How to photograph the moon with DSLR

Hello Good people,

One of the things I always admire since my childhood is that white little coin that appears in the sky at night, which becomes smaller and smaller and suddenly disappears. Back then, I always thought it would be very easy to take a photo of the moon. Although I never tried even once then.

Now that I got myself a DSLR camera, and a decent enough zoom to support it, I was more than interested in clicking a few pictures of the moon. Only then I found out that it is not as simple as it looks like.

To begin with, this is how a moon appears in your dslr camera when you click it in the normal way. This could be due to several reasons.

 

 

Right, so what are the setting required to be made ? Let's look at some basic questions that would come out, first.

 



Firstly, I see a bigger moon in the sky, but when I take a picture, I see a smaller image. Why ? You would have been using a wide angle lens that covers plenty of space on screen where the moon is made to look smaller. Try to use zooming lens like a 300mm or 400mm, and you would definitely see a larger image.

 

In the above picture, you just see a white circle , but in reality the moon looks a lot different. How come ?

That is because the moon was over exposed, and it is very common during the night. We can cover it up using the setting discussed below.

 

Ok, so what are the settings required ?

 

Firstly, put the camera into "Manual" mode.. this is the tougher option in the camera, but you can play around with it very well.

 

Then increase the ISO to 200 or 400 depending on the light availability. More dark it is more you will want to increase the ISO.

 

Set the aperture level to f/11. Smaller aperture levels will soften the image and larger aperture levels will reduce the shutter speed. Shutter speed is very important, because the moon keeps moving at a good speed and higher shutter speed helps in capturing more sharper images. I would suggest to stay above 1/125.

 

These are the main settings that are required and one can play around with the numbers to get a suitable combination. So, after applying these settings, below is how the moon looked.. (the above moon, on the same day, after a few hours)

 

 

 

And here is another, taken 19 days later..

 

 

 



Just to let you know, these are all raw pictures. I haven't yet tried using adobe photoshop elements.

 

And the below one again is a sepia kind of an image with extra lighting..

 

 

 

So, you can see, you can indeed click a variety of shots of the moon once you understand the technicalities behind it. A little bit of physics involved.. but this is much better than the physics that we all had at school.

 

 

Below is a picture that I tried during the day time, that is, before sunset. This is a bit easier as there is adequate lighting.

 



 

 

I must admit I did do lot of researches in google, reading photography related blogs and articles. this happened between the first and second photo on this blog, and you already see a good enough difference.

 

One of the blogs that helped me a lot and gave a lot of information about moon photograph was from Mr. Nasim Mansurov. Here is the link to his blog : http://photographylife.com/how-to-photograph-moon

 

I haven't however, yet, tried to take photo of the moon with foreground objects like a landscape or buildings etc., I'm yet to find a good enough location for that.

 

Nonetheless, It's always a good feeling to see the moon, and even more, to take photo of the moon.

 

Now then, imagine about keeping a foot on the moon..  And this is what Mr. Neil Armstrong had to say after landing on the moon

 

"That's one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind"

 

 

Rightly so..!

 

It's been 3 months that Mr. Neil Armstrong passed way.. and I would like to dedicate this blog to him.. RIP.

 





Go Kruger.. Go Wild..!!

Hey Good people..

This time, I would like to share my wild life experience with you. We had been to Kruger National Park during the last weekend, for a period of 3N 4D. It was a wild 4 days..! In a way, this is a sequel to my earlier blog on KNP. In case you have not read it, you can click here. And to know more about Kruger, pls. click here.

My fellow South African team mates always use to tell me that the best time to visit Kruger is September / October, when spring arrives.  So, I started planning the trip in July. After much research work on the places to stay, dates to visit, weather forecast and availability of accommodation, we narrowed down on 3 places – Pretoriouskop, Satara and Crocodile Bridge. The plan was to stay one night at each of these camps and travel around them during the day, such that the entire south part of Kruger is covered.

We left at around 7 am on a Saturday and reached Kruger (Malelane gate) by 12 pm, after a smooth road experience, only to listen to shocking news from the gate keeper - It had rained in Kruger throughout last night, and so all the gravel roads were closed for public that day. That was disappointing, because, there are more chances of spotting wild life when driving on gravel roads as these roads cut into the forest and animals are not scared to walk across the roads.

