Art of The Photographer: Your Global Guide to Photography, Travel & Adventure

Use A Tripod For DSLR Camera Work.

A tripod is one of the most handy pieces of equipment you can purchase for yourself. The original phrase comes from the Greek work meaning "Having three legs" or "Three legged object." Some of the earliest reports of them being used were for cauldrons or three legged cooking pots; this ensured that the vessel would not rock about while cooking.

You will have noticed that anything standing on three legs automatically adjusts itself for instant stability. Apart from cameras you will most certainly always find freestanding telescopes mounted on a tripod. Once fitted the camera doesn't move when shooting on a low shutter speed, any movement whilst the aperture is open will result in a blurred image. It is imperative therefore that the camera does not move or shake, imagine holding a video camera perfectly still for an hour while shooting a home video, the results would be very poor compared to using the tripod.

Tripods are very simple to set up, one is able to adjust each leg separately, this makes setting up on rocky or uneven ground a cinch. On then merely clips the camera on and you are ready to go! Envision standing on the tip of mount Everest and looking into the lens while attempting to concentrate on your footing as well as holding still, not only would an exercise such as that be potentially hazardous, it breaks ones concentration and you may still end up with a blurry, low quality shot.

Some tripods incorporate a cable release. This is a cord you connect to the camera that allows you to activate the shutter button remotely by pressing a button. This enables the shutter to be open indefinitely while the camera remains in a fixed position.

What can one expect to pay for such an item which is an essential item for the aspiring or professional?

Browsing on eBay one can pick up a good bargain intro level one for under ten dollars, together with a bag and accessories. There are also some available which merely hold the camera in place, these have flexible legs and go for under three dollars apiece, perfect for the beginner or person that only wants to take stable home photographs. Professional kits cost a lot more however; one can always upgrade your equipment as you advance. As you may know most professional photographers and some journalists receive a lot of money for their work, they are able to progressively afford more expensive equipment.

I find that having one is most useful for trick photography, especially for creating amazing lighting effects while the camera is set on a low shutter speed in low light conditions.

Using your DSLR you can achieve amazing results, some of these results may be viewed on my blog which covers trick photography using a regular DSLR. See the example photographs taken on my blog at http://doingtrickphotography.blogspot.com/ a picture is worth 1000 words! You too can achieve amazing results!

Peter Lik Fine Art Photography - Careers

On-Camera Flash to Brighten Up Your Photos

Whether included in your camera body or attached via a hot-shoe connection, basic flash units were designed as convenience for obtaining the shot in the absence of any useful light. Within the variety of photographic lighting, on-camera flash is primarily a convenience, and it is important to appreciate its limitations. Most on-camera flash units are built-in (some show up at will), however some are detachable and fit on the camera's accessory shoe. All these units are designed for compactness and ease of use within these as priorities, quality and variety of lighting take second place. While this sort of flash has its uses on location, it won't have nearly as several advantages as the manufacturers would like you to think. Nevertheless, the sophisticated metering and exposure control in a DSLR camera enables you to mix flash with existing lighting for some dynamic effects.

Flash units work by means of a capacitor charged by battery. When triggered, the capacitor releases its full charge instantaneously from the flash tube, ionizing the gas inside. Concentration of the light output depends on how large the capacitor and on the square in the voltage at which the product operates, and is normally quoted as the guide number.

The restrictions of full flash illumination are the types of frontal lighting. Put simply, the lighting is almost shadowless and it also falls off equal in proportion on the distance from the camera. A common purely flash-lit photograph is likely to feature flat illumination over the main subject and a dark background. The result is clear, sharp, and with good color separation, but is usually missing in ambiance. Typical good purposes of full-on flash are close-ups of colorful subjects, simply because these may benefit from the crisp precision and powerful colors afforded by flash illumination.

One of several special challenges in altering the style of light digitally would be to make the effect of bright, sharp light, but there is however software available that will assist. One of the fundamental question in image editing is when far you need to go - that is certainly, just how far you ought to get off the original the way it was shot. In principle, anything may be changed; in practice, you should consider whatever you personally feel is acceptable and on how much effort it can be worth to you personally.

With daylight photography, the most important hurdle is bringing light on the picture. If you've waited for any break in the clouds to brighten up the scene, you will be aware that you've got an interest in this - and to an extent this can be accomplished digitally. The challenge, as you possibly can check by comparing two versions of the same view, overcast and sunny, is usually that sunlight affects everything as well as in many ways, down to tiny shadows and the glow reaching into shadows from sunlit surfaces.

