Timelapse - Distant storm formation at Markonahalli Dam

Here is one more old timelapse which I love very much. The nimbus clouds forming distant storm is mesmerizing sight to watch. Due to such patterns of nature, I love monsoon season whole heartedly. So how did I capture this? You need some experience of watching the sky especially during monsoon season. The whitish nimbus clouds illuminated by Sunlight turn dark as they shadow the sunlight. Such scenes are normal in coastal Karnataka and occur frequently during monsoon season. My curiosity towards monsoon makes me to watch at sky most of the times during monsoon season. Consequently this was one such scene which I could capture it as timelapse. The final video is edited in KDENLIVE for various parameters which I dont remember now. I aspire to capture more such timelapses during monsoon season. Hope you enjoy the timelapse.

The movements are achieved by usual cropping techniques. A little bit of boring math for cropping. The initial plane of frame was as shown in dotted line and final frame I wanted to achieve is shown as solid rectangle. Note that I wanted to maintain the the aspect ratio intact (which was 3:2). If not, the final frames would be clipped and video looks erroneous! The resolution 550D has is 5184x3456 pixels which is aspect ratio of 3:2. The motion time lapser counts (0,0) axis from top left and hence some offset corrections needs to be done to achieve movement. Consequently I fixed (x,y) co-ordinates to (0,1000) and later move the plane towards (1500, 0). To achieve this and fit the images to frame the offset correction goes as below

Frame length: (5184-1500),(3456-1000) = (3684,2456)
Movements from (0,1000) to (1500,0) with frame length of (3684, 2456).

Despite of this calculation, I had some clippings in last few images. May be algorithm used by Motion Time Lapser is different and hence I restricted final 'y' co-ordinates to (1500,200). The final math goes as

Initial (x,y)=(0,1000)
Final (x,y)=(1500,200)
Frame length=(3684,2456)

The final figure is as below. So what's the rule? There is no rule as such! It is upto your discretion to decide the co-ordinates to align with desired movements and speediness. Draw your desired movements on sheet of paper, execute simple math and set the co-ordinates in motion timelapser software which can be downloaded from here

Timelapse collection from my village and kaup beach

Here is brief video of timelapses composed in my village and Kaup beach over period of 8months. It has been lying in hard drive for no reason and I thought of compiling in bulk. Consequently here are set of footages of timelapse uploaded in batches to youtube. Except the night timelapse all of them are impromptu ones. Bangalore environment never provided me motivation to capture timelapses (not sure why) however as I reach my village, camera becomes very much active. I need to find a way to launch myself in city environment. Last but not least, comments and critiques are always welcome. If you are enthusiastic about timelapse or photography, please drop a comment so that I can contact you offline to create some footages alongside for fun.

The first one is set of compiled star trails composed during winter season. The first clip has turned out be great :). The technique I learned was the soft moon light (say 4th day from new moon) provides perfect studio light for exposing stars :D. Especially the opposite horizon gets exposed well under moon light! However after 5th day, the moon light is of no use and star visibility becomes pale. In that situation, if there are plenty of moving clouds, it creates one more dramatic timelapse with slight star exposure. Overall it turned out well. The huge compilation brings a sense of joy and keeps viewers also engaged and curious :).

Music: Innersync remix of Andy blueman's unifinished music Away From Sun. What can I say about this music, its perfect for extra terrestrial footages :D. Innersync has immense talent creating such music. Even though Andy did not finish this music, innersync foresaw its prologue and movements well and infused his talent to complete the music. Blueman was irked by the remix since he requested people not to remix unless he finishes. Nags apart, watch the video with beautiful remix from Innersync. Good news is Blueman has promised to finish the track

Full tunes:

1) Andy Blueman - Away from Sun (Preview): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn5yj7cdctc
2) Andy Blueman - Away from Sun (Innersync remix): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Pu7RJ2d5E4

The next one is dancing fog with peacock. I left the camera in the plantation and luckily peacock arrived at the time when nobody was around. Also the dancing fog has come good too :). At the end, the moving shadows also created beautiful effect :D. One critique I received from Rajesh was that capture should have been longer in length. Even I felt it later. Nevertheless, the final video turned out good with peacock and dancing fog.

Music: Royalty free music from YouTube repository

I have not grabbed much timelapses from Kaup beach. Usually I visit to enjoy the nature more than photography. Consequently only two short timelapses till date! The first was snapped during the day when stratocumulous clouds painted dramatic patterns on the sky during blue hour (Read related blog here). The other one was captured during monsoon season. Overall good to be in collection but nothing like terrific capture. Hope you enjoy the same.

