KR market in Bangalore is a bustling place early morning and I'd been planning to visit the place some day early morning for a long time now. But it never happened! Instead, on my way back from Mandya, on a cloudy noon, I got down from the bus at the Mysore road flyover and walked down towards the KR market bus stop. The ramp to the flyover going up from the KR Market did give me a good perspective for some pictures:

The place has so many colorful spectacles and one of the things that caught my attention was these bags of snacks - apparently called Boti (the cylindrical ones) and Sandige (all the other shapes :)), according to a Kannadiga colleague of mine. These have to be fried in oil before being served as crunchy snacks or along with pappad for meals. The pic is taken with the Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L (macro) lens, handheld, set in Av mode, f/5.6 and ISO-400 for a 1/200s exposure.

On my way to Maidanahalli, just after the village of Puravara, I saw this bunch of Ganesha idols getting ready for the Ganesh Chaturthi and the man who made them doing the finishing touches:

The pic is taken with the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L telephoto lens, handheld in Manual mode, with the settings of ISO-200, f/6.3 and 1/1000s. The lighting was a bit harsh and I could not get the man's face properly exposed.

Wishing a happy Ganesh Chaturthi to all!

Gundulpet is one of my favourite places - not just because of beautiful and colorful landscapes or hardworking people wearing colorful cloths, but also because of the frequency at which I pass through this place :) Here is yet another picture of the villagers from Gundulpet:

Saw these women carrying water when I had stopped to shoot the Marigold fields (see 'Marigold Fields'). Gundulpet has a few lakes which serves for the water requirement (including irrigation) in the area. I had the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L telephoto lens fitted on the camera and peeped out of the car for these shots. The camera mode was set to Av and the light was fading. The camera meter returned a 1/100s exposure at ISO-800 and f/8. It was not enough for the 400mm lens, but with the car window for support, I did get a decent shot without any blur. I am quite liking the support from the car window. Guess, its effect is compareable to a monopod!

A weekend stay @ Mandya, where my in-laws stay, had been very productive for me :) This is the third post from pictures taken during that stay:

The pic is taken with the Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L (macro) lens, hand held (peeping out of the car window), Av mode, f/3.5 and ISO-400. With a -1 EV exposure compensation, the camera returned a 1/400s exposure time. I guess, the -1EV compensation was a bad idea in the end, making the subject a little darker than I would have liked.

This time around (unlike in the 'How much is too much?' post), I refrained from doing anything extra with GIMP :) So, here it is, after minimal sharpening and contrast adjustment.

I am still hanging on with 'again', 'another' and now ... 'some more'. Just cant think of any more such words/phrases :) For now, this is 3rd set from the last weekends trip to Kozhikode, following 'Another paddy field & Workers' and 'Passing through Bandipur'.

This lady is seperating chafe from grain and its a common sight on roads passing through village roads. I stopped the car a little far from the lady and used my Canon EF 400m f/5.6L for this shot. Thanks to the evening light, soaked in gold, I didnt need a tripod. The shot is in Av mode, f/5.6, ISO-200 for a 1/500s exposure.

A few kms ahead, I saw this herd of sheep and a shepherd. I wanted to take a shot with both the sheep and shepherd, but they were too close for my 400mm. They were coming towards us and I had no time to change the lens, either. So, I finally settled for this frame and clicked. Light was going down by then and I used the car window as a prop to negate the blur. Rest of the settings are similar - Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L, Av mode, f/5.6, ISO-200 and 1/250s.

I cant help but click, when I see paddy fields and workers with colorful attire :) There had been numerous posts with paddy (or vegetable or corn) fields and workers in it, the last one being 'Workers at Paddy fields near Mandya ... again'. I wonder, how many more words I can find like 'again' and 'another'! This one is also near Mandya / Sri Rangapatna,  on the way to my house @ Kozhikode:

This time I was right next to the highway inside my car and only the lens peeking out of the window to avoid their attention. I used the Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L lens for this shot, handheld in Av mode, f/9 and ISO-100 for a 1/200s exposure. I had used white balance shifting (towards red/brown) and later used GIMP to increase colour saturation and cut off the lower portion of the frame.

