A very Happy new year to you all! Hope everyone started the New Year with making new resolutions! As for me I made a resolution that I will make resolutions all throughout the year and follow them as they are made. Ha Ha! No worries and no hassles. As for the artistic side of me, I have been bitten by the creative bug. I had always loved designing things on the web -websites, images and the likes. I gave it a break for sometime, but the creative bug has bitten me again. I made a lot of illustrations in the past few days which I will be sharing with you in this post.
This is just plain and simple New year Image I designed in Photoshop.
I have seen many Christmas ornaments and the fact is that I just wanted some thing to hang by the side next to the new year text and this came out not to be a Christmas ornament but lights you could say. I really liked the way they came out.
As for the weather out here, it remained deadly. We experienced the Polar Vortex which is unusual for my place. Temperatures below -30F, so low that there was complete shutdown of the educational institutions, flights were halted and warnings of frost bite were swarming my email. Just to make our heads spin, yesterday we had temperatures of 45F which can be called as a heat wave for Michiganders. Something is seriously wrong with this weather. If things do not improve we might see winters in summers and summers in winters. No, it hasn't changed at present, it's still icy all around.
These are a few shots taken of the nasty weather. The berries are somehow surviving the cold temperatures. Three shots with three diffferent cameras. A cellphone, a Panasonic and a Canon. Please click on the pictures to get a better view.
Enough of the weather report. This weather just makes you open other options for your creative
self. As of now I have indulged into Illustrations. Photography is a
part of me but since the weather outside is not feasible, there are
limited outdoor options. I mostly designed products, logos, typography, backgrounds, and abstract art.
These are a few of those. I have been posting pictures on Pixoto. We will be getting the yearly awards. I am very excited and anxious. So this is all from my side. Hope you all will have a nice week ahead and hope you all are abiding by your resolutions. Smile!
We have come to the end of the year 2013. A lot happened
to everyone this year, there were some good moments and some not so
good. For me, photographically, it's been a kind year. I accomplished a
lot in my own standards. I thank God for all the accomplishments.
This is a shot of some place near where I live. The snow had turned into ice and the branches were drooping down by their weight.
Shutter speed : 1/125 sec
Aperture : F11
ISO : 100
As the year comes to an end, I saw the most beautiful winter I had ever
seen. Usually I sit in my cozy home but this winter I made an effort and
clicked a lot of pictures outdoors. All this was only possible with
the help of my better half who drove me to places where I couldn't have
embarked on my own.
The blue sky with the icy branches.
Shutter speed : 1/200 sec
Aperture : F9
ISO : 100
 |
| The Bean in the dark. |
To top it all off, I went for a vacation to Chicago and for the first time captured The Bean in the dark. I am very fascinated by this piece of architecture so I click it whenever I get a chance. It was a cold evening but worth all the walk down to the Millennium park. Captured a lot of city images too which I promise to share in my future posts. Here is a shot of The Bean handheld, with the buildings in the background in Black and white.
Shutter Speed : 1/2 sec
Aperture : 3.5
ISO : 1600
A very Happy new beginning to the coming New Year 2014. Have a blessed year. See you all in the New Year!
The winter fever is here. We got our first spell of Lake Snow Effect. This phenomenon is very usual near the Great lakes. We can get cozy in our homes till March ... or is it June? I keep my spirits up and therefore I say that this is the time of the year when I can practice a lot, I mean, REALLY A LOT (since it is such a long period of time and not otherwise ;)) on my indoor photography skills.
Shutter Speed - 1/90 secs
Aperture - 8
ISO - 100
I was lucky one day when I was at my kid's bus stop to have my ordinary pocket camera with me from which I took this picture of snow flakes. Not a very good shot but good for an ordinary camera. At the time I took this picture, I had a high fever - when am I not feeling under the weather, ugh? Since I had to pick my kid, I wrapped my self up and went to the bus stop. No one would believe, that a person shaking with fever the previous day had rolled down windows and was taking shots of snow. You see, I also have a different kind of fever - the photography fever. Anyway, one thing is for sure, as I am unable to catch up with the flu season, from now on I am also going to get the seasonal flu shots. Bring it on!!! I am not scared.
What will a person do sitting in bed all day? Work - of course, this time on my computer. And I did a lot of illustrations. Just a few are here as I had mentioned in my previous post. Please give your feedback below in the comments. These are best viewed at full size.
Since the viral cum bacterial infections had invaded me, I did not get a
chance to do much of photography.
Just one fine day I thought to myself
- that's enough and took a few indoor shots. Here are the perfect ingredients for a tomato soup, my favorite.
Keep yourself upbeat, as winters are here to stay. With this healthy soup and a splash of colors I end this post to meet you soon. Hope you all will have a nice week.
