After getting the new Camera, dint get much chance (actually, this is the first weekend with new camera). was getting to know about the camera by watching tutorial videos and other sites. Though was trying to understand about the camera, but nothing beats trying it out on-field. since my previous plan for today got cancelled, had decided to take hands-on with the camera in field. so, as the most feasible and favorite place, went to Lalbagh today morning.
Since this time it was more about trying out the camera, than focusing on the specific subjects (birds), tried clicking on everything which can give challenge in setting up the camera with proper settings. so, for a change, this time tried to click on the most common birds seen around, including common crow, common myna, common dove, etc. (And thought, as Mr. Alwin Davids wanted, will upload these pics for his satisfaction ;) )
Apart from these, also tried clicking on few pics of other things there. on the whole, spent around 4 hours there. and got little comfortable with the camera, but one thing i realized was that, its going to take lot more time than i thought , to get me in the same comfortable level as how comfortable i'm with Canon 1000D. And, every control has changed when compared with that of Canon 1000D (except the shutter button ;) , and lot more controls also got added.
Me still trying to get used to this new gadget. Hopefully, soon.
Yes !!!! its in Bannerghatta Road also.. that too just 400mts from my place ie Kalena Agrahara.. to give a more info on its location, its around 1.5kms from Meenakshi Temple/Royal Meenakshi Mall in the Bannerghatta Road on the left side... OR its 5.5 kms from the Jayadeva flyover towards Bannerghatta National Park OR its 1.5 kms from NICE Road Bannerghatta Road Toll booth towards Jayadeva/BTM...
For the exact location , please check the map above.
Now that i have given enough details on its second location in Bangalore (the first Mega Store is in Sarjapur Road), whats special about this store?? well, this is all-in-one store for sports and adventure related products.. you can find all kind of sports accessories and for all kinds of sports here... from scuba-diving gears to roller-scating shoes to bi-cycles to gym-equipments to golf-kits to dart game products to anything and everything related to sports, including the sports wears for all those sports..
And this also has all kind of adventure gears, for all type of activities like hiking, ice-skating, rock-climbing, trekking, camping and all weather accessories.. i bought all the stuffs for my trekking trips like hiking stick, snow proof shoes, waterproof jackets, sleeping bag which can withstand upto -25degrees, all in this store only (in sarjapur store).. the great thing about this store is that, you can challenge anyone, that you wont get these items cheaper anywhere in India than this store.. thats right... anywhere in India... but, you wont find the most popular brands like Adidas or Nike or Reebok or any of your fashion brands.. some brand names i heard for the first time in this store, like Quechua, Artengo... but those are popular in the other part of the world i think.. other than the brand names, quality wise, it does match any of those costly brands.. some even performs better i think... but still, there are top class brands like Head , Babolat and other top tennis racket brands available in this store.. so, its all about the quality products, which i always care about.
The main motto of this store, unlike any other store, is that, "Try it, before you buy it".. and this is applicable to all the clothes you buy, to any of the product like camping-tent.. you can actually try it yourself, to check whether it suits you... most people even take a ride in the bicycle inside the store for trying it out, and also take a round in the skate-board , before they buy it or even just for fun.. and when you need it, there are well qualified staff there, who are capable of explaining things which you are looking for.. each one is really specialized in those products which they take care of. and they even suggest you what suits you best, if you dont have any idea about it. which is really unique about this store.
Apart from these products inside the store, there is a sufficient space in-front of the store, for having a trampoline for kids, mini-football ground, and mini-basket ball ground (only in Sarjapur Road store), mini-portable-swimming-pool also (only in Sarjapur Road store), etc, etc all free for use, even if you dont buy any product. About the buying part, this is a store for MEMBERS ONLY!!!! yes.. not open for all shoppers... but, you can get free registration and become a member, IF you are part of any Decathlon recognized Organization or Association or Group or Retailers.. for knowing whether your Organization is recognized, just call them and check..
well, there is an online store also, but you'll definitely miss the fun and experience of going to the store and getting things from the store.. The Bannerghatta Decathlon store became functional from last Friday (ie December 23rd 2011) and the store is open from 8am to 8pm (hopefully its same like the Sarjapur Road store) .. still, just for the info, the website is http://www.decathlon.in
So, everytime i needed some stuffs, mostly for my trips, previously i had to travel all the way to Sarjapur Road, after carmelaram railway station.. going and coming back itself was like an adventure for me.. but a worthy adventure, as when u enter the store, you'll get definitely amazed by the whole store open for you, under single roof.. Now that this is just like next door to me, i can utilize it to the full extend... and now there will be lot of Quechua and artengo and kipla products in my home..