Music: Royalty free music from YouTube repository

Here is near 3 minute footage of pending timelapses from my village. I was forced to dispose them due to lack of disk space. This time some video editing has been applied to accentuate the presence of moving clouds and sunrise with shadows. Every timelapse has different intervals, frames/second and shot in different modes (majority 'M' mode while few of them in 'Av' mode). Even though the clip is around 3 minutes, the rendering swallowed almost 90 minutes of time :(. This is mainly due to hardware glitch. It was worth the wait since the final video turned out to be quite fantastic ;). Hope you enjoy the same. The last part of timelapse was shot at night even though it appears as day! Shooting against studio light of moon creates such an effect at night except that stars are not exposed clearly.

Music: Our one and only Andy Blueman's orchestral mix of Afternova's work of 'Serenity'. One of the top class work of Andy Blueman since his inception into trance world. I used this music to depict serene village environment and it perfectly aligned with my video. This has been my all time favorite music and I listen to it every morning to calm myself down. Never makes you feel as how 9 minutes passed off. Gives a sense of peace and tranquility and with slow moving clouds over Kudremukh ghats. Those flute and violin blend is simply mesmerizing for ears. The actual fun starts at 3:30 when violin starts ascending towards high pitch, reaching peak at 3:40 and conjoins various instruments at 3:58 creating a serene ambiance B-). This pattern repeats further ahead but with different variations. Andy's brilliance in orchestral music is unquestionable and this music is no different! He was the first musician to introduce orchestral music in uplifting trance and since then has created many followers for him! The melody he generates is impeccable and gets you moving :). Most of the European musicians are fond of orchestral melodies and design it very well. I hope my video pays due honest to his musical excellence. There is also plan to capture more timelapses to fit entire music!

Full tunes:

1) Afternova - Serenity (Andy Blueman orchestral mix): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvoW5Qo3FxM
2) Afternova - Serenity (Andy Blueman remix): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1NOdB1uxDo

After gamut of inconsequential information, hope you enjoy the video too :)

Bhoota Kola of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Districts - A short video

Bhoota Kola (precisely bhootada kola) is prominent belief amongst people of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi district. A raw translation to English leads to Spirit worship or daemon worship. People in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi district are firm worshipers of Goddess durga and Lord Ganapathy. Apart from this, they worship the spirits and have small fane dedicated to it. The event happens amongst family groups and not as public worship. There is also Serpent worship (Cobra) which occurs as public event. Our family group conducts this event every year during winter time. Pre-dominantly the event is conducted during nights of winter season. The worship prolongs for entire night. The protagonist for the event is well experienced in performing the worship as acts as representative of the daemon. It is believed the daemon enters his soul after performing certain chronology and later on he acts as messenger of daemon. The event starts around 10PM and ends at 4AM. There are reasons as why the event tends to be under night sky (may be spirits appear only at night?). The event starts of with tiny "pooje" and later the performer adorns himself with artistic patterns resembling the imaginary spirit. The event is initiated with "Gaggara", the later moment it is believed spirit enters the soul. Thereafter, the acts performed are not well defined and carried out as per wish of spirit. A short break at the middle narrates the story of the spirit worship during which, the soul is back to human nature. Later on, the spirit is pleased again to enter the soul. As concluding part, people seek queries on their problems and spirit provides solutions to them. Any deficiencies in family group, the spirit seeks remedy for the same. The day ends with distribution of prasada and its time for us to have deep slumber.

Here starts my story. This was the first time, I burnt my eyes whole night videographing this special event for first time. I guess once during childhood days, I watched event for entire night. As life and civilization modernizes, such type of events are being perceived as superstitions and people only watch them as a folklore. It is up-to to people to decide their beliefs. My job here was to concentrate on the videography concepts without hindering the sanctity of occasion or hampering people's belief. I was on duty based on request from one of the visitor for free :). It was also sort of learning opportunity for me despite curtailing peaceful sleep. I did few video editing too! All videos were shot hand-held which was sufficient to maintain steadiness. Eventually around 10GB of footage was accumulated and later compiled in KDENLIVE for final touch up. Only prominent aspects of event was retained in compiled video and turned out to be quite huge too (around 25 mins). I shared the compiled DVD with my cousin brother in village and he was enthralled to watch it with high quality. Even I was satisfied with the kind of reception the video drew (my father was happy too!). Hope you find time to watch lengthy video. I compiled video after a gap of 4 months from the day of event. Somethings require time and they deserve too (Like Subramanya train journey which I uploaded after gap of 4 months).

