Varanga - 16mm

Varanga is a small sleepy village located in the Udupi district of Karnataka at a distance of 25 Kms from Karkala and 43 Kms from Moodabidri on the way from Karkala to Agumbe. I reached Varanga just before sunset to capture the nice evening light. I had visited Varanga many a times and each time the experience is unique and exhilarating. The Kere Basadi of Varanga is unique Jain temple situated in the midst of a gentle green lake. Serene lake contrasts well with the sharp quadrilateral architecture of the temple and gentle swaying hills at the distance.

I used Canon EOS 5D mark II fitted with Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L USM Lens and Hoya circular polarizing filter to get these pictures. I used various focal lengths from 16mm to 35 mm take these photos. What you can notice is use of hyperfocal distance to get both foreground as well as background in sharp focus. I had mentioned in the earlier blog about use of hyperfocal distance to catch flying kite as well as moon in sharp focus. Unfortunately hyperfocal distance will not work effectively for a 600mm focal length I was planning. It really is effective in normal to wide angle lenses.

Varanga - 16mm

So what is the definition of this term Hyper focal distance? The hyperfocal distance is the closest distance at which a lens can be focused while keeping objects at infinity acceptably sharp; that is, the focus distance with the maximum depth of field. Digital cameras with tiny sensors have almost eliminated need to get the calculator to get this hyperfocal distance. Tiny sensors which you find on most point and shoot cameras will give you a universal focus right from close up to infinity. Many manufacturers have eliminated the scale displaying a zone of focus on their digital lenses all together in recent years. So is it just meant for film cameras and not relevant to digital? No. As more people start venturing into larger sensors (35mm or larger) they will come to face with the hyperfocal distance.

Varanga - 23mm

When you focus your lens there will be a zone that is in focus and areas that are out of focus. The area that is in focus is called the focal plane of acceptable sharpness. The interesting thing about this focal plane is that, when you focus on a subject, one third of the distance closest between subject and camera is in focus; secondly, two thirds of the zone that stretches out from and behind the subject is also in focus.

In a landscape photography you want maximum area in focus (foreground to background), so if you keep your lens focus to infinity your focal plane stretches 1/3 in front of infinity and 2/3 beyond infinity. What is is the use of the focus infinity? it is a waste as it is supposed to be focus anyway. So trick is to focus little in front of the infinity mark so as to stretch the focal plane just into infinity. That will give you a sharply focus foreground and sharply focused background too.

Varanga - 35mm

There are 3 rules to get best out of this trick.

• Use wide angle lens which inherently has greater depth of field.
• Use smaller aperture like f/8-f/16 which give you a great depth of field.
• If you don’t have depth of field calculator handy, focus on a point about a third the distance between you and the subject and use depth of field preview button to check the focal plane.

If you want to be accurate and mathematically inclined there is a formula to calculate this hyperfocal distance. It is dependednt on several factors. The focal length of the lens, aperture, sensor size etc. I don’t want to confuse you with all that jargon. If you are interested to know the calculation check links below.

Learn more about hyperfocal distance at these links.

• Digital Photography school has a nice article Hyperfocal Distance – Photographer’s Friend
• Cambridge In Color also has a calculator and shows an excellent example of it in use http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/hyperfocal-distance.htm
• You can calculate exact hyperfocal charts with http://www.dofmaster.com/charts.html.
• Martin Bailey has the following podcast on hyperfocal distance – Understanding Hyperfocal distance , DOF Explainedand the pdf-file to the DOF Explained
• Apple iTouch/iPhone/iPad has a free hyperfocal distance calculator called Field Tools
• Android phones have a similar app called Photo Tools

If you need more info on Varanga check this nice article on Deccan Herald – Basadis are testimony to rich Jain culture.

Paddyfield Pipit (Anthus rufulus)

Strolling in the evening in grassy field in Mangalore can be sometimes rewarding. Other than catching ticks & fleas left by domestic animals, we can catch glimpse of some of the native grassland birds. On that evening I saw this Paddyfield Pipit near half burnt dry grass patch. As it was surrounded all around by tall grass, falling flat on the ground to capture the best pose of the bird ( with sky as the background) was out of question. So used my Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS USM fitted with Canon EF 1.4x II Extender on Canon EOS 7D camera lowered myself to get the best view possible of the ground dwelling bird. The bird being not so shy gave me plenty of time to capture before it ran away to nearby bush.

Camouflage

Paddyfield Pipit (Anthus rufulus) is a small passerine bird in the pipits and wagtail family. It is a resident breeder in open scrub, grassland and cultivation in southern Asia east to the Philippines. It is one of the few breeding pipits in our region.

