Uploads from PNike (Prashanth Naik), tagged asia

the silk route traders..

nobody@flickr.com (PNike (Prashanth Naik)) — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 21:57:45 -0700

Well it is absolutely awesome to be able to have the time to post my images on Flickr. I have been away for too long to care but I'm not completely out (yet).

A shot from my recent travels to places far and wide.. from some of the most amazing landscapes that I was fortunate to visit, experience and capture.

This scene of the double-humped camels from the cold desert in the Nubra valley in Ladakh, which is up North of India in the state of Kashmir reminds of the how the silk route traders used to traverse the very location many hundred years ago. It was fascinating.

I had absolutely the most amazing time during this trip. Hope you guys have all been good.

I'll catchup with you guys very soon.

My Facebook page: Moments | Photography

the inimitable glory of taj....

nobody@flickr.com (PNike (Prashanth Naik)) — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:45:18 -0700

PNike (Prashanth Naik) posted a photo:

I recently created a 500px account. You can connect with me there: PNike-500px

As a photographer the two main challenges of visiting an extremely touristy and popular place like the Taj Mahal are:

1. Avoiding the massive crowds which comes to visit the place. Crowds always make is so difficult to get any pictures

2. Find an angle/view/perspective which is different from the million other photos that've been captured in the past.

Considering that Taj Mahal is among the MOST photographed monuments in the world, it is a really really difficult task. I don't know if I achieved a unique shot here but I definitely tried my best. I shot this one lying down under one of the towers which gave me a great perspective of the tower itself but to get the main structure in the frame was quite a challenge, which is why I created a vertorama and got everything into one image.

Have a wonderful weekend, my friends.

My Facebook page: Moments | Photography

as i looked up..

nobody@flickr.com (PNike (Prashanth Naik)) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 04:10:56 -0700

PNike (Prashanth Naik) posted a photo:

My Facebook page: Moments | Photography

I know, I know, I know .. I have been away for too long this time...not because I was busy or lethargic but I wanted to do some work on my FB page that I created. I have also not had time to catchup with all your stream but not anymore :)

This is a shot from my recent trip to Delhi and Aga (the Taj Mahal) and inspite of visiting the Taj Mahal, which is an iconic beauty and a masterpiece in itself, I was most fascinated by this place and I felt that this was the best spot for photography on this trip.

This place is called "Agrasen ki baoli" which is a very steep well with no water in it right now but it is said that the water used to come up to the level where the tree is right now (the ground level) at one point in time. Slowly the water receded and people had to climb down the stairs to get water. Now that it is completely dry, I could climb down as many as 103 steps down and get this shot of this structure. I gave this a dramatic touch with the b&w processing.

Hope all of you have been well. I'll catchup with you guys today.

defying gravity..

nobody@flickr.com (PNike (Prashanth Naik)) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 06:39:47 -0700

PNike (Prashanth Naik) posted a photo:

My Facebook page: Moments | Photography

Well, a big hello to everybody. I think this is the first time I have a picture of myself where you can at least see my face :). This is an experiment on unique perspectives and I achieved this with minimal use of photoshop editing.

I know this is a bit weird and creepy and stuff like that but I think I got exactly what I wanted here. I have been thinking of this shot for a long long time but was not sure of the location but finally when we planned to trip to Vizag, I thought this was the most perfect location. I think most of you will be able to recognize this place from my previous posts. (see comment below)

I wanted to get a shot like this with 0 photoshopping possible but I could not get a few things right so I had to be satisfied with just a tiny bit of cloning here and I think most of you will be able to guess what it is.

Have a wonderful week ahead. Cheers!

chowmahalla in all its glory

nobody@flickr.com (PNike (Prashanth Naik)) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 02:03:59 -0700

PNike (Prashanth Naik) posted a photo:

Here is a 3 shot vertorama of the incredible main hall of the Chowmahalla Palace. Once again i felt the need to showcase the entire hall in one go but even with the wide angle it was not possible to get everything in one frame.

I took 3 hand held shots and stitched them together. PS does a great job of aligning layers based on content and makes all of this look so easy. I feel that the alignment is not spot on but thats a compromise I'm willing to make here in exchange for a better crop of the hall.

