Nocturnal - Stalwart

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That's my neighborhood. Lagoons galore and beautiful walk ways. This was taken from under a bridge. The framing was pretty good. the water pretty calm and a wonderfully cool breeze ruffling the leaves. The neighborhood is all water front properties so there aren't any tall buildings. This one stands out and is the only one around for a couple of miles.

Nocturnal - Mothership

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Again a shot from Long Beach. This one's of Queen Mary ship which was converted into a hotel. Maybe a little cropping might be needed but I got lazy. Again no tripod and no good place to keep the camera. The ship might look small here but believe me its HUGE. I think I was lucky to be staying at that hotel. At one end was the bridge in the previous post and on the other side was the Queen Mary, looking her regal self.

Nocturnal - Path of Light

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This was taken in Long Beach, Southern Cali. from my hotel room... well not exactly a nocturnal shot but very close. There is slight blur to the pic because I didn't have a tripod and couldn't find a decent place to keep my camera while taking this shot. The low light caused the slightest shake of my hand to blur the pic. The next shot is more defined ... stay tuned... I want to say Thanks to Pavithra for helping me out with the template so that I can put full size pics up here.

Carved in Stone - Bookworm

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This is my last post of this series. This figurine was about 7 inches tall and 11 inches long. I had to lay down flat on my tummy to get the angle. Taking a full frontal shot would have hidden the body and the relaxing pose of the figure so I took the shot at a slight angle. Took a couple of shots from other angles too but this one came out the best in my opinion.

Stay tuned for the next series.. Nocturnal

Carved in Stone - Fountain of Youth

**UPDATE**
A fellow photography buff and a really good photographer, Prashant pointed out that more interesting angles of the previous shot were in order so Prashant here they are ... besides I took these and the fountain a week after I got my camera and was in a Point and Shoot mode.. I had yet to learn about angles, composition, lighting and exposure. Not that I know all that stuff now but I'm getting there... hehehe so keep those comments coming on how to make the shot better...

Thy Will Be Done



This is a closer shot of the sculpture on top of the building in the previous shot. I changed the color temperature of the pic to give it a more foreboding look.



This is a closeup shot of the fountain. Its slightly out of focus, the framing isn't done properly, so I didn't post it before. I plan to go to Vegas again now that I know more about digital photography. Vegas has such a multitude of subject matter that I wish I had gone there after I had read some books on photography.. well whenever I do I'll post the pics...

On a side note..anyone who's done portrait photography I would appreciate it if you could tell me what books you read to learn it or if you didn't read any book then what principles do you go by when taking portrait shots? I wanna get into it and am preparing myself for it so your comments would be really appreciated. Thanks everyone for your comments.

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Another shot from Vegas. The oxidized copper's green color provided a nice contrast with the cream colored building and that was in good contrast with the blue of the sky making this an interesting shot. You have to see the larger image since the small preview doesn't do it justice. It was very bright that day so the shot looks a little overexposed. I should have used bracketing however I was just starting out at the time and didn't know bracketing from bucketing. Another interesting thing about this picture is that the left side of the building is in shadows while the right side of the fountain is in shadows which makes it really interesting since there is only one light source - the sun.

Thanks everyone for your comments. Critical comments are welcome too so please help me get better or an opportunity to explain why I shot it the way I did. Thanks again.

Carved in Stone - Fiery Headdress

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Carved in Stone - Weathered Innocence

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This pic was taken on a trip to North Carolina. The statue of the child amid flowers looked so innocent. The red tulips (atleast I think they are tulips.. I could be wrong) gave the pic a splash of color since the rest of the pic is of pastel colors. The title was inspired by the statue and its condition. Look closely and you'll see what I mean.

Carved in Stone - Angels Rejoice

	A crisp morning. Bright sunlight. clear blue skies and a stark white series of angels. what more could I ask for.
Such a crisp shot made me want to experiment with toning. Sepia was the obvious choice. But it wasn't too effective, though the edges were clear and sharp. It looked like a gradual tint was applied but the only processing was changing the original to sepia.
	Well if sepia won't do the trick I thought why not experiment with negatives. It was such a crisp morning that the negative came out really well in my opinion. It defines the edges so well.. something that you might want to experiment with... try it.. it might give unexpected results ...

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The first post of this series. I had taken this one a long time ago in Vegas. I had just got my camera and was in a "Shoot all mode" The receding line of trumpets in this is what caught my eye. Taken from the bottom it gives sense of depth. And since the rest of the angels were mirror images of the first one I wanted to capture just one and then imply the others just by their trumpets.

Nature's Nuggets - Circle of Life

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This is my last post of this series. This pic was such a good representation that winter was over and spring had arrived. The last leaf hanging on as a new bud sprouts. The circle of life. Stay tuned for my next series... Carved in Stone

Nature's Nuggets - Ablution

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There were two pictures I wanted to post in this series before I was interrupted by work. Not that I'm free now but I've decided not to get bogged down by it. This picture incidentally was taken at work on my trip to HQ in Long Beach, CA. Every day at 4pm a group of birds comes to drink and bathe in the fountain just outside my office. Its like clockwork. 4pm sharp. The only post processing on this pic was cropping it. The bird had just come up for air after dunking its head in the cool water (drops of water flying everywhere). I had a couple of pics of the bird with its head in the water but they didn't define the shape of the bird as well as this one did. I thought of cropping part of the bottom but wanted to include the peach reflection of the office building. Stay tuned for the last pic in this series tomorrow.

Forced Sabbatical

It has been a busy couple of weeks for me and I don't see these busy days ending anytime soon. Please check in next week for updates. For now its back to burning the midnight oil for me.