Although clouds reduce brightness when they block the sun, the quantity depends quite definitely for the type of cloud. In the event the clouds are indistinct and spread across the sky, light loss is on a simple scale from the light haze through thin high stratus to dark gray, low clouds. With distinct clouds, however, just like scattered fair-weather cumulus, the light levels can fluctuate rapidly, particularly at a windy day. Light, white clouds usually produce a simple fluctuation of about 2 stops while they pass in front of the sun from bright to shade in one step. Dark clouds with ragged edges, or two layers of moving clouds, cause more problems, as the light changes gradually and often unpredictably. In the initial case, two light measurements are all that's necessary - one in sunlight, the other for a cloud passes - as soon as this is accomplished, you can simply change the aperture in one to the other, without using much more readings. When it comes to more intricate moving clouds, constant measurement is essential, unless you await clear breaks and apply only these.

For beginners like me, you may also visit http://chromakeysoftwares.com for additional tips in photography.

Plastika Digital Photo Studio - Professional Photography

Photography - Different Jobs For Photographers

Most individuals view photography as one of the best careers for one to be in. There is a lot that goes into photography and especially independent photography. Freelance photography tasks need an important variety of resources and sources in order to be effective.

Freelance photography tasks are photography perform done on an agreement foundation. Freelance professional photographers do not perform for a particular company. They usually perform on a variety of tasks all of which are for different customers.

Freelance photography tasks do not only include getting photographs, They also requires a whole lot of the things similar to that of any frequent corporation, such as working with customers, reports, costs and marketing, just to bring up a few. Just like any other profession, some part of independent photography includes working with individuals, so it is essential that an independent professional photographer have the proper manners.

Equipment

Every independent photography tasks need some primary devices, which may consist of DSLR, a variety of lenses, flash, memory cards and extra batteries. Without certain kinds of devices, no perform can take place.

Portfolio

When it comes to sources, a profile is the best resource the independent professional photographer has. When building your profile, you do not have to consist of every single picture, but just the best of the best. A profile should consist of the best images that a professional photographer has taken. The images should show the best of what the professional photographer has to offer. Photos taken during the beginning of someone's profession should be left out they usually contain too many errors. One can also consist of individual tasks. For most prospective customers whether or not ones' profile is individual or compensated for perform has no keeping on their decision.

Getting work

One of the aspects that decides whether the independent professional photographer gets perform or not, is costs. Price is an element that even photography lovers have difficulties with. One has to know their customers price range, what they are relaxed with, whether the price is affordable for everyone concerned. Pricing can attract or drive away customers.

The other aspect is encounter. The independent photography tasks required the professional photographer needs to obtain as much encounter as they possibly can. One should regularly be mastering their perform, by capturing whenever the chance avails itself. The independent professional photographer should never their camera behind, it should be with them at all times, one never knows when the money taken may come.

Once one has a wise decision of costs and enough encounter, they can sell their perform at various organizations and collections. A little visibility is sure to area them a job.

To read more about part-time jobs from home, Please visit www.parttimejobsfromhome.co.

http://www.parttimejobsfromhome.co

Anika Howard Photography - Kris Freeman Photo Shoot - King Ink Tattoo Studio

Search Engine Optimisation for Photographers

As well as being a photographer, I've built and worked on hundreds of websites in my time. I've also developed a healthy interest in SEO, so thought I'd share some nuggets of wisdom I've picked up over the years to help propel your site up the search rankings...

You've probably heard of SEO, and you've heard that you need it. You also know some companies can provide it (at a large cost, usually), and you also know that they promise the earth.

"Top of Google? No problem! That'll be eight hundred pounds a month please!"

Seriously, some people.

Before we start, let's touch upon the basics of SEO. Search Engine Optimisation (according to the hallowed Wikipedia) is, "the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's "natural" or un-paid ("organic") search results".

So how do we affect the visibility of a website? Before I continue, I'd just like to make this disclaimer:

Search Engine Optimisation isn't a quick fix. It's an ongoing process which never ends, and you could happily dedicate the rest of your life to studying the behaviour of Google, and how your site operates within Google's framework and algorithms. Which are ridiculously complicated, trust me So much so, my brain is throbbing merely thinking about it.

However, that said, there are a number of things you can do to improve your site in the eyes of Google. They involve getting your hands dirty, but put your gloves on and come with me...

Page titles

Page titles are the pieces of text that appear at the very top of your browser. For example, an optimised page title would be, "Page Title | Subtitle of Website | Title of Website". For example, "How to Cook an Aubergine | Northwest Barnsley Aubergine Growers | Barnsley Aubergine Association" (okay, not entirely serious, buy hopefully you see what I'm implying here). The page title should always contain keywords that are relevant to the page itself ("Aubergine" being the keyword I'm targeting here).