But, as I started driving inside, within 2 minutes, two huge Black Rhino’s were standing by the road side.. yes.. alongside the Tar road. That was a good enough motivation and what followed was 4 extra-ordinary days of wild life adventure. Here are some pictures..

The climate was very dull and cloudy all day, and drizzling most of the times. Hence photography was challenge , with the lack of sunlight.

First of all, the famous African BIG 5. The first question asked by anyone is.. “you went to Kruger ? Did you see BIG 5 ?  The answer is “ YES”.

Below are the famous BIG 5 of Africa… (Elephant, Leopard, Lion, Wild Buffalo & Rhino)

This time, we spotted the Big 5 quite easily.  On Monday, when I was driving from Satara to Crocodile camp, we saw more than 50 different elephants on the way in small and big herds.

 Lion – We spotted a lion / Lioness , each day of our stay. Totally 6 times, one of them being a remarkably scary experience.  On Sunday evening, as we were reaching our camp, we noticed that we had 1 hour time before the camp gates close. So, we decided to take an infamous gravel road (Gravel roads were open on Sunday) that takes us directly to the camp. After 20 minutes of boring driving seeing Deers and Giraffe’s, I decided to speed up and reach home faster. In one of the turning (remember, this is inside the forest – so you won’t have visibility of other side while turning), as I turned into the next road at 40 km/hr, there was a lioness on the road, walking towards us. I hit a sudden break, without even minding our sleeping daughter in the backseat, and immediately raised the window glass. The Lioness stopped in front of our car, starred at us , and slowly walked past our car into the thick forest. That starring must have meant “I’m not interested in fighting with you people, my shift time is over, I’m going home.. get lost, chi po..!!”

This was that one..!!

And next, all I knew , before visiting South Africa, was that, there is one animal called “Deer / Antelope”, as most of us have read in Ramayanam. But, here, there are atleast 9 different variety of Deers. We were able to spot 8 of them and pictured 7 of them. 

This one is a "Bushbuck" (female) - can be recognised by the white spots on their flanks.

Below is a "Waterbuck" (male) - Lyre shaped, forward-pointing horns, and a white ring around the rump.

This one is called a "Kudu" (male). They are easily identified by their unique horns and white lines. 

This one is called "Duiker" (male), and again, their horns , short and straight,  help in their identity.

The below is a "Steenbok" (female).  Have a look at their ears..!

This one is an "Impala" (male)

And lastly, this one is a Nyala (female)

 As said earlier, Sep / Oct is the best time to be in Kruger. Mainly because, the climate is pleasant, and with spring season, there is lot of grass throughout the forest, where the herbivorous animals like Zebra, Wildebeest (Neelgai), Giraffe, Deers are all seen in plenty. So, obviously the predators will also be following them and can be spotted easily.

Here are some of the animals that were frequently seen:

The above one is Wildebeest , what we call in India as Neelgai.

For those who did not know, the above one is not a wild boar.. it is "Warthog".  that is - wild pig.

And now, here are some of the rarely seen creatures:

The first one on the list is the Albino Impala.  This one is a very very rare one to spot. For those who are not aware : Albino means the whiter version.  It can be a Lion, Allegator, Antelope etc.,

In the below picture, you can see a white deer. , rather - Albino Impala..

And this one was standing on the road..

This one is called a "Flap necked Chameleon". Not rare as such. But to spot it in a forest is quite a thing.

Below one is called a "Leopard Tortoise". 

Unable to believe ? Ok, look at this picture of a normal tortoise.:

Now, you would have understood better.

Lastly, here is a  "Water Monitor". This comes from the dragon family..! that is, the lizzard family.

It's a well-known fact that Kruger is known for it’s wilderness. Here are some pictures to show you why :

It seems, somebody had a "Wild-Buffalo" biriyani..!!

And here is a brutally butchered "Imapala"

When I spotted it, there were a bunch of bees and ants on it, and the blood was also quite raw, which could mean that the impala was killed in less than 1 hour ago..!! Oops.. I got goosebumps when I thought about it, at that time..!

