HDR and Panorama during Shivanasamudra revisit with cheap CPL filter

Visitors were not allowed to step down during my last visit to Shivanasamudra. That was quite obvious too! Also I had to face ire of our usual travel gang when I went alone :D. Hence time to revisit the falls to have some excursion :-). I carried my cheap CPL filter with me since the day was hazy and believe me, it did very very good job. Almost removed 70% of haze in picture when used 90 degree from SUN axis! I was really excited since sky did not turn white in pictures :-). Most of the pictures which were shot at an angle ranging from 30-90 degrees from Sun's axis had clearly exposed SKY :-). Will share some pictures at some point later in blog.

We had hired taxi to visit Shivanasamudra and Talakaadu this time. I faced wrath of mother when traveled alone in bike last time :D. This time we were four and hence taxi would be convenient and cheap. More than our expectation, we had full fun at Bharachukki falls with water and monkeys :-). The boys enjoyed in water and I enjoyed with camera ;-). I have lot of milky ways too ;-). We had coracle ride close to main waterfall and completely drenched :D.

Back to primary topic ;-). The first is HDR shot of one of our friend watching one of divisions of Bharachukki falls. This is 5 bracketed HDR shot ranging from -2 to +2 in increments of +1EV. The camera light meter was exposing only the water but not our friend and hence I grabbed HDR shot ;-). In composed final image we have both person and waterfall properly exposed! The bright sky is magic of CPL filter ;-).

FRIEND LOOKING INTO THE WATERFALLS!

Settings:

Camera: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: 18-55mm kit lens
Focal Length: 18mm
Focus: Manual
Aperture: f/11
ISO: 100
Picture Style: Neutral
White Balance: Daylight
Metering: Center weighted average
No of images: 5
Exposures: -2.-1,0,+1,+2 (1/30s for middle one)
ML Firmware: v2.3
Softwares: Luminance HDR (Fatal operator), GIMP

While stepping up back from Bharachukki falls, I was tempted to capture full view of Bharachukki falls. Again 18mm was not enough :(. The only option was to take multiple shots and stitch them. This is 6 shot panorama picture. The weird sky is again because of CPL filter! The sky is bit weird mainly because the camera was not at proper angle from which CPL filter could be used faithfully from axis of SUN. Of-course due to changing position, it was impossible too! The final image stitched with Hugin panorama creator did turn out very well ;-). The settings were f/11 (Av mode), ISO 100 and 'daylight' white balance. Hope you will enjoy the image. The image is best viewed in full size.

PANORAMA OF BHARACHUKKI FALLS

In order to know how CPL filters work, you need to know the light physics with electromagnetic waves. There are lot articles in internet if you are interested ;-). I will be using the filter in future extensively after seeing results especially in Kaup beach :-). I did buy it long time back. Just wondering what I was doing keeping it idle. Fortunately at-least I am enlightened now ;-)

Comments and critiques are always welcome.

Short notes from Chunchi Falls visit

17 Aug, 2013


Eventually, I preserved some time to garner travelogue of Chunchi falls visit. Don't confuse this with Chunchanakatte falls nearby K.R.Nagar :-). Hope you will enjoy the short blog!

As mentioned earlier, monsoon season is the best time to visit waterfalls. The beautiful waterfalls are most of them located in western ghats. Some of them require trekking till the waterfall area which is difficult in midst of pouring rains of Malnad. Also the taste of water here is unexplainable. Visiting waterfalls nearby western ghats requires more people with you since inclement weather and dense forests may turn around situation in any possible direction. Since I was alone again, I decided to visit nearby Chunchi waterfall which is not so much familiar to many people. The waterfall plunges from a height of 80feet between narrow gorge. The rocky landscape is very tough and intimidating here. It requires some effort to get to the view point. The source of water here is Arkavati river which eventually meets Cauvery river in Sangama. The rocky valley  along with waterfalls is amazing to watch. Also, since source of Arkavati river is not abundant Western ghats, the glory of waterfall can only be felt for few months (around August-Oct).