There was a time when photography had no color. Since the discovery of color in photography we have been seeing color everywhere. Black and white still captures the world in all it's essence and beauty. Even today when we revisit pictures in black and white, a sense of purity and simplicity prevails. So, on one hand, color attracts the viewer with its catchy designs and color, black and white attracts the viewers by it's composition, lighting, focus and the story in the picture. A beautiful excellently executed black and white picture can surely beat a flashy color picture. I love color and capturing it is just what I do, but lately I've been attracted to the black and white. There are so many tones to black and white and capturing the right one for the right thing is just as important.
The topmost picture is of Holland Beach. It is a sunset at the Great lakes. The colorful sunset can be captured in black and white with equal drama even without color. Click on the images to view a larger version.
Shutter speed - 1/40 secs
Aperture - F10
ISO - 100
The picture on the right is of Fredrick Meijer Garden. It has sculptures of various artists. That day, when I reached the garden it was closed , so I could only take shots from outside.
Shutter speed - 1/1000 secs
Aperture - F4.5
ISO - 100
The clouds and the sky can change your black and white picture from ordinary to dramatic.
This is a picture from the Zoo. This is the African elephant. Note the skin has come out beautifully in the black and white version. The wrinkles in the skin have come out perfect. They give the texture to the picture against the blur background.
Shutter speed - 1/320secs
Aperture - F7
ISO - 200
I have even added a new gallery for black and white on my website www.dipalis.com. Feel free to visit and leave your feedback.
The other thing I've been working on in the last few weeks is Illustration. Hope to share a few in the next posts.
Hope you all will enjoy these pictures as much as I did capturing them.
Taking a picture in studio is like creating art, while capturing something in nature, or architecture or landscape is like capturing art. I like to do both the things but some photographers think that in studio pictures do not take much effort. It is more difficult to create than to capture , I believe. I say this because the past week I have been trying to create and for that you need fresh ideas and fresh mind, which were both not possible this week as I have exhausted myself with work. This is a random thought which came to my mind, anyway I was lucky to take a few pictures of the first snowfall we had this season. Here are a few...
In this picture I found a few leaves on the path leading to the woods which I thought would look good in SC.
Shutter Speed -1/60 secs
Aperture - 4.5
ISO - 125
As this was the first snowfall , there are a few brown, red leaves on the Oak trees even now. So this shot is of 8:00 am in the morning when the sun was lighting up the leaves on the top of the trees. The golden hour light is always considered the best time to take pictures outdoors. The pictures are soft and magical. I usually miss this time when I am not on vacation, which means I am working as this is the busiest time. That day I left everything and shot a few first snow pictures. It looked magical. Being a photographer you are blessed with such views and feelings. Very often you can just admire the beauty that surrounds us.
Shutter Speed - 1/60 secs
Aperture - F16
ISO - 100
This picture is of the snow on the deck. Just loved how the leaves are sitting there and the sun rays dancing it's way through the railings of the deck. You will be seeing a lot more snow pictures from me as it's here to stay for some four-five months. Hope you enjoyed the view too and hope you all will have a nice weekend.
Shutter Speed -1/20 secs
Aperture - F16
ISO - 200
Temperatures are dropping and it's raining outside - it's time to stay indoors. Would definitely want to go to some warmer place for a vacation. Thanks giving is around the corner and I might as well plan for one. Lets see how it goes. For now I am stuck indoors as it's not very feasible to go out to take pictures. A very good way to entertain is to cook food, take some pictures and then consume the food.
This picture is of before cooking the food - the ingredients for a hot cup of tea.
Shutter Speed - 1/6 sec
ISO - 200
Aperture - F11
Flowers
are great subjects to click in an indoor setup too. Though most of the flowers have worn away,
but there are some that remain. One of them are Roses. I had plucked a bud which was somewhat open a day before and just in a day it bloomed to a beautiful flower.
Shutter speed- 1/10 sec
ISO - 400
Aperture -F 6.7
I end this post with a goodbye to fall season with a basket full of fruits very common in fall. Will be seeing snow very soon. Make some nice pumpkin pies and pumpkin curries to take relief from the flurries. Have a nice weekend!
Shutter speed - 1/6 secs
ISO - 100
Aperture - F8
Saw the first frost last week in the morning. Beautiful fall colors are covering the paths. The leaves which have fallen from the trees are no longer with us but they have transformed the place into beautiful paintings.
This is my capture of the frost.
Shutter Speed - 1/20
ISO - 200
Love the Oak leaves. They have lots of curves and are bold in shape.
A path in the park will give you a good idea of what the fall in Michigan is like this year. This was taken in the evening at the time of the golden light.
Shutter Speed - 1/13
Aperture - F13
ISO - 100
This is a short post as I have been busy with kid's stuff. Not much accomplished in the field of photography this week. Just working on my other passion and that is web designing.
Hope to get some pictures for my next post. Wish you all a happy Festival season. From the place where I come, we have Diwali - festival of lights, which is a four to five days long festival. Wish you all a very Happy Diwali!!!!