Actually, Kruger is not only known for the big animals. There are lot other small animals which are equally cute and interesting to observer. But the pity is that most people drive in to the forest mainly to see Lion and Leopard. That was irritating, same like how people see cricket matches only for Sachin, and then turn off the TV once he gets out. Ok ok … no offense.. But I strictly believe that no individual is bigger than the game.

Here are some smaller animals that attracted us:

This one is called "Spotted Genet" - obviously, from the cat family.. It was spotted during our night safari.

You said it right.. A crocodile in action..

A Chachma Baboon with its baby.

And this one is the funny "vervet monkey" ..!

And lastly, there are not only land-attractions in Kruger. You also need to keep an eye on the trees to spot some nice birds. Here are some of the birds that we spotted:

The below bird is called "Bateleur".

This one is an "African Fish Eagle"

This one is a "Lappet faced Vulture"

And this one is a "Giant Kingfisher".

 A "white crane", in take-off and landing modes, respectively.

We spotted a lot of other birds too, such as the Grey Lourie, Wahlberg's Eagle, White backed Vulture, Hornbill, Hamerkop, Goliath Heron etc., etc.,  But It's hard to put all the pictures in the blog. Please visit my Picasa web album to see all the pictures.

And for the animals that we spotted, but couldn't take pictures - here are few:

1) Jackal : We spotted it on the road while taking a turn. And because of the vehicle sound, it ran inside a thick bush, and was hiding.
2) Cerval & Hares: We spotted it during our night safari, but couldn't capture them in the dark.
3) Mongoose : Spotted it at the end of the day when the camera battery was empty.
4) Wild Dog / Hyaena : We saw it in our rear mirror as it crossed the road after we moved. And there was no use in turning back.

Here are some key highlights of the trip:

The “WOW” moment:  When the Lioness walked in front of our car, unexpectedly.

The heart-stopping moment:  When the driver of the night-safari open-jeep, turned the Jeep from the gravel road into the tar road, the jeep suddenly stopped with a jerk. This was at around 10 PM, and there was sudden darkness everywhere, and remember - it's a forest.  The driver quietly said “Sorry guys, the diesel got over”!!

The “OH-NO” moment: This was when we missed a Cheetah by 5 minutes.  While I was driving in one of the gravel roads, the guy in the car coming from opposite direction, was kind enough to ask me to stop, and informed that there is a Cheetah lying by the same road, within 3-4 kilo meters. I immediately thanked him, and rushed to the spot. I din’t even mind to break the speed limit and drove at 70km/hr and reached the spot in less than 2 minutes. But by then the Cheetah had already crossed the road, and disappeared into the bush. If we had been there 10 minutes back….

But , overall, I’m really happy that our planning and scheduling turned out successful. And I hope you also enjoyed reading our experience.

To sum up, as Vadivelu says in Pokkiri movie,

"எதையுமே பிளான் பண்ணி பண்ணனும். !!"

Barfi - A wasted script

Helo there,

Now that I have started writing movie reviews,  I might as well continue writing short reviews then and there. For now, I'm picking up "Barfi".

I was one of those movie fans / critics who felt happy to see a "different" and "innovative" movie in Bollywood. Some say that a few scenes of Barfi were inspired from "Notebook" etc., But I hadn't watched any of those.

The script of the movie is wonderful, well backed by it's lead actors. I really liked the way the entire story was narrated as a flashback, and that a key part of the movie was held as suspense throughout the second half. And the chaplin'esque style for the lead actor also filled in the humor bucket.

But the problem with the movie was it's screenplay and background music. As you know, it's a story of a "deaf & dum" guy, who is also the lead actor in the movie. So, the entire story revolves around him, and he is present in most of the scenes. That means, in most of the scenes, there is no dialogue - just face expressions.

Without dialogues, any movie would look slow and dull.  Barfi was no different. The movie actually has a very good pace, but the background music was not good enough to highlight it. The BGM is more like the "salt" that we use while cooking. It's very interesting to note how the salt that we add in the end in the curries, brings out the different flavours and spices that we use.

