Sunday, June 26, 2011

Flashing Flash

Before we start ‘learning’ about ‘flash photography’, let me say that my blog now supports $\LaTeX$, which is even better than that at wordpress! Here’s an example: “I‘ve bought the Panasonic $μ\frac{4}{3}$ Lens mentioned in my earlier post.” You may ask how is this better than WP? Well, apart from the obvious background issue, I just typed ‘μ\frac{4}{3}’ between two dollar signs here whereas at WP, I’d have to type ‘latex \mu\frac{4}{3}’ between the dollars!

Now, lets get back to flash photography. So when should you use it? …How the hell would I know that? It’s your flash and they’re your photos… you choose when to use it! But I’m in a good mood today so here are some general guidelines, if you like theoretical knowledge as much as I do.

So how does flash alter photographs? Obviously, it increases the light input to the sensor (in right conditions) and accentuates certain ‘reflective’ elements of the scene. (For those technologically-challenged souls who don’t know about ‘Alt Texts’: Hover the cursor on the photos to uncover hidden truths!)

Flash Off & White Balance: AutoFlash On (Slow 2nd Curtain) & WB: 6000KFlash On (Auto) & WB: Auto

OR, it can also hide ‘background’ elements of the scenery!

Flash OnFlash Off

More example shots taken with the new lens follow after a small Panasonic sponsored rant: This lens is virtually distortion free and the focusing is almost silent & too damn fast – It feels like the lens focuses even before the shutter button gets to the half-way point! During my first few shots, I kept ending up pressing the shutter button fully thinking that the lens was mal-functioning but was actually taking properly focused shots. Smile However, switching from the Olympus kit lens to the new Panasonic lens is literally a burden as (it feels like) it alone weighs (380g) almost as much as the combined weight (473g) of the camera body (340g) + the kit lens (133g)!

Flash OnZooming in...Zooming in...

As you can see, the images have negligible (if any) distortion. At this point, in-Camera IS not able to keep up so zoomed out a bit and turned off the flash to see the background:

Flash Off (Much Better)Flash Off (IS by windowsill)

This photo is again a proof of the lens being virtually distortion free as straight lines appear straight without any ‘post-straightening’. Finally, I end this post with what it means to zoom from 45mm to 200mm:

45mm (Where's the Rabbit?)

200mm (Here's the Rabbit!)

Latex on Blogger

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Teasing…

Even Sora does it, Yooooo!!! Disclaimer: Teasing is strictly discouraged on this blog.

Sketchbook_v07_ch95_085

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Incomplete…

The usual Disclaimers about my translations of shers apply here also.

The following sher is part of the first ghazal in this post!

मैं उसका हो नहीं सकता बता न देना उसे
सुनेगा तो लकीरें हाथ की अपनी जला लेगा

Main uska ho nahin sakta bata na dena use
Sunega to lakirein haath ki apni jala lega

Don’t tell him of my inability to be with him
He may burn his palm-lines in its aftermath!

वसीम बरेलवी (Waseem Barelvi)

I translated the following sher because it feels grand as it has an instance of यमक अलंकार (Yamak Alankaar) in it. It is a figure of speech in (at least, Hindi) poetry where a phonetically same word [पर (par)] is used with different meanings [‘on’ & ‘wings’] in the same line or so. I have tried to retain this effect by using the idiom ‘to take wing’ for ‘flight’ in my translation below. Irrespective of my ‘grand’ knowledge of Alankaars, I don’t know the exact meaning of the (most likely, Urdu) word ‘ताइर (Taair)’ as of yet!

हौसला मुझ को भी थोड़ा उस ताइर जैसा दे दाता
उड़ने से पहले धरती पर जो अपने पर छोड़ गया

Hausala mujh ko bhi thoda us taair jaisa de daata
Udne se pahle dharti par jo apne par chhod gaya

Grant me a bit of that arrow’s courage, O Lord,
Who left its wings on Earth before it took wings!

– दिनेश ठाकुर (Dinesh Thakur)

As expected, the translation does not feel that grand. Anyway, there you have it, me crossing the h’s and dotting the ι’s: Here are…

More Ghazals of DT