waders and waterbirds in summer

Waders and waterbirds are in their breeding plumage in summer in India and 

are a joy to watch and photograph, although they are not that easy to get close to.

National Geographic photographer Michael 'Nick' Nichols photographs Tigers in India.

Blue sky to add pop to subject

Blue sky adds drama to common subjects.
Try to under expose by 0.5 to 1 stop to get dramatic blue sky.

A Thousand Species from Joel Sartore on Vimeo.


The planet's biodiversity is disappearing at an alarming rate. This video from National Geographic contributing photographer Joel Sartore looks at what we can potentially lose, and why it's a good idea to save it.

Add foreground interest for better impact

We were photographing wildlife of the greater rann of kutch which is a desert habitat, 

when we realised that the car that we were travelling in 

could make for an interesting addition to the sunset scene

adding to the beauty of the photograph.

What do you think?

Making of Travels to the edge

Featured on Popphoto flash

One of our image featured on popular photography and imaging site in Popphoto Flash "The Fix" section : http://flash.popphoto.com/blog/2010/02/fix-it-fast-sun-block.html

From Birds

we were looking for the great crested grebe when suddenly i noticed a painted stork taking off and heading towards the rising sun, i quickly took my camera out and fired a few shots hoping to get a sharp shot.

Photographing the cranes of japan by Art Wolfe

was a beautiful evening when it was virtually impossible to seperate the horizon from the sky the low tide had begun and i was trying to stalk a grey heron to get it with its reflection, while shooting it i heard a diffrent kind of call which i had never heard before, an adult crab plover and a juvenile were flying by, i had the Nikon D40 with the Sigma 170-500 dg lens on it, (Darn!!! - the autofocus would not work as the D40 doesnot have a motor and same goes with the sigma 170-500) somehow luck was on my side and i managed to focus on these beautiful birds as they came close.

As we reached khijadiya we could hear
the cranes calling nearby but could not see them,
the blessing in disguise was that we got to experience
the beauty of a misty morning at the beautiful lake
as the light reached us after being filtered through the mist.
It was one of the most memorable mornings of our lives.
Thanks to the sigma 50-500mm lens we could shoot the
landscape without changing the lens,
knowing that if a bird came flying by, all that was needed
to capture it was the twist of the zoom ring.

One of our image - "Wild Ass @ Little Rann of Kutch"
is on page 40 in the December issue
of "Popular Photography" magazine (USA)

The light was really low when the lion got up
and start patrolling its territory.
could not get a sharp shot at 500mm setting
of the 50-500mm lens when it was sitting.
As we were in a car, we used a beanbag and zoomed out
to 195 mm to reduce the blur, panned the camera while squeezing
the shutter on continuous shooting mode
to increase the chance of getting a sharp frame.
1/13 sec at f8 the camera was on 800 ISO.

This male was lying near the waterhole rolling on this rock scratching the parts of its body which were hard to reach otherwise. as the light was very low, the camera was supported on a beanbag, every body in the jeep co-operated when asked to freeze.
500mm Lens 1/125 sec at f8 ISO 800

Recently got an email from the
Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards.
Unfortunately, I didn't win any prizes, but these two photos
which are also our personal favorites
made it to the semi-finals.

These little waders are very difficult to get close.
I had to slowly crawl on my elbows like a soldier to get
a reasonable size image of this stint in beautiful plumage,
the bottom part of the image looks green because of the low angle
and the grass in the foreground near the lens

These godwits were preventing each other from intruding their patch near a lake, both of them were continuously feeding but both of thought that the grass was greener on the other side and tried invading each others patch, at times hitting each other with their beaks. while the poor photographer was sitting in the muck with his shoes stuck in and his trousers dirty - giving joy to all who passed by. on one instance one of the godwits got a really nasty hit and fell down but got up and started fighting again till both of them flew away.

Bought a new sigma 50-500 DG. very happy with the results so far. this one was shot on the third trip with the new lens. one of my dream come true to watch the cubs with their mom.

tern fishing

This tern was photographed using manual focus mode after it tried to catch a fish from the water

This comb duck was photographed with a D40 with 70-300 G lens using manual focus.