Meta description

This involves rolling your trouser legs up and wading into the HTML code of your site, but it's worth it. Without boring the aforementioned trousers off you regarding the vast array of meta tags you can add to your site (oi, wake up at the back!), there's one you need to add to every page of your site - that's the meta description. It looks like this:

<meta content="The text contained in this rather sexy meta description is a, erm, description that tells Google / search engines in general what the article / page is all about. You'll also, more often than not, see this text on a results page after conducting a search in Google, which (if it does its job) means that you're more likely to click on the link and read the article." name="description" />

Meta keywords - NO!

In the "golden era" of the Internet (circa 1998... ah, halcyon days... ) you could amend yet another meta tag (hurrah!), namely the meta keywords tag. It looks like this:

<meta content="keywords, go, here, they, should, be, descriptive, Britney, spears, xxx, etc" name="keywords" />

Back in 1998 (wipes tear away) adding this line of code to your site with a few... ahem... select keywords would be enough to propel your site to the upper echelons of Google's search results. That's because (a) the majority of World Wide Web users were perverts back then (some things never change), and, (b) in 1998 the number of websites that existed was approximately eleven.

Anyway, times have changed. Google now ignores meta keywords, so it's really not worth including them. Yahoo does take them into account however, but seeing as Yahoo can barely organise a hearty celebration in an alcohol fermentation facility, they're really not worth worrying about.

Page Headings

These are the pieces of code contained between <h1></h1>,<h2></h2>, <h3></h3> etc. For example, the most important heading on any page is the h1, and then next important is h2, and so on. Again, think of relevant keywords that your readers will be searching for.

Friendly URL's

Otherwise known as the page address, and again, should contain relevant keywords.

Alt elements

Again, this requires dabbling in the code (deep breaths, head between the knees, relax... ) An alt element is a descriptive tag for your images. For example, img src="picture-of-redbus.jpg" alt="Picture of a red bus". This isn't just good for accessibility, but also tells Google what the image is (the keywords contained within the URL of the image is also important, by the way).

Internal links

Let's say you've written a Pulitzer Prize-winning article about the best way to cook aubergines (hey, you might. Aubergines are lovely, and very versatile.) Within the article you make reference to another cracking article about a tomato and sea bass bake-type-thing you've knocked up for your family. Adding a link to the tomatoey-fish article from the aubergine article tells Google that, (a) the content and subject matter of these two pages are related, and (b) your site isn't just a random collection of pages tossed together at the last minute; it's a coherent body of work.

External links

It turns out that your article about aubergines has captured the imagination of the BBC (God bless Auntie), and they've decided to link to your article from the homepage of the food section of their website. Two things have happened here. One is that your server will invariably fall over from the sudden influx of visitors, as when you launched your site you decided that the £2 a month hosting package would be more than enough for the three saddos that visit your site each month in the hope of finding aubergine-based recipes. Secondly, Google will look very kindly on the BBC link, as it's a very popular site visited by millions of people (i.e. it's an authoritative source of information), and the subject matter of page that links to yours is related - they're both about food / cooking etc.

However, if a very unpopular gardening website decides to link to your aubergine recipe, this won't carry much weight and thus Google won't reward your site, as the two subjects are unrelated, and the source website is unpopular. So before you decide to visit http://fiverr.com/ and pay a schoolkid in a bedroom in Croydon to "legally" set up 1000 links that point to your site to bump it up Google's search results, think again.

Content!

Of course, the words contained within your site are of the utmost importance. There's no black magic involved - write engaging copy that people will want to share, and write regularly. Google will love you for it.

I'm a wedding photographer who also happens to be a web developer, so I aim to help photographers with all things web. Check out my photography at http://www.danbiggins.com, and my web portfolio at http://www.coalitionofcreativity.co.uk

Vincent Versace "The Lens is the Brush" | Talks at Google

Going Pro? Take These Tips From Professional Wedding Photographers

There was once a time when camera equipment was extremely expensive with only few shops that cater to the needs of photographers. Back in the days, anybody looking to take up photography is aware that it requires serious commitment in all aspects including time, resources and money. It's just that the process in the past of producing photographs including the developing of the film to the printing process was a long one. Many aspiring photographers had to travel a long distance to get into the few schools that offer photography courses. The journey does not end in taking up a photography course, after finishing it, one would have to work hard to find job opportunities or ways to exhibit their work.

Today, photography has become more available and accessible for anyone. The birth of digital photography has caused a significant change in the prices for photography equipment and accessories. There are several ways to learn photography in this modern world. Some can learn it in universities or online schools or workshops and there are just a bout several choices out there. Photography has established demand in different major industries where the need for professional photographers has grown in number at a rapid rate. One great example is the wedding industry where it has become a billion dollar business industry that has created huge opportunities for wedding photographers to build their businesses around it. It is just growing rapidly to a rate that the photographers of a few decades ago could have never imagined.

