I took this photo from the top floor of Polo Towers which is right opposite to Aria Hotel in late afternoon on a bright summer day. You can see the reflection of other buildings in the glass surface of the Aria and Mandarin Oriental and other hotels in the area.
A visit to Las Vegas right in the middle of summer. At noon, streets are deserted (it’s too hot outside). I liked this scene with the color scheme of construction barriers, black/grey asphalt road and McDonald’s and Circus Circus Hotel in the background with blue skys.
Northwest Forest. This is a post-processed photo, to increase dynamic range called high dynamic range (HDR). Human eye can see approximately 20-24 F-stops worth of light intensity variation while most digital cameras can only capture 8-10 F-stops. What it means is what we see in a real scene can never be captured on a digital photo as it is. But with computers we can combine multiple images captured at various settings (called bracketing) and increase the dynamic range. This technique is most useful when shooting a subject with bright background like sky, snow, beach. In a normal photo, you either get a very bright overexposed sky and properly exposed object or very dark object and properly exposed sky, but never both. HDR image can depict both objects properly exposed by combining these two (or even more exposures). Notice in this photo that I’m pointing the camera directly at the sun, but still the tree barks, leaves etc. in the foreground are properly exposed. In a normal photo you would see them completely black in such case. Table Rock Trail (near Molalla, OR), Summer 2010.
Chicago City. May 2004
A view of a slice of Chicago downtown as seen from the Sears Tower Sky Deck. You can see the Lake Michigan in the background. The apparent curvature on the horizon is not because of the curvature of the earth but the distortion created by the camera lens at a very wide angle. Spring 2004. Chicago, Illinois.
This beautiful pink Hibiscus flower was in Mitchell Park Domes in Milwaukee, WI. We were visiting a friend there in Spring 2004. Hibiscus flowers come many colors including blood red and white, but this color is very interesting. Shot with Nikon Coolpix 4500 point-and-shoot camera in macro mode.
Macro mode. Matrix metering.
This photo was shot on a hiking trail (Angel’s Rest) in Columbia Gorge. I spotted this very small spider on the flowers trying to weave a web (look carefully you can see it too in the photo). Shot with Nikon Coolpix 4500 point-and-shoot camera. July 2003.
Macro Mode. Matrix Metering
I like to shoot macro shots of flowers. Flowers with bright intense colors look very nice. This photo is interesting because the angle is different. Instead of the usual practice of shooting flower photos from top looking down, I put the camera below the flower “looking” up towards the sky. Shot with Nikon Coolpix 4500 point-and-shoot camera. This camera had a swivel back panel so I could compose the photo when the camera was held low near the ground looking up. July 2003.
Program Auto mode. Center-weighted metering.
Lake Tahoe in an awesome sight. This photo was actually shot by Shraddha in a hurry while we were just finishing a drive around the lake perimeter. This road goes all around the lake and this portion of the road is quite higher (in many places it’s at the water level). Shot with Nikon Coolpix 4500 point-and-shoot camera.
Auto Program mode, Matrix metering.
This natural tower is in Yellowstone National Park near the Mammoth Hot Springs. Strange structure. Shot with Canon EOS Elan IIE and Sigma 28-80mm lens. July 2002.
Tulips always fascinate me. For the range of colors and beauty. Their short life span makes them even more precious. I like this photo especially for the saturated colors and depth of field. The quality of this photo is not as good because I had scanned the negative with a consumer grade scanner and later lost the negative, so this is only copy I’ve left besides the prints. Shot with Canon EOS Elan IIE and Sigma 28-80mm lens. Spring 1999. Woodburn, Oregon, USA.
Disneyland resort in Anaheim, California, USA. From Thanksgiving to New Year, there is a daily parade in Disneyland resort. It’s very colorful and dazzling even for the adults to watch. This photo was shot during our visit to Disneyland resort in December 1999. I especially like this photo for the bright red color the ‘soldiers’ are wearing. You can also see the facades in the background that give Disney resorts a special look. Shot with Canon EOS Elan IIE.
Bougainvillea is native to South America, but is found everywhere in India as a decorative plant. This photo was shot at a Mahabaleshwar resort during Winter 2002. Bougainvillea is interesting for it’s flowers are not as spectacular as the leaves surrounding it are, they turn bright magenta! Shot with Canon EOS Elan IIE with Sigma 28-80 Macro lens.
A rose drenched in rain. Summer 2002. Shot with Nikon Coolpix 4500 point-and-shoot camera.
In August 2002 I bought my first digital camera. This was Nikon Coolpix 4500 with 4MP sensor. It was a slow-as-a-dog point and shoot, but produced good images. These are some of the first pictures I shot. Some of the backyard flowers.
Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Summer 2000. Shot with a film camera Canon EOS Elan IIE with a cheap Sigma 28-80mm Macro lens and Kodak Max 400 film.
Summer 2008. Vancouver, BC. A photo taken at sunset, from the SeaBus. You can see silhouette of the South Vancouver with prominent landmarks like the Vancouver Lookout. The shiny building in the foreground is Canada Place. This photo was taken from inside a glass window and there was some reflection of the inside lights that I have tried to remove but if you look carefully you’ll see that I’ve not completely succeeded.
Exposure Compensation: -0.7
Grand Canyon. November 1998. Shot with a film camera (Canon EOS Elan IIE) and Kodak MAX 400 film. Sigma 28-80mm lens.
Las Vegas at night (November 1998). Hotel New York, New York. This is an old photo I took with Canon EOS Elan IIE (a film camera) with a Kodak MAX 800 film. This was shot handheld without tripod. The lens was cheap Sigma 28-80mm which resulted in massive distortion. I have used Nikon Capture NX2 to reduce noise and some color correction.
Evening colors in the Columbia Gorge. As seen from the Vista Point. Shot with Nikon D90 and Nikon 10-24mm VR Wide-angle lens. Post-processed with Nikon Capture NX2.
Other details:
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/80s
Aperture: F/4.5
Metering: Matrix
Focal Length: 10mm
Beautiful Oregon coast. Ecola State Park. July 4, 2009. Shot with Nikon D80 and Nikon 18-200mm VR lens.
Other details:
ISO: 160
Exposure: 1/250
Aperture: F/10
Metering: Matrix
Near Bridal Veil falls, in the beautiful Columbia Gorge, east of Portland, OR. Shot with Nikon D90 with Nikon 10-24mm lens.
Other details:
ISO:Â 200
Exposure:Â 1/50 sec
Aperture:Â 3.5
Exposure Bias Value: -0.67 EV
Focal length: 10mm
Metering: Multi-segment