 I self reviewed the video and found few observations

• Missed some important events like the performer being decorated as spirit especially painting. I was away during his preparation.

• The middle of event is called "Paad-dhaana" in Tulu during which, the fable of spirit worship is narrated. The audio turned out to be feeble since I lacked external microphone
• The last part of event when prasada was distributed. I was quite exhausted during wee hours desperately wanting to lie on bed.
• Usage of tripod was not possible since the performer skews around area due to which lot of dynamism was required while videographing.
• The reasons may seem to be excuses however will try next year for better glimpses.

Last Note:

"What kind of worship is this which finds place in modernized world full of robots", someone may lament. As mentioned earlier, my part here was to enjoy the event and videograph to my known knowledge. I have not uploaded for debating. Any comments/critiques on perception, quality of the video are highly appreciated. While on contrary, any praise/flames on the authenticity of worship will be mercilessly scrapped :). I do not expect any critiques here other than videography

Memoirs of Melukote

This is one of my old write-ups being published now. Almost 4 years since I visited beautiful Melukote. Just sharing those few moments of tranquility in serene environment. I documented very less during the journey and content is relatively less. I admire this place for those eye-catching landscapes and lakes. Apart from this I do enjoy savoring those tasty puliyogare (tamarind rice), mirchi bajji and curd rice with mango pickle :D which is quite popular and unique here. I have been twice here, once alone and another time with my parents. I have also plans to visit this place in future too ;).

01 Nov 2009

I frequently travel to Mysore to my elder sister's house and have fun time with my nephew. He was just a 2-3 years old those days and playing with infants is very much exhilarating. Their cute smiles, wicked acts, naughty deeds and more prominently their enthusiasm and energy have great lessons embedded in them [He used to pull my hair and spectacles too ;-)]. After spending few days in Mysore, during my return journey, I used to get lured by the signboards towards Melukote nearby Mandya. Did hear about the place very long time and was also impressed seeing wikipedia entry. On a fine day, I inquired in KSRTC bus station regarding the bus availability from Bangalore. As usual the staff were irish and I did not get proper response from them. One of the staff angrily asked me to inquire in Mandya Bus Stand. I was bit annoyed but can't help. Nowadays things have far improved though.

It was on 01 Nov 2009, I started my journey towards Melukote. Unaware of route to destination, my first target was Mandya and later seek help in bus stand. I caught up with early morning train to Mysore and in matter of 90 minutes I was in Mandya. Later I walked towards bus stand which is few hundred meters from Railway Station. As I reached the bus stop, a bus destined to Melukote was about to start. When inquired, the conductor informed it will be 15 mins more to start. Also the bus was empty and I had tasty breakfast in bus stand hotel itself. Later the bus started moving towards Melukote slowly. Since it was local bus, the movement was at snail's pace. It was fabulous journey though. The lush green meadows, the coconut plantations, the fragrance of Jaggery houses, the flowing canals, the magnificent hillocks and lakes and paddy/sugarcane fields made sure that I never get bored. Also the roads were very well paved. As we neared Melukote, the hills of Yoganarasimha temple caught my eyes. The last few kms were of semi ghat type with hair pin bends. At last 9:45PM, I was in Melukote and it was time to explore.

Apparently Melukote is a hamlet with antique look. It is surrounded by beautiful nature especially numerous water bodies. As I was not aware of this place much, my primary intention was to visit the prominent temples for which the place is known for. The beneath temple deity is Cheluvanarayana swamy while the hillock one is Yoganarasimha swamy. The annual car festival attracts thousands of pilgrims to this place. One has to walk for few distance to reach Cheluvanarayana swamy temple if you are arriving by bus. The private vehicles can drive till temple premises. The first impression of temple was it is ancient temple made entirely of stone. The temples were constructed during Hoysala Empire in respect of Sri Ramanujacharya who is propagator of Vishishtadwaita. Few renovation work was under progress. There were lot of debris inside the temple cluttered all along. The interior was filled with darkness with only few lights. Apparently felt filthy inside. The sanctum sanitarium was closed when I went inside. Few minutes later it opened for public visit. There was small pale bulb which lights up the sanctum sanitarium which people felt like its almost dusk. Nevertheless the deity's idol was beautiful to watch. Since the photography was prohibited inside, I could only enjoy from my eyes. After having darshan of lord, I roamed around the temple premises for a while. The array of pillars were looking magnificent too! There is also free lunch home where devotees are fed with free meals every afternoon. After being satisfied with stroll, I departed towards the Yoganarasimha hill.