Hope you all have a relaxing Sunday.

transported to another era..

nobody@flickr.com (PNike (Prashanth Naik)) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 05:13:40 -0700

PNike (Prashanth Naik) posted a photo:

Last week, I completed 1 year of posting images on Flickr and I also crossed 600,000 views on my stream . Its good to know that a lot of people have visited and (hopefully) enjoyed viewing my pictures.

Anyway, I'll do a detailed Flickrversary post next time :)

--
The other day we went to this beautiful but relatively unknown palace in Hyderabad called the Chowmahalla Palace and I was really awestruck by the beautiful and intricate work inside the palace.

Most of the time when I process any image, I try processing it in multiple ways and choose the one which comes out the best. But in this case, I was very clear about what I wanted, which is to give this a feeling of "new meets old". To achieve that using masks in PS is pretty straight forward and in the end I was quite happy with the way this turned out.

Hope you all are doing well. Have a beautiful day ahead.

My Facebook page: Moments | Photography

this is where i go in my dreams..

nobody@flickr.com (PNike (Prashanth Naik)) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 23:01:27 -0800

PNike (Prashanth Naik) posted a photo:

It feels good to be finally posting on Flickr after a long gap. I have been busy, unwell and lazy all at the same time and therefore haven't had the time to spend time here.

This is a long exposure shot from my last year's trip to Goa, here in India. A friend of mine did a great job of playing statue for me for about 10 seconds to get a near perfect image. You can still see the blur in the cigarette but I still like the overall look and feel of this image.

I hope to catchup with all your streams today. Have a wonderful week, everyone!

My Facebook page: Moments | Photography

fly away...

nobody@flickr.com (PNike (Prashanth Naik)) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 01:45:23 -0800

PNike (Prashanth Naik) posted a photo:

Hmm..so I don't know what to make of this. I had a certain idea in my head and I went out that day to execute the idea and came up with this. I'm fairly sure this is not the way I imagined it to be but sometimes you have to take what you get :)

The beautiful beach you see is the Visakhapatnam (a.k.a Vizag) beach just after sunrise and the model here is my sister-in-law who was sweet enough to pose for these shots and also put up with many re-takes before I was satisfied with the outcome.

Lately I have been a bit busy and was unable to catchup with you stream but I will do that today. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

My Facebook page: Moments | Photography

on a scientific expedition..

nobody@flickr.com (PNike (Prashanth Naik)) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:35:44 -0800

PNike (Prashanth Naik) posted a photo:

My first ever star trail :))

Had a great time last night with Flickr buddy Rohit Ganda as we went out for our first ever star trail photoshoot!

It was a very difficult location by a lake here in Hyderabad, with a lot of rocks and slush and mud all around and without much lights it took us a long long time to find a right spot to catch the trails.

After nearly an hour of scouting around in the dark, we both managed to find a decent location. I stacked 10 shots here, each exposed to approximately 10 mins (600 seconds) so overall about 1hr 40 mins of exposure in here and am sure a little bit longer would've been better.

Being a sucker for the human element in the frame, on my last shot I went and climbed those rocks and stood there for about 3-4minutes after which I got dizzy and decided to sit down by the side so I did that for another 3-4 minutes. Thats how I got two of myself in the frame, which I'm not sure is particularly exciting but thats how it is.

Am not 100% satisfied with the overall outcome here but considering it was my first time, I will take this. Will certainly try for a better one next time.

A happy weekend to all my friend.

My Facebook page: Moments | Photography

the simple pleasures of life..

nobody@flickr.com (PNike (Prashanth Naik)) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:20:13 -0800

PNike (Prashanth Naik) posted a photo:

My Facebook page: Moments | Photography

I didn't expect to like this picture much but after I saw this on my computer, I did :)

We went for a picnic on the beach and carried a few balloons along with us. On the way back, my wife was carrying them and trying to keep all of them intact and not let them fly away due to the gushing wind. I took a few quick shots, without really expecting them to be any good.

For me, what really worked in this image is the action in the waves and the setting sun in the background. My wife, as usual adds the human perspective! I also think balloons make for a really good prop for shooting by the sea.

