Sakthiyuvaraja Sakthivelmurugan

My visits to the Hale library at KSU was almost zero in the last semester. Studying at home was one of the reason and I didn't have a very tight schedule where each miniute was important.

Gaurav forced me to the library yesterday and I realized I was able to study for 2-3 hrs without distraction. This made me to push him to the library today. He took me to the SILENCE ROOM at hale. It was nice to have such a quite place. One can hear even chairs creeking. I should make freequent trips to do better in the only course I take this semester.

Finally wrote a technical paper with my professor. Its been submitted for the conference hopefully it should get selected. Though my contribution towards the paper was a few pages, it helped me to learn on writing techincal papers. I also had a chance to improve my writing skills. I definitely need to practise writing and reead to write better.

Well, I have been spending a lot to buy photography gear and accessories, the expenditure seems to be a never ending process. I have to check my expenses as its not going to help me continue spending with the frugal salary I get paid for. When I checked my account balance yesterday, I got really scared and decided not to check it again :P.

I have more expenses lined up I need to pay my tuition for my next semester (Isn't this funny to think how to pay for the sole reason I'm here, while spending on other things), my flight ticket to India which seems to be going up due to the increasing oil prices and the wonderful gifts which I have planned for my loved ones back home.

With so many commitments on my head, I have decided to ask for opinion to control my expenses. Please contribute your answer as comments.

One option I have thought of is to request generous donors to start gifting me photography gears or pay lavishly for my not so impressive photos.

I bought a new bag to carry my 300mm :) I was thinking about the lowepro mini trekker which seems to be everyones choice. But I didn't like it since its a little small for my height. I was looking for other options and found the KATA R-103 to have got some really good but very few have owned it. There where very few reviews but from what little amount of literature I read I found the bag to suit my needs. I loaded the bag with all my gear and had space for 3-4 lens, I also hooked up the heavy tripod on to the bag. With all this, I biked for a mile to reach the KSU Gardens and spent a couple of hours shooting some birds. I found the bag to be very comfortable and durable. I would recommend it to any one who want to fit a 300mm with 4-5 lens.

I got my sexy new 300mm today :) Ordered one for B&H Photo. The lens is around 1500g and weighs heavy for me since I haven't used any other lens than the 50mm and 1870mm.

Will post some pictures of birds soon.. I had to return the 90mm macro since I didn't find much use of it and the rebate expried :(

Will probably consider to go for a 180mm macro since it has a better working distance.

Tried a few shots with panning today!

The lens has a good feel. Remember, I haven't used any other lens than Nikkor 50mm and Nikkor 1870. The lens is RAZOR sharp. And has a very good bokeh. The DOF is very small even at f5.6, so need some time to get adjusted to the handling.

The lens extends significantly at 1:1. That isn't a big deal, but have to be careful when you get real close to the subject. You might hit on the front element. And at 1:1 its only 5.6f wide open, so hand held shots can be difficult at low light.

RAZOR sharp, Excellent DOF and handling is the key!

Yey! I got my macro lens today :) After thinking for a while the 90$ mail in rebate seemed to be very good offer.

I just want to compare my current workflow of converting my RAW image to JPEG for sharing on WEB.

0. I import the files into my MacBook using iPhoto. I properly name the folder in which I want to put them. This is an example file extension I use 20080413-15-Trip, which means the trip photos taken between 13 and 15 of the 04, 2008. For random pictures I create a folder every month :P

1. Use RAWKER to set contrast, exposure, gamma, sharpness and white balance. Safe it was JPEG with no compression. Unfortunately GIMP on MAC doesn't support the 16 bit tiff files. I need to see if there are any patch or newer version which does.

2. Crop the image

3. Clone if needed

4. Adjust curves and levels

5. Adjust Brightness and Contrast again

6. Sharpen with 20 radius

7. Resize for web

8. Add borders and copyright.

Safe for web!