It all started with me wanted to upgrade my Camera.. Already have two in my C-Collection, First One, Canon 1000D, and second one is Olympus TOUGH.. so, this addition is the Third.. but why upgrade???? well, simply caz of two reasons.. i wanted little more ISO performance and second being able to record video... as always, no Nikon and only Canon... then again i had two body's to compare and choose..
First one was Canon 60D, as its being the recently released one, compared to that of the second choice, Canon 7D.. Both the camera's features were pretty similar, almost most of them (based on my requirement) .. except Canon 60D having the swivel screen and almost half the price of Canon 7D (surely the 7D has more nd lot more features than 60D). Having used Canon 7D previously (rented one once), liked the build quality and the feel of holding & clicking.. well, my ideal choice would have been Canon 5D, except for the budget and the full-frame factors.. so, finally, decided on Canon 7D and now i have it in my hand.. And after clicking few, i'm feeling really good that i made the choice of Canon 7D.
Hope i can make use of this pretty costly gadget to the most..
I always associated the word "entrepreneur" with all the BIG names we hear around, as it involves all BIG investment.. And it was a word which i always thought it as a really tough thing to do.. and the most daring thing one can do in their life.. also i see that to be a synonym for the word "confidence".. as it shows the amount of confidence they have on themselves to take up the business..
All these, until today morning.. caz today i got to understand that this word does not always relate to the BIG and rich ones.. and sometimes the necessity, need, sheer determination, is all it takes one to be one of the millions of entrepreneurs in the world... and i'm talking about all those owners of the tea shops, paan shops, sweet shops, shoe/slipper repair shops, etc etc.. and it also includes all those makeshift shops around the most happening spots nearby..
One such spot today morning which i happened to see was near Ragigudda Temple in Jayanagar. not sure if its some festival day or kind of special day today.. it was a spot of lots of completely active people, just like bees in the hive.. everyone trying to setup their makeshift shops and few even already had customers lined-up. happened to be there for around 30 mins waiting for my friend.
So, as always, having an 'almost' all-in-one gadget in hand, i took advantage of the Camera feature in that, and tried clicking few of the events happening there.
This guy was so dedicated in setting up his soon to be a makeshift fashion showroom. if you notice the steel pole kind of thing, it has one vertical bar, with holes in equal intervals in it. He was so sincere to count the number of holes to fit the horizontal bars, which later will be used for hanging those affordable designer costumes.
Second one on the list was this small makeshift adventure setup for kids. it was all covered with the plastic cover when i saw it.. and the owner just removed the cover and was starting to clean those colorful cars.
This guy was cleaning up each and every hair-clip and the hair-band he had. And that's the dis-advantage of having a shop near the road.
She was taking out all those ceramic vessels and tea-cups from the tightly packed cardboard boxes.. and yes she too had to cleanup every piece before lining up for the display. again, credits to the road and vehicles.
Well, i would say this guy is an expert in knowing the market and the kind of potential customers who'll be flocking around that place. he was also so busy in setting up his showroom for displaying his product, with a sample demo also.
Other than those people who are busy busy in setting up their invaluable products, there were few of the interesting makeshift shops around there.. this is one such cart, where i found the Tamarind Fruit (not the dry one). Also, not sure whether this fruit has any significance with the festival/special-day events in the temple. but it did lure me to taste one..
And this was the first time i'm seeing this kind of shop. Its the same game which will be there in all the office cultural festivals/celebrations, throw the ring and get whatever its there inside that ring.. And here, all those blocks lined up in the wooden platform were actual Currency Notes, tied to a small wooded blocks.. and few were even Rs 100 notes. really interesting it was.. dint want to try as i know about my skill level in this game.
