[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by ampere

Some suggestions
- Move on to AV/TV modes and Auto-Focus.
- During day time snapping, you can set ISO to 100/200.
- Color Schemes should be fine. If you shoot RAW, then in Canon DPP (S/W) you should be able to manage it nicely.

Thanks a lot Ampere for the tips !! I have had this camera for 1 year now and haven't actually used the better technicalities of it. Will try your suggestion.

And you should drive down to DD hills. You can get some amazing day time golden hour shots there. The temple opens quite late. Hit the place by sunrise and get out by 8/9 AM; even before crowd starts to come in. Be aware there are monkeys near the parking. So dont take out food at this place.

Just now read your T-Log to get an idea of the place. Looks good.
Any other latest T-Logs or route details available ?

Would love to explore this place too. I am in a super driving spree. Want to cover places before I get tired.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Would love to explore this place too. I am in a super driving spree. Want to cover places before I get tired.

Here is one by the man himself...

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...yanadurga.html

Here is one more
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ml#post3331932

I have been here about 3-4 times, but never wrote a TL.

[mpksuhas]

Great travelogue Soumyajit. This was my first drive out of Bangalore too once I got my car over here some 2.5 years back. However my trip was during rainy season, hence the scenery was entirely different.

Regarding resturants around Lepakshi, there is a AP tourism hotel right at the left turn from NH 7. We stopped over there for lunch on way back and food was good.

As others suggested you should try Devaryanadurga too. A cautionary note, the place is bit isolated, when we visited last year. Though we did not encounter an issue, I would not be comfortable traveling there unless in a group.

[Soumyajit9]

Phew !! In all the excitement, forgot to mention one important thing - Tolls Paid.
Pretty much simple.

Devanahalli Toll Gate - Rs 30 (Round Trip)
Another Toll Gate, closer to the diversion from NH7 - Rs 115 (Round Trip)

Total Toll Paid - Rs145/-

[mvp]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Phew !! In all the excitement, forgot to mention one important thing - Tolls Paid.
Pretty much simple.

Devanahalli Toll Gate - Rs 30 (Round Trip)
Another Toll Gate, closer to the diversion from NH7 - Rs 115 (Round Trip)

Total Toll Paid - Rs145/-

Nice travelogue, Soumyajit. I am also planning a trip to Lepakshi but not sure if I would this summer or after the monsoon.

[sukhoi30]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Thanks a lot Ampere for the tips !! I have had this camera for 1 year now and haven't actually used the better technicalities of it. Will try your suggestion.

Nice travelogue Soumyajit. You should also get a circular polarizer filter for your lens. This will give you very blue skies and nice green foliage. The polarizer reduces glare and reflections which helps in getting a sharper picture. I also own 600D and its a very nice camera.

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Great travelogue Soumyajit. This was my first drive out of Bangalore too once I got my car over here some 2.5 years back. However my trip was during rainy season, hence the scenery was entirely different. Regarding resturants around Lepakshi, there is a AP tourism hotel right at the left turn from NH 7. We stopped over there for lunch on way back and food was good.

Thanks Suhas !! I guess the scenery during monsoons would be much better and greener. Plus the cool effect and not burning your feet.

As others suggested you should try Devaryanadurga too. A cautionary note, the place is bit isolated, when we visited last year. Though we did not encounter an issue, I would not be comfortable traveling there unless in a group.

I saw some travelogues and indeed it looks isolated. Will team up with some friends and family to make this trip.

Originally Posted by mvp

Nice travelogue, Soumyajit. I am also planning a trip to Lepakshi but not sure if I would this summer or after the monsoon.

Thanks mvp. My advice would be to skip the summer, may be until July. Its too hot there and could get worse during summer. I guess monsoons would be the perfect time to visit this place. Although your drive may be ruined by rains.

Originally Posted by sukhoi30

Nice travelogue Soumyajit. You should also get a circular polarizer filter for your lens. This will give you very blue skies and nice green foliage. The polarizer reduces glare and reflections which helps in getting a sharper picture. I also own 600D and its a very nice camera.