Looks simple need to fine grain things. Unfortunately there is no neat image for mac either.

Here is an Image I processed few days back

I always wanted to see what difference could a RAW image do. Earlier I was too lazy to do it since its a pain to do all the processing and handle huge memory constraints. I usually ran out of memory in a couple of hours of shooting if I go RAW.

But recently I had tried shooting a function on RAW+JPEG. I barely could make 130 pics in my 2GB disk. Even then I didn't regret since the output of the RAW format images where amazing, I had a larger control over editing by setting the color balance and exposure. Immediately, I decided to start shooting RAW. I will probably order a few Gigs of Ultra 2 SD cards, they are quite cheaper than the Extreme III cards.

Finally got my tripod and head delivered


My first impression about 055XPROB are its huge, well built and heavy. Taking it around all day will be a pain I have to enjoy :) The center column is too big for keeping it low on the ground. It can be put on in the horizontal position or else cay buy a short center column some time later.


Now about the tripod head 322RC2, well its a little big and making fine adjustments seems to be a little cumbersome.



I switched the release to the left so that I can use it on my left hand. I have to spend some more time if its really helpful.

I have been heavily using my 50mm prime with out a filter. The work horse finally got itself a new shades a Hoya UV filter to protect it from getting scratched. The filter is thick and sticks out of the lens :( You can't expect a lot for 6$.

The macro filters helps me to go close, focusing is tricky and the image quality gets hit. I can play around for a while till I get the hang of macro photography. Later I can think of a dedicated Macro lens.


I'm looking for 300mm F4 seriously, I want to get it soon. Why don't these Nikon guys come up with a VR soon. I'm not really interested in the VR, but assuming that if they do come up with a VR they will knock few bucks out of the non VR version hopefully.

Been busy with my new job under my major professor. And doing research is no easy job. You have to be really creative, and do a lot of literature review to know what others have already done in the same field, the last thing you want to do would be to spend a lot of time on some amazing model and in the end find that some one has already found some thing very similar and published it in a journal. And in my short experience so far I have learnt, you have to have the ability to stay motivated. I felt I lost track in the middle of the work when my thinking got narrow and couldn't come out with anything, but my professor was really helpful and he helped me to be confident and restored the high spirits. It's been a wonderful experience to work under him. He appreciates you for the effort you have genuinely put in how ever trivial the result may be. I had to cultivate some good characters from him which will be helpful for me and people who might work under me few years down the line.

Semester, otherwise is smooth, an interesting thing worth mentioning was to make couple of my friends to watch Rang De Basanti, Will liked it while Michal didn't since the movie was too long :P

Going regular to the rec (Recreation) center to play Table Tennis with JD. My game has improved considerably but there is a huge scope for improvement.

Finally couldn't resist adding a new gear. Ordered a Bogen/Manfrotto 190XPROB tripod with Bogen/Manfrotto 486RC2 ball head. Read some good reviews about them, but my first impression was the tripod is too short for my height it came around 146cm with the center column intact. Raising the column will push it up to 175cm which will make me to crouch a little and make the setup unstable even to the slightest disturbance. So I'm returning this setup for a refund and have ordered a Bogen/Manfrotto 055XPROB and Bogen/Manfrotto 322RC2 Heavy duty grip ball head for some extra price :(.

This setup is tall enough, it reaches almost 6 feet without raising the center column. I read mixed reviews about the ball head. But I liked the construction and how it works. The normal ball head like the 486RC2 are rock solid but its a little pain to loosen the lever to allow the ball head to move. 322RC2 has a clutch action where you just press the lever to move the ball head, and the lever gives additional support for movement. Some of the cons of the grip ball head I read where that if you mount a heavy lens and point it down it slips. Even if its slips I don't know how often I will point a heavy lens pointing vertically. So its shouldn't be a big deal for me.