CHELUVANARAYANASWAMY TEMPLE

BEAUTIFUL SIDE LOOK

CORRIDOR

I really had to rush to temple since it would be closed for public visit by 12PM. I checked time and it was already 11AM. It is required to climb 300 steps bare foot to reach the temple. There is shoe stand just before stepping up where we need to leave our footwears. One can also take vehicles till mid of hill from where the steps are only around hundred. I had no option other than climbing entire stretch. The pestering of beggars for money all along the steps is an irritating sight altogether. If you lend one, others will throng you begging! Most of the travelers do not owe even single penny to beggars to avoid their embarrassment. These beggars used to curse people who did not lend them money but that was manageable :). The next problem creators were as usual monkeys. There are gazillion of them. Their courage is kind of intimidating for us. Fortunately I did not have any food item and hence nowhere near me. However, I could see them aggressively snatching the eatables from pilgrims.

CLOSE-UP LOOK OF YOGANARASIMHA

DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING FOR ME

WILL I GET SOME SHARE :-?

AFTER FOOD, IT'S TIME TO CHILL :)

THERE ARE MANY CONTENDERS :)

ONE MORE VIEW OF YOGANARASIMHA HILLOCK

There were good things to enjoy here too ;-). The landscape from mid of ascension was breath taking. The hillocks and lakes were ravishing to watch. I took many pictures to satisfy my photography thirst. Those were the days, I knew very little about photography relatively. No HDR, timelapse and very few manual mode experiments. Also I had basic manual mode camera and no DSLR. After toiling for nearly 45mins, I reached the temple. There was huge rush for the darshan and had to wait for some time to enter the sanctum sanatorium. I found more people here than in the temple beneath. The idol is marvelous describing the divine anger of Narasimha with sharp nails and teeth. After finishing my darshan, I enjoyed some beautiful landscapes surrounding the temple. Landscapes are well captured at an altitude and consequently some more pictures snapped here. Sometimes I felt precarious due to gravity pull :D.

KALYANI FROM TOP

BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE

WATER BODY FROM HILLOCK

I stepped down the hill and had local dishes in one of mobile hotel. Puliyogare and curd rice are simply the best here :-). It was nominal Rs.10/- per leaf cup. You can even buy puliyogare paste or powder if you wish but the paste doesn't last long. After lunch it was time to relish the locally grown tender coconut. Once done, I moved towards Bangalore. Caught a bus to Mandya and from there to Bangalore and thus ending one of my enchanting journeys.

KALYANI

MAYAGOPURA

Few years later, I visited this place with my parents and spotted few more attractions nearby. I did miss them during my last itinerary. Prominently Akka-Tangi Kola and Rayagopura. That time I had the best mirchi bajji in my lifetime and still the best till date :). Never miss to savor the tasty Puliyogare, curd rice and mirchi bajji with pickle if you are visiting (No photographs though). Overall a great place to visit for a day and refresh in natural air along with serene environment. I suggest to visit during Jan-Feb timeframe.

More info can be found in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melukote

Here are two panoramic pictures composed during my second visit

AKKA-TANGI KOLA

PANORAMIC VIEW OF ONE OF WATER BODY

A Beautiful Tomorrow

March 2014,

Hot summer day, thought of visiting some beach nearby to inhale breeze from the ocean. They are natural tranquilizers and mood bringers. This time, I chose to visit Maravanthe Beach near Kundapur. I had to bank upon the public transport for my plan. I ended up catching 3 buses for mere 70kms :(. My plan was primarily for photoshoot and rest for rejoicing.

The expansive sea shore of Maravanthe does not fail lure anyone in my humble opinion. It has a partner along the other side of the highway which is Souparnika River :). Driving along this sea shoreline is one of the wonderful experiences of lifetime especially during monsoon season during which place looks intimidating. Sometimes, the waves strike highway during peak monsoon season. During monsoon season, both river and sea brims and it feels like sea wants to take revenge against the river for not merging here. However the river keeps teasing the sea everytime :). Emotions apart, here are some of the HDR shots composed during my visit. Hope you enjoy the same.

