Flowers and plants

In some ways, I am quite lucky. Both sets of parents (mine and my wife’s) are keen to have some plants around the house. On a recent trip to my in-laws place, I was indeed armed with my camera and more than enough time to explore the entire place for treasures. And the loot was quite spectacular. The highlight of this treasure hunt was that my father-in-law exclaimed that the pictures of the plants/flowers looked better than the real things themselves!

Here are some examples

Normally, I rely on the judgement of the camera to take a good photo, but often get a bad one due to goof-up on focusing. This time, I tried aperture and shutter priority to play with focusing. The results were very good and I felt as if the practicals of a theory session were coming true to my eyes.

I think I may still be a slave to technology and paying less attention to technique. But the journey of learning will be very enjoyable if these photos are any indication.

Happy Diwali Indeed!

Now that one of my Nikon lens (AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED (3.8x)) has got some moisture-fungus, I have been picking up my camera more often. I have been a bit sluggish with the part where I take it to the Service Centre.

Nevertheless, the camera did see the light of day (pun unintended), this Diwali (the festival of … what else… lights!). I don’t claim to have much expertise. But just the fascination with some techniques and subjects. I have just posted the relevant data alongside the photo, to see how things change with the settings.

Photo	Data
Common data Camera: Nikon D100 Lens: Nikkor 50 mm f/1.8 D Flash: Nikon SB-50DX SpeedLight Filter: Tiffen Haze-1 (UV)
	Programmed AutoMulti-Pattern Metering 1/8 s at f/1.8 ISO 200 Flash: Not used
	Aperture PriorityMulti-Pattern Metering 20 s at f/22 ISO 200 Flash: Not used
	Aperture PriorityMulti-Pattern Metering 20 s at f/22 ISO 200 Flash: Not used
	Aperture PriorityMulti-Pattern Metering 25 s at f/22 ISO 200 Flash: Not used
	Aperture PriorityMulti-Pattern Metering 9 s at f/22 ISO 200 Flash: Not used
	Aperture PriorityMulti-Pattern Metering 1/10 s at f/1.8 ISO 200 Flash: Not used
	Programmed AutoMulti-Pattern Metering 1/3 s at f/22 2 Steps over ISO 1600 Flash: Not used
	Aperture PriorityMulti-Pattern Metering 9 s at f/22 2 Steps over ISO 1600 Flash: Not used
	Shutter PriorityMulti-Pattern Metering 1/60 s at f/22 2 Steps over ISO 1600 Flash: Not used
	Aperture PriorityMulti-Pattern Metering 1/15 s at f/1.8 ISO 200 Flash: AF-S, Rear Curtain Slow, D-TTL
	Aperture PriorityMulti-Pattern Metering 10 s at f/22 ISO 200 Flash: AF-S, Rear Curtain Slow, D-TTL
	Aperture PriorityMulti-Pattern Metering 10 s at f/22 ISO 200 Flash: AF-S, Slow Sync, D-TTL

I am quite impressed at the extent of focusing brought about by the f/22 setting. Also, 2 Steps above ISO 1600 causes some sort of noise in the image.

Naturally, more experiments are to follow!

A new mobile phone and a humbling experience

This incident happened a couple of months back, but still manages to scare the life out of me.

I got myself a slick Sony Ericsson Phone – M600i. I got protective and got a cover as well. This cover happened to have a belt clip. Only, with the cover it was very bulky to fit into my jeans pocket. I decided to try the belt clip, only to be cautioned by my wife that her brother managed to lose his phone when it was on the belt clip. Choosing to disregard this advice, I still put it on and went with her to the movies.

It was only when I came back home that I realized that the phone was no longer on the belt. I managed to run quite amazingly well, considering I generally don’t and everyone around me safely puts me down as lazy. A movie was in progress and the security crew informed me that the cleaning crew had not found anything.

Still wanting to see things with my own eyes, I insisted to be taken to the seat I had occupied. We managed to get some people inconvenienced, but I started breathing normally after I found my phone on the floor beneath the seat! The cover is black in colour and was not seen in the low visibility in the hall by anyone else.

It was quite a humbling experience for me. I had placed more trust in a device than my wife’s advice based on an earlier event. Quite silly, now that I look back at it.