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Rudra & Ajay,

These are some surreal images from Ladakh. Simply majestic! Hats off to you both clap:

And thank you for sharing these for our viewing pleasure.

Navin
With Digital one tends to shoot more. I shoot a lot more when I am shooting wildlife. Try shooting RAW and using L-series lens. A good general purpose is 24-105mm. Great product and very popular.

I am happy that you call him Rudra-da. You can get to learn a lot from him and besides, he is a very nice person.

For this Gypsy shot, we waited 4 years !! Before starting from Delhi this time, we had already talked about it. That's how it goes. Somewhere, at the back of your mind, the frame lingers and you wait for the right time and place.
Wud be happy to meet you all once, already met Tanveer in Leh.

Aufwiedersehen und viel Erfolg. Ajay

what should I say, it is just awesome. Portraits are so clear and lively.

You forget that they are magicians and not humans. They command, and landscape obeys. Due to fallout with weather gods, things did not work out exactly as planned, but landscape gods are always with them :D

Great painting with light there - shots which reminds us that its not equipment that matters at the end of the day (S90 vs 1D!). Often times folks asks me "That must be an expensive camera and lens you have". Surprisingly no one asks a painter if he has an expensive brush ;)

woow Rudra ji, truly fantastic shots! mind blowing! just a question, were the pics edited for light and contrast and all on your computer or are they all natural?

Among the best pictures I have ever seen in my life from anywhere in the world! A job well done. Cant wait for your next lot of pictures. Just a small request, I would love to see pictures of your gypsy doing what it does best, going off road with views like the above in the background. Just a small request please don't mind sir :)

Happy motoring

Actually we wanted to place Gypsy in between two giant walls. One place I had in my mind was the place before reaching K Top. It wasn’t possible due to heavy snow and traffic. Perfect combos Navin. And..
I would request you to consider 5D once again. Sending you a link soon.Frankly I didn’t expect much from S90. But now I know what it can deliver.
Everything is natural there. Enhancement (tone and light) is based on how we wanted to see the final result. Exposures (mainly EV variation) were made based on our final desired result.That Gypsy belongs to Ajay. You need to ask him for those kind of captures. :D

You hv put it very well and I fully agree with you. Here are my two cents, if it helps.

I already mentioned this fact in previous comments. Shoot in native RAW format with best lens because all color, temp, lights, hue, saturation sharpness etc data are then available during post processing to get the max out in finished image. Normal family pics I always shoot with pocket camera. But when I take my DSLR in hand, it's always in RAW. A habit that pays in the end. Shoot in RAW.

As one goes down in Camera pixel range, it gets more important to select the final frame while shooting because post process cropping shows pixalation, noise etc. With higher Megapixel, this effect is obviouely reduced, if cropping is a must. Shoot in Full Frame.

It becomes even more trickier when one talk about printing images as then one needs to also see in advance while shooting how the colors etc. will come out even to the extent of a particular printing machine. A lot depends upon what final size do you want and for what purpose, like for a travelogue like this, an Exhibition or a Billboard. Think of final Image.

So, the work process is forward thinking while shooting i.e., thinking of the finished frame already while you are shooting. It's a continuous process while you are in field and has years of learning curve. Work on learning curve.

Higher megapixels and best cameras do not give you best images. It's the eye behind the lens.

Many regards. Ajay

Old man took my trip a short while ago for my not being able to post my comments in this thread yet; he made me do 100 situps as punishment- on 1 leg.

Anyway- I'm trying to figure which words to use - that already havent been used yet, to describe the photos in his thread: fantabulous, astounding, ethereal, iconic, stratospheric(pun intended) ,unreal, hallucinogenic, outstanding, hypnotic.

OK- I just worked up an massive appetite after all this physical/mental exercise. But- this man needs to be recognized by a national award for his talent - which no one else I've seen has.

Which image no. are you refering to. Pls adv.
Many regards. Ajay

Painfully beautiful, that's all i can say.
This thread is going to remain open till i know each shot by heart.

Rudra, Ajay: I feel honored that you chose to share your outstanding work with us.

Thank you.

I am quite taken by these snaps. And agree with the sentiments shared by the other team members.