But even with all the modernizations and innovations of technology, the professional and the hobbyist is still separated by a solid line. Professional photography is beyond simply owning a high quality camera and a glamorous online profile. If you are looking to become a respected photographer, it is important to start with the basic principles that have guided photographers right from the beginning. More than just the latest photography gadgets, constant learning, hard work, diligence a curious open mind are the best weapons you should be using if you wish to improve your skills and grow a sizeable business. Sharpening your skills in customer service and communication is essential too. A major part of your work as a wedding require you to communicate with people given they are the main subjects. It is crucial to learn the art of building a good working relationship with your clients.

Your business and marketing resources will also have to be up to date. You should be using the Internet to market your business given it is the fastest way to reach audiences in your target niche. Having a website is good but you have to make sure your website gives valuable information about your business and what you do and your portfolio and most importantly the best ways to contact you. An online photography-listing site is also a great platform to enlist your business and attract customers.

Professional photography requires hard work and strategy.This is most especially true with professional Wedding photographers, given it is a high pressure type of career. Take professional photography courses, it is best to learn from the experts so you can become one of them someday.

Goya Sights and Sounds Returns to St.Thomas

Custom Director Chair Ideas

Director chairs are an instant classic, having been around for decades. Sprawled across movie sets and TV shows, these timeless wood chairs are great for branding and message support. The seats and backs of the chairs can be customized giving way for various design options.

Using directors chairs to make a great Impression

Get out your directors chair! Not just for A-list movie stars, these chairs also make a great marketing and branding tool in addition to providing grateful relief for tired and sore trade show attendees. Normally, it can be quite a challenge to get people to visit your booth, much less keep them there long enough to get the message across for your brand. There are lots of ways to engage and make a connection with a potential customer but why not offer them a place to rest while you woo them with your marketing pitch?

Branding

You can easily print your logo, message or artwork on directors chairs, making them subtly work to promote your cause in your exhibit. You can even have them match your other marketing materials to give a consistent impression. Just like with other marketing tools, you want to consider being clear and concise with your message. Long messages won't translate well onto the backs of chairs and complicated layouts will end up looking like patterns rather than a nice marketing message. Make the point quickly and keep it simple. As with most display images at trade shows, you only have a few seconds to attract an attendee.

Fun Marketing Ideas

Make the directors chairs work for you and have fun and get creative in it's uses. For example, print a special offer on the chair like "Save 20% by sitting here!". This acts as a great business oriented conversation starter. Or have attendees enter to win a free chair, customized with their corporate logo and you'll have given them something to use at their show! You can also give them as gifts to your best customers or offer up a free one with first purchase.

Durable, affordable and versatile directors chairs go the extra mile in terms of trade show accessories. The investment will pay off as patrons visit your comfortable space. The perception of your company will only improve with every branded accessory you add!

Invite prospects to stay awhile with comfortable, stylish chairs and furniture that says YOU - literally. Director chairs are simple, designerly and above all customizable. They come in various colors and sizes, are extremely portable and can be silk screened or embroidered with several text and logo options.

Deniel Benson writes for Display, leading providers of tabletop displays or displays in US. Displays and Exhibits is known for flexibility and creativity, including director chairs portable displays. Deniel is an author for a Business of Presentation and graphics issues or topics.

JES Photography: Because LIFE Is An EVENT!

Stories on Wildlife - B2: A Legend Fades in the Mist of Time

B2... A mere image of him would be enough to open the flood-gate of memories and leave me enthralled for hours... He had that kind of magnetic pull. I am sure tens of thousands of wildlife enthusiasts from all over the world would be harboring similar fond memories of this large-hearted gentleman. So this piece is not just a tribute to B2. It's also my salute to all those animal lovers who made B2 the superstar of Indian forests.

To say that B2s death has saddened the animal lovers would be an understatement. That's my personal view, and I am sure there would be some who will take it with a pinch of salt. How can an individual tiger become so important to humans, one may ask?

Well, here are some undisputed facts: B2 remains the only tiger in the world to have been documented by photographs and videos throughout the stretch of his life. First photographed when he was barely 15 days old - being taken away to safety by his mother Mohini - he was also clicked 14 years later, just a week before his death in November 2011. During his lifetime, B2 was the focus of at least five television documentaries made by international channels. And his death was taken note of by the national media. Not many tigers- or for that matter, humans- enjoy this kind of attention.

I remember it was the start of the new millennium when I first laid my eyes on B2. The encounter lasted a few minutes, but remains etched in my memory to his day.

It was early January, and the golden grasslands of Tala were enveloped in thick fog when a sharp Sambhar call on my right brought my Gypsy to a halt. The visibility was less than six feet; no chance of a sighting in that miserable weather, the Gypsy driver muttered to himself in despair. But he was dead wrong. Seconds after the sambhar gave its second alarm call, there emerged out of the fog on my left the handsome face of a tiger. It was a sighting which still haunts me. He was barely four feet from me, stared at me with inquisitive eyes, and time stool still. I watched in disbelief as the tiger came out on the road and circled our Gypsy. We were startled. Giving us an indifferent look, however, it disappeared into the fog.

