Continuing to learn something new

My multi-month exile from physical activity has brought out this desire in me to learn something new! Action photography has long been on the list of my things to get good at. In the process, I have come to learn that action photography is not only about capturing dramatic moments.. but it is also about processing the picture well enough to ensure that the drama in the moment is evident to the viewer!
Some of the things I've come to learn in the process is
a) Always shoot with very small Depth Of Focus (DOF). This blurs away most of the distracting elements in the foreground and background. Gives you a decent picture to start working with for post-processing. I shoot in the Aperture priority mode these days with the lowest F stop supported by my lens.
b) Shoot in mult-shot / burst mode so that at least one of the frames will actually capture the dramatic moment. You don't have to be worried about timing your clicking finger with the perfect moment. However, having said this, I'd say that even timing the multi-shot mode is an art.. and I'm still trying to get it right!
c) Crop the picture mercilessly! Anything that is not the main subject can be taken away, unless it adds to the story. Don't worry about maintaining aspect ratios on your cropping! Just go chop-chop-chop!
d) Increasing contrast/saturation can add to some of the dramatic visual effect
e) Equalizing can have some interesting effects
f) off-late I'm learning to use layers to edit. Here are some interesting effects from my learnings.
My favourite is picture no. 1. (No.3 is the original). What's yours?







Thanks to Miao for helping me get started on Layers..

ISB Aerial View

Someone in the current batch (Class of '09) took these pictures. He apparently was in the army for many years, and has a flying license.. decided to took one out for a spin and shot these pictures!

Inspiring view at the Shanghai airport

I was sitting and playing on my Nintendo DS very intently at the Shanghai airport. It was sunset.. kind of annoying as the sun was glaring right at my face..
At the end of one game of Yugioh, I suddenly became aware that there was no sun on my face any longer. Looked to the side, and saw this awesome scene. I was seated in the tree's shadow. Breathtaking.

Managed to get a picture of it!



Makes me wonder if good pics are shot by luck, or by skill?

ET Madras Plus Second Article on Chennai Ultimate Frisbee

Yaaaaay! 4 photographs that I shot made it to the front page of the ET Madras Plus supplement! I'm kicked! This was a breath taking half a page article (followed by a contd on page 2). This scanned version does not do justice to the effect it has on the newsprint actually.

Nevertheless.. I'm kicked! This is the second time ET Madras Plus is covering CUF. Thank you Madras Plus!


THE NEW BEE IN TOWN!

This bee is buzzing. And has people leaping into the air with excitement. Ultimate Frisbee is here!

Deepti Sivakumar

Come sunrise; the Elliot's beach springs to life with people. There are the aspiring cricketers, the joggers, yoga practitioners, laughter club members, the bluegreen health concoction vendors… Amidst these groups, there is one more. One that has people cheering excitedly. Ultimate Frisbee. As even a quick internet search will tell you, the sport is mostly called Ultimate since frisbee is a trademark brand name for the discs.

Chennai Ultimate Frisbee (CUF) is a group of individuals who are passionate and committed to the cause of turning unsuspecting beachgoers into Ultimate addicts. For the uninitiated, it is a lot like playing rugby or American football as far as the game-objective is concerned. Teams have to score points by passing the disc between its members in the opposing end zone. But unlike rugby or football, Ultimate is a nocontact team sport, which means if you have a broken nose, you can have no grudges.

Though Ultimate's origins can be traced all the way to North America, the sport is gaining popularity in many parts of India too, courtesy the people who fly to the US for education, and expatriates. Ultimate is only about four-years-old in India, but the national teams are already gearing up for one of its biggest tournaments. On November 29 and 30, Chennai will play host to around eleven teams; ten from across India and one from Sri Lanka. "There have been national tournaments before, but participation from ten national teams makes this Ultimate Frisbee's biggest so far," says Narayan Krishnan, one of the founders of CUF.

What's interesting about this game is that even at the international competitions, there are no referees; the game is self-refereed.