This time I had packed some food since Kanakapura route does not have good food outlets. Chunchi falls is around 85kms from Bangalore. One has to take the same route as Sangama to reach the waterfall site. Even this time I woke up early and prepared breakfast before starting my journey. As usual, the city roads were alive at around 7:30AM itself. The pathetic part of journey was the dreadful section from Banashankari to NICE road junction along Kanakapura road. They are not pot-holes but wells :(. The pot-holes were so deep and these roads added huge traffic jams all along till the parched section terminated. I only hoped to have my back was in-tact :D. The stretch is worst than Shiraadi ghat road. Also it was difficult to judge the depth of pot-holes since they were filled with rain water. After NICE road junction, it was really soothing journey with beautifully laid NH-209 through the woods and lakes. No humps too! Except along the bridges, the roads are quite wide. Watch out for crazy dogs and abrupt cattle crossing :-). They pose huge threat to bikers.

TANK BUND ALONG NH-209

EVENLY PAVED HIGHWAY!

At around 10AM, I reached Kanakapura. The deviation towards Sangama is closed for repair work. I sought help of locals to travel along alternate path. The first 1-2kms are not so good but are being relayed. Small section is covered with gravel which bikers have to note. Road thereafter is absolutely fantastic. One can easily maintain healthy speed of 60kmph. I stopped at many places to enjoy rural landscapes and have some food. The fresh air was truly relishing to breath. The coconut plantations, beautiful hillocks, the farm land and tank bunds were so much enchanting to view. The monsoon had filled all the lakes with full acqua too!

THE WOODS EN-ROUTE TO SANGAMA

MONSOON MAGIC ;-)!

It was 11AM when I reached the waterfall area. The tourism department levies Rs.10/- parking charge on two-wheeler. The waterfall gush could be heard at a distance itself however cannot be seen. It is hidden within the rocky valley which one has to descend from hill to reach the site. The walk path is bit complicated with bushes, slippery rocks and water springs at some places. There is no proper mark to reach the site. You can take help of local shepherds who take some money to guide you to waterfall area. The rock surface is uneven en-route. You need to be extra cautious not slip in uncontrolled manner. Also at many places, the gradient is non-uniform (sometimes high depth) and one has to step down really slow. Watch out for the  snakes :-) (I spotted one!). They usually are present nearby long grown grass areas. After too much of circus, I reached the waterfall view point. It was marvelous to watch the plunge. Really worth so much of hard workout. The torrent is not much as one in western ghats but eye catching. The water plunges down to deep valley, flows in between beautiful hillocks and eventually meets Cauvery river at Sangama. The flow before plummet did not have much velocity. I believe due to steep plunge, the waterfall gains velocity (or the pattern of rocks before the fall?).

FIRST VIEW

THE VERTICAL SHOT!

THE PLUNGE

MILKY WAY OF NEARBY FALL!

CLOSE UP MILKY WAY OF CHUNCHI FALLS!

VALLEY AFTER THE PLUNGE

BONUS ELEVATED VIEW ;-)

After nearly an hour of fun, I started ascending again to top of hill. The up-hilling is easier but tiry too with camera bag. The main advantage of such travel is that, they increase your stamina. Also you will have very nice workout too ;-). Once I reached the top, I walked down to another place to view point. From view point, the aerial view of waterfalls is wonderful. However the platform seemed to be bit old and not maintained (it seemed may collapse anytime). So be careful! Nearby the view point, you can locate one more waterfall. It is easy to descend here. No rocks and easy geography. The place looked totally abandoned with no human presence at all! I was the only one nearby this waterfall :-). You can even have mini bath here if you wish. This waterfall plunges with multiple levels and divisions. The view from mid of hill was so beautiful to watch. I stayed at this place for some time however did not taste water. Later, I moved back to the parking lot. There is also beautiful channel en-route to second falls. There are some old stone benches to relax nearby parking lot. I was fully tired and sweating tremendously. After bit of relax, I drank full bottle of water. Not many people could be seen here. May be people are not so much familiar about the place.