Have a wonderful, fun filled weekend, my friends!

of dead trees and misty mornings..

nobody@flickr.com (PNike (Prashanth Naik)) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 01:37:07 -0800

PNike (Prashanth Naik) posted a photo:

My Facebook page: Moments | Photography

This was a very interesting location. I captured this on a beautiful morning in a completely secluded beach in Harihareshwar, India. I walked along the beach for over 3kms before reaching this spot with all these dead trees right there on the beach.

I would've loved to do a long exposure here with the water flowing along these tree trunks but sadly, the waves didn't reach this point because I guess it was low tide. I was anyway quite happy with how this one came out.

I hope everybody's having a good weekend. Thanks for dropping by :)

the girl with a dragon shadow...

nobody@flickr.com (PNike (Prashanth Naik)) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:15:37 -0800

PNike (Prashanth Naik) posted a photo:

My Facebook page: Moments | Photography

Last week, I went along with my wife to her hometown where my in-laws live. Its a beautiful town by the sea, called Vizag and I love going there because of the really lovely beaches they have.

When I was here last year, I got a picture of my wife by this pier (see the first comment) and this time I wanted to try something different. Because of the time of the day and the angle at which the Sunlight was hitting us, the shadows were particularly interesting and that really made me jump up and take this shot.

As always, my wife obliged and posed for me while I got this. She is definitely getting tired of posing for me again and again :)) but frankly, she doesn't complain much if the photo comes out well :)

Wishing all my friends a very Happy Chinese New Year. May the year of the dragon bring everybody success and happiness!!

early morning hues..

nobody@flickr.com (PNike (Prashanth Naik)) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:23:23 -0800

PNike (Prashanth Naik) posted a photo:

My Facebook page: Moments | Photography

So we were on the road trip along the Konkan coast for over a week and I made it a point to get up for sunrise almost every single day. It was quite a satisfactory experience for me as a photographer!

I was also intrigued by how I got different hues in the sky on different days, different locations. This one in particular totally blew me away with its deep purple shades. I had a very easy job of picking up the right spot for my shot. All these trees lined up along the beach makes for a lovely sight and not surprisingly, I love the way the image turned out.

Hope you guys have been doing well. I've been unable to check many of your streams because of time constraints but I will catchup now. Thanks for dropping by!

walking towards progress...

nobody@flickr.com (PNike (Prashanth Naik)) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 02:01:50 -0800

PNike (Prashanth Naik) posted a photo:

My Facebook page: Moments | Photography

A street scene from rural India..

Here is a very common scene from rural India. You see a schoolboy with his big/heavy bag full of books walking to the school. I was both happy and sad to see hundreds of kids doing this, during our recent road trip.

On one hand it was heartening to see the enthusiasm among these kids and even though they have to walk several miles everyday to reach their schools, they still make it a point to go everyday because education is of utmost importance to achieve progress. On the other hand, its painful to see that they have to undergo so many hardships for even the most basic needs.

We gave a ride to couple of kids on our way and they were quite happy with their school education, even though they had to walk 5miles everyday to reach their schools. Looking at scenes like this reminds me of how fortunate I was to have all facilities at relative comfort.

Have a good day, my dear friends!

i travel..to experience the unlimited beauty that the world has to offer..

nobody@flickr.com (PNike (Prashanth Naik)) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 03:39:46 -0800

PNike (Prashanth Naik) posted a photo:

My Facebook page: Moments | Photography

Well, here is another picture from our trip. I got up really early in the morning and went to a secluded beach which had not one soul. I was a bit scared because I was all alone (my wife prefers sleeping over sunrises :D) but I had my torch with me and I braved my self down the cliff to reach this absolutely gorgeous beach.

I took quite a few shots of rising sun but (as always) I wanted to have a human figure included so I put it on timer and ran there to sit on those pointy rocks. In the process I got hurt on my hands and it bled a little! But I think it was all worth it because I was really happy with this shot!

Hope you guys are having a good year! Happy clicking!