As the sun slides down the horizon during last day Hindu calendar year, he will shine us for a new beautiful next day. I watched the sinking SUN hoping for "A beautiful Tomorrow". Whatever happens at this moment, be happy and enjoy the small things in life and hope for A Beautiful Tomorrow everyday :). Nature provides curation through simple means. Be it sunrise, sunshine, sunset, monsoon clouds & rains, summer breeze along sea shore, western ghats, sound of sea tides, roaring streams in forest, thundering sound of waterfalls, the striking downpour, rejoice every moment of nature which provides immense bliss to our souls which is enough to combat morbid city life.

Finally hear one of perfect musical melody from Imperfection "A Beautiful Tomorrow". What a work by imperfection absolutely gorgeous melody :)

For me life is like Uplifting Trance music :D. Many people feel it to be esoteric with sequence of monotonic beats. Some people have even criticized me as show-off listening to such music. But who cares! Music is for self-healing and not to impress foreign souls. At the outset, the sounds seems to be harsh, lacking in melody, naive and somewhat boring. You feel like switching off the music at very much early stage. However actual rythm starts past 2 minutes in most of cases during which many instruments line up and make up for symphonic chords. Once the rythm outsets, you never feel like tuning off ;). The music at its peak during the heart of breakdown and also breakdown :) and the melody prolongs. The last part again seems to boring however the prior influence of harmonic tunes makes it interesting too :D.

Even our life can be analogous to above case. Initially tough, boring and feel like cursing ourselves. Only those people who have patience to hear past 2 minutes will hear the actual melody and enjoy life and this symphony continues :). Few wicked thoughts may arise as if we can skip initial part and seek past 2 mins in music player. Remember life is like radio station ;) you cannot seek the way you want as in music player ;). Either you have to switch off or tune into other stations or have patience to listen to entire song :). Phew man.. enough of fable :D. Its time to hear beautiful music. Hope you listen past 2 mins and you have an option of seeking to position you want ;)

Imperfection - A Beautiful Tomorrow: http://vbox7.com/play:b0c856f639

I did pull up a video for one of monsoon videos compiled last year here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ce2S3AGBpE

Last Note: The beautiful images does not arise without complications. It was difficult to focus on a hot scorching evening. Also there were many people staring (some inquisitive while some teasers) at my camera setup. I had to overcome all those distractions/obstacles to continue with whatever I was planning for. Also few suggestions on perceptions arouse out of thoughtful truck drivers too B-) and believe me, they were good suggestions too! All those difficulties finally lead to beautiful images of tomorrow ;). More than that, I broke my shackles shooting in public without hesitation.

Before saying goodbye, here is short video compiled during my stay at Maravanthe beach. The steady video is mainly due to the usage of tripod.

Fields of my Village

I was skimming my CRDi motor between the bitumen trail of Kaup and my village on a relatively less overcast day. On the way, I stopped nearby paddy fields to enjoy the greenery for sometime. This is first time I am taking photographs of the paddy fields nearby my village :). Especially monsoon season adds more glory to the landscape. People of this area harvest twice a year due to ample availability of water (a stream runs nearby). These are few HDR and normal images captured during my journey. Never thought they look so beautiful.

Finally here are some HDR images from my village itself. The first one was captured during morning hours while the rest was during sunset.

I was wandering around village on a clear evening day. As I was roaming, this scene caught my eyes and my camera's too which tempted me to grab a HDR shot. It turned out to be beautiful too ;). The enjoyment could not be sustained for long time since ants had ascended the leg and started biting :(. I love the starburst reflection of Sun on the watery field. The field was prepared for slush race organized recently. The water presence is still persisting due to the diversion of stream water towards the field. Also monsoon season is keeping this temporary water body alive! The monsoon is backpacking for this year and consequently there was beautiful sunset during fine evening. I used GND filter to compose bracketed shots. The advantage is reduced luminosity of orange hot balloon which reduced bracketed shots from 7 to 5 ;). Hope you enjoy the pictures. My mother was excited after seeing final image and asked if it is was captured from any rivers along highway. When I explained that it was the nearby water body, she was astonished to see the beautiful scenery :D. My father taunted the excitement stating inept scenes  looks beautiful in cameras X(.

Music Time B-):

This time its once again beautiful music by New-World named Fields of La Tourette. This guy is amazing man. He is just 24 and creates stunning music! The way he blends high and low pitch notes is mesmerizing. His music is always flavored with ecstatic orchestral melody.

