This was one of my prized captures of last year and as with most prized captures this one too needed an element of luck. I was using the Nikon 50mm (which doesn’t auto-focus on my Nikon D40) when the fire breather entered the foray. It was sheer timing to have pressed the shutter button when the flame from his mouth was at its maximum and also have the focus locked at the subject during that instant.
The captured image in its native format doesn’t have the wow factor. So what made the image this good? Yes, you are right, post processing the image did the trick. I believe only in post processing the image to an extent that the image resembles the actual object during the time of capture. Instead of me waxing eloquent of the post processing steps I followed I’m posting the original image here.
EXIF data:
ExposureTime : 1/4000Sec
FNumber : F2.8
ExposureProgram : Aperture Priority
ISOSpeedRatings : 200
ExposureBiasValue : EV-0.7
MeteringMode : Division
Flash : Not fired
FocalLength : 50.00(mm)
ExposureMode : Auto
WhiteBalance : Auto
FocalLength(35mm) : 75(mm)
Contrast : Normal
Saturation : High
Sharpness : Hard
To view more photos from Mysore Dasara visit the below posts.
7 Comments
Shiju Sugunan · 28 Feb ’11 at 9:39 am
That looks dangerous. Nice capture.
Arpana52 · 1 Mar ’11 at 9:26 am
nice!
Anoop · 2 Mar ’11 at 10:52 am
Thanks guys. It was a lucky capture. I hope I will get same kind of seats for the next edition of Mysore Dasara too.
Anonymous · 22 Mar ’11 at 1:27 pm
The fire cloud looks awesome with the textures and colors !
Anoop · 22 Mar ’11 at 1:45 pm
Thanks Mayank. It was a lucky capture by the 50mm lens which only manual focuses on my Nikon D40 camera.
Anonymous · 23 Mar ’11 at 4:46 am
ahh i have been eying that 50 mm for sometime for my street / portraits but always deterred by manual focusing !
Anoop · 24 Mar ’11 at 6:26 am
Well, the lens does autofocus on other Nikon cameras which have internal focusing mechanism. So in a way its a worthwhile investment if I upgrade the DSLR body!