"This was B2," the driver hushed into my ears after the tiger disappeared. The whole encounter would not have lasted more than two minutes. Of course I didn't realize then that the chance meeting would turn into a full-fledged, one-sided love affair for the next 11 years and provide me with some of the happiest memories of Bandhavgarh.

A huge and handsome male, B2 was also one of the gentlest tigers one could come across. There wasn't a hint of mean-streak in him.

By 2007, I found that B2's reputation had spread far and wide. Among his countless fans, there was this lawyer from London who would visit Bandhavgarh once a year only to photograph B2! I realized B2's gentle disposition made him photographers' favourite. There is no record of B2 having ever charged at a tourist or shown his anger to anybody. "Here is one happy-go-lucky tiger, minding his own business and not really bothered about tens of thousands of people, his fans actually, who have made Bandhavgarh their pilgrimage because of B2,'' I told myself one evening during B2's typical "modeling session" in front of dozen odd tourist Gypsies.

The area near "Badi Gufa" of Bandhavgarh was where I found B2 during most of my visits. For 10 long years, he was the king of Bandhavgarh- with not a challenger in sight.

But I knew happier times would not last forever for B2. Age was beginning to catch up with him, although his rightful heir had still not arrived on the scene. I knew, however, it was only a matter of time... And I arrive he did, finally, in the form of Bamera male. The formidable looking male, named after Bamera, the stretch of forest about 15 kilometres from Tala, had just begun to flex his muscles. By January 2010, Bamera male- or naya male, as some jungle guides would call him- started passing through Tala once a fortnight.

The conclusive fight between B2 and Bamera male, however, was still a few months away. In-between, there came a sudden twist in the tale. It was February 2011 when B2's son Kalua decided to initiate his first battle for territory. Though smart as a whip, Kalua was still a green-horn in the ways of the world. He learnt his lesson a rather hard way when one afternoon he locked paws with B2 on a small plateau overlooking the 'Ghoda Damon' area, barely a kilometer from 'Badi Gufa'. The fight last only 3 minutes, and ended in Kalua bolting off with his tail between his legs! In fact, so humiliated did Kalua feel after the defeat that he left Bandhavgarh altogether (I am told Kalua is at present living peacefully in a forest stretch near Shahdol, some 70 kilometres from Bandhavgarh. But I am sure he is biding his time and will return in due course to challenge Bamera, the new king of Bandhavgarh. But more about that later, when- and if- that widely anticipated fight takes place!)

Though he defeated Kalua swiftly, B2 was no longer at ease with himself. Suddenly, his sightings in the park became rare. And even when he did show up, he looked distinctly weak. Life force was clearly draining fast out of him. It was no coincidence that around the same time, Bamera male started asserting himself in the Tala range. Instead of passing through Tala- as he used to do for past 18 months or so- Bamera male would now stop here for two or more days. A clear-cut sign that he was eying the prime grass-land of Tala, as also its abundant prey base.

By June 2011, there was no sign of B2 in Bandhavgarh. He was spotted once, and rather briefly, in October and then no more. What happened thereafter is known to all B2-lovers, but I would like to imagine it this way: instead of letting him killed by Bamera male, B2 left Bandhavgarh on his own. True, Bamera male was his own son and a tiger- no matter how old it is- would defend its territory till its last breath. But B2 being a thorough gentleman and a magnanimous father, decided not to come in his son's way. And therefore, he left Bandhavgarh.

On November 19, the forest authorities came across a tiger lying listlessly in a small stream in the Charwaha forest range, some 80 kilometres from Bandhavgarh. He was obviously dying, and dying fast. A rescue team, led by Bandhavgarh's Deputy Director Mr Mridul Pathak, quickly arrived on the scene. In no time, they realized it was their beloved B2 breathing his last. Swift attempts were made to revive him, and necessary medicines darted into his body. Tranquilised and put into a cage, he was rushed to Bandhavgarh in a truck. Sadly, but did not survive the journey.

An animal's behavior is often open to several interpretations, and a scientific verdict may not be the last word on a contentious issue. I would like to assume that B2 did not want to die in Bandhavgarh. Somewhere between Charwaha and Bandhavgarh, he realized he was being taken to his erstwhile kingdom. That was the place he had bequeathed to Bamera male, his own son, wasn't it? And therefore, before the truck carrying him could reach Bandhavgarh, he decided to close his eyes forever.

B2, the star of Bandhavgarh, lived and died on his terms.