THE CHANNEL

VIEW POINT SNAP

THE OTHER FALLS NEARBY

CLOSE UP LOOK

Around 2:30PM, I started my return journey. I felt like visiting Sangama and Mekedaatu, however dropped due to time constraint. It would consume 3 more hrs at those places and getting back to city during night in bike is quite miserable. On the way, I bracketed some panorama shots too! Once again, I enjoyed the rural landscape to the max. The overcast weather was very much helpful in masking off the SUN effect. Around 3:30PM, I reached Kanakapura. I was also very hungry too! When enquired locals on good lunch, they pointed me to Vasu Hotel nearby town circle. At first glance, it seemed to be quite old hotel in town with steel roof. They do not serve meals but rice-sambar and curd rice. There is very limited menu here. I had rice-sambar and curd-rice. They also contained masale vade and bajji with each plate. How is taste? Absolutely tasty :-). That was cheap and best meals I ever had. Only Rs.20/- each :D. The taste and quality was so good :-) with sufficient quantity. This is one of the hotels to note along Kanakapura route. Do not miss afternoon meals here :-). You can also pack for further journey. The hotel has limited menu but seem to have maintained quality food (the crowd was the example). After lunch, Mysore Pak in enclosure caught my eye :D. They were looking very good and packed some for myself. When I tasted at home, it was so delicious and mouth watering. The mysore pak was melting so easily in tongue ;-). Rs.40/- is charge for 1/4KG of mysore pak. They also have laddus too! Don't forget to pack some for you too if you visit the place :-).

After having tasty and quality lunch, I headed towards Bangalore. En-route I had tasty tender coconut. There are lots of tender coconut hoards sold by villagers along NH-209. They have good amount of water too! The main trouble during return journey was awkward crossing of crazy dogs. They are highest trouble makers here. At one place, I encountered a group of 10-15 dogs lined up all along the breadth of NH-209. That was horrible sight to watch and and they do not listen to horn also :-(. Bit more noise, they will start chasing you :-) which as bike rider you never want it to happen. It is better to maintain a healthy speed of not more than 50kmph. At 6PM, I was back at home.

Chunchi waterfalls is really wonderful place for nature lovers. The lack of crowd also is a plus point. This is my 3rd waterfall visit during this monsoon season. I am not sure which one is next even though there are many plans!

How to reach:

Same as Sangama route as mentioned here. Just before 6kms from Sangama, you will find a cross to reach Chunchi falls. The signboards are in Kannada and hence seek help of locals if you cannot read it. From the cross, the roads are not so good with improper directions. Locals guide you very well, if you feel lost. Enjoy the beautiful landscape all along this inner route.

Food:

There are many dhabas en-route. I am unaware of their quality. As mentioned earlier, Vasu hotel in Kanakapura is very good and cheap option. However they serve only South Indian Vegetarian food with limited menu.

Whats special this time:

I have revived my panorama passion with this trip. Also Chunchi fall HDR is bonus this time ;-). Read the dedicated write up here

It would have been a great timelapse from view point as well as hills with clouds en-route. However they required tripod which I did not have. Here is the short video of visit

Twilight magic at Maravanthe Beach

Yesterday, I was browsing through my redundant hard drive where I backup my pictures. There are humongous amount of pictures and the hard drive is almost full. Will need to buy a new one. The collection had begun way back around 4 years and now it is almost impossible to track where is what :-). My main interests were the old pictures taken way back when I started to shoot some basic stuffs. Even now I am amateur photographer and there is long way to go.

My eye peeped into the folder of Maravanthe beach. I saw this photo and wanted to share. Last year, during our return journey from Murudeshwar, there was beautiful twilight at Maravanthe beach, near Kundapur. Who does not know about Maravanthe beach ;-). The natural beauty where Souparnika river teases Arabian sea in between highway, is one of the wonders of nature. Candid travelers commuting from Kundapur to Bhatkal will have instant surprise watching this combination of river and sea :D and as expected lots of people exclaim too ;-). So here is the picture taken during the twilight time when sky was showing up with bright orange colors with amazing pattern. Hope you will enjoy the picture ;-).

