Indian Railways is making a lot of money in profits (Over 25,000 crore rupees last year). Now the question is what is done with this money? Unfortunately as far as basic infrastructure is concerned, nothing much is done.  In fact, travelling by any of the general compartments will be a “lesson in torture”! What is more infuriating is the fact that they are spending huge amounts in gigantic plasma and lcd displays. To majority of commuters these are useless because many of the displays are used for advertising and the ones which displays train timings are almost always incorrect!

Last week I was travelling from Trivandrum to Trichur and the waiting room in Trivandrum railway station had a huge HDTV display supposed to show train timings. Someone in railways had downloaded something nasty on the Windows machine which powers the display and is infected with Brontok virus.

This display is located in a “luxury waiting room”(??) which is air conditioned and charges Rs. 10 per passenger for 2 hours. Even if you have a first class train ticket which costs more than first class flight ticket(!) you need to pay Rs. 10

Talking about basic infrastructure, the trivandrum railway station is the “most advanced” station in kerala and is supposed to be at “international level” but doesn’t have enough chairs in platforms for passenger to sit.

I guess what they mean by international is either “pakistan” or “somalia”.

He seems to be an old guy and is perfectly cool at any time. He kept his cool even when my one year old daughter poked into his eyes. Amazing!

Last week I visited an electrical shop to buy a new table fan. While at the cash counter, I noticed a rather unique credit policy written in big red letters and placed on top of the computer at the counter. It said - “credit will only be given to people over 85 years of age“. I wondered if there is somebody over 85 in my family whom I can bring to the shop. But then I noticed the fine print!

In case you can’t read it - It says “only if accompanied by both parents!”.

Some of you would have already noticed the new photo blog link on this site. This photo blog is powered by PixelPost, a CMS exclusively for photo bloggers. It is pretty easy to setup and like WordPress, you can customize it using themes. For my blog, I have taken the “simple” theme and modified it a bit to have comments on the same page. I have named the changed theme as “simple reloaded for PixelPost” and it is released under the license  Creative Commons Attribution 2.5.

Photos are a very powerful medium. Every photo tells a story and for the photographer it is a very intimate story! These photographs will give a glimpse of my life.

The Digital Photography Book: The Step-By-Step Secrets for How to Make Your Photos Look Like the Pros’! By Scott Kelby (240 pages, $12).

Scott Kelby’s book is an interesting read for a digital photography enthusiast. He takes the reader through digital photography techniques in different shooting scenarios with a humor touch.

If you are looking for a good weekend read and want to learn something more about digital photography as well, this is the book for you. I found it very informative and engaging. But don’t expect too much jargon and technical details of digital photography!

Digital Photography book covers different photo shoot situations with a chapter. For example, some of the chapters are - “Shooting flowers like a pro”, “Shooting people like a pro”. I found the chapters pretty focused and informative. After covering “Shooting flowers like a pro”, I tried a few photos and was surprised how good they turned out to be!

Another good thing about the book is that Scott also gives recommendation on the accessories you might want to add to your photography kit. I am a bit short on the money right now, but I am planning to get a lense kit soon. Here is an excerpt from the book on this topic,

Still a fake headline. Don’t let it throw you. Now, although we want pro-quality photos, we don’t all have budgets like the pros, so when possible, I break my suggestions down into three categories:

I’m on a budget. These are denoted with this symbol. It simply means you’re not loose with money (meaning you’re probably married and have kids).
 
I can swing it. If you see this symbol, it means photography is your passion and you don’t mind if your kids have to work a part-time job once they get to college to buy books. So you’re willing to spend to have some better-than-average equipment.

If you see this symbol, it means you don’t really have a budget (you’re a doctor, lawyer, venture capitalist, U.S. Senator, etc.), so I’ll just tell you which one I would buy if I was one of those rich bas*%$#s. (Kidding. Kind of.)  

The chapter I liked most was the last chapter titled - “The recipe for getting this type of shot”. In this chapter, a photo followed by tips to get that kind of photo is given. Following is an excerpt.

Characteristics of this type of shot: the water is very still; you can see through the water because there’s very little reflection; the overall tone is blueish; the lighting and shadows are very soft; you get a full sweeping view.

1. This type of light doesn’t happen at 5:30 p.m.you have to get up early and be in place ready to shoot at 5:30 a.m., right before the sun comes up.

2. To get really still water, you also have to shoot at dawn. If you shoot this same scene at sunset, the winds will have picked up and the water won’t be as smooth……

Following are the main points I learnt from this book,

1. When there isn’t enough light use a tripod else a blurred photograph is guaranteed!
2. Don’t just stand and shoot, explore and find an interesting angle for your shot.
3. Play with aperture priority mode and shutter speed priority mode. Each situation requires a specific mode!
4. When taking photos of people, the most important thing is how you position the subjects in the frame.
5. The relation between focus and aperture. For example, if you just want to focus on the subject with background not in focus, use the lowest aperture!
 
If you have just started digital photography, I highly recommend this book. This book gives a very good introduction to the world of digital photography in plain language and it is fun to read this book.

My rating - 8 out of 10.  Highly recommended.

Last week, I went to vadanappally beach with some of my cousins in Trichur. It is not a crowded beach and is an ideal place if you are thinking of spending some time in meditation or introspection! Here is an interesting photo from the trip.

We are admiring a piece called kadal nakku (fish bone). On top of it we could see some crawling mollusc type creatures.

Taking brilliant flower photos! 
You don’t need to have a very high end camera to take brilliant flower photographs. What you need is a camera which allows manual adjustment of aperture, shutter speed and film speed (This is true for any type of photography).  Here are some tips I learned in a few sessions of flower photography!

0. Get a digital camera which allows manual adjustment of all controls - aperture, film speed, shutter speed, white balance etc. I use canon S3 IS which is not an SLR but still good enough.

1. Most important thing is to find the best angle, the angle from which flower looks most attractive. For this you need to look around the flower before taking the shot! Typically we tend to take the photo looking down which may not capture the true beauty.

2. When you compose your shot by varying aperture etc. ensure that the true colors are captured. If you are shooting in direct sunlight, the flowers may look white washed! So adjust various parameters ensuring that the true colors are seen on the LCD preview.

3. Ensure that the flower covers the entire photo. You are photographing a flower and want it to be the primary focus! You may have to use zoom for this. So get a camera which offers atleast 10x zoom.

4. Manipulate the background. You can place a white or black sheet behind the flowers. If that is not possible, edit the photo background later in photoshop.

5. Use a tripod! Using a tripod guarantees that the photo is sharp. Even a small handshake can make the photos appear blurred(This is true for any photography, but in flower photography there is nothing that prevents you from using a tripod!).

6. In direct sunlight, I found that using shutter speed priority mode with 1/250 speed gives good results. When you are not using tripod, ensure that you take photos at higher speeds.

7. Sometimes it makes sense to break the above rules. For example, if there is something more interesting than the flower, make flower the secondary focus.  Sometimes a flower in motion may be more interesting than a stationary one. Use your instinct!

For any camera, there is a set of must have accessories. Get it! For Canon S3 IS, I found this.

I received S3 IS on thursday. I love this camera.  It has all the features a beginner to medium photographer needs. The only bad thing I noticed so far is the rather “fragile looking” built in flash. I doubt it will last more than few months.

Here is my first masterpiece using this camera. It is the macro shot of vinca rosia flower at home. It is shot in manual mode around noon and came out really sharp!