Flight Archives - Gaurav Mittal Photography
29
Dec
Canon 7D Mark II Review
- By Gaurav Mittal
- 11 Comments
Canon 7D Mark II Review
Introduction
Three years ago when I got very serious about bird photography, I knew I needed to upgrade from my first DSLR the Canon 50D to something better. After a thorough research, I decided to invest in the Canon 7D, which had a slightly faster frame rate and being an APS-C camera with a crop sensor, gave me more effective focal length. Increased focal length is always a driving force for a bird photographer when considering a camera. Equipped with my 7D and the 500mm lens, in December of 2011, I headed to Bosque, New Mexico. After two days of shooting with the 7D, much to my dismay I found that the ISO related noise handling was extremely poor, causing the images to suffer badly, it was surprising that even at very low ISO, images seemed to appear as if high ISO settings were used. The autofocus was also sluggish.
17
Jan
Bird Photography Trip: Fifteen Hours in Bharatpur
- By Gaurav Mittal
- No Comments
I’m finally back and blogging again after a long break. I would have hoped to start of the first blog of the New Year with an exciting story about my first bird photography trip of the year, a trip to Keoladeo National Park in Bhratpur, land of birds. You would probably be scrolling down by now to quickly have a look at my new images from KNP before settling into reading this post. Well, this post is neither very exciting nor filled with images of the colorful birds, as you would have expected.
Do stay with me on this as this may be worth your while. Barely fifteen hours after I arrived in Bharatpur, I was already on my way back to Delhi. The car ride was emotional for me, the unfortunate streak now extended to six. Six is the number of consecutive photography trips that I have failed to either start or finish in the last four months. Read more…
23
Oct
Bird Photography Trip – Paradise Galapagos.
- By Gaurav Mittal
- 4 Comments
Frankly speaking, I was not sure weather I was nervous or excited for this bird photography trip to Galapagos. It has never come up in a conversation, at least not that I can recall that I don’t know how to swim or that I don’t care to be on cruises. I remember well, my only cruise was that on a giant ship with ten restaurants, and I was seasick the whole time and couldn’t splurge on the daily giant buffets. I was a kid then and imagine my dilemma! Today, I’m a bird photographer and I travel the world for my love of birds. In July I traveled to the Galapagos on the seventy-eight foot long boat named Samba, visiting fourteen Islands in fourteen days and making over fourteen landings in small zodiacs. The fear of water was always there, but I had to step out of my comfort zone and get over that fear. For there was paradise on the other side of it.
A single blog article cannot to justice to the beauty of the Galapagos Islands which in my opinion is a paradise for bird photography trips. In this article I have put together images I felt compelled to share with bird photography enthusiasts, with each image their are some bird photography tips and my thought process behind them. I suggest that as you read along do click on each image to see a larger version. Read more…
30
Jun
Bird Photography Tip: Be Smart, Sharpen Like A Pro
- By Gaurav Mittal
- 4 Comments
An important bird photography tip about sharpening images like professional photographers is to not overdo it. Most experienced bird photographers will tell you is that an image fails to make an impact not just because of lack of technical perfection, drama, emotion or the story telling but simply because the image was over sharpened, looked crunchy with appearance of sharpening artifacts. When I look through images, I’m able to tell the effort a photographer made in making that image. That photographer reminds me of a long distance runner who ran a great big distance only to go bust just before the finish line. You did all that hard work to make that image but just fell short in post processing and that too at the very end. Read more…
27
Apr
Nature & Wildlife Photography: Shoot With a Purpose
- By Gaurav Mittal
- No Comments
Like most nature & photography enthusiasts, shooting birds in flight is my passion, a craft very close to my heart. When I first started bird photography, like most nature & wildlife photography newbies it was an instant reaction to shoot a bird flying by. My reaction would be, “Wow look at that bird in flight, I have to get that shot”, and then my trigger-happy finger would fire away the camera like a machine gun! A lot has changed since I started out, for one; I started to question the need for shots that all very much looked alike and second, what did I wanted my audience to learn from my images? Whether you are into bird photography or any type of nature & wildlife photography, one thing is certain; you need to shoot with a purpose. Your images should have an impact and tell a story. While this may sound simple enough, but without planning and proper execution, the purpose will remain oblivious and the story will be confusing. I decided to write this post and share my thoughts on what it takes to make story-telling images. Read more…
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