What's special with this picture? There were people which was removed using GIMP re-synthesizer plug-in :-). Do you see anymore ;-).

PATTERNS IN SKY!

After few minutes, the sky turned full pink :-) and here is picture. I have shared this in Murudeshwar blog and re-visiting again. I was really lucky to be there when sky showed up with dramatic patterns. The setting was around f/4 and 1/30s I believe for both pictures. f/4 was chosen mainly to grab more light into sensor. The only regret was not capturing timelapse. The sky turning from orange to red and eventually pattern fading away, would have been a great timelapse. Nevertheless, I am happy with whatever results I achieved.

PINKISH SKY ;-)

Also, I shot video too which I am re-sharing.

Some HDR and Panorama during Jog Falls visit

Western ghats are the best place to visit during Monsoon time. Despite of inclement weather, once reached, they are heaven. During our day long stay in Jog falls, I did some trial HDR and panorama. In real terms, HDR was not required at falls site since overcast weather provided some good lighting. The only reason I bracketed HDR shots was to get nice colors on image :-).

The first is the panorama shot of Jog falls from bungalow view point (not british bungalow) located nearby. We wanted some good elevated view point to enjoy the jog falls entirely. As we were roaming around, we could spot this as perfect place. We were relaxing for some time after concluding individual photo-shoots :-). Later it started raining and we went inside the bungalow premises. The view of falls was so gorgeous. However apart from the 4 falls, there was also gowri-shankar falls which is alive only during monsoon. After rain receded, a thought entered into my mind to grab panorama shot including gowri-shankar falls. I took six shots by fixing up white balance as well as aperture. The final image stitching was straight forward with Hugin Panorama creator. The overcast weather made sure the lighting to be uniform in all images. The SUN would have altered exposure bias atleast in few of images.

PANORAMIC JOG FALL VIEW. LEFT MOST IS GOWRI-SHANKAR FALLS

We had hired taxi to visit other view points nearby Jog falls. On the way, we stopped on the Sharavati bridge for some time. The flow control of the river is based on the water outflow from Linganamakki Dam. The same path plunges as Jog falls after few distance. Eventually the Sharavati river meets Arabian sea in Honavar which is 60kms from here. I personally feel you should never miss the Konkan railway journey along beautiful Sharavati river basin near Honavar.

I composed HDR shots nearby bridge totaling 5 shots ranging from -2 to +2 in increments of 1EV.  The reason behind composing HDR was, camera's light meter either used to expose sky or the river. Not both at a time. The final image turned out to be OK but huge haze at background. Probably I required CPL filter here.

SHARAVATI RIVER BASIN NEAR JOG!

Next HDR is of Jog falls itself. As I mentioned earlier, there was no requirement of HDR. I just wanted those bright colors in final image. Again 5 shots ranging from -2 to +2 with increments of 1EV. I increased the green color balance and some applied few color corrections on image. The main interest in image is the clouds which would have not been exposed in normal shots. The Raja falls was plummeting towards narrow gorge which generated misty envelop around the area. Due to this it was difficult to predict when would sight become totally clear. When it cleared, people were thronging to view and shoot the waterfall including us :-).

MAJESTIC JOG FALLS AND WESTERN GHATS

Krisha Nee Begane Baaro -- Memoirs of Sri Krishna Janmashtami

This year unfortunately the Krishna Janmashtami falls in mid of week. Hence cannot join my parents for the festival. For us, Janmashtami is the prominent festival of all (Not even Deepavali). We celebrate with full vigour and joy :-). Especially we look forward to the festival to relish variety of laddus and chakkuli prepared by mother :D. Also not to forget the tasty rave shyavige and moode idli ;-). The main granduer of festival is special food ;-). Entire Udupi will be in celebration mood and schools and colleges will have holiday on that day. Usually it rains heavily in Udupi during Janmashtami to resemble the birth of Lord Krishna during which Vasudeva carried Krishna under heavy rains along Yamuna river. However nowadays rains are not guaranteed. During our school days it used to rain most of the times. This writeup is to cherish those moments of celebration and archive the same.

