Sparkles On Venetian Masks

Recently acquired a Canon 85mm f1.8 lens and tried it out on these Venetian masks that were hanging on the wall of our home. The sparkles on the masks turned into those lovely round shapes of different sizes, known as 'bokeh' in the world of photography. This becomes more profound on this lens as it has a large aperture of F/1.8 which gives a very shallow 'Depth of Field' or rather keeps a very narrow range of subject in focus (see the nose and lips of the mask here). The rest of the image goes into a mysterious blur and the shiny little objects turn into those round objects called 'bokeh'. They are much larger in the mask in the backdrop which is completely blurred out.

Sunset 'Framed'...

Winter is the time when you can oft see the wafting clouds around here. The sunsets, therefore,  have been quite dramatic lately. Though there were not as much cloud as I wished for, went up to the 20th floor terrace today and shot this out of a window. The old window broken off in few parts turned out to be a beautiful frame!

Season's Greetings

The kids had done up their X-Mas Tree and the spirit of the season is on! Shot this with my good ole 50mm F1.8. Wished I could get some more profound bokeh.

Out At The Beach...

It was one of those fabulous winter's days here in Kuwait. A perfect day to be out at the beach...and ..Oh! the lure of the azure!

In Search of Crowns and Pearls!

Was itching to push the camera to the edge do something strikingly spectacular. So this weekend was it. And the kitchen turned into my studio. Pulled out a black tray that I use to keep my knick knack stationery and a non-stick frying pan. Filled them with water and let some water drip from a polythene pouch hung from the top.

Put to use my new Canon 320EX Speedlight on an off-camera mode (the wireless mode is great for this). The flash was basically bounced at an angle off a white paper placed just behind the tray/pan. Then after a few almost B&W shots, pulled in a blue kitchen wipe that was lying nearby and placed it over the paper to get that blue hue!

Was myself amazed to see these images - of the beauty in the fleeting dynamics of the macro world!

Elegante Milano!

Milan...or 'Milano', as the Italians utter it with their singsong accent, does turn out to be the fashion mecca as it is reputed to be. Beautiful people whizzing about on the cute small cars, scooters and the bicycles! Unlike in the US or the Middle East, people here dont need to cruise around in the huge fuel guzzlers of SUVs or V8's to be cool or hip. These bikes which could be self-rented were on a stand at the Piazza del Duomo overlooking the endearing Duomo Cathedral. This fourth largest cathedral of the world for which construction began in 1386, supposedly took nearly six centuries to build!
Seriously contemplating on getting a Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 wide angle lens which could have made such compositions even more dramatic. The actual lighting conditions were pretty uninspiring and I did not carry any flash. So the image did go through a good amount of 'correction' on photoshop. And I am failing to take any sharper pictures. Don't really know where the flaw is. Maybe it was the relatively cheaper UV filter that I was using.

Magnifique Paris

It is interesting how gothic architecture can look even more ‘gothic’ in black white! The Notre Dame Cathedral looming large over me as we were taking the mandatory Seine river cruise in Paris looks spectacular and more so at the widest focal length of my humble Tamron 18-270mm VC PZD. A real wide angle lens of around 10mm is on the wish list and I am sure that could make such shots even more dramatically spectacular.

London 2012

Must agree that the London Eye is a brilliant piece of work added into the skyline of London. Nothing like a sunny bright day around it... and just click away! Loved the cloudscapes all around Europe during the summer holidays. Adds so much drama to the pictures!

Then dusk fell ...and as if the sky went up on flames!!