A little dispute

Leopards

In Search…

 

I Search … for those memory lanes.. where I can get lost again…

I search … for those moments.. where I can live again…

I search … for you … to find myself

 

Its a slugs life

As an example of things that you may be missing when you are looking at the big picture. I came across this guy when I went to the local park and decide to take a break and lie down a bit. After noticing this guy next to me, first thing I did was to check if there are any that I might have killed without knowing. Luckily no one was hurt

Now, I am not an expert on bugs/slugs/worms/larva, heck I did not even study biology but I liked this fella to be quite fascinating. Like someone said, life is what happens when we are too busy to notice. Right now am in the middle of sorting through pictures of my recent India trip. Will post some when I am done processing them.

Canon EOS 20D Part III

I thought long and hard about why did I buy a 20D when I could have bought a 400D (10 Mega pixels, self sensor cleaning etc). To tell the truth, the most important factor was the fact that 20D felt much better in my hands than 400D. Xti or 400D felt too small and flimsy in my hands. Of course it is an excellent camera, but me being someone who prefers cf cards over sd cards cause they feel better in my hands, I found 20D feels just right in my hands.

Another factor was speed. 20D had great reviews about its 5fps shooting. Though I am yet to use that kind of burst, I decided its better to have that.

Then the most important factor. High ISO performance. 20D is known to have a good performance at high ISO. My shootings are generally done during the evening. Low light situations are a fact of life for me. So I decided to test the performance of my 20D and at the same time test my 50mm F1.8 cheapie too. So here goes

ISO 100, F1.8 (Full size image can be found here)

ISO 400 F1.8 (Full size image can be found here)

ISO 800 F1.8 (Full size image can be found here)

ISO 1600 F1.8 (Full size image can be found here)

As you can see clearly from the images above, even ISO 1600 is usable, it just needs a good whipping through the noise reduction software. Actually you can get perfectly usable images for 8×12 prints. BTW, all the shots in the test were taken on a tripod, captured in RAW, resized to 8×12 and white balance corrected in CS2 and saved for web. No NR and no sharpening was applied.

Lets continue with the images taken at different aperture. At this point, I have no doubts about ISO performance, I am just checking at what aperture my 50mm is sharp.

ISO 400, F2.8 (full image can be found here)

ISO 400 F4.0 (full image can be found here)

ISO 400 F5.6 (Full image can be found here)

ISO 400 F8.0 (Full image can be found here)

Now, I have teh following two conclusions from my little test.

1. I do not have to worry about ISO performance. ISO 1600 is no problems for this baby.
2. My 50mm gives a great background blur (*i don’t know what it is called*) and is quite sharp from F4 onwards.

One gripe I have with 20D is, I always smudge my LCD whenever I am taking photos. I would love to have a plastic protector like Nikon D80 has.

Anyone planning to buy a DSLR should look into refurb 20D units. If you check Adorama or B&H, you will get a decent canon refurb unit for @ $700. Obviously with the introduction of 40D a lot of 30D/20D are going to be sold and their prices are going to be affordable as well. All in all, Canon DSLRs buyers are going to have a lot of choices.

How American intelligence is gathered

Was going through my old data and came across this picture I saved long time back. I do not know the original source for it, but I am quite sure it must have been one of the email forwards. Kudos to the original creator

This is how Americans intelligence is gathered

Desert Safari

Desert Safari. You will obviously see desert, and Dubai has a lot of it. Don’t feel shy, hire a whole 4×4 for yourself/group and enjoy the fun.

Enjoy the thrilling ride while your ladcruiser drives mad around these crazy dunes. Trust me it takes some good off roading skills to drive around here.

Enjoy the thrilling ride while your ladcruiser drives mad around these crazy dunes. Trust me it takes some good off roading skills to drive around here.

Falconry is an old tradition of Middle-East. I hurts me the most to see these magnificent birds to be treated this way. When you go to “Desert Safari” you come across a lot of things. One of them is these captive birds. You can take your picture with these falcons. I hate to see some ignorant parents letting their kids run wild and let them torture these birds. There is always an adventure in handling a predatory bird, but I have seen kids harassing these helpless birds. Pulling their wings, hitting them. Wish their parents can make them understand.

And then one of the highlights of the evening The Belly Dancing

Good luck

Who says cats don’t bring luck?? This lil guy seems to be guarding our luck most of the time

Random Walks

A fairground in Deira, Dubai. Never saw many kids around there though. Handheld shot.

And somewhere around in this concrete jungle, I caught this fearsome predator. He actually hunted down sheesh kebab I left for him.

And the day ends

Ever wonder why The Sun gives its most spectacular colors at the time of SunSet? To make sure you remember it?? Or its something like a grand exit? Why are sunrise to tranquil and sunsets so vibrant?

A Falcon Dance

A Falcons Dance
By:Moondy
You were once a little boy,
ten years old in fact.
It has taken so many years,
to really accept.
Your gone.
There and once been a time,
You had dreams and plans.
but all that was taken,
and can never be replaced.
You once said that when you died,
you would want to be a falcon.
I remember the look on your face,
the look of longing and wanting.
You envied falcon,
and their dance.
You were once a little boy,
ten years old in fact.
But now you have be granted your one wish,
you are now a falcon with a dance.