The day starts with Palaahaara (i.e. no rice food). Remember no rice food but we used to have healthy rave shyavige made by mother :D. This day also includes final touch for laddus and some are prepared during this day. The main worship happens to god only at night. Just for convention, a pooje is carried out in morning. It is really tempting while rolling those laddus :D but we are not supposed to eat until next day morning. The actual celebration starts at night around 9PM and should conclude at 12AM which is Krishna's birth time. However only few people carry out till 12AM and many like us try to conclude around 11PM itself so that mother can rest early. The laddu is offered only to Sri Krishna on this day and the same is kept aside to offer to Lord Hanuman next day. On this day, it is believed Lord Hanuman does strict fasting and hence offer is done next day. This is reason why we are not supposed to eat during Janmashtami day :-). The only laddu we eat on this day is Ginger laddu prepared with jaggery liquid. That is so spicy too! Mother will force us to eat. It is gesture to heal the stomach pain of Devaki after delivering Lord Krishna. Post Mahapooje, arghya pradaana is carried out to both main deity and Tulasi plant with milk by every individual in house. Eventually day ends with one more dose of Palaahaara :D.

Next day begins early around 5AM. During this day, mother prepares beaten rice panchakajjaya and moode idli. The pending offering to Lord Hanuman is committed along with freshly made eatables. After the rituals, it is time enjoy delicious food with variety of laddus :-). We used to have hefty breakfast and no lunch further. Once the stomach celebrations get over, we share the sweets with relatives and they used to share back (one more batch of intake :D). The main laddus mother used to prepare were besan, rava, groundnut, sesame and fried paddy powder.

THE LADDUS :-)

AVALAKKI PANCHAKAJJAYA

MOODE IDLI!

In afternoon, we used to leave to Udupi town to enjoy Vitlapindi festival celebration. During the day, Lord Krishna made of clay is carried in golden chariot for a procession along car street. There used to be huge crowd and even now one can see same enthusiasm among people of Udupi. The dancing people painted like tiger (Pili Vesha), the dexterity of Chande group, the celebrating people and of-course the mosaru-kudike (crushing of mud pot filled with curd) are joyous to watch. The celebrations used to end with immersion of Krishna's Idol in Madhva Sarovara.

HUGE GATHERING!

DEXTERITY OF CHANDE GROUP

MOSARU KUDIKE

These celebrations happen every year with full vigor and devotion. Even in the rush and rain, people's enthusiasm has not come down over the years. However, photographers find it bit difficult to shoot due to space constraint :-).

Here is video I shot during last year's Vitlapindi celebrations:

There are lot of beautiful songs on Lord Krishna. Personally I love to hear following songs not only during Janmashtami but more frequently. I did not find links for some and have provided for some which I could google!

Some of devotional songs

1) The blending of Mand, Kaapi and Jhonpuri(or Darbaari Kaanada?) in Baaro Krishnayya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaG-NnUm1SA
2) Krishnani begane baaro in Yaman Kalyani: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqbzIUriB6M
3) The combination of Bhairavi and Ranjani in Indu Enage Govinda: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UdgYts1Sd8
4) Bhairavi, Athana and Suruti in Odi Baarayya
5) Beautiful mix of Kamach, Hindola and Kaanada in Elliruvano ranga
6) Pillangoviya cheluva Krishnana in Mohanakalyani: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klG7LzmubTM

Some of core classical songs

1) Baalagopala in Bhairavi. Especially I love the elaborate alaapana of Sri Dr.BalamuraliKrishna. I am not finding the link. However I found some good one here with few piano and orchestral mix!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCp4p2Js2H8
2) Chethaha Sri Baalakrishnam in Dwijavanti. Hear the beautiful vocal by Sri Manakkal Rangarajan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STS_cQQ-srI

Single lens challenge (Landscape with 50mm lens)

09 August 2013

Recently in one of the photography blogs, there was a mention to voluntarily challenge ourselves with single lens in hand. This is basically to understand the significance of each lens you own. This was really different sort of trial. During my visit to hometown, I decided to take up such task. I chose 50mm lens for landscape :-). Generally landscapes are shot in less focal length (18mm or below). I wanted to try some landscapes with 50mm lens and also 50mm was relatively less utilized lens in my kitty. Hence I decided to work out with 50mm lens.