Because of this one defect, the movie was termed as "slow-paced", "dull", "boring-at-times" etc.,

But nonetheless, this is a very good movie, and this should motivate more and more producers to invest on movies with such varied storyline.

Zindagi Na Milegi Dubara - Story ? concept ?

Hi,

I had decided a few months back that I'm going to stop writing movie reviews, as I somehow started feeling that it's an unproductive time, even for a fun time blog.

But, recently, I was watching a "one-of-many" "stupid" bollywood awards ceremony, in which, most of the awards, were, arguably, given to the right people who din't deserve it..!! neither were they given for the deserving reason. Hence, I complelled myself to write down my feedback about it.

One of those many movies, in the award ceremony, was "Zindagi Na Milegi Dubara". This movie was awared for "best story" at a couple of awards ceremonies.

 

'Three friends go on a holiday, mainly to take a break from their hectic schedule, but end up re-discovering themselves, and overcome their respective fears in life"

I don't have anything against this movie or it's artists. Infact, in my opinion, it was a decent movie, mainly inspired by the reason that it neither had a "Khan" nor a "Kapoor".. LOL.!

But I'm stuggling to understand where the story is. For me, the above is the concept and also a message that you succeed in life when you overcome your fears.

To say in one line in Hindi : "Dar ke aage Jeeth hai".

Which I would say, is, "Mountain Dew".

I would probably vote this under a "movie with a good message" division..

Airshow @ South Africa

Hi All,

We had been to an Airshow yesterday at Waterkloof Airforce base in South Africa. The event was conducted by AAD (Africa Aerospace & Defence). This was the first ever time that I ever went to an Airshow.

All that I have seen before this, is the 5 second video clipping that our Indian news channels show on Independance day and Republic day. 

A huge thanks to the weather, to allow the event to happen. Until 9 AM on the day of the event, there was rain at the venue, and there was a forecast for thunderstorms with rain for the remainder of the day. But as we left from our home in Johannesburg at around 10am , the clouds started clearing out. By the time we reached the venue, there was already a 100 people long queue for entrance and a whopping 3000+ were already inside.

I would like to share some pictures from the event..

The event began with some ground shows..

This tanker.. i have seen it in Arjun movies and Vijayakanth movies (tamil super heroes..) (Hindi audience - please relate to Sunny Deol movies).. The tanker completed 3-4 rounds so that all the audiences do get a good look at the deadly war weapon..

This typical figher jet - I remember seeing it in Avatar, and a hell lot of other "Alien" english movies.. Everything was good except it's noise.. almost equals the sound of 100 thunders.. Just couldn't imagine how it would have been during the wars. Forget the people who die at war.. imagine the people who would be listening to this deadly noise - day in, day out..!! Please , no war... save our eardrums.. :-)

What followed was a display of the domestic and international airlines operated in South Africa. While the flights took off and completed normal runs around the arena, the officials were announcing its technical details like capacity, speed, etc.,

The above one, as you can see, is a flight from the 1time airlines, which is one of the low-cost airlines operated in South Africa.

And below is the prime airlines of South Africa - SAA.

But the real beauty of the day was from the choppers, who entertained with their various stunts and styles.

And one more...

They were flying here and there.. and before you spot them, they are gone.. They entered the sky in a group of 5, then split themselves up, went to a corner each,.. performed some stunts like toppling etc., and came back to the alignments.

There were also some private charters and helicopters on display & sale.

           

                                 

                                     

                                   

The helicopters also did entertain us with some serious action..

And here's another one.. all I know is that these two look different.. 

And here's one that lifted a tanker..

And then there was a mock war-scenario too. A few explosions took place, and it was demonstrated how the tankers will be used during wars , and how the rescue operations take place.

Thick smoke from an explosion as part of the mock-war..

A military tanker in action....

And then an Helicopter rescue operation..



And a final rescue to take back the remaining soldiers after the 'war'..

We were not there the whole day, hence I'm unaware of the events that happened later on. But it was quite a tiring day considering that we had to stand throughout the event to get a good view of the exhibitions. For more information about the event , you can visit http://www.aadexpo.co.za/

I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

If you would like to see more pictures, you can check the below link to my Picassa album.

Airshow, Waterkloof Airbase, South Africa