Sunset talk..!

Sunset is one of the most common photographic subjects. Most of the time, we do not bother to shoot sunset and sunrise due to the common nature of all available photographs. But, if you photographically record a new destination as a travel photographer,   your record may not be completed without a sunset or sunrise.

During the month of February and early days of March of 2013, the evening sky of Colombo was very clear on most of the days. On a weekday after my work, I stop by the Bere Lake, Colombo to spend some time with my camera. It was interesting to see that there were about 6 young photographers with DSLR’s shooting the sunrise.

There was a policeman who came for a small friendly chat with me and asked, “Why everybody wants to photograph sunset when there are enough subjects to shoot..?” He further said, “We all have seen enough sunsets and a photograph of a sunset is not going to be anything new. Even though I don’t know anything about photography, what is the purpose of taking photos of very common photographs?” 

I explained that gentleman that even common phenomenon can be shot in an uncommon way. But I questioned from myself, was I doing it..? I was just shooting some very common sunset pictures! 

Given above is one of the photographs that I took on that day.

Given below are some of the old sunset photographs I took. 

 

Morning Walk

All of my photography teachers have prescribed me to get up early and go out to find exiting photographs during the early hours of the day. Unfortunately, we do not practice this century old advice. But when you practice the advice at the right location, you can get better results. 

I totally agree with the thinking that "early birds get more worms". 

One day when we were relaxing on a weekend at my wife's place, which is about 35 km form the Colombo city, I got up little early in the morning and went out for a small walk. Even though I didn't expect any specific photographs, I just carried my camera with me. 

Following are some of the photographs I recorded at around 6.30 am - 7.00 am

Against the light

Light direction is one of the most important aspects of a photograph which can drastically change the message and mood of the photograph. Light direction is not only the direction of the light. When I say light direction that consists of relative position of the key elements. i.e., Light source, object and the camera.

When the source of the light is in front of the camera, and the light is travelling towards the camera, it becomes a bit of a challenge for the photographers. But in such situations, ever popular silhouette shots can be created. With the introduction of DSLRs, this silhouette photography has become increasingly popular and simple. By using spot metering and selective focusing, even amateur (like me) can take technically correct silhouettes.

Shown below are some of my recent, against the light photographs which were taken near the “Bere Lake” (an urban lake at the heart of Combo) between 5.30 – 7.00 pm. 

A lonely bird..! So small when compared with the rest of the world. The shadows of buildings make this little more meaning full as it adds the urban feeling in to the photograph.

Above average shutter speed made very static and the golden reflection gave a warm feeling to the entire picture. 

This lonely swimmer could have been very ordinary without the shadows of the buildings on the water. 

Evening is not the only time to capture silhouettes. Morning hours can also do the trick. The link given below, are some nice silhouettes from the net.  http://www.fanpop.com/spots/inspiration-and-creativity/images/25581219/title/silhouettes-sunset-photo

Back lit leaf..!

Few days a go when I was in my small home garden..the afternoon sun was shining on plants. When I just changed my angle of view, a back-lit leaf was shining like a green emerald. I took some photographs just before sunset.

Kandy Perahara - different perspective

Kandu Esala Perahera was a big event for most of the photographers and photo enthusiast like me. Canon announced a photo competition on the vent with some exiting prices for local and foreign photographers.Some of my friends like me also wanted to have a "go" at the event. I also joined. Our approach turned out to be a  total disaster due to lack of understanding of the event and lack of preparation. We could not get in to the place we planned for the shoot. Finally we ended up among the crowd just without knowing what to do what to shoot. The photos shown in this post are classic examples of bad results of unplanned photography assignment. 


We could not be still enough to use low shutter speeds to capture motion as we wanted. No space to set up the tripod. A running rain was there during the early hours of the evening. When procession started, it was little too dark. Add to the problem, our location was not a popular place for the performers. Most of the dancers were just walking in front of us. This is what happen when you do not study the situation and plan for the shoot. We came out with some ordinary shots of the procession. 


Shown below are some of the photographs I took that night, and even though those are not very good, I like this perspective of "Esala Perahera 2011" 

Still and motion all at once..!

This small kid looked so lonely even when Kandy Perahera in front of him.

Can this be categorized as child labor..!

Another "try" to capture still and motion together.

This two perahera workers were having a nice chant while the procession was going on. 

This "try" to capture still and motion together seems little successful.  

Finally, my advice to all my readers is.." if you want to have good photographs on any occasion, study the event, plan early, plan well and then only take your camera out." Any unplanned attempt will produce photos like my photographs. 

Wesak Festival - A religious and cultural festival - a night photography heaven..!

Wesak festival in Sri Lanka. One of the most exiting opportunities for night shots on the streets of Colombo.

These photographs were taken in May 2011 during Wesak festival week. All these photographs were taken during a small walk around a "Bare Lake" at the heart of Colombo.

 All these shots are taken with ISO 800, spot metering and mostly 1 stop under.

Night lights were beautiful but the reflection on the water was even more beautiful. It was a nice atmosphere where several lot of photographers were capturing these images and posting on their Facebook pages or other galleries pages on a daily basis during the festive week.

When photographing night lights and reflections, the tripod is a handy equipment which I could not carry on that day. If I used a tripod and given a longer exposure rather than hand held camera, the reflections on the water could have been more beautiful The water surface could have been totally colored for a longer exposure of 5-10 seconds.



Looking forward to Wesak Festival 2012 and be in touch for another set of photographs. This time I will go with the tripod. :-D

(Click on the images for larger view)

High Angle..!

One day I had to spend some time at Kandy, Dalada Maligawa (temple of tooth relic) waiting foe one of my colleagues. I had the camera with me and took some shots from the above. Personally, I do not like high angle shots but I made some color changes and did some touch-ups to give these pictures a mood. Unfortunately only few people liked these. Just have a look whether you like them or not. Feel free to email me if you like to make a serious comment..! (nirmanaj@gmail.com)

 Even though this seems a very simple photograph, the way the child and mother walk downwards made me stop at this. They are walking with eyes on the ground and the front is dark. Its just like the future is not clear but we just descending to the darkness without knowing what will happen next. 








This elderly mother was waling in to the shade..I felt like she is moving towards the darker period of life.