Smoldering Charcoal ( निखारे ) --- noodles of exploding sand ( LoL )

Done away with formalities of defending long breaks, this one is a wintry surprise for me as much as others.

On a cold day, we decided to light up fire and heat up our room with smoldering charcoals.

While we were trying to brighten the charcoal, it suddenly started giving off sparks flying in the air, as we fanned it.

My 3 year old was the foremost and the most enthusiastic in doing so. With such an enthusiastic assistant, and this set up, it was no surprise that the photographer in me woke up.

I quickly ran down, brought, and and un-cased my old friend, the Sony DSC W35, a point and shoot. Turned the knob to manual, and reduced the ISO to 100, and started taking pictures.

My son, who otherwise wants to click, was so engrossed in fanning the charcoals, that he barely noticed I was using the camera.

Every time I landed a bad shot, I used to tell him, "Faster faster!", and he used to pour all his energy in making more sparks fly further, and burn the coals even brighter.

Finally, his efforts, and my patience, both paid off, and this was the shot we had. I was jolted by the picture, and decided it was definitely going on my blog.

No matter after how long.

And here it is!

The coal that we were burning consisted of two types. One that was obtained by burning wood, and the other was in form of cylinders made of powdered charcoal, and sand. This one was designed to keep it smoldering for longer times.

Since there were sand particles packed with charcoal, they used to superheat when tiny charcoal particles burned rapidly around them, and exploded. Their tiny explosions used to send out these charcoal flares, bursting in the air. More the rate of oxygen supply (faster `he' fanned), more were such tiny explosions.

There was some amount of shake in the photographs, since I did not have a tripod. One can see its traces in burning charcoal at the middle of the image, that has ~3 superposed images.



One more beautiful shot was lost to defocussing, but the next one showed such a nice burning flame, I could not resist uploading that one here, too.

I hope all viewers enjoy these photos as much as we enjoyed shooting them.

Happy new year to all the viewers.


Editing, none, other than the superposed blog label.

Glassblowing

Boy, its been long since I posted here!! But finally, I am.

This time I bring the photographs of glassblowing. This particular set of photos were taken in Jamshedpur, aka Tatanagar, India, where I have inhabited for quite some time now.

Although this series of photographs was meant specifically for technical studies, I could however, sneak in a few pictures like these, that had little technical value, but turned out to be really nice photographs.

The flame, by the way, is the Oxy-acetylene flame, that is usually used for welding/cutting all sorts of iron, steel and other metals. Fuel used was the LPG (butane/propane).

The flame, if you observe in the following pictures, is rare blue on the outside, while a dense blue "beak" in enclosed within the rare one at the mouth of the burner/nozzle. This "beak" is what I was trying to capture, but the flame was simply too bright for the normal white balance to capture. I tried quite a few tricks before realizing this. When I realized that pictures were not turning out to be as dark as I wanted, even on metering the focus at the brightest point in the frame, it 'click'ed me that white balance needed to be changed. So I switched to less whiter balance, and voila! There it was. The "beak" of denser blue flame.


Although the flame is used to cut/weld metals, here, however, the purpose is to melt the quartz (SiO2) and shape it, so as to form a capsule enclosing the specimen required, which is then, evacuated and sealed.

That's it. Enough with my technical blabber for now. Please enjoy the photographs.

Dog on a sandpile

One morning as I was rubbing my eyes coming out of my bed on terrace, I saw this dog sitting on the sandpile at the construction site right in front of my home, who otherwise every morning comes at our doorstep for last night's chapatis.

The dog, the bitch to be precise, (sorry for not being able to avoid it) was sitting and basking nicely in the morning Sun.

Although it didnt make any special scene, I just liked the shabby composition in the backdrop of the nicely basking animal.

One of my personal favourites, though many others may not agree it to be good enough! 

Editing: Did a soft defocussing around the subject with slight contrast adjustment.

Equipment/s used: The usual DSCW35

Dry leaf

I found this dry leaf outside my workplace. Its an Indian teak (Tectona Grandis) leaf. Incidentally, sunlight from the window at my desk fell on the leaf and it gave this leaf this magical effect. I was awed at the silver lining that appeared on the left top edge of the leaf in the picture unintentionally.

Hunting for a 'Cockroach'

Once I was waiting outside the train station for my train, I saw this odd couple that looked most photographic to me. On observing their actions closely, I realized that this was a hunter and its prey together.



The wasp had stung the cockroach before and the cockroach was already unconcious.
The wasp was taking its prey to its nest.



Sometimes, the cockroach made futile attempts to escape its fate, but to no result. The wasp, being disturbed by an amateur photographer, viz. me, left the prey for some time, but its venom had already taken effect, and the cockroach could hardly move even when let alone.




The wasp would come back to its prey and drag it further close to its nest, which was nothing more than a crack between two bricks in a wall there.



The last photograph shows the fate of the unfortunate cockroach. But then, that's the law. Someone's death is an opportunity (food in this case) for the other.