I just wanted to know the philosophy behind processing snaps in this manner. I gather from some pics (and I may wrongly be doing so; do correct me) that the scenes may not be looking this dark in real; however the processing it to such darkness brings out the variations in light and landscape (a pic in mind is the Tso Moriri pic referenced as the 9 am pic). Is it the intention that the landscape as seen be captured; or is it the intention that the landscape as can be seen be captured?

I have no preference either way; just wanted to know the preference of Ajay and Rudra. I keep having debates (and there have been many in this forum as well) about processing with myself. To be able to appreciate such beautiful snaps, I have decided to accept this as art and not a actual representation of the landscape as it was on such day.

If OT, please delete. This is too good a thread for OT.Thanks.

well, there is an old saying that "all good things come to an end" but i really wished since last few days that it doesnt. hats off to you rudra-da and Ajay to make me feel like that.

thats what we all i mean lot of mere mortals like me have to learn and thats what i requested from Rudra da during intial posts of this thread, we now know "what is a piece of art not just a picture", immortal stuff and thanks a lot to both of you for sharing the related information and many valuable tips.

Totally awe-struck with the images from this thread and seriously like many others i dont have words to explain the beauty of the pics posted and it clearly shows the amount of hardwork and artistic brilliance that has gone into to come up with such an end product.
i showed some of these pics to some of my firang collegues and they were like "wow,omg such a place exists in india" all thanks to your pics. had i clicked them i am dead sure they wouldnt have said that.

i feel some obliged and proud simulatenously sometimes being part of this wonderful forum that i have access to some wonder piece of knowledge in automotives and some phenomenal piece of art as in this thread.

and if you guys remember that Rudra da was complaining about bad weather in initial posts, now just imagine what these guys must have created had they got their choice of weather conditions.

so good luck to both of you for your next trip and we hope to see a lot more from you of course i would blame you cos you have fed us all with such high quality pics that i would ask for more "Yeh dil maange more"

Thanks a ton.

cheers

It’s a very logical question you’ve raised. I’m sure many have the same question in mind. Let me try to answer this.

At any point in time a camera can capture only the result from one exposure (shutter speed/aperture) combination. And a given exposure (read metering through Aperture Value/Time Value/Program/Manual) will capture what best it can of the frame. So if the metering is chosen for shadow area (less in brightness than the other area of the frame) high light area will blow out (less information or no information). The same applies for high light area metering and thereby getting under exposed/dark shadow area.

Current generation cameras have Evaluative Metering or more commonly known as Matrix Metering. This metering mode reads the overall area of the frame and tries to work out the best possible combination (Aperture if shooting mode is Shutter Priority/Shutter speed if shooting mode is Aperture Priority). Seldom this metering mode fails.

When we see anything, the eyes/brain processes the image in an accurate manner. We don’t have any difficulty to enjoy a vast tonal range scale in a natural way. No wonder the closest process to achieve this today is far from natural.
I’m talking about High Dynamic Range process here.

Now what do we do in places like these? Depending on the colour/brightness of the sky, clouds and rocks we need to take a call. And this call is crucial. This call will determine the exposure and thereby the final output.

If I take my meter reading from the white cloud or snow capped mountain, what happens to those brown and yellow surfaces? They’ll go darker than what they originally are. Is that ok with me? That’s ok with me as long as they don’t go too dark. I surely want them to go few grades darker because darker tones are going to make those colours richer.

Reducing or increasing tones and colours afterward is the job of PhotoShop.. One of the world’s most coveted software. :D

Below are some samples. Straight evaluative metering. Because there are not much of difference in tonal range (gray scale). Shot with S90.



Spot metering with 1Ds Mark II from the white cloud. One stop over exposed. Shot with S90.



Spot metering with 1Ds Mark II from the white cloud. Half stop over exposed. Shot with S90.



We could have covered Leh-Manali route and a vast area of Lahul and Spiti valley. :mad:

Rudra, your brilliance in photography is now taken for granted. So, I'm not surprised at seeing the astounding shots you've shared with us on this thread.

But your real gift is in making us see the Himalayas exactly how you see them. Your pictures communicate more about you, than your written words ever could. Rated 5 stars.

P.S. : The "Sonmarg" shot made me gulp!