The above two took me to those old school days of going to exhibition in my town. Seeing this after really really long time. And those days, i always thought that these Robots were the Magical Wonders of the World, and those who knew what and how our future is. [ yes, I did believe in that then ].and the pic on the right took me to even more years before. where i used to ask (or cry) my uncle to get the candy from that girl's hands. but little improved now :)
Following are few other shops which was there, but all were makeshift ones, just for these festival/special days.. but each one of them can be made into a big showroom..
And finally, and most importantly, could find this guy also very busy doing the most necessary job for all the above shops, Cleaning out the waste dumps..
One thing i could notice in all these different people was, everyone was so sincere and dedicated in doing what they are doing. let me also try to follow that..
Other than the chill misty morning, the one other thing which i like in winter is this red colored juicy fruit, Strawberry!!!! its just the start of the strawberry season i think, ( i'm not sure on when exactly the strawberry season ), as its still around Rs.50 in the supermarket. i got four small boxes, each having 10 small fruits, for the weekend.. will mostly need some more for next week.. hope the price gets still low...
Well not to forget, even the Orange Season is ON... could find lot of varieties of orange in the store... though i DONT like orange juice, i like having it as a fruit only. So, its all fruity fruity weekend it is.. :)
The LISS is an event not to be missed mirroring the excitement of 20/20 cricket. Hockey Australia introduces this annual International Marquee Tournament inviting the best Commonwealth nations to Australia to play a new form of Hockey for Women & Men. This is to be held in conjunction with the 2011 CHOGM event in Perth, the tournament will be played from October 20-23 at the Perth Hockey Stadium. Unlike any other hockey tournament in the world, this an innovative hockey tournament with all new and exciting rules to make the game even faster and more exciting.
What rule changes?
The rule changes for this tournament are sure to make each match faster and more exciting for players and spectators.
LESS PLAYERS - All teams have a maximum of 9 players on the field (instead of 11)
SHORTER - Each match consists of two 15 minute halves (instead of 2x35min), with 5 minutes for halftime and 10mins between games
ATTACKING - 1 player must stay in the attacking half at all times –penalty for a player breaching the rule - green card (2 mins)
“It is a little bit different again for sports lovers that like elite sport and can reposition hockey to non hockey fans..... The new style will really suit our game because we have fast forwards and an attacking style of play." - Madonna Blyth, Womens Team Captain, Australia
MORE ATTACKING - Unlimited Substitution (A substitution is permitted at any time except within the period from the award of a long and penalty corner until after it is completed)
FASTER - More tolerance of foot contact and stick check to reduce unnecessary stoppages in play. If the ball hits the foot outside the circle and it doesn’t influence play i.e. non intentional use of foot then its play on & When stick contact is made and is unintentional and does not influence play then it is play on
NARROWER - The goal size is now narrowed to 1mtr wide and 1.2mtrs high (instead of 1.8 mtr x 1.2 mtr)
PENALTY - Penalty Corner, max a 25 sec shot with Four (4) attacker’s vs. three (3) defenders including the goalkeeper & Penalty Stroke, max an 8 sec shot with Face-off 1-on-1 with the goal keeper
GOLDEN GOAL - To end a drawn match, use of a “sudden death” system with 1-on-1 face-offs until one team fails to score
Participating Teams:
Men : Kookaburras (Aus), India, Pakistan & New Zealand
Women: Hockeyroos (Aus), India & Malaysia
Schedule:
Oct 20 -Thu : Malaysia Vs India (W), Australia Vs Malaysia (W), Australia Vs Pakistan (M), New Zealand Vs India (M)
Oct 21 - Fri : Malaysia Vs Australia (W), Australia Vs India (W), Australia Vs New Zealand (M), Pakistan Vs India (M)
Oct 22 - Sat : Pakistan Vs New Zealand (M), Malaysia Vs India (W), Australia Vs India (W), Australia Vs India (M)
Oct 23 - Sun : 3rd Vs 4th (M), Women's Final, Men's Final
Canon 550D, Sigma 150-500, Av, 500mm, f/8, ISO800, Ev -0.3
One big thing which i havnt mentioned in that Image details is, that its NOT a single image. Any photographer will be able to identify that fact immediately, as both the subjects are in focus, but not in the same plane.