After mounting the lens, I headed towards the paddy fields. Even this time there was not much rain also bright SUN showed up many times. This turned out to be boon for me due to which I could visit Hanumangundi waterfalls. In contrary to that, it was raining heavily in Western ghats :-). However due to sunny weather at hometown, I could convince mother to visit waterfalls :D.

Coming back, I started off with few flowers. The backlit SUN exposed nice colors of flowers. Later I shot some pictures of streams too!

BUNCH OF FLOWERS

SOME FLOWER

THE WALK PATH

HIBISCUS

Next is paddy fields. Now after seeing that peacock, I felt like having tele-lens :-) but I remembered my intention before lamenting further. Good thing was, the peacock did not fly even at this distance. Usually they fly away by looking at humans from distance itself. May be this peacock knew that I did not have tele lens and stood calm :-).  These are the walk paths we used to travel along during childhood days while going to school. I still remember those days when heavy rains would unify both wells and paddy fields. It was difficult to wade through this path during those days and differentiate between well and paddy field. But still we used to manage very well and never crib ;-)

PEACOCK AT A DISTANCE

THE MONSOON STREAM

PADDY SAPLINGS

ARRAY OF GRASS

MONOLITH CLOUD

This one is one major streams in our village. There was good amount of water flowing. It originates from one of hillocks nearby. The picture was taken standing on rock surface. The surface was too much slippery too! The main problem with nifty-fifty lens is that there is no image stabilization. I forgot to carry tripod too :(. There was good possibility of milky way shot if I had carried tripod with me.

STREAM GUSH

SOME ABSTRACT LANDSCAPE ;-)

THE STREAM PATH

The conclusion is that, 50mm lens is generally good for abstract landscapes and vegetations. However, the full landscapes can be only felt using lower focal length lenses. Whatever may be the conclusion, I was happy with some of the results except that I did not have zoom lens to capture peacock!


Long back I had misconception that 50mm lens mimics eye's focal length. That's not true for crop sensor cameras like mine. It applies only to full frame cameras. Whereas these lenses produce an effective focal length of 80mm in crop sensor cameras like mine. So you basically need 35mm lens to mimic eye and not 50mm if you are owning crop sensor DSLR :(

Feedbacks and critiques are always welcome.

HDR from terrace :-)

While riding back from office, there was beautiful sunset at the horizon. The colors were so majestic and sun rays piercing through clouds were delightful to watch. I was pretty much desperate to reach home :-). By the time I reached home, the SUN had already sunk from horizon :-(. Nevertheless, the twilight colors were so beautiful :-). I wanted to grab some snaps. I did some experiments with white balance and depth of field. Consequently either buildings or sky were exposed in images. So time to grab HDR shots :D. During twilight it would be great if you have higher dynamic range and hence I configured Magic Lantern to grab 5 shots ranging from -2 to +2. I kept camera on wall of terrace to arrive at aligned shots. Luminance HDR did good job again. I increased alpha value a bit and decreased beta value. Some post corrections in GIMP gave me this final image. Hope you will enjoy the image. Comments and critiques are always welcome.

HDR from terrace ;-)

Settings:

Camera: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: 18-55mm kit lens
Focal Length: 18mm
Focus: Manual
Aperture: f/22
ISO: 100
Picture Style: Neutral
Metering: Center weighted average
No of images: 5
Exposures: -2.-1,0,+1,+2 (3s for middle one)
ML Firmware: v2.3
Softwares: Luminance HDR (Fatal operator), GIMP