Photography...

I got interested in photography as a kid by reading National Geographic as a kid.  I started learning photography by doing a simple homework for 30 minutes a day.

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/ - 30 minutes a day (especially if you are interested in wildlife)

http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/ - 30 minutes a day (might have some stupid images at times but a good place to learn)

A photographer (don’t remember who) once said, the best way to learn photography is to look at photographs.

out of action

A month back I injured my knee and was diagnosed with an ACL tear in my left knee.  Photography has taken the back seat for a while, however just couldn't stop myself to go to Hebbal last week after I saw a few black and white birds flying over Hebbal lake.  Had a quick 30 minute shoot before my knee gave in.

So out of action for a few more weeks before I start traveling and photography soon :)

Understanding Photography

The Biligiriranga Hills, commonly called B R Hills, is a hill range situated in south-eastern Karnataka, at its border with Tamil Nadu in South India. The area is called Biligiriranga Temple Wildlife Sanctuary or simply BRT Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected reserve under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1973. Being at the confluence of the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, the sanctuary is home to eco-systems that are unique to both the mountain ranges. This makes it a very critical habitat. Well within days of getting my D-SLR, I was all set to a 2 day trip to the very beautiful B.R. Hills.

Indeed a beautiful place, and when I was back, I was all excited to see my photographs. Well to my astonishment all my snaps were NOT so great! Well finally I did realize that its not the camera that really matters but its the way you take a picture. I tried a lot but absolutely no use.

I decided to join some photography workshop to understand the basics of photography. Well finally I found one and joined Anand Sharan's weekend workshop at BSoAP (http://www.bsoap.com/). This is when I realized the true use of a D-SLR and thanks to the point and shoot cameras I never knew the beautiful world of D-SLR's.

Well thanks to Anand Sharan, I understood one of the most important concepts of Photography. Composition! Composition is definately important and I could see the difference after the workshop on my images. When doing photography its important to see the world not what your eye's see but what the eye piece of your camera would see.

The other homework you can do is see as many photographs as possible. Be it on the internet or the magazines. A few suggestions from my side would be NationalGeographic.com, BetterPhoto.com and DPchallenge.com. These are some beautiful websites with great photographs.

Photography by Passion

Photography was a long time dream come true when I got my hands on my Canon 350D. Finally I was rolling all over the place with my camera trying to capture whatever I could.

I have been waiting for this for years now and I could really see my small little dream come true (just one of the many).

Canon 350D is a beautiful D-SLR camera's if you are just starting your photography hobby. I saw a lot of review and being a Nikon lover it was difficult for me to convince myself to buy a Canon 350D. The major reason was the cost and the second was the range of lenses in Canon is way more than any other D-SLR camera. So Canon 350D it was and a good review for the camera can be found at http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos350d/ (Short, Simple and Sweet).

For a start the Canon kit lens 18-55mm f/3.5 - 5.6 is a decent enough wide angle lens and also can be used for taking portraits. For landscapes the lense works beautifully, however if you are not satisfied with the quality of your portraits since this lens tends to give you a bit softer image, the Canon 50mm f/1.8 is a sure buy.

Also if you want the zoom lenses and you dont know which one to go for and you are definately not into wild life or the cost is a problem the Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG Macro is a definite buy. Its cost effect with amazing DoF results.