It does not matter if a person is into bird watching or not, people in general enjoy a lazy stroll in the park or unwinding by the lake. Looking up at the sky, watching the birds fly about, or make a dive to catch a fish is so fascinating that many spend hours doing just that. Bombay based Ashish Mantri loves bird watching and taking pictures of these feathered beauties. Here is a post and few pictures shared by him.

What makes watching birds, of avian variety, interesting?  To me, it’s the birds’ ability to take to the sky, their happy-go-lucky attitude kind of flights, their joy of freedom as they move in a heavenly manner from the earth to the sky, that I find inspiring and exhilarating.

Another question – what makes taking pictures of the birds frustrating?

Simple. It is their irritating habit to take to the sky precisely when I am about to capture their image, their not-caring-for-the-poor-photographer kind of attitude, their unsettling habit of moving too freely between the earth & the sky, that the photographer in me finds very frustrating.  I can see a number of fellow photographers nodding their head.

The stubborn that I am (my wife would vouch for that), I have made an effort to keep trying to capture the moments of flights of these birds through my lens, and have learnt some basic tricks which can provide good images of the birds in flight. So here are some of the tips & tricks to get lucky in bird photography:

Right location

For bird-in-flight images, it is essential to choose a location where you get a vast perspective, solid foothold with no possibility of tripping & falling as you move with your eyes panning their flight, and the right amount of light falling from behind you on the birds, as they move perpendicular to you.  This would get you the best chance for a clear image. Having said that, it may be worth a while to capture the image of a silhouette of a bird in flight – possibly getting you a lyrical kind of image.

Right weight

The birds are uninhibited with no possibility of control on their in-flight movements. Hence it is essential to be as much light ourselves as possible. While the high range zoom lenses may make you reach closer to the birds, beyond a point their heaviness would be a deterrent. Hence a range of 300-500 mm lenses would be ideal. Also, a heavier lens requires a tripod or a monopod which is just an additional burden you can do without.

Right equipment settings

I will try not to be too technical, else my ignorance will be exposed:

• The manual mode is the preferred one for BIF images. With the camera tracking the flight over rapidly changing background & the environment, the manual mode would allow you more control over the exposure.

• The auto focus mode should be in AI Servo mode, making the camera lock the focus on the BIF and then continue to focus it even when it moves.

• The shooting mode must be continuous, allowing you to take multiple images in the burst mode. This gives you higher chances of good pictures, once the focus is right.

• Ideally, the aperture should be at f/8 giving you a good balance of getting the bird in focus at a fast enough shutter speed.

• The lens’ focus switch must be kept at AF (Auto Focus).

• The shutter speed should ideally be at 1/500 – or faster. Also, it is better to switch off the Image Stabilizer of the lens, so that the auto focus does not slow down.

Right Technique

Having set the camera, get used to panning the camera as the bird moves, and moving the zoom from widest to the closest. With the hand-held stance, it does take a bit longer to adapt to this, but once you get used to it, the results are for keeps.

It is also essential to know the flight style of the birds. For example, while the raptors normally hover in circles, the egrets & herons fly in lazy linear motion. Terns fly faster with sudden change in the flight path. The most difficult could be the swallows & the swifts whose movement just can not be predicted.  Understanding this would help you in finding the right moment when a bird is at the slowest in flight.

Try capturing the images when bird is flying perpendicular to you, as it gives you longer time and the bird movement looks graceful. However, while it is difficult to capture the image with bird coming towards the camera, it gives a good scope to capture the front features – and sometimes an occasional fish in their bill may make the composition interesting.

Now, that I have covered the basics, all you need is the patience and perseverance. Remember, a good photograph requires only a good camera, a good subject, a good location & a lot of dose of just plain luck.

See, so easy. That’s why I love birds!