For more info visit:- http://www.navinraheja.com

Navin Raheja a wildlife enthusiast and a passionate photographer. Navin Raheja Chairman, Wildlife Conservation Society of India. Raheja Productions a subsidiary company of Raheja Developers.

Theatrefest Interview with Arts and Entertainment North Devon

Stories on Wildlife - The Life and Times of T36 - A Personal Tribute

Even when the sweat started clouding the lenses, I refused to put the binocular down. The September Sun in Ranthambore National Park can be quite unforgiving. But to lose sight of T36, that too after four days of intense search outside the periphery of Ranthambore, was an unacceptable proposition. So I let the sweat-bath continue.

I remember the day vividly- September 20, 2008. I also remember October 18, 2010 equally well, but with lot more sadness. This was the day T36 completed his circle of life and returned to the happy hunting grounds of his forefathers.

To me, T36 would always remain an unsung hero. One of the most graceful tigers to straddle the hills and grasslands of Ranthambore, he was- however- never a photographer's delight. No television channel ever made a documentary on him, nor was his pictorial laid out in any magazine or newspaper. He simply wasn't considered hot enough.

But all this inattention will not take away from the immense, almost immeasurable, charm of T36. For three years, right from his birth to death and the turbulence he suffered in-between, T36 would hold me spell-bound... And therefore, I feel his life-story deserves a few words. It is not a happy life-story, but it's a story which T36 scripted and lived out in the spirit of a true tiger.

For starters, T36 was an extremely shy tiger (one reason why he could never become a celebrity tiger). Difficult to spot, he would bolt at the slightest hint of human presence. There was a reason for this odd behavior, a striking contrast from the normally camera-friendly tigers of Ranthambore.

Born to a Guda female sometime in January 2008, T36 and his sister opened their eyes to the chilly but friendly forest of Ranthambore. The Guda area of the park - after which the mother was named - harboured sufficient shelter and prey animals for a family of three tigers to live happily.

For eight months, Ranthambore granted peaceful existence to the family. It was during this period that T36 imbibed some of the hunting skills from his mother- skills which would save his life in the dreadful years ahead.

But as any tiger would tell you, peace in the forest is often temporary. Meant to be savoured as long as it last, peace is an unsecured loan granted to the denizens of a forest, and is usually taken back as swiftly.

On September 1, 2008, T36 got the shock of his young life. In one stroke of bad luck, the gods snatched away peace and comfort from T36, and hurled him down the path of almost daily battle for survival.

On the fateful day, T36's mother died. Rather, she was killed by another tigress while defending her territory and her cubs. The forest authorities of Ranthambore, aware that the mother-less cubs were hiding somewhere in the rocky terrain, launched a massive search-and-rescue operation.

Three days later, T36 and his sister were found in a dense undergrowth. They had probably not eaten anything for 10 days, and might not have survived the ordeal for long.

"Now what"?, asked the authorities to themselves. Faced with two grown-up cubs who had not yet carved out their territories or had established hunting techniques, it was a tough question to answer. Such were the state of affairs that an ad-hoc forest control-room and headquarter was set up in the area by Forest Ranger Sh. Daulat Singh Shekhawat so that he along with his staff can keep a constant watch on the cubs. Finally, after enough deliberation, the senior officials of Ranthambore decided to let mother nature decide the fate of the duo.

At around September 10, Forest Ranger Sh. Daulat Singh Shekhawat took upon himself the task to radio collar T36 and he was radio-collared and taken to Sawai Mansingh sanctuary, bordering Ranthambore. The fact that the sanctuary had few resident tigers and males of Ranthambore used it mainly as a passage-way would make it suitable for T36 to establish his domain there.

For months thereafter, I, along with my trusted friend M D Parashar, would scout Sawai Mansingh sanctuary, always on the lookout for T 36. He crossed our paths several times, and each encounter is deeply etched in my memory.

From day one of his forced freedom, T36 started displaying reckless behavior. Within weeks he aqcuired the reputation of a cattle-lifter. This trait gained him immediate dislike of a large number of villages dotted alongside the boundary of Ranthambore. Naturally, it also made the authorities jumpy, for now they had to keep a sharper eye on the young tiger.

On March 21, 2009 matters came to a head. A few days before, T36 had taken shelter in a field behind Oberai Hotel. He had not made a kill for several days. A desperate and foolish step it was, but hungry T36 took it anyway by attacking a human being. It happened at Karvoda village, and the woman T36 thought would be a nice meal was bleeding profusely when we reached Karvoda.

Two days later, T36 attacked and injured a forest official, Mohan Lal. The same day, the forest authorities, now really in a panic-mode, tranquilised the errant tiger and took him to Falaudi forest range near Ghazipur, some 40 kilometres away from Ranthambore National Park.

It was at Falaudi that I had some of the most memorable encounters with T36. It was clear he was coming out on his own, and had started pursuing natural prey like chital, sambhar and wild boar.

