Experiments with the Camera

1. Shoot in Low Light of Sunrise and Sunrise: The low-light period around sunset and sunrise is considered one of the best times to take outdoor photos, so get up early in the morning and wait for sunset. However, shooting in low light can also be challenging for beginners. Since longer exposure times are often required in low light situations, a tripod is an essential piece of gear to bring along. Try experiment with camera's ISO and shutter speed. Keep aperture narrow i.e. higher F number to get good depth of field.

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 2. Use Flash creatively: Use your flash outside on a sunny day, it will actually fill the shadow areas cast by a hat or umbrella, for example. Faces will also be brighter. Remember though, the flash has limited range, so you need to be within 10-12 feet to realize the benefit.

3.Add a Subject to the Landscape: By placing someone in your landscape, you can establish both a focal point and a point of reference for the composition of your image. By adding a person to the scene, the brain immediately recognizes the scale and tells you what you're looking at. Adding someone to your landscape can also makes a photo more evocative, as viewers can more easily picture how they would fit into the scene if they were actually there.

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4. Bad Weather is Good: Use extreme weather to create striking images with a lot of drama. Overcast days might give you flat images but you can enliven them by shooting into the light. Rays streaming through a fog or through clouds, dark, forbearing clouds, brilliant streak of light are few examples.

[/caption] 5. Capture motion with slow shutter speeds: Use slow shutter speeds to capture motion, milky way effect while shooting water fall.


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Budget 2012: Travel, hospitality to become more expensive

Travel and hospitality sector in the country will be hit by the government's decision to increase service tax to 12 per cent as it will result in spike in costs, according to tour operators. We expect tour prices to increase due to the cascading effect of the service tax increase resulting in an adverse impact on the travel and tourism industry as a whole. 

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), which has been asking the government to do away with the 10 per cent service tax charged earlier, was taken aback by the decision. 

"We are shocked to see that more areas have been included for service tax which has bearing on tourism," IATO President Subhash Goyal said. He said the increase in tax burden will make India uncompetitive as compared to countries like Thailand, China and Malaysia.


It may be noted that in the Economic Survey 2011-12, the government had suggested various measures to promote India as an attractive tourist destination. 


Commenting on the impact of increase in service tax on air travellers, Pearl International Tours and Travel (PITT) Executive Director Arjun Seth said: "Airlines will pass on this cost increase to travellers making tickets more expensive."


However, maintaining a positive outlook he said: "I don't foresee any change in growth rates for the industry because such a marginal change will not deter people from traveling either for business or leisure."

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Photographing Colors of Pushkar Fair - Rajasthan

There is a saying that there is always dark below the lamp. Till now I have traveled through out India but how come I missed Pushkar Fair and I live in Jaipur. So, I decided to not to miss this time.

Pushkar Fair  is the annual five-day camel and livestock fair. It is celebrated for five days from the Kartik ekadashi to Kartik Poornima, the full moon day (the 15th) of Kartik (November–December) inHindu calendar. The full moon day is the main day and the day, according to legend, when the Hindu god Brahma sprung up the Pushkar Lake, thus numerous people swim in its sacred waters.

I planned a 1 day trip, I left Jaipur at 5.00 AM and reached Ajmer at around 7 and another 45 Minutes to the holy town of Pushkar. It was the second last day of the fair and a day just before the main bath of Kartik ekadashi. So all the buses were leading to Pushkar.