This is one of my favourite images from Kanha National Park. Half the work of a photographer is being a keen observer of your surroundings, always being on the look out for pleasing compositions wherever you are.
In many images the background makes or breaks the subject. The reddish meadows of Kanha in the background and the evening golden light made this image for me. Continue reading
An important tip in image making is a photographer’s ability to visualize the shots before clicking the camera. Take some time to study the subject and see what you can do with it.
Early mornings are the best time for these kind of creative shots when there’s play of shadow and light combined with mist or fog. During the drive in Kahna National Park I saw the rays of light falling on areas of shadow across the safari track. I asked the driver to stop and waited for some subject to enter the frame. This scene is good by itself, but a subject in this light creates a powerful impact on the image. Of course, a tiger entering the scene would be the jackpot. Continue reading
Keoladeo Ghana National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan
As I scan through the various images photographed at Kanha National Park, I found this one interesting as it takes a simple subject but presents it in an unexpected way. I’ve said many times that tigers aren’t the only subjects in the Indian wilds. Kanha is such a beautiful place that it’s not difficult to  make creative images of more commonly sighted wildlife subjects. Continue reading
Daroji Bear Sanctuary, Karnataka
We’ve been having amazing tiger sightings at our Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve workshop.
I captured this cub during the evening safari at Magdi zone. It was a real beauty. We saw it along with the other cub. Later it came on to the road and the other Jeep got some amazing shots… Continue reading
Corbett National Park is a great place to make some great images of Asiatic Elephants and May is an especially good season to be there. The Dhikala grasslands complements the elephants by providing a great background for your photography.
A zoom lens in the 100-400 or 80-400 range serves best for this area as it provides flexibility to make close-ups or to include the habitat in the shot.
While composing this image I waited for the baby elephant to show itself as it was always behind its mother. Continue reading
Thippagondanahalli Reservoir, Karnataka
During my recent trip to Chikmagalur, I visited this small waterfall in Jerry estate which offered a good opportunity to try out various compositions. Unfortunately I wasn’t carrying my vario ND filter so couldn’t get a slower shutter speed than this, but since I’ll be going back there in December I’ll know to be better prepared.
In many circumstances people say that “location is everything”, and that definitely was the case with this waterfall. The maximum depth of the pool at it’s base was probably 2 ft, so we could walk around and check various angles to shoot from with very little risk. The fact that there was no heavy current allowed us to easily stand in the flowing water to get low-level shots. Continue reading
Little Rann of Kutch
Jaipur, Rajasthan
In wildlife photography good images are made by combining “previsualization” with a clear understanding of your subject’s behaviour.
Consider this Spotted Deer image as a simple example. It is a well-known behaviour of the spotted deer to go up on two legs to feed on the fresh leaves of the trees; when you see them approach the short trees, you can expect them to “stand up”. You need to be ready with the right kind of setting and composition to make the image. Continue reading
Some places in the world are known for lush greenery, others for steep cliffs and snowy glaciers and others still for refreshing water lapping against hot beaches. But of all the landscapes in the world, harsh deserts are perhaps the one that fewest people have experienced. Believing it to be not as pleasant as other landscapes, many people miss out on the tremendous beauty found in deserts. Precisely because there are very few people, visiting deserts like the Little Rann of Kutch gives a traveler the chance to ponder a world before there were so many of us around.
The Wild Ass Sanctuary of the Little Rann of Kutch, spreading across nearly 5000 square kilometers of the Little Rann, is the only place on earth where the endangered Indian Wild Ass, Equus hemionus khur, known locally as the ghudkhar, still lives.
Because of the Sanctuary’s proximity to the Gulf of Kutch and its location on the migration routes of many bird species, it is a very important site for birds to feed and breed in. Continue reading
Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary, Karnataka
Although luck is always a factor, Kabini is well-known for leopards lounging in trees almost seeming to pose for the camera.
The Crested Serpent Eagle is another photographer friendly species to be found there. You see so many of them that you can pick and choose which one to photograph and which to leave. The best part is that since Kabini Forest Reserve only allows vehicle safaris, the Mahindra Jeeps put you at eye level, making it easy to compose good images. The greens of the forest provide an excellent complementary background as well. Continue reading
I often say that wildlife photography is not just about Tigers or Leopards. Spend time with common subjects and you will be rewarded with photo worthy lighting and action.
Understanding animal behaviour and previsualizing your images is the key to making good images. In the case above we waited patiently with the herd of spotted deer since the lighting was good. We aimed at this spotted deer with velvet antlers and hoped to get images of it in isolation…we waited for the right moment and this one posed for us. Continue reading
Bharatpur, Rajasthan
The concept of hyperfocal distance is well-know to landscape photographers where they use this technique to get amazing images due to the increased depth of field.
The hyperfocal distance is the closest distance at which a lens can be focused on while maintaining objects at “infinity” acceptably sharp. When the lens is focused on the foreground, all objects at distances from half of the hyperfocal distance out to infinity will be well-defined.
Here is the steps I followed to get the results as shown: Continue reading
Above is an example of one of the most common issues photographers face when they shoot against the overcast sky. As you can see in the left side image, the camera tries to expose to the background which is very bright and evens it out to a medium tone (core concept of exposure) when you are shooting in evaluative or matrix metering mode.
In this situation you need to understand how the camera exposes and override the camera settings and do an exposure compensation of +2 to +3 stops. When you over expose the image by that many stops, you get the result as shown in the right side image.