I would often meet T36 on narrow jungle bylanes in early mornings. Initially, as was his habit, he would take cover the moment he spotted Parashar's Gypsy. At times, we spotted him quenching his thirst at a water-hole. Over time, he started accepting my presence- or this is what I thought. Had I managed to connect with T36 in some unknown manner? who knows. But his behaviour was showing far less hostility to me than before. I found myself privileged.

By June 2010, I had managed to establish what may be called a rough connect with T36. One afternoon, with temperature soaring to 45 degree celcius, I saw T36 approaching a water-hole. We were some 50 feet away, but he took no note of us and jumpled headlong into the pool.

For next 30 minutes, as T36 continued his battle with the mercury, I found myself engrossed in gazing at his superb form. Time lost all sense of meaning. Suddenly, the unforgettable words of American curator John Seidensticker came to mind:

"The tiger lives in a world of sunlight and shadow
Always secretive, never devious
Always a killer, never a murderer
Solitary, never alone
For it is an irreplaceable link
In the process and the wholeness of life"

Seidensticker might well have been speaking for T36.

Things were going along rather fine for T36 at this stage, I must say. Now approaching his third birthday, he had effectively made Falaudi his home-turf. The skirmishes with villagers and cattle-lifting had become a thing of the past. T36, it seemed, had finally learnt to balance freedom with responsibility. "He is now ready for a mate," a beaming Parashar told me in the first week of October, 2010.

When Parashar called me up on the afternoon of October 22, I picked the cell-phone with a smile. So finally, T36 has emerged on his own... he must have had a successful mating, I told myself. But within seconds, my hope lay shattered. T36, I was informed, had been killed by another male tiger in a territorial fight... Parashar gave me the details of the deadly fight, but I was not hearing the words. I was elsewhere, in a secluded patch of Falaudi, watching T36 as he ambled majestically towards me.

Arts & Entertainment - Steve Donley Photography - 1 of 4

Stories on Wildlife - In Search of Man-Eating Leopards

It was a chilly December afternoon- December 17, 1997, to be exact- when my car broke down no sooner than I left the non-descript hamlet of Duggada for Haldupurao, my destination which also happens to be one of the most beautiful and undisturbed spots in Uttarakhand's Jim Corbett National Park. Little did I know then that the forced halt would open an altogether new chapter in my life. That one incident would bring me closer to one of the least understood phenomenon of Uttarakhand: that of the man-eating leopards!

Well, to come back to the story which sparked my interest in man-eating leopards, I somehow located a dilapidated Government rest house in Duggada while a local mechanic towed away my car for repairs. As I entered the rest house, the sun was rolling down on a hill to my left. A closer look at the surroundings revealed that the premises was actually quite strategically located on edge of a valley. A huge lawn in front of the room beckoned me, and this is where I decided to have my cup of tea- in the dying evening light, under the shadow of an old Sal tree.

But as I descended on a protruding rock on the edge of the forest, the caretaker's scream from the kitchen made me jump in shock. "Sahib," the caretaker, now rushing towards me, said, "what are you doing... Don't you know this is the time when Poojari ventures out. Please come inside immediately and don't forget to bolt the door.''

Within next ten minutes, with stories from caretaker and other staff within closed doors of the bungalow, I had become an expert on Poojari. A man-eating leopard, which went by the name of Poojari, had killed over 30 humans in and around Duggada during the past two years. All efforts to bag him alive or dead had failed. I left Duggada for Haldupurao next morning, but a few questions refused to leave my mind: how come the man-eater has not been captured or killed even after 30 human deaths? What must be the reasons which made a man-eater and what traits might have kept him alive despite best efforts of forest authorities and local shikaris? Has the leopard started killing humans, not its normal diet, because we have ravaged its natural habitat? Who is at fault here - he or we?

The questions remained unanswered, for I learnt that Poojari was shot dead a few months later by a local hunter. Strangely, even though I had not ever come face to face with Poojari, this particular leopard refused to leave my consciousness!

My further visits to Paudi district made me realize that the terror of a man-eating leopard was not confined to Duggada alone. They exist and operate in large areas of Uttarakhand, afflicting damage to humans at regular intervals. (please note- The Poojari of Dugadda who could not make me his dinner is not to be confused with the man-eating leopard of the same name which stalked and killed humans areas around Kotdwar, not far from Dugadda, in the early 70s. The 'original' Poojari. Which killed over 40 people was captured and sent to Lucknow zoo in 1972. It was named Poojari as it lived in a cave near a 'Sidhbali' temple.)

The cries of men, women and children who fall victims to man-eating leopards of Uttarakhand hardly reach the cities down in the plains. The man-line media is perhaps too busy with politicians and celebrities to take note of these tragedies which, over the years, have grown to Himalayan proportions.

