Sharma Podila's Blog

We were driving home in the afternoon today, the second day of 2012, and noticed pretty looking clouds. The setting Sun was painting them well. I took my camera out the front door, setup the tripod and took a handful of shots before the color faded away. Being right in the middle of our neighborhood, there wasn’t much of a scene in the foreground. However, the leafless tree was good enough for me, and it reminds me of winter.

Leafless Tree and Clouds at Dusk

Lets hope Nature presents us all with colorful and pleasant moments for the entire year.

Happy New Year!

You’ve either been asked this question, or maybe you’ve asked other photographers this question, or wondered about it. Didn’t you? Why do you take so many pictures of the same thing?

Few years ago I remember reading an advertisement for a memory card company (I forget which one) that said something like,

What you lack in talent, make up in quantity.

That’s one good reason to stock up on memory cards. Seriously though, there are occasions when shooting multiple pictures of the same “subject” is called for. Here’s some obvious and some not so obvious ones:

• Sporting events: in fact, keep “gunning” at the highest frames-per-second that your camera can support. In general, it is very difficult to click just one picture at the peak of the action, even if just one moment can be called the peak event.
• Cultural events: During plays, dances, ballets, etc., I’d take several shots to ensure that at least some are useful. Some pictures freeze actors in strange looking poses in between their dialog or expressions. Same for dancing and ballets.
• Moving water: The main reason being that moving water always looks different. I will just refer you to two recent articles I read on this topic: Michael Frye (link) and William Neill (link).
• Different interpretations, or “working the subject”: a subject can be shown in numerous ways. This is where you go beyond the first impulse of taking the picture of a subject.

There are several advantages to the last point above. This has the potential to give you a picture that is different from what has been produced before of the same subject. Or, the light may change during the course of taking so many pictures. Consciously forcing yourself to come up with different interpretations of the same subject can bring out creativity and innovation.

Here’s some examples from my recent pictures. The first picture shows the pier at which I took hundreds of shots in little over a couple of hours. Towards the end, the lights on the pier turned on and gave me this shot that I liked more than the ones from earlier. The second is reflection of the famed Golden Gate bridge at sunrise. The third is reflections of parked boats at Sausalito bay. It lends itself more as an abstract.

Next time you are out with the camera, don’t feel pressurized by others’ asking you this question. It is OK to take hundreds of pictures of the same subject to make a better image.

Last Saturday morning a few friends and I woke up early to go to Fort Point (at the base of Golden Gate Bridge) to catch the Sunrise over the bridge. One of the friends was visiting the Bay Area and that was a good impetus for the trip.

We were treated to some amazing colors on the city skyline just before the Sun came up. That was very beautiful. However, as soon as the Sun came up, the clear blue sky wasn’t exactly what we had hoped for. But then, when you go out to shoot there are some things you wish for and then there are things you get you didn’t expect at all.

After turning our viewfinders away from the strong rising Sun, we focused on the iron chain fence, rocks, and the water in front of us, with the iconic Golden Gate Bridge in the background. The warm sunlight on the red structure was a good contrast against the clear blue sky.

A few quick shots later we were ready to go somewhere else. But, just before we left I noticed that the golden light on the red tones of the bridge were reflecting well in the water right in front of us. I knew what I was looking for. A few paces of movement and a change of lens to my favorite 70-200 zoom gave me several frames of flowing water with the golden reflections.

The cool tones of water in shade play very well with the warm tones of reflected bridge. With a little bit of experimenting and chimping I found that the shutter speeds between 1/3rd and 1/6th of a second provided a good feel for the water flow. Using a stable tripod and a cable release (to ensure that the rocks are sharp) I fired away several frames with waves crashing on the rocks.

Then we went off to Sausalito Bay. The Sun was strong in the clear sky. I focused my attention to the reflections of boats in the water. First, they provided interesting abstract patterns. Second, they provided a better contrast range for me to deal with. I came out with a few images that were different from what I had shot before.

Here’s a gallery of images from the morning.

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It is the beginning of a new year, 2011. Time to gather some of my favorite images that I made in 2010. I look at these to see if I made progress in the year with my photography. I basically had one goal in mind:

• Create at least 2 – 3 images in the year worth printing large

The images are “worth printing large” only if they are successful at both of these aspects:

• Technically good images – this is a result of making a good exposure preferably at camera’s base ISO and also using good discipline for quality image capture such as camera support (tripod + ballhead), cord/remote release, and mirror lock-up/pre-release. And then careful post processing so as to not introduce artifacts. With digital photography, capturing image in RAW is a must as opposed to JPG format.
• Aesthetics – does the picture tell an interesting story? Or, does it evoke an emotion that the viewer can relate to? In general, does it hold the viewer’s interest for more than a quick glance?

Here’s a gallery of my favorites from 2010. If you would like, drop in a comment below.

Thank you for looking. Wish you A Happy New Year.

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After plans to go to another place fizzled out, a quick drive to nearby Rancho San Antonio was fun. Its such a nice place to just walk around and be surrounded by nature.

Here’s a few images from this evening.

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