Paddyfield Pipit (Anthus rufulus)

This is a large pipit at 15 cm, but is otherwise an undistinguished looking bird, mainly streaked grey-brown above and pale below with breast streaking. It is long legged with a long tail and a long dark bill. Sexes are similar. Summer and winter plumages are similar. Young birds are more richly coloured below than adults and have the pale edges to the feather’s of the upper parts more conspicuous with more prominent spotting on the breast. This pipit seems to be malayensis subspecies described by Eyton in 1839. It is the larger, darker and more heavily streaked than the nominate form of Anthus rufulus. This subspecies is seen in the wet zone of the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka.

Paddyfield Pipit (Anthus rufulus)

Paddyfield Pipit is smaller and dumpier, has shorter looking tail and has a weaker fluttering flight. The usually uttered characteristic tsip-tsip-tsip call. It is a wide spread species found in open habitats, especially short grassland and cultivation with open bare ground. It runs rapidly on the ground, and when flushed, does not fly far.

Paddyfield Pipit (Anthus rufulus)

Breeds throughout the year but mainly in the dry season. Birds may have two or more broods in a year. During the breeding season, it sings by repeating the note during its descent from a short fluttery flight, a few feet above the ground. It builds its nest on the ground under a slight prominence, a tuft of grass, or at the edge of a bush. The nests are woven out of grass and leaves and are normally cup shaped. Exposed nests are sometimes domed or semi-domed, the long grass at the back and sides extending over the top.Nests are lined with finer grass or roots and sometimes with a little dry moss, bracken or other material at the base of the nest. The usual clutch is 3-4 eggs with greenish ground color and numerous small brown specks at the larger. When disturbed near the nest, the birds flutter nearby with weak tsip-tsip-tsip calls. Parent birds may also feign injury to distract predators.

Paddyfield Pipit (Anthus rufulus)

It feeds principally on small insects but consumes larger beetles, tiny snails, worms etc. while walking on the ground, and may pursue insects like mosquitoes or termites in the air.

Dry Leaf

I found this dry skeletonized leaf of Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) tree in my backyard. Trying to photograph this naturally disintegrated leaf posed a problem as I wanted to highlight the veins which are still intact. I took the leaf and arranged a light box so that I can back light the photo. Here you can see the result. The light box I use for this is different from the light tent which is used for product shots which need seamless lighting with no shadows. We will explore light tent in future articles.

To photograph this leaf, I used simple contraption of self made lightbox. I had one large Polystyrene packaging box. This was a rectangular box size of A4 paper. It had a lid on one side. I removed the lid and made a hole on the on the shorter side big enough for my flash head. I placed a sheet of white writing paper on the opening where the lid was supposed to sit. I placed the dry leaf on this sheet of paper. Result as almost like the X-ray viewing box you see in Hospitals.

I used Canon EOS 7D as I wanted to fire the flash using its wireless flash controller. I set my Canon Speedlite 580EX II flash in slave mode and used the setting on 7D to control it. Now it is just trial and error to get right exposure. Even though there was ETTL on my flash I prefer to use Manual so I set my flash on 1/8 power and adjusted aperture to get optimum results.

Dry Leaf Cropped

Few early lessons in photography teaches that the photographer should make sure that the sun is always behind photographer’s back when they take photos so the subject is front lit. This is why many of us are afraid to experiment with back lighting which can give you a great opportunity to explore light. Back lighting adds drama to an image. It can can highlight details on the edges of subjects and reveal textures that might previously have been hidden. In Macros it can show delicate transparent or translucent things. It can transform the image in such a different way that you may be astonished. Silhouettes are great example of nice use of back lighting.

If you plan to explore like glass, leaf, jewelery this light box can be of nice assistance. Sliced translucent fruits are great subject to your still life collection.

If you want to skeletonize leaf yourself place leaves, a couple at a time, in a large beaker with ethanol (at least 70% ethanol) and bring to a boil. Allow the leaves to boil until they become pale or clear. The chlorophyll dissolves in the ethanol, so the ethanol in the beaker will turn green. Different types of leaves will take different lengths of time to clear. A half hour might do the trick. Rememember not to let the leaves boil dry – more ethanol can be added to replace the volume boiled off. After the leaves are pale/clear, place them in a warm (56°C) solution of 5-10% NaOH. They may then be removed, rinsed with water and can be used for the photography. As always, be certain to follow appropriate lab safety procedures when handling solutions of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or boiling flammable liquids such as 70% ethanol

This year I plan to introduce several short articles on technique of taking certain types of photographs. I have been conducting workshops on photography which seems to benefit only the people who attended my workshop. Several persons contacted me to conduct workshops so that they can attend, Due to to my profession, busy schedule as well as the hassle of organizing one good workshop I have refrained from entertaining their request.

Internet is a vast sea of resources. Writing on my blog will allow an opportunity for wider audience to learn from my technique. It also gives me opportunity to refine, revise and revisit my methods of photography. I have been photographing for last 25 years right from the early days of my medical school in 1984 using various cameras. I am self taught photographer. Being a voracious reader I could digest lot of theory of photography from the books I read. But putting them to practical was different ball game.