I was getting bored, early morning @ Salem bus stand waiting for the rest of the gang, before heading for a trek to Yercaud and took out the camera and 400mm lens. Spotted these people - a bearded man in saffron cloths, an old lady and a potter who later helped us secure seats in the Yercaud bound bus - and used the EF-L f/5.6 400mm for the second time to take some candid shots (earlier trial here: Portraits from Puthiyappa Beach).

All three pics are ISO-400, f/5.6, Av mode, with the EF-L f/5.6 400mm lens.

Spotted this chirpy little Green Barbet bird ('Kutturuvan' in Malayalam) from office building. The pic was taken using the 400mm, handheld, Av mode, f/5.6, ISO-800 and 1/500s.

The next pic is taken a week later during a trek to Yercaud, while climbing down the Shevaroyan hill temple on 4th of May. I added the pic to this post, coz of obvious reasons - its the same kind of bird :)

This time, I used ISO-400 and f/6.3 for 1/2000s in Av mode, with the same EF-L f/5.6 400mm lens.

These pics were taken @ the entrance to Melkote temple, 32kms off Mandya:

All pics are using the EF-L 180mm lens, Av mode f/3.5 and ISO-100.

These pics are during a return journey from Kozhikode to Bengaluru. The first three sparrows are from Sulthan Bathery town and the langur is from the Bandipur national park.

The first pic was using the EF-L 180mm lens @ f/4.0 Av mode, ISO-200 and the remaining pics are using the EF-L 400mm lens @ f/5.6 Av mode, ISO-800.

These are some random snaps taken en route to Swargakkunnu, from Muthappanpuzha:

The first pic was actually a demo of the EF-L f/3.5 180mm macro lens to Josettan and that bee just happened to be there in the pic.  Av mode f/3.5, ISO-100 and 1/1000s exposure. The butterfly pic is also using the 180mm lens, but Av mode f/6.3 and 1/100s.

Snap of the rusted fence is taken using the EF-L f/5.6 400mm @ f/5.6 ISO-800 and 1/400s. This was also a trial shot to see the Depth of Focus @ 400mm :) But, I ended up liking the shades of the green in the background and the narrow DOF for the subject too.

People, this is my #100 and what better way to bring it in other than with the monument of luv :)

All these are archive pictures, which I saved for my 100th post :) Taken with the EF-S 18-55mm lens in Av mode, the first four are @ f/13 and the fifth is @ f/6.3.

To complete the series ... the last one is from the Agra red fort entrace. Since it was a li'l late in the evening, I went for a tripod mounted longer exposure pic (Av mode @ f/6.3, +1 exposure compensation and 2seconds using the 18-55mm). Can u see the people moving in and out of the fort :) The picture before that is from Fathepur Sikhri, again using the EF-S 18-55, Av mode @ f/3.5. Since, I'd set the camera for indoor shots with an ISO-800, the setting stayed and I ended up with a 1/2000s for this shot :)

The date of the post is set to April 14th, the Vishu day (Kerala new year) so that it indeed stays as the 100th post :) Infact, I wanted to post this on Vishu day itself, but was delayed. So, here it is ... my 100th post on Vishu day, with pics of Tajmahal :) Hope its a new beginning!

These are pics from the river side near my house @ Eranhikkal, Kozhikode, taken on a Vishu day:

The place had a lot of birds, all the way from Kingfishers to Eagles, and was a  perfect place to test my new EF-L f/5.6 400mm lens :) Its been tough ... without a tripod, this is indeed a hard lens to use. Even at broad day light, I ended up increasing the ISO, to make sure the pics were not shaken. Whenever the birds stayed still for a longer time, I used the tripod and the timer. Any other case, the only practical choice was to bump up the ISO.

The first of the 'Thoni' (wooden boat) and fisherman pic is also with the EF-L 400mm (@ Av mode f/9, tripod mounted), but the second one is a closer shot with the EF-S 18-55mm, again @ Av mode f/9.

On this Vishu day, I was roaming around in the Puthiyappa beach, near Kozhikode, looking for some good shots. I had a few shots in mind, including the shells and foam and sun, but finally, what really caught my attention was a few kids in the beach :)

I had my EF-L f/5.6 400mm on a tripod, set @ Av mode ISO-800 and I got these pictures at 1/2000s and 1/800s. The group of kids in the first pic were waving at me from a distance and I responded by clicking their pictures ... and showing it to them later. The kid in the second pic seem to be hesitant in getting into the water. Doesnt it show in his expression :)

The last pic, I used ISO-100 and it returned me 1/200s. Just luved the bright colors of their dress! Infact, I had the lens mounted in a tripod and should've used lower ISO for the other pics as well!

This is the 'Vilakku' at home on the Vishu eve :) The flowers are 'Kanikkonna' (Cassia Fistula) a must for celebrating Vishu.

For completion lemme put the details as well : First pic is ISO-400 (I wanted steady flames), f/8 and 0.6s. Second pic is ISO-100, f/8 for 3.2s exposure. Both are taken with the Canon EF-S 18-55mm lens @ focal lengths 34mm and 40mm in the Av mode using a tripod.

Padinharayil is my maternal house and I happened to be there the day before Vishu for a function. The place was filled with kids of my cousins and I was running around with a camera in hand! Here are some of the pics I got:

First pic is of Vaishnav (aka Unnikkuttan). I just luv his smile and he seems to like the camera too. This pic is from the EF 50mm f/2.5 compact macro lens @ Av mode f/2.5, ISO-800. Also, find some of his pics I took earlier in this post: Vaishnav's Pics. Second pic is of Upasana. She is very camera shy and started crying when I attempted to take her pictures :( Finally, I managed a few from a distance using the EF-L 180mm :) Av mode f/6.3 and ISO-800.

The blue-green dress here is Aditi and the yellow one is Nandana. Both were playing in the courtyard and almost posing for me :) Pics using EF-L 180mm @ f/3.5, Av mode and ISO-800.