We had visited Soochipara falls a day before our trek to Chembra. The falls was a very good experience, especially the rollicking in the pool, with the early morning chill and the spray of water from the falls. But, my photo opportunity came on our way back, when I spotted water droplets accumulated on a spider web.

I took out the Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L macro lens for the shot and then only realized that I had left the tripod in the car. Light was a little low for the shot I wanted, but with ISO-800 and a -2 step exposure compensation, I could manage some shots handheld in Av mode. With an aperture of f/7.1, the best for this lens, the exposure time came to 1/200s. In the end, I was glad to get this result without using a tripod.

Gundlupet is indeed a gold mine for a photographer - if you are bored of taking portraits and village life, you can always try a few landscapes and thats exactly what I did! The place usually is covered with marigold and sunflower fields duirng the beginning of monsoon (july - august), offering wonderful landscapes (see 'Marigold Fields' for an earlier post) and this time I was fortunate to have clear weather to accompany the landscape.

It has happened a zillion times ... everytime I am on the road and I meet the rain ... it feels like its the first time. So, till I meet the next first time ...

Every time I come back from Kozhikode, I look forward to passing via Gundlupet. If the time of the day is right, there are many photo opportunities! The red soil and the evening sunlight usually gives a nice background for the pictures as well. I had been posting pictures from this beautiful town in Kerala - Karnataka border, near Bandipur national park (See 'Village Women carrying Water', 'Red soil and Farmers @ Gundulpet ... again!' and 'Once again in Gundulpet and Mysuru' for some of the earlier posts) and this one adds to a growing list:

The girl was standing near the field and talking to the people in the farm. The shot comes without any change in settings.

Indian Roller is usually confused by some people with the Kingfisher, because of the common color. I have posted Indian Roller and Kingfisher pics earlier (see 'Indian Roller aka Blue Jay' and 'Kingfishers @ Eranhikkal'), but there are birds which always get attention.

A day before our return from Valparai, we were told about the possibility of spotting Niligiri Tahrs at the ghats, if we started early enough. This was one animal I have missed in my previous treks to Mukurthi and Meesapulimala, so I badly wanted an early start.

Though, we started early, soon I got carried away in the beauty of the misty tea estates and ended up taking too many breaks. By the time we reached the ghats it was already about 9 and the sun was already up. I almost gave up on spotting Niligiri Tahr ... but this time I got lucky!

People coming up reported that there is a herd of Nilgiri Tahrs gracing near the next hair pin bend. I parked the vehicle at a safe place and took out the camera and walked down to spot this handsome fella sitting in the road side!

The pic is taken with the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L telephoto lens, handheld in Av mode, f/6.3, ISO-800 for a 1/500s exposure.

Presenting two of Preethu's paintings:

This is a Tanjore style painting of Sita, Preethu did under the guidance of Ms Premalatha. The gold foils and stones are typical of Tanjore painting.

The pic was taken with the Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L (macro) lens, mounted on a Manfrotto 728B Digi tripod. I used Av mode at f/7.1 (the sweet spot of this lens) and ISO-100, with a exposure compensation of -2 Ev. The exposure time was 1s.

The second one is an oil painting, again by Preethu, under the guidance of Mr Ashok. This is based on the painting, 'Mayur Pankh', done by G S Khetanchi.

The pic is taken using the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L wide angle zoom lens @ 35mm, mounted on a Manfrotto 728B Digi tripod.  Camera was set in Av mode, f/6.3, ISO-100 with an exposure compensation of -2 Ev. The exposure time came to about 5s.

Originally, both the pictures looked a little dull compared to the painting and I did the following processing in GIMP for both the pictures:

1. Duplicate layer (Ctrl-L, in the layer window that comes up, right click on the background layer -> duplicate)
2. Select the new layer (Click on the new layer)
3. Increase brightness for the new layer (Colors -> Curves -> adjust curves for higher brightness)
4. Set layer mode to 'Soft Light'. (Go to layers window, select Mode as 'Soft Light')

I know I am little late to post this, but better late than never ... right?

He woke up pretty soon and discovered that there is something itchy around his head and quickly took it off! But, Preethu once again managed to wrap the cloth around his forehead and tucked in the feather, in spite of his protests. She gave one feather to him and that took his attention away. With Preethu and his grand parents around him and cheering, he hardly noticed me clicking these snaps.

By now, I discovered that the batteries in the flash is dying and the backup was not charged - making this picture a little under exposed, which I had to correct using GIMP. This is even after I increased the ISO to 800 and used a slightly longer exposure (1/125s) for this shot.

For the last shot, I moved away from the lense's sweet spot of around f/6.3 - f/8 and set it to f/4.5 so that I can get back to a more correct exposure time of 1/200s. I also waited for a while in between to make sure that the flash was ready for a full manual output and did not have to brighten up this picure in GIMP.

With a reduced frequency of posting and many pictures taken from Valparai, I still have many pictures to post from that set! Valparai is a beautiful place with a landscape dominated by tea estates and I had to have atleast one post dedicated to the tea estates:

I still come back home disappointed after taking landscapes and the pics from Valparai was no different. But, the place was so beautiful that even if I could capture a glimpse of its beauty, it would be good enough! The first picture was taken on our way back from 'Nallamudi Poonchola', using the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L wide angle zoom lens, hand held at f/22, 1/30s, ISO-100, in Av mode.

This was taken next day, on our way back from Valparai, on a misty morning. I had once again used the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L wide angle zoom lens for this shot, in Av mode f/4.5 and ISO-100 for a 1/50s exposure.

I guess, I should improve my posting frequency and atleast clear my backlogs now!

Possibly the most common bird in Valparai is the Red-Whiskered Bulbul - we saw more of those than crows and mynahs, the usual suspects.

I was able to get very close to the birds here, on our first morning at Valparai and could get a few shots with the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L telephoto lens. There was enough light also and I had no trouble using f/6.3, ISO-200, handheld in Av mode for a 1/800s exposure.