And my shopping mood didn't stop there, I got myself a remote shutter release, Hoya 52mm UV filter for protecting my 50mm prime lens and a set of macro filter for my 50mm. The macro filter helps me to go a lot closer to the subject and fill the frame.

Looking seriously for funds to continue with my shopping. I have my eyes on 300m F4, a little reluctant coz I don't want Nikon to release a new model with a VR. And Kenko extension tubes and Tamaro 90mm or Sigma 105mm for doing macro. Let luck be with me to get summer internship to fund my shopping spree.

Finally got some time to update my website :) http://people.cis.ksu.edu/~sakthi/

I'm not a very good photographer, but that didn't stop me from helping people to make better pictures. This is a small article I wrote for my school alumni newsletter.


Making better pictures

Digital camera's are convenient, easier and cheaper way to make pictures than the traditional film camera. And these days each of us own a digital camera. We make a lot of pictures and most of the time we are not happy with the out come of the picture and lose the lovely moments we like to keep for cherishing later.

From what I have seen in the last couple of years typical buying patterns in digital camera's including me follow the similar pattern. We ask friend who shared pictures from his last vacation which came out well, look for review online in sites like http://www.dpreview.com/ and based on the budget and features we want me make our pick. We spend two three weeks before making our purchase. And after you click the few pictures, most of the time you feel that they didn't come out the way your friend shared it or the way you thought. You fiddle the bunch of settings in the camera, things get worse; you see a lot of grains in your picture or the picture are over exposed (too bright) or under exposed (too dark). I'm jotting down few points which might help us to make better pictures with of the digital cameras we have.

Avoid Flash
The inbuilt cameras are too bright, most of the time they make the pictures appear too bright. So when ever possible avoid flash. If you are making pictures indoor in a low light situation try making some pictures by turning on the light. If they aren't good enough try with in built flash. If they are too bright, cover the flash with a thin paper which will soften the light. And the in built in flash are not powerful enough to reach more than 10 - 12 feet so anything appearing beyond that will be dark. Flash also drains your battery and takes time to recycle the power before each burst. So carefully use it to save battery if you are running the last pair :)

Framing the pictures

Putting the subject in the appropriate place makes better pictures. You do not need fancy expensive cameras for this. A quick search on the web will give you a lot of articles about composition and framing of subjects to make appear good. Reading some articles on them will help you to improve of pictures you make.

Eye level

Its good to do bend, kneel or even get down on the ground to make the pictures in the eye level of the subject. For example, when making picture of the kids, instead of standing and directing the camera down towards the kid, kneel and keep the camera in line with the kids eye and click the picture.

Post processing

Tools like picasa helps you to edit your pictures. Basic editing the pictures will make your pictures appear better. Common mistakes you make can be fixed during this step.

Expensive camera's don't make better pictures they just help you in making better pictures. Hope this few tips helps you in making good pictures.

Happy clicking.
Sakthi

Everyone must have heard about these little utility knifes. They come real handy at times and they are razor sharp and cut your finger if you aren't careful.

All said, they are strictly not allowed as check in luggage in Airlines. I had one of these with my keys. Had to thrash it today :( I totally forgot as I'm carrying them everyday..

I was really happy when I read that Anil Kumble will be leading the Test team. He deserved this :-)

When one thing screw up, all other things will be heading the same way, when one thing works all others will be working fine. Its been like this for me for the past few months. Mix of frustration because of not getting a clue about anything, joy out of something interesting you did.

So far it has been a great experience.

Its getting really cold here in Manhattan. And the weather is unpredictable, it will rain in the morning and turns sunny in the evening. The fall colors are showing up. Hope to make some good pictures :)

My assignments and homework are taking a lot of time out of me. And finally decided to do an upgrade to my gear which has been pending for a very long time. Got myself a everyday lens Nikon 18 70 Dx. eying for a big thing next, lets see if it works out.

http://froogle.google.com/shoppinglist/shoppinglist?action=ShowUserWishList

:P