keep Commenting/Criticising, as and when you want. I will be more than delighted.
:)

This is done by me as per the request made by fellow bloggers here.

Thanks for your suggestions. :)

Basics of Photography

Clicking Great Pictures is in the hands of the Photographer, rather than the equipment the photographer uses!

Many times, most of us tend to click pictures as we want (Don't worry, I too do that). And most of those pictures don't come out catchy. For clicking marvelous and amazingly blessed pictures, it's not important to have the world's most sophisticated camera, or the world's most Fortunate Photographer. It's the Composition that does the trick. Keep your composition right, and everything falls the way you want it.

Here are few tips (thumb rules) to compose your pictures:

1. The Rule of Two Thirds (Tells, not to keep the subject in the centre, always!)
Divide your composition (what you see in the Camera's Viewfinder) into nine equal parts as shown in the picture below:

This way, you have to imagine, 4 lines, two vertical and two horizontal. The points where they intersect are the points where our subjects should be present.

As can be seen in this photo clicked by me, the subject is the guy (who inturn is actually busy clicking from his camera) is placed at the Bottom-Right point out of the four points.

Without commenting, if the subject would have been placed at the centre, the picture would have not been, what it is now.

Again, this is not a Hard-n-Fast Rule, it is a Recommendation only. And it means that, it can be broken. But, the perfect photographer is the one, who evaluates, whether or not this rule should be used, for the situation he/she is, before the subject disappears.

And that's one of the biggest challanges for any Amateur Photographer.

See the End Result:

Larger than life!

That's my Elder bro, my guru!

Audi-Glassy-Vista! All in one place

My current Screen's Screen shot!

3500 ft Above Sea Level - Nandi Hills

Early Morning, Almost the sun's waking up. Yawning. It is then this shot was taken by a very eminent Hobbyist Photographer. Its him who actually brought me up. No no.. ofcourse, my Parents did that job. Not about handling my Toddlings, but, about creating my core. Meet my elder brother Akash Khairate.

Hubbing currently at Bangalore, he took out his new Car, arranged a trip with his school friend and his family. To reach this place at 6 am. Expectations, sometimes don't give what is expected, sometimes they give more than that. However, he managed to click some really inspiring photographs at this place, with his D50.

Few Centimeters from the Eye

An Eye for Perfection!

I haven't been this close before to someone's eye ;)

Something about Me

As to start with.. I love Photography. I am a Hobbyist Photographer too. Although difficult to afford! But, I have a better Kismat to still be able to afford it, while studying my BE.

Here's a Casual Click by me of my Watch. Which I just Love!