After the story ended, Bhalchandra and Chaitanya appeared on the scene and we went for Pramod's wedding to Nagpur. I guess that was the story of the series of this photographs.

Nice Sunset @ khaDakwasla dam

KhaDakwasla dam:





One fine evening I went to this place called KhaDakwasla near Pune city.

This place about 20 km from the heart of the city, hosts a dam, from which
the city is supplied with drinking water.
Ironically, the dam also has a history of single incident that changed the
geography of Pune city, a couple of decades of ago.

But in any case, it is nice place to visit, as is evident from the photographs
above.

Editing : The second image has been saturated for colours, while the first one is as
it is, without any editing.

Equipments used : Sony DSC W35

Red metal !!

My first set of photographs in our new home.

One fine sunday morning, my mother had washed these Copper vessels
absolutely bright and clean, and put them in sun for them to get dry.
I just happened to walk past them, (after getting out of bed at 3 'O
clock after noon, and the idea 'clicked' my mind first. Then I took out
my DSC W35 and set onto the assignment. It hardly took 15 minutes to
click about 35-40 photographs. It was really difficult (as usual) to pick only
one out of it, and so I chose four, not just one.


The monochromatic feel of the photographs is what appeals to me,
along with the glow that is imparted to it by the sunlight.


Equipment/s used : Sony DSC W35
Editing : Added sharpness and saturated the colours
save

Unknown Flower

This is one flower I photographed in my backyard.
Although I do not know its name, I liked it very much.

If anybody knows about it, please let me know.

I like the sharp difference between the focus of the two
flowers.

Equipments used : Sony DSC W35
Editing : None

Utricularia Purpurascens

This is a flower typical to the Western Ghats of India.
It is called 'सीतेची आसवॆ' in maraaThee, whose botanical name is
"Utricularia Purpurascens".

It was shot at the Kaas plateau, which is also called the
"valley of flowers" of Maharashtra. The dark purple colour
actually also emits ultraviolet radiations, which are visible to
various insects and birds, who cause pollination of these
flowers. Emitting Ultraviolet radiations is thus one of the
ways of promoting its pollination.


Editing : Crop, sharpening

Color me pink!

This is a nice macro I caught hold, of while on one of my casual outings to suburbs of Pune at Talegaon, in one of my friend's garden. The picture simply reflects the brightness and the liveliness of that morning. Beginning of a busy day with a nice bright start.

This one is one of my personal favourites. Enjoy! : D

It forms a nice fullscreen desktop. Trust me! If anyone wants unedited version of it, please mail me.

Shot with : the same Sony DSC W35
Editing : None

rural life

This is an image I shot on one of my outings to Kaas in Satara district.
Its a nice black and white image with a fine mist in the air.

I like two things about this image. One is that although it is intended at only the silhouttes of the objects, it also shows slight details, which makes it rather lively.

And the other thing is that whenever I look into the image, I can hear those morning birds chirping into my ears. I simply love this image.

Editing: None
Shot with Sony DSC W35

Other photos of the outing, which host a number of wild flowers of the westers ghats of India, are displayed here. Do visit them. :)

Down close with a vasp

On a casual afternoon, one monsoon day, I happened to see this vasp underneath a large leaf, and chose it to be my model for that shoot.

This is the closest shot I could take with my camera, after cropping the image.
On closing in on the image, one gets confused with the position of the eyes.


This frame shows the egg of the vasp, in the tube on the left. The focus lies on the egg itself.

Camera used : SONY DSC-W35
Editing : Cropped two of the three images with picasa

It's been an exhausting day

There's nothing more pleasurable than to stroll with your loved one, after a long and exhausting working day.
This picture was shot last year at the, not so frequently calm, Adriatic Sea, Trieste, while on a casual evening stroll. I like the composition of the picture, which suggests the end of the day very nicely. Backdrop of immobile ships gives it that stalled look of the 'end', while although in motion, the birds give it that 'day is over and back to home' feel. The couple gives it that romantic and a very calm feel.

It really is a nice picture according to me!
Editing : None.

cloudy!

This picture is quite unlike all those uploaded by me untill now.

This nice photograph was shot last year, when I was in Trieste, Italy. It was raining far into the sea, while the sun was about to set. The natural combination of slight orange with various shades of blue is indeed magnificent.

It forms a nice desktop image.

Editing : Increased sharpness (picasa)

Sprouting Life!

A nice photograph that I see as a symbol of life! A nice color scheme is reflected in the picture. Forms a nice fullscreen view. : )
Editing : None

Pink on sky blue

Cherry Blossom !
The flower and the sky are on the same tone of two complementary colors.

That, I feel gives this flower the feel it has.
Editing : None

Nice tiny flower

A nice tiny flower
Editing : None

Drop of water

Drop of water!
On my trip to RajgaD, one of many great forts in MahaaraSTra!
The name is suggestive, which means the king (raaj) fort (gaD)!
Editing : Increased the brightness of image

A buggy affair

A nice bug!

Editing : None