Northwest Forest. This is a post-processed photo, to increase dynamic range called high dynamic range (HDR). Human eye can see approximately 20-24 F-stops worth of light intensity variation while most digital cameras can only capture 8-10 F-stops. What it means is what we see in a real scene can never be captured on a digital photo as it is. But with computers we can combine multiple images captured at various settings (called bracketing) and increase the dynamic range. This technique is most useful when shooting a subject with bright background like sky, snow, beach. In a normal photo, you either get a very bright overexposed sky and properly exposed object or very dark object and properly exposed sky, but never both. HDR image can depict both objects properly exposed by combining these two (or even more exposures). Notice in this photo that I’m pointing the camera directly at the sun, but still the tree barks, leaves etc. in the foreground are properly exposed. In a normal photo you would see them completely black in such case. Table Rock Trail (near Molalla, OR), Summer 2010.
A view of a slice of Chicago downtown as seen from the Sears Tower Sky Deck. You can see the Lake Michigan in the background. The apparent curvature on the horizon is not because of the curvature of the earth but the distortion created by the camera lens at a very wide angle. Spring 2004. Chicago, Illinois.
This beautiful pink Hibiscus flower was in Mitchell Park Domes in Milwaukee, WI. We were visiting a friend there in Spring 2004. Hibiscus flowers come many colors including blood red and white, but this color is very interesting. Shot with Nikon Coolpix 4500 point-and-shoot camera in macro mode.
Macro mode. Matrix metering.
This photo was shot on a hiking trail (Angel’s Rest) in Columbia Gorge. I spotted this very small spider on the flowers trying to weave a web (look carefully you can see it too in the photo). Shot with Nikon Coolpix 4500 point-and-shoot camera. July 2003.
Macro Mode. Matrix Metering
I like to shoot macro shots of flowers. Flowers with bright intense colors look very nice. This photo is interesting because the angle is different. Instead of the usual practice of shooting flower photos from top looking down, I put the camera below the flower “looking” up towards the sky. Shot with Nikon Coolpix 4500 point-and-shoot camera. This camera had a swivel back panel so I could compose the photo when the camera was held low near the ground looking up. July 2003.
Program Auto mode. Center-weighted metering.
This is a cute photo of Isha (my daughter) with her mother (Shraddha) and her grandmother. June 2003. Lake Tahoe, California, USA. Shot with Nikon Coolpix 4500 point-and-shoot camera.
Program Auto mode and Matrix metering.
Lake Tahoe in an awesome sight. This photo was actually shot by Shraddha in a hurry while we were just finishing a drive around the lake perimeter. This road goes all around the lake and this portion of the road is quite higher (in many places it’s at the water level). Shot with Nikon Coolpix 4500 point-and-shoot camera.
Auto Program mode, Matrix metering.
This natural tower is in Yellowstone National Park near the Mammoth Hot Springs. Strange structure. Shot with Canon EOS Elan IIE and Sigma 28-80mm lens. July 2002.
Tulips always fascinate me. For the range of colors and beauty. Their short life span makes them even more precious. I like this photo especially for the saturated colors and depth of field. The quality of this photo is not as good because I had scanned the negative with a consumer grade scanner and later lost the negative, so this is only copy I’ve left besides the prints. Shot with Canon EOS Elan IIE and Sigma 28-80mm lens. Spring 1999. Woodburn, Oregon, USA.
