Are you wondering why the post that should have been the second is like the seventeenth one? That's what I thought when I started with this. But, here we are. I think the reason is mostly that this isn't an outright guide blog. It is a photography blog, sure, but not exactly a tutoring one. And as for this post, this will be a guide blog. An example of the usage of the Rule of Thirds  Let's start with the don'ts. I believe that it's easy to do something when you know what not to do. Don't zoom and take pictures: This is a pretty basic mistake a lot of us make while taking pictures. If you have the opportunity to move closer and take the picture then please do. Doing so ensures that your picture quality is maintained and you can further crop the pictures if needed. The exceptions to this are if your phone has a dedicated zoom lens and/or the processing of zoomed photos is extremely good on your phone (only Google Pixels have this, as far as I know). Don't

There is a proverb in Kannada, "Doorada betta kannige nunnage", which literally translates to "The mountain far away always looks good" or something like that. The closest English equivalent proverb could be, "The grass is always greener on the other side". But for the sake of fun, we shall be using the Kannada version. Because people who try out this trek for the first time without experience and without fitness, they all feel that they should have just enjoyed the view of the mountain from below, in front of the Kukke Subramanya temple. But there is so much this trek offers that are way too difficult to put into words. I can only describe it as "Magical" I have been to KP (Kumara Parvatha) twice. But in this blog, I will be writing only about the first time. Everyone knows that the first time's always the best. There are two starting points to the trek. One from the Kukke side (the popular one), and another from the Somawarapete side starti

  Before you start wondering if this is a photography blog or some philosophical one, let me just save you the time and tell you that this, indeed, is a photography blog. It's been a minute since I last wrote a blog. Too consumed, too lazy, too out of things to write, or at least, that's what I thought. But, I have tons to write about. Turns out I was just lazy. What makes us do or not do anything? What makes us wake up in the morning? Why did I start writing this blog that I had saved in drafts for over a year? The thought of doing something usually fills our head with a good feeling or a bad feeling. But the world as we know is not made of "Good or bad". It's normally the in-between. The world is filled with averages. "Average people are the most special people in the world. And that's why God made so many of them" -Michael Scott's Mom -Michael Scott [The Office] . I may leave you with more questions than answers by the end of this blog. I'

(Shallow Grasslands. Mi A3. 1/3200 sec. ISO 94)   Sometimes things can go wrong in so many ways yet the end result could turn out to be wonderful. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it is an amazing feeling. The first mistake was going on a bike with bad front brakes. More on that later. (Mountains of Western Ghats. Mi A3. 1/1513 sec. ISO 90)   Ballalarayana Durga is a fort built during the 12th century. All it remains are the ruins of the fort. The fee for the whole trek is Rs. 250. You can either just go to the fort or continue the trek to the Bandaje Falls. Going to the fort is easy. It takes only around 40 minutes. But to really enjoy the trek you need to go to the waterfalls. It takes around 2 hours from the fort. You get to enjoy the views of shallow grasslands. But there is no shade for resting. Most of the path is open grasslands. So, it might be difficult to trek during summer. We went in November, and still, it was very hot and sunny. We left Hassan at 6.30 and by

(A flower. Mi A2, with macro lens) How big is our world? Quite big, right? But how big are our gardens? Pretty small - for us, anyway. But in these gardens lie many tiny, micro creatures whose whole world is just the garden. The art (read 'patience') of capturing this micro-world is known as "Macro Photography". It's called so because the size of the subject in the photograph is greater than life-size. I got into macro photography quite early on. It was something that I had liked even before starting my photography hobby. I bought a set of mobile lenses. It was exciting. I started taking macro pictures of everything. I mean, every single thing, from mud to carpets. They all looked so different in the pics. My very first pic in that lens was of a guava flower. (Honor 4X with a macro lens on) It's nothing, actually. But it was a start. There is always a learning curve. But the learning curve doesn't seem so tough when you're enjoying what you're doin

  What comes to your mind when you hear 'Biological Park', or 'National Park'? And what comes to your mind when you hear the word 'Zoo'? On the face of it, they might appear as different things. And most of the time, they are. But in Bannerughatta they are the same. While traditionally, a biological park is something of a conserved forest with the motive to protect animals in its natural habitat, it's not the case in Bannerughatta. There is a Zoo and a small forest where animals roam in a very limited boundary. Basically, they are just bigger cages. And who decides where these animals roam and what they eat? Yep, humans. Can we call this space a biological reserve then? I hardly think so. The very reason of these biological parks and zoos is to make money through visitors, and not the conservation of animals. Don't let their motto deceive you. There are way too many animals in there which don't need protection and can survive easily in the wild. And

(Vidhana Soudha. Mi A3) This post is more of a guide type of post. So, I'll try not to make it boring. I'm going to talk about a mode called Light Painting, which you might or might not have heard of, but you would have come across the pictures at least once. I'm doing this post because some people told me that it's not possible to take pictures like that after I posted a couple of these on Instagram. It's totally possible, and anyone can do it. It's simple by the core. The name says it all. You paint with the lights.  So, how do you paint with light? A: You keep the shutter open for a longer time. What's shutter, and how do you keep it open? A: Shutter is the door to the image sensor where the image gets recorded. The sensor is our eye, and the shutter is the eyelid. The longer the shutter stays open the more light gets captured. These are just basics, there is also aperture that needs to be taken into consideration. What is aperture, you ask? A: It, to

  The second and third days. It was just traveling that day. We had to climb to Tungnath peak the next day. So, we had to go and spend the night in a city closer to the mountain. There are camps and tents in places very close to the mountain but they are very pricey. And moreover, the demand was huge due to the holidays. So, we stayed in a lodge in Ukhimath. From Rishikesh, it took us almost 9 hours. And I got some good pics on the way. (River Mandakini. Canon 1500D. f/10. 1/400 s) (Somewhere near Rudraprayag. Canon 1500D. f/10. 1/400th s) (We also got to witness a nice sunset in Ukhimath. Canon 1500D. f/8. 1.3 s)     That night in the hotel we met a person with whom we had a nice, long conversation. He was so humble the whole time. He told us that he has traveled almost 90% of India. And he was talking about the dishes in Karnataka! Goes to show you that the more you see the modest you become. The next morning we left for Tungnath. The morning was nice. The first rays of the sun on th