All the pictures from a trip to Hampi & North East Karnataka:

I met the first of the men and his herd of sheep, while waiting @ a railway cross near Badami. I wanted the pic without any vehicles and waited a while for a clear road, but by the time the road was clear, the man and his sheep was far far away! I used the Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L lens for this, handheld in Av mode @ f/3.5. Since, the light was a little dim, I resorted to ISO-200 for an exposure of 1/250s. I used GIMP to add a little more color saturation to this picture.

The lady in the red was working near an onion field, sorting huge piles of onion into bags. I used the Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L macro lens for this picture too, Av mode @ f/3.5 with an exposure compensation of -1 stops. Light was even lesser here and I resorted to ISO-400 for a 1/320s exposure. Finally, the GIMP helped in bumping up color saturation.

The 2nd man seemed to be in command of a corn field along side NH218 a few kms before Bagalkote. We stopped near the corn field, which was being ploughed, for a short break, some pictures and also to filch some black soil, known to be extremely fertile :) The light was a little too bad to capture the action and I had to bump up the ISO all the way to ISO-800. The lens is again the 180mm f/3.5L, handheld in Av mode, f/3.5 for a 1/320s exposure. Then again, GIMP was used for some more color saturation.

I've always liked taking snaps of farmers at work, like for instance the posts on 'Ploughing @ a Paddy Field near Maddur' and 'Scenes from Kanalpiruvu, Palakkad in Kerala'. Once again it was time for paddy fields and farmers sweating out in the field. On a drive to Mandya along the Bengaluru - Mysuru highway, I ventured in to a paddy field few kms before Mandya, to catch the men in action:

The first picture is taken with the EF f/5.6L 400mm lens, handheld, and I used ISO-200 to reduce the blur. In Av mode f/5.6 camera chose a 1/500s exposure.

The second one is using the EF f/3.5L 180mm but most of the settings stayed, including the ISO-200 and Av mode. Finally, this pic was f/3.5 and 1/1250s. Reflections had been another of my favourite themes and something I've consistently used - with some personal favourites like 'Birds @ a tank bund near Mysuru'.

It was indeed a great feeling to get the feet dirty and venture into the paddy fields :) Something I would like to do any time now :)

More pics from my last trek to Yercaud, I was in two (actually three) minds whether to post these or not (or just post one of the pics) ... but finally did post both of them :) I'll try to be more selective from here onwards .... and that means the frequency may come down :(

The two girls on the left are twins and they actually posed for us, inspite of being quite shy. I had the 400mm attached to the camera and could not have got a group picture from close distance, hence sat there watching others clicking ... thats when the girls ran away from us and I clicked with whatever settings I had ... two clicks and the camera battery ran out of charge! The place is near a village called Vellakkadai, abt 10kms from Yercaud. For the record, its Av mode, f/5.6, ISO-100, 1/200s and in hindsight I should've used atleast ISO-200 :(

Now, the firewood lady, I had been following her from Kadukkamaram, about 4kms from Yercaud, but never got a decent shot with good lightings. I tried a few different settings this time, but finally have a grainy picture after all the effort :( For my defense, she was walking too fast and I was also in a hurry to get back to Yercaud, so that I can catch the next bus to Salem!

Once again, this is using the EF-L f/5.6 400mm, in Av mode, f/5.6 and ISO-800 for a 1/250s. At midnoon, the light was too uneven whenever she was in the sun and too low, with shade :( I tried both shots, but the pics in bright light is a mess and the ones in shade is grainy! This is the 2nd time, I ended up taking lifeless pictures of a lady carrying firewood and posting it in this blog (Previous attempt here: Scenes from Kanalpiruvu, Palakkad in Kerala).

One more drive to Kozhikode and while passing via Gundulpet ... I reached the same farm I encountered in this post: Once again in Gundulpet and Mysuru and farmers were sweating out there today as well. Here are some more pics from the place:

The first two pics are taken using the Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, in Av mode f/5.6. I was actually in the middle of the field while taking them. The third and forth pics are taken from the road, using the EF-L 180mm f/3.5 lens @ Av mode f/6.3. Since it was almost noon by then and very bright, I had enough exposure time to play with. Wish I had used a thinner shutter atleast for the first pic.

The color of the soil actually rmeinds me of the malayalam movie "Thenmavin Kombathu"! Infact, apart from this same place, I've tried to capture this soil color also in these pictures: Construction Workers near our Office. Another common factor in all these pictures is the bright colored attire of the workers, to give this high contrast.