If you think I am overstating the facts, please read on. More than 70 people in Uttarakhand get killed by man-eating leopards every year. Compared to this, only handful of people die in a tiger or an elephant attack all over the country!

More than anything else, I have been trying to find out why the phenomenon of man-eating leopards continue unabated in Uttarakhand for over past eight decades? Jim Corbett shot his famous Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag in 1926, but since then many more man-eaters have appeared on the scene. And also, why do people living in certain belts of Kumaon and Garhwal regions of Uttarakhand are more prone to leopard attacks than people living along the same mountaneous stretch, but outside these belts?

In my quest to make a film on man-eating leopards of Paudi-Garhwal, I made numerous subsequent visits to Paudi town and found people continue to live in perpetual fear of man-eating leopards. These are the areas from where I came across several horror stories: a school-going girl literally snatched from her mother's hand by a leopard, a man seeing a leopard dragging and disappearing with his wife in a thicket, a drunk making a fatal decision of collapsing on the road-side and becoming a leopard's victim.

A comment made eight decades ago stands relevant even today. In the concluding chapter of his classic bestseller The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag, the legendary hunter-turned-conservationist Jim Corbett makes this observation: "Here was an old leopard, the best-hated and the most-feared animal I all of India, whose only crime- not against the laws of nature, but against the laws of man- was he had shed human blood, with no objective of terrorizing man, but only in order that he might live... "

Corbett is long gone from the scene. Leopard, the handsome prince of Indian jungles, is holding on to dear life in Uttarakhand. That it has turned into man-eater should not come as a surprise to us. Fact is, all of us have contributed in some way to this unfortunate phenomenon.

The search for reasons which cause an otherwise healthy leopard to turn into a man-eater has brought me to several known and unknown places in Uttarakhand. For over past two decades, I have focused on the areas around Paudi, since most incidents of human killings take place here. Very little scientific research has been done to pin-point the causes. I will, of course, delve on these issues in a future article. However, among other factors, it's the gradual degradation of forest cover over the decades in the Paudi-Garwhal region which has led to a leopard losing its fear of humans.

Arts & Entertainment - Steve Donley Photography - 2 of 4

 

LCD Display or Viewfinder?

What is the best visual aid on a camera to take photos - LCD display or viewfinder?

Most DSLR cameras now have the option of both, although compact cameras often only provide the option to use the LCD display.

The below looks at the pros and cons of using each.

LCD

LCD (Liquid-crystal display) is a display screen fitted at the back of the camera and can produce a view of what the camera is currently pointing at. It is used for composing photos as a live viewfinder. reviewing photos and displaying menu options. The pros and cons consider the use of the live viewfinder.

Pros

• Flexible - Allows you to hold camera near floor and take a shot without having to lie down to see through viewfinder. Similarly raise the camera over your head and still compose your shot.


• Versatile - Some LCD displays can be moved out of the camera and swiveled (articulating LCD screen) - very helpful for those hard to reach shots; perhaps a cathedral ceiling or around a corner. Some allow you to flip the screen around to face the subject and therefore take self-portraits.


• Screen brightness - It can be hard to see low light shots through the viewfinder, you can brighten up the LCD display to see the elements in a low light shot - this is to assist with composition only.


• Exact image composition - Unlike the optical viewfinder, the LCD displays the exact image that the camera will capture, whereas a viewfinder may be up to 5% out.

Cons

• Bright sunlight - Difficult to compose a shot in sunlight because it reflects the bright light which makes it hard to see the screen.


• Battery drain - Using the LCD display is a huge drain on the camera battery, unless you have spare batteries or access to a power point then this could be a problem.


• Inaccurate exposure - An LCD display is unlikely to show you an accurate image of the photo you've just taken, most over-expose the image displayed on the screen.

Optical Viewfinder

The viewfinder sits at the top of the camera and allows the user to compose and focus a shot, it is their view of the world through your camera. Typically a viewfinder will have marks to indicate the image area, this allows the user to see just outside the frame as well - help to see what's included or what's missing.

Pros

• Steadier shot - You can get a steadier shot even if you aren't using a tripod by using your elbows for support rather than holding the camera at arm's length looking at the LCD screen.


• No difficultly with lighting - Easy to see and compose your image even on a sunny day.


• Sharper image - The human eye is better than an LCD screen when focusing manually, so you'll end up with a sharper image using the viewfinder.

Cons

• Slightly different view - You get a very slightly different view in viewfinder due to the positioning of the viewfinder verses the camera sensor. However this is not often issue except with macro photography where the framing needs to be highly accurate.

Conclusion

It's got to be down to personal preference. I prefer to line up my shot in the viewfinder, save on my battery power and only use the LCD to check a shot if I need to.