Summer and autumn are the perfect seasons to click some photographs. It is a wonderful way to give your photographs a bit of life and colour. There are two major methods to add a touch of warmth in your pictures, namely, physically and digitally. The following are some of the easy methods to add that finish and touch to your photos, says Chennai based photographer Ratzzz

Composition:

It may be an obvious statement but composition plays a major part in any technique. Use of metallic makeup on a female model, the beautiful drying yellow leaves, colorful clothes are some of the ways to bring about warmth in your photographs.

Play of Light:

If you are working in a light controlled environment, avoid using LEDs and fluorescent lights. Instead go for warm lights like candles and tungsten lamps. Try to work with warm colored walls, light blue, green, or even orange, so that the bounced light has a touch of softness too.

Camera Lens Filters:

There are a wide variety of filters in warm tones like yellow, red and orange. This is one of the easiest ways to create a feel of warmth in your pictures. But it is difficult to inverse the effect when you are using physical filters.

Digital Alterations:

With the technology available today, it is possible to manipulate any kind of photographs now. There are preset color filters available in any photo manipulating software. The color thermometer scale can be tipped towards warmer tones in a photo manipulating software pretty easily.

In many photo editing programs like Lightroom, Photoshop etc., you can change the tone and hue of individual colors, that you can add warmth to your pictures easily. You can color balance your photographs in three tiers namely light, mid-tones and shadows along the xyz scale.

Be careful that you don’t go overboard in the process of adding that finishing touch to your photographs; you only want to add that extra effect, not a burnt look.

You have just returned from a holiday to an exotic location and have all your photographs with you. Now you have several options on how to preserve these memories. You can upload them onto some online photo account or make a photo book out of it.

Photo books are very different from photo albums. Unlike the latter, photo books are bound with pictures normally printed directly unto the paper.  There are several options where you can make a photo book. But if you have a copy of Photoshop at your desktop, you can make a photo book of your holiday memories all by yourself.

First open the Photoshop picture editor and edit the photos you want to include in your photo book. Make sure that the photographs look the way you want them to. If needed add captions which you want to accompany the photograph

Next save all the photographs in a single folder. Now choose this folder and drag and drop the photographs as per the order you want them on the book. After the photos are selected, click on the Album button and create an album.

Once you finish selecting the pictures, click on the ‘Create’ tab and choose the ‘Photo Book’ option. Using the dialogue boxes available, choose the layout and number of pages for your book.

Next choose a theme for your photo book pages. Add background and frames to each page.

You can resize, replace and move the pictures around the book as per your wish. You can also play around with the layout and theme of the book. These options can be found in the Content panel on the left.

Save your photo book.

Now you can use this file to print it at your local photo printing shop or you can upload it to an online photo printing website and order as many photo books as you want. Now you will have a beautiful photo book holding the memories of your holiday.

One normally spends 2/3^rd of their daily time at work. At such cases, the workstations are extensions of your own personality. To depict the true nature of yourself, you might want to decorate your cubicle depending on how you want others to understand you or what your interests are. Sprucing up your workstation can be as much fun as decorating your home or thinking of a cool theme for your pool party.

As long as you do not violate any of the company policies, you can design your workstation in any way you want it to look like. The following are some of the ways you can decorate your workstation.

1. Simple Picture Frames: Many may feel that it is cliché to have a picture frame of your family members in your office cubicles. But you have to realize this has a timeless appeal and is very classy.  Instead of keeping a single frame, you can decorate your table top with sets of frames with pictures of your family, your friends, and your life partner and so on. You can even put up a picture of your cat or the dog here.



2. Collage: you can go a step above and make a collage out of pictures. You can use software like Adobe Photoshop or Picasa and do it digitally or you can cut out the pictures manually and stick them to make a collage. You can also make it interesting by including words, messages or pictures from dailies and magazines

 

3. Picture frame out of exotic photos: If you are not a people person, you can use photos of exotic locations or exotic flowers to spruce up your workstation. Try printing the photographs in postcard formats and paste them at your workstation in some pattern. This adds beauty to the wall and will increase your popularity at your office.

The above are only few suggestions to decorate your workstation. You can make it in any way you wish until you don’t violate your company codes.