Thanks for the advice sukhoi30 !! That sounds like a must have for natural photography. Will Google it up and buy soon. Thanks once again for the tip.

[D4D]

Nice T-log and excellent photos to compliment it. Everything in this place seems to be so clean and well maintained.

Can you give me some tips for photography?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

I saw some travelogues and indeed it looks isolated. Will team up with some friends and family to make this trip.

- Yes its quite isolated.
- If you plan to go for a photo shoot to catch the sunrise, then it would be difficult for the family.
- With another family you can hope to make it by 7-7:30. There is enough light by then and also there is no crowd.
- The temple opens by 9/9:30
- Post monsoon its an awesome place.

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by D4D

Nice T-log and excellent photos to compliment it. Everything in this place seems to be so clean and well maintained.
Can you give me some tips for photography?

Thanks D4D !! You just made me shy with the photography tip question.
I am a miniscule creature in the world of photography. There are fellow BHPian like Rudra Sen who has mastered photography.

Furthermore, please refer to THIS thread for the right set of people to guide you.

But since you asked, lemme throw in some basics that I try to use. May be of your help.

- Make sure that the subject is well lighted.
- Avoid any kind of shadows.
- Use camera's Light Exposure settings for correcting the light.
- Use camera's colour scheme settings for bringing vivid colours to the photo.
- If still its' dark or not colourful, Picasa to the rescue.
- I am absolutely novice in Adobe Photoshop. So I use Picasa for basic edits and they come out superb.

Originally Posted by ampere

- Yes its quite isolated.
- If you plan to go for a photo shoot to catch the sunrise, then it would be difficult for the family.
- With another family you can hope to make it by 7-7:30. There is enough light by then and also there is no crowd.
- The temple opens by 9/9:30
- Post monsoon its an awesome place.

Thanks for the headsup buddy. Am gonna take a friend and his family for this trip. An early start would save us from the sun. Wondering if it would be wiser to do this during July (early monsoons) ?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Thanks for the headsup buddy. Am gonna take a friend and his family for this trip. An early start would save us from the sun. Wondering if it would be wiser to do this during July (early monsoons) ?

You surely can. But catching the sun would be difficult. Also as you must have read Lalu's TL. Once you are done with DD Hills you come down the hill and instead of coming back, you head towards Tumkur and its a beautiful ghat road and at places quite steep too! Namada is a good place for the kids too. And there is a nicely hidden lake at the start of the road to DD hills.

OK enough on DD Hills. Back to Lepakshi. To be frank, it was one of the Lepakshi drive where I learned, what I was doing wrong in photographs. Learnt my first lesson in Aperture priority. And really was amazed at the place. Having been to Hampi earlier, was even more surprised to see such a striking resemblance. On probing further I found they were indeed the same.

[kaushik_ak]

I had been to this place during similar time last year.

Points to note:

1. Road is fairly good throughout.
2. When going in summers, it is highly impossible to walk through the temple from one place to another. The stones laid get heated up. I had a tough time. Hence, plan to visit the place early morning, in summers at least.

[pgupta]

Very nice travelogue, I was thinking of planning a trip and its so useful to find this information. Thanks for sharing.

The place looks bit deserted. Is that true or it is just you managed to avoid the usual crowd while taking the pics ?

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by pgupta

Very nice travelogue, I was thinking of planning a trip and its so useful to find this information. Thanks for sharing.

The place looks bit deserted. Is that true or it is just you managed to avoid the usual crowd while taking the pics ?

Thanks ! Glad that you found the info useful.

The place is pretty much deserted. Not sure during other times of the year, but during this time it was super duper hot. May be that's why there was less crowd.

I would advise not to go anytime soon. May be around July, you could plan this trip.

[Soumyajit9]

My wifey uploaded the pics on her FB Profile.
Damn, she has some good Picasa Editing Skills !!