28 Bug closeup

Plan : My lens has a macro mode but it is 1:2 so I would call it more of a extreme closeup. Since this is monsoon time there are many bugs/insects around. So seen one interesting insect and taking an extreme closeup of it is a plan

Story: Went to revisit the Flamingo location and there was no flamingo there. So went to a small garden instead and there were many bees and insects there but this worm (If I may say so) was interesting with all spots.

Learning: Additional flash are useful for such photography.

27: Flamingo

Plan : Got the confirmation that Flamingos were in Surat. Also really close to my place. So try to capture a good flamingo click

Action: Tried them once on sunday but no luck to get a keeper since cloudy and less light. So decided to make another try when there is some more light at 7:00PM So this was the day. Just after the office grabbed the camera bag and headed to river. One good click out of 20 odd tries again light was fading fast. The keeper is shot at 1/80s at 280mm very lucky to have minimum motion blur with handheld.

Learning: Tripod would have worked wonder.

26: Mit

Plan: To use wide angle lens distortion to create a top angle large headed portrait.

Story: I was searching for place from where I would execute this and found that the stairs in my drawing room were just right. Just that the natural lighting was not enough. Put the manual flash with trigger on one side and bounce it of from the ceiling.

Learning : Kit lens can be very useful and with off camera flash things can be much better. The stair rails are seen in the glasses could have been avoided.

25 : My Mehndi

Plan: To capture my daughter's mood when she has mehndi on her hands. School is strict and do not allow wearing mehndi during school days but for one festival.

Story: She would not pose for me and makes faces which makes it difficult for getting the right mood. So by the time I got ready with my off camera flash. This test shot only came good where she was showing her real feeling about the mehndi.

Learning : To capture the mood of people be ready to catch right expressions .

24: Self Help

Plan: To create a photo of myself with my car then I thought why not make a photo of me helping myself.

Story : Created  a setup in my parking and to have proper lighting added a bounce flash. Used 10 sec camera timer and took three photos in succession. Rest was easy in post processing. By importing other 2 photos as layers.

Learning : Using flash to achieve consistent lighting over three photos is better than depending on the natural light to be same across 3 different shots. Also Implemented the PP of using layers and masking.

23: My First Camera

Plan : To shoot a pic of my first camera. ie Film point and shoot from Kodak.

Story: Since the body of this camera is black decided to create a setup using white clothes near the window for the light. Focused manually on its lens. This makes my first attempt at product photography.

Learning: If using cloth for the background "Iron It first".