So, this is two images merged to get both the buzzards in-focus.
Making of this image, starts right from the time you see these two through the view-finder of your camera. You know for absolutely that you cant get both the birds in-focus. But you imagine that to be the end-result you want to achieve. in that split-second, you have to keep the end-result in the frame, and click two images, one with the bird in the front in-focus, and the other with the bird in the behind in-focus. And for all these, you just have less than a second, as you can never guarantee the positions of these two birds to be the same for long. So, you make that decision, and act quickly by focusing on one, click, focus on the other one, click. And all these when you're standing on a jeep, zooming your lens to the max of 500mm, and holding it in hand.
All these efforts are, just for the pic you've imagined that instant. And once you get those pic to the computer, all you need is little skill/knowledge on your favorite Image Editing Software (for me, ofcourse, Photoshop).
Following are the Steps to achieve it:
Open both the images in Photoshop
Decide on which image to be the base (in this, i decided to take the image on the left, with the bird in-front in-focus, to be the base) (Image1)
Make a duplicate copy of that image, just to ensure that your original pic is not-damaged
Switch to the second image (Image2) on the right
Select the Clone Stamp Tool
To get the image merge very accurate, i decided to make the clone start/focus point on the lower portion of the bird in-focus on Image2. So, move the pointer to the desired point in the Image2, press Alt (Key) + Left-Click (Mouse)
Now change to the Image 1, move the pointer to the position exactly in that of Image2, Hold Left-Click (Mouse) and start hovering over the right portion of the Image1, to clone that from the Image2
So, the most awaited KungFu Panda 2 movie, did fair really well. Enjoyed every second of this movie.. Is it better than first movie? well!!! i think, it surely is.. and its more Awesome to watch it in 3D. If you think Tai Lung's escape from the prison left you amazed in the first movie, prepare for the awesome sequences of Dragon Warrior + Furious Five + Masters of KungFu, fighting against Lord Chen!!! Every single person in the theater shouted WOW!!! including me...
i dont know whats about giving white colour theme for the Villian of the movie. In both these movies, like Tai Lung and Lord Chen, are both of white colour, and Chen surely overtakes in performance (sometimes i forget that i'm seeing/writing-about an animation movie).
So, overall, a very worthy movie to watch it in 3D. And believe me, you wont feel that extra specs in your face as burden while watching the movie.
Watched this one yesterday! To give you little details about the movie, this is whats there in wikipedia.. (why to type so much, when we can do that by just Ctrl C - Ctrl V ;) )
"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is a 2011 American adventure fantasy film and the fourth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. In the film, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is joined by Angelica (Penélope Cruz) in his search for the Fountain of Youth, confronting the infamous, real-life, legendary pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane), the young missionary Philip Swift (Sam Claflin) and the beautiful mermaid Syrena (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey).The plot draws inspiration from the novel On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers, which also inspired the LucasArts game The Secret of Monkey Island. It is directed by Rob Marshall, written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. The movie was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures.The release was presented in Disney Digital 3-D and IMAX 3D, as well as in traditional two-dimensional and IMAX formats." - Source: Wikipedia
And me watched in 3D, not a big difference though. so, if there's going to be a difference in the ticket amount between 2D and 3D version of this movie, better save money, even if its very little and use it to buy extra pop-corn :)
But this movie has a fast screenplay, as usual in this whole series of movie, which keeps you in the seat for the whole movie duration of little more than 2 hours (137 mins to be exact, as per IMDb).
So, how does the movie fair against the previous Trilogy??? well, its 1% below any of the previous movies in all segments (with 1 BIG exception), just because we have seen enough of all these actions of the Captain before, and this movie totally revolves around the Captain. Totally!!! its like seeing his face in every frame of the movie.
Overall, its a movie worth watching once..My final thoughts on this movie is, it would have been more appropriate to name this movie as "Adventures of the Captain Jack Sparrow : On Stranger Tides"
Oh!!! forgot about that BIG exception... in addition to those more beautiful landscapes, you get to see "beautiful" mermaids too...
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