A Man with a Snake

This is one of the photos I liked most from my trip to Bangalore. As the photos before, it was taken with an analog camera and scanned but the colors and sharpness are quite nice. The reason I like this photo is because it is giving lots of information in one shot, a good story telling photo. The man is sitting on the ground and showing his snake in order to get some money. I assume that the woman sitting at the background is his wife. Guessing from the golden ring on man's finger, they probably have a decent life. I gave the man a few rupees and he kindly agreed to be photographed. This was the first shot I have taken. I wanted to take a few more pictures but the man proved to be a good businessman and kept asking for more and more money. So I was shooting as long as I had some coins left but this first photo remained the best of the series. Camera spec: Canon EOS 300 with Canon 28-105 F3,5-4,5 USM, film Fuji Superia ISO 200, scanned on Canon MP980.

On the Way Home

I captured this photo on one of my walking trips in Bangalore nine years ago. The woman was bringing some pieces of wood to her home, she turned when she saw me and I pressed the shutter at that moment. As a result I got a nice portrait of this woman with some auto rickshaw in the background as a bonus. The light was also coming from the right direction to provide a subtle illumination on her face. Camera spec: Canon EOS 300 with Canon 28-105 F3,5-4,5 USM, film Fuji Superia ISO 200, scanned on Canon MP980.

Mother and Child

Another photo from Bangalore which brings some memories. This is a nice story telling scene of a mother holding a child in her hand and walking up the hill. The colors of the sky didn't come up as expected during the scan but otherwise the photo is compositionally pleasing as both the main object of the mother and child and the secondary object up the hill are placed according to the rules of third. What makes the image pop up for me is its simplicity. Camera spec: Canon EOS 300 with Canon 28-105 F3,5-4,5 USM, film Fuji Superia ISO 200, scanned on Canon MP980.

People of India

Out of the many photos I took in India I was mostly fascinated by the different characters of people that one can meet in India. Most of the people gladly accepted to be photographed and today I am presenting a photo of two young ladies, most likely university students, because the picture was taken close at the university campus of Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. The colors are beautiful and the quality of the scan is surprisingly good. I have actually noticed that the dynamic range of a film is much higher than that of today's digital cameras. This photo was taken in a full sun and the exposition is fine both in highlights and shadows (except for sharpening and some basic color adjustments the scan was not improved in any other way). What a pity I don't own any film camera any more ... maybe I should get one :-) Camera spec: Canon EOS 300 with Canon 28-105 F3,5-4,5 USM, film Fuji Superia ISO 200, scanned on Canon MP980.

Incredible India

As I already mentioned, I have found some old films that I recently scanned on my Canon MP980 scanner. I was positively surprised of the quality of the scan and in particular the pictures from my trip to India from 2001 brought back many memories. Today I want to start with a photo of street life in the streets of Bangalore. It was taken from an auto rickshaw and shows a typical busy day in December. I will soon post more photos of people in India, so stay tuned. Camera spec: Canon EOS 300 with Canon 28-105 F3,5-4,5 USM, film Fuji Superia ISO 200 (most likely), scanned on Canon MP980 and converted to BW.

Bye, bye

Well, after presenting a few photos from the carnival, let me close this topic for a while with this detail photo. I like the expression in her eyes and the small catch lights created by the on-camera flash used as a fill in. I have also finished scanning some older films on which I captured my trip to India in 2001 and they came out quite nice. I will present a few of them in my next posts, so check out my blog soon again! Camera spec: Canon 40D with Canon 28-105 F3.5-4.5 USM at 83mm F7.1 @ 1/160, ISO 200.

Brazil, Brazil, ...

Indeed, you can see Brazilian samba danced in the streets of Aalborg once every year. I particularly like this photo because of the expression in the dancers face and the nice colors. As usual, I used an on-camera flash to soften the shadows. In these situations I normally put the flash compensation to -1 EV or more to make the flash "invisible". Too much flash would destroy the picture. I believe that I used the Lumiquest Mini Softbox as mentioned in the previous posts. Camera spec: Canon 40D with Canon 28-105 3,5-4,5 USM at 43mm, F5,6 @ 1/250, ISO 400.

Carnival Parade

Here it comes, the carnival parade! Beautiful colors, happy people, loud drum music and lots of dance ... enjoy. Again, a little bit of on-camera flash was used to fill in. Camera spec: Canon 40D with Canon 28-105 F3.5-4.5 USM at 43mm, F7.1 @ 1/250, ISO 200.

Out of the Blue

I could not resist to post another photo similar to the previous one. I like the drama expressed in the picture and the nice colors dominated by the blue sky at the background. I used my on camera flash, probably with the Lumiquest Mini-Softbox, to fill in the shadows. The leading lines on both sides of the photo really help to guide the attention to the main subject. Camera spec: Canon 40D with Canon 24-105 4L at 24mm, F16 @ 1/250, ISO 400.

Aalborg Carnival

Let's post some photos from Aalborg Carnival today. The carnival takes place every year in May and it is an exciting event (if you ever travel around, make sure you don't miss it). I chose to start with this picture, while not a typical carnival photo, as it shows a nice atmosphere and is compositionaly pleasing. Camera spec: Canon 40D with Canon 24-105 4L at 24mm, F7.1 @ 1/250, ISO 400.

Playing with Shadow

Here is another photo I took during the recent pregnancy session. I wanted to cast a shadow on the wall in the background to emphasize the shape of the belly. I placed the 580EX II speedlite with a homemade grid to the camera right and by carefully changing the distance and the angle I achieved the desired effect. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 70mm, F8 @ 1/125, ISO 400.

Pregnancy Fashion

While travelling light with a single camera and one lens, I was asked to take some pregnancy photos. I was quite constrained with the location (a small apartment with lots of furniture) but luckily I found a piece of a white wall that I could use as the background. I had only one 580EX II flash with me with the new Pocket Wizards. So I placed a large white towel to the right and bounced the flash against it. Little bit of work in Lightroom produced a very pleasing result. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 67mm, F6.3 @ 1/200, ISO 400.