Texture is everything..

That is not some worm stuff.. it is really delicious "Omapudi" that just "melts in your mouth".. magnified to see detail that you don't normally care about.. but there is something to that texture that makes Omapudi what is really is..

anyways, digressing as usual..

Wishing everyone a Happy and prosperous Deepavali, Diwali, Deeparaya.

May knowledge light up your life!

While the rest of you go back to your firecrackers, new clothes, sweets and savories, I have a few close encounters of the third kind to do with the boondhis, ribbon pakodas and mysorepak..

Happy Deepavali everyone...

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Ikebana show - Wow!

Did not know much about Ikebana till today. Still don't, but at least got introduced to the concept at the Flower show at the local community center.

It was awesome!

The arrangements looked picture perfect to the point where Jr. and the little one kept asking "Are they real flowers or fake?" over and over again.

Are these real daddy?

how about these ones. are they real?

I learned something new today. My kids are uncomfortable around "perfection" or the notion of "perfection"..

Was taking pictures of the arrangements and the flowers in the arrangements and in the process learnt a lot about changing zoom lenses fast. Finally decided to do multiple rounds of the show...

with wide angle
with telephoto
with macro!

see results..

this one is with the sigma lens maxed out at 200mm taken at ISO 1600, f6.0, 1/60 sec.
Autofocus makes a big difference..

this one with the 50mm macro lens at ISO 1600, f5.6, 1/60 sec. The macro lens was on manual focus and it has a real small depth of field but where it focusses, it is unbelievably sharp and detailed. Should have taken a tripod with me and it would have been better..

The next bunch of pictures are taken with different lenses..

The bud and the flowers are either zoomed in or magnified with macro. You can see the image differences..

For those local readers, it is open tomorrow also. Definitely worth a visit.

A big thanks to the organizers and participants in the events for this visual treat.

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Intricate detail

In nature.. (a chrysanthemum bud)

and man made (a hand crafted Indian doll - the head is as small as a dime)

the world is just different when you got nice glasses....

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Look for a bee and almost find a butterfly...

an accidental subject!

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HDR

A HDR (High Dynamic Range)image got by superimposing 3 macro shots with 4 second exposure and f2.5, 4.0 and 9.0. Shot without flash using a Disney birthday cake figurine.. (this section shown in photo is around 2 centimeters. whole thing is 2 inches tall)

Just wanted to try it to see if it will bring out the details in the shadows. It does, but not the best use of the macro or the HDR freeware.

Need to find a dead fly.. and take a picture of its head. The live ones are too fast to capture...

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