Ultimate is a sport that believes in fostering the player's sportsmanship over everything else. That explains the total absence of sledging or heckling on the Ultimate grounds. "We will win because we are better than the other team in skill, speed and stamina; and not because we can cheat, bully, sledge, trip or push them around," explains one of the Ultimate pamphlets. "Sometimes people get too caught up in the competition and they forget the spirit of the game. We're just a bunch of people who have got together for the love of the sport," trails off Manu Karan, CUF's pillar of support.

The CUF members meet four times a week to practise their dives, catches and throws. But besides that, they also teach Ultimate to children from the underprivileged sections of the society. In fact, in cities like Ahmedabad, Ultimate is being adopted by NGOs as a method to inculcate confidence, teamwork and leadership qualities among different communities. As a sport, Ultimate is associated more with the sheer joy of playing more than the "win at all costs" spirit, and the focus is more on team work and camaraderie between the players.

The fitness angle cannot be ignored too. Ultimate goes a long way in giving the players something to look forward to, at the end of the day. "Most of us have full-time jobs; some of us are techies, some business analysts. But the work-home-work rut is a little difficult to break away from, once you get sucked in. Ultimate is my breakaway from the rut, even if it means waking up earlier on the weekends," says Manu. For some, the game is that last push one needs to make or break a habit. Muthuraman, an Ultimate lover, can't wait for the tournament to begin. "Ultimate helps me take my health seriously," he says.

Currently, CUF has around 35 members. "Newbies come over weekends to watch us play and some of them become regulars," says Manu, but he does add that the awareness levels are still low. For a game completely devoid of on-field cursing, Ultimate is surprisingly competitive, and even after the game is over, you can always catch the players practising their catches and throws. What's also unique about Ultimate is that it's unisex. Regardless of your age, sex, height and weight, you can play. Go on, be a part of the frisbee experience!

Action Photography Time!

Due to my hamstring injury, I'm forced to sit out for the next 4 weeks. No Ultimate till then. So, I've decided to work on my action photography skills. Here are a few decent pics I've got in the last couple of attempts..

The Flying Cow

Shot this picture last morning at the 3 hour session of Ultimate. Superb weather. It felt like we were playing in an air-conditioned room! Shot at the Marina Beach.



p.s. Before you start imaging things.. NO! I'm not a sports photographer to be able to shoot that during a game.. I play when a game is on. This pic was shot in a photo-shooting session where Cow was making a couple of dives during half-time to give me a chance to get an action pic. I was on my fours on the sand to shoot this picture!

My feet are tired, but my soul is rested

I was thinking about what title to give this picture which I had shot when I was sitting around in my room in China. The title "The lonely traveller" came into mind. But then I chucked it, thinking it sounds too looney and depressing. Didn't want to encourage any negativity!

Then, one of the kids at Ahmedabad had given me this small hand-made wall hanging (which now hangs in my cube) which has the words "My feet are tired, but my soul is rested". Perfect!!

Oh.. about this picture.. I walked into the room and kicked-off my shoes. Sat down on the couch and realized that I loved the room lighting. So, sprawled out on the floor (in my suit) and was clicking away these pics. I'm sure it was quite an ungainly sight to see a full grown male in a suit and socks sprawled out on the floor shooting a picture of his shoes! But hey, I'm proud of this shot!

CPC Photoshoot Workshop

The Chennai Photography Club conducted a cool workshop last weekend. Mr. Manohar volunteered to teach us studio lighting. It was good fun to meet the CPC gang again after the Gingee trip. And we also had our first female participant. She was very sportive in stepping in as a female model for photographs when the actual female model didn't turn up. Three cheers!

You can see some of the pictures from the workshop here

Pics from CPC trip to Gingee

Some pictures I shot during my Gingee fort photo trip with the Chennai Photography Club.. The third picture came out like a Nike ad, except in Apple iPod style!

Alcohol Aesthetics

Finally a picture!

Hopefully after seeing how this picture came out, I will get over my camera trigger inertia and start shooting more pictures! This was taken a couple of weeks back at the Coffee Day at IIT-M when Sid convened the first meeting of "Just Shoot" amateur photo club.