Here are few of my feelings from music

0:31 --> Build up of beautiful atmosphere (gentle breeze over paddy field)
0:34 --> birds flying over field
1:46 --> slow moving clouds over the field
2:15 --> the orchestral + guitar melody
2:41 --> profound orchestral melody (rising sun over field)
3:10 --> the fantastic breakdown outset (fast moving clouds with running deers)
3:39 --> The combination of high + low pitch notes again
4:03 --> Time to fly over the field :)

I don't have the privilege of visiting the place and have a feel but his music truly reveals the the emotions of the La Tourette. I felt in paddy fields of my village :). This post is dedicated to the beautiful music of New World and hope you enjoy the same. Fly over the field relishing the melodious music from Gordon.

New World - Fields of La Tourette: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox7gghnlmbE

Be his fan: https://www.facebook.com/NewWorldTrance

Not to miss equally wonderful remix from Ahmed Romel once again with stunning orchestral melody and beautiful video from Simon.

Ahmed Romel Remix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POoJEBriuL4

The Rainforest Again! - Verdant Shiraadi Ghat during Monsoon

Here I shared a short blog on Kudremukh Ghats. That was on winter season. The attraction of western ghats is during monsoon season with leeches :). Here are some pictures captured during our journey towards coast last week.

As we know, the monsoon started with lame note and later gained fierce momentum during month of July. The deficit as of now in Karnataka has drastically reduced and at some places it has recorded excess. Mere two months of torrential rain has transformed the dry lands to lush greenery. The western ghats were no exception too! There is never dearth of rain in these regions however threat of El-nino was looming over the region fearing drought like situation. Now everything is washed out by ferocious monsoon season :).

Enough of story! This Ganesh chaturthi, I had been to hometown to drop parents back. How can I miss the lush green rainforests. I drove 220kms in 2:30hrs to enjoy more time in Shiraadi ghat and I was well satisfied to capture those water spots and enjoy the roaring Gundya river for sometime. There were many tiny gleaming waterfalls which I could not capture due to lack of time. Sometimes due to fog/rain, mother forced me not to expose camera out. Also intermittent rains hampered my program but that is how rainforests get their name! I am satisfied with whatever opportunity I could gain. After final prayer to goddess chowdeshwari, it was time to drive towards the coast to reach niche. Many occasions I had desire to halt here for maximum amount of duration to spend quality time in between woods. It is difficult to manage while we have set goals and pathetic road conditions :(. Nevertheless, this time it was not so much bad :). May be it is better to ride two wheeler along the stretch to fully enjoy nature (ofcourse with a puncture kit to save from disastrous highway). Hope you enjoy pictures. No HDRs this time and most of them captured using 2stop GND filter. Using GND filter along with CPLs creates near HDR images (not all times). I did not use CPL this time (not sure why), hence had to reduce highlights on images to reduce white patches on silky flow of water.

ONE OF SMALL WATERFALL

CLOSER LOOK

THE HEART OF RAINFOREST

STREAM SNEAKING FROM CANOPY

This time I waded through small stream to capture full glimpse of galloping Gundya River near Chowdeshwari Temple. On top of it, I drank little bit of water from the pristine river and it was tasty too :).

GALLOPING GUNDYA RIVER

ONE MORE SEASONAL WATERFALL

MAGNIFIQUE GUNDYA RIVER

Options used in darktable:

1) Shadows and Highlights
2) Vibrance
3) Saturation and brightness
4) Local contrast
5) High pass filter with overlay as mask
6) Luminosity curve (manual) to increase Green and Yellow color appearance
7) Color zones (for few images)
8) Color temperature

I usually make use of soft GND filter 2 stops, half way down. Since I had actual GND this time, soft GND was not required.

Here is the short compilation of clips shot during our journey. Hope you enjoy it!

Do tune to Andy Blueman's rainforest. A perfect combination of soft bass and synths creating rainforest ambience. The music on an entirity reveals perfect rainforest environment comprising of thundering waterfalls, roaring streams, clanky insects, flying birds, heavy rains and wilderness. He has promised to complete this tune soon which is good news. I love this music very much and remembered when I was in between dense jungle and thundering Gundya river. You may need to use headphones to hear the full set of instruments used to create rainforest environment. Absolutely stunning! Just perfect music!

With this post, I am introducing actual smileys which I believe conveys impacting emotions than textual ones. I made some changes to blogger HTML template and as a result smileys are here for you. It slows down loading of posts slightly but there is nothing deterministic hard real time requirement ;). Hope you enjoy :D.