Exif:
Nikon D7000,
Sigma 10-20mm @10mm, 4second exposure @ f4.5
ISO 100, Auto WB

sun sets for one last time in the year 2011..

nobody@flickr.com (PNike (Prashanth Naik)) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 03:44:50 -0800

PNike (Prashanth Naik) posted a photo:

Firstly, a very happy new years to everybody!!

Its great to be back on Flickr after a long break. I had a very eventful and exciting road trip across some of the most untouched parts of India. It was a great experience to say the least but our car broke down a couple of times and we wasted a lot of time trying to get the vehicle repaired. But on the whole, it was a fascinating journey and I will be sharing some of the picture with you in the coming days.

We ended our trip in Goa, which is arguably the party capital of India. We spent our new years eve with a bunch of friends in Goa before heading back home. The image you see if from the new years eve, the last sunset of the year 2011.

This is when we bid goodbyes to the year 2011 only to welcome the new year, which brings a lot of surprising and exciting times ahead of us.

Hope all of you have a wonderful year ahead, filled with joy and excitement. I will catchup with your streams today.

coconut trees, a woman and a reflecting dining table..(explored, frontpage)

nobody@flickr.com (PNike (Prashanth Naik)) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 03:27:55 -0800

PNike (Prashanth Naik) posted a photo:

My Facebook page: Moments | Photography

Another one of those beautiful memories from our trip. We were on our houseboat which was taking us across the backwaters of Kerala and the Sun was precarious for it absence throughout the day. I was pretty sad because as you know, without the Sun, everything feels so dull and boring :) but all of a sudden, just before the Sunset, it came out of the dark clouds and I jumped out of joy!

I captured a few shots with the Sun setting behind the cocount trees but then I got two more things into the frame, which made the same image look a million times better.

1. my wife sitting by the ledge and enjoying the beautiful view

2. the reflection of the cocount trees on the dining table mirror

Have a good day, all my sweet friends. Let me catchup with your streams today!

a beautiful place of worship..

nobody@flickr.com (PNike (Prashanth Naik)) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 02:53:50 -0800

PNike (Prashanth Naik) posted a photo:

My Facebook page: Moments | Photography

A vertorama of St. Francis Cathedral in Kochi, Kerala.

I was very happy to have my wide-angle lens with me for this shot and quite frankly this was the first time I felt the need for a wide-angle lens, after I purchased it a month ago.

I love the beautiful light falling through all the windows, doors and the ventilators and I also wanted to capture the roof which had several mural paintings so I decided to do a vertorma to capture the entire hall and the roof in one image.

I hope you guys are having a relaxing Sunday. I will catchup with your stream today.

an everyday scene from the backwaters.. (explored)

nobody@flickr.com (PNike (Prashanth Naik)) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:09:51 -0800

PNike (Prashanth Naik) posted a photo:

My Facebook page: Moments | Photography

Here is another shot from our trip to the backwaters in Kerala. this is what people living in these areas see on a daily basis. The beautiful Sunset across the array of coconut tress makes for an enchanting scene and for me, a first time visitor to this part of the world, it was nothing less than magical.

On the technical front, I'm not completely happy with this image. The light was too harsh and was difficult to handle the exposure. This is the best I could achieve after processing it but some good GND filters would have made my life easier and I'm planning to invest in them something soon.

Have a wonderful day ahead, my friends.

Explored on 7th December 2011. Best position #15

a reflective morning in Kerala ..

nobody@flickr.com (PNike (Prashanth Naik)) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 06:06:01 -0800

PNike (Prashanth Naik) posted a photo:

Okay guys, am running out of pictures to post but I'm also glad that my next vacation is coming up. My wife and I are doing a road trip across some of the most untouched routes in India. Out trip starts this Friday but I don't think I'll be able to post anything till I'm back. Am very excited!!

But till then, here is another image from our recent trip to Kerala. The pristine nature of the water here allows you to get such wonderful reflection. As you might have noticed from my stream, I'm a big fan of reflections but I'm also a fan of having human figures in my shots so I waited for a loooong time to have this boatman pass by this scene and then took this shot. Patience always pays you well in photography and I once again feel that this image is nothing without the boatman in it.

I wish you all a wonderful holiday season. Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

My Facebook page: Moments | Photography