Jodhpur, the blue city, is located about 400 km from Delhi or about a one hour flight. We arrived in Jodhpur at around 3:30 PM, checked into our hotel and then drove to a vantage point above the Mehrangarh fort, and waited for the sun to set. This particular vantage point has a great view of jodhpur, with the Umaid Bahwan Palace on the horizon.
Once again, Heather Geigert, appears in an image on the blog. Above Heather is shown sitting in a position on the rocks below the fort, while we waited for the sun to set
After the sun sets, lights begin to appear in the town below, and the headlights and tail lights of cars, rickshaws and motorbikes can be seen. To create the effect of smeared red or white lights, we choose a slow speed, perhaps 3 to 5 seconds or even longer.
As we packed up and were about to depart, I noticed Carl Valiquet, one of the group members, photographing the fort. It looked like an interesting photo, so I snapped off a few frames. The rocky cliffs below the fort were being illuminated by the headlights of passing cars on the road below, and it was quite dramatic!
Finally on our way to the bus we noticed that the Jaswat Thada (the Royal cenotaph built in commemoration of Maharaja Jaswant Singh II) was all lit up, and was being reflected in the lake below. We all stopped to make some pictures. Since I don’t own a tripod, I cranked the ISO setting on my Nikon D3S up to 12,800 and using my 70-200 mm F2.8 VR lens, took several shots in succession at 1/8th of a second, hoping for a sharp image. Above is the frame that looks best. It’s amazing how the newer, high ISO cameras are able to make relatively clean images, at ISOs, that a few years back, we only dreamed about!
Please note that these images are straight out of the camera with no Photo-shopping. I shoot JPEG, rather than RAW, using white balance and exposure compensation to create the ‘effect” that I want. I’m not mentioning this to say that JPEG is better than RAW, because it’s not; it’s just what I do. Since I create thousands of images for my NGO clients every month, I find properly exposed JPEG s to be quite a bit more efficient. My goal is to get it right “in the camera”.
Here’s the full EXIF Data:
Shutter speed: 1/8 sec
Aperture: 2.8
Exposure mode: Program
Exposure compensation: -2/3
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 12800
Lens: VR 70-200mm f/2.8G
Focal length: 70mm
Focal length: 70mm (in 35mm film)
VR Image Stabilization: On
AF mode: AF-S
Image size: 4256 x 2832
Rotation: none
Image quality: FINE
White balance: SHADE
Active D-Lighting: Auto
Picture control: VIVID
Color space: sRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Contrast: Normal
Aperture: 2.8
Exposure mode: Program
Exposure compensation: -2/3
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 12800
Lens: VR 70-200mm f/2.8G
Focal length: 70mm
Focal length: 70mm (in 35mm film)
VR Image Stabilization: On
AF mode: AF-S
Image size: 4256 x 2832
Rotation: none
Image quality: FINE
White balance: SHADE
Active D-Lighting: Auto
Picture control: VIVID
Color space: sRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Contrast: Normal
I have really appreciated the exif data in your most recent post along with the descriptions of shots taken. Proves to be very insightful and gives others ideas and new ways of thinking about shots
Thanks Karl for the exif data.
Your blog is the best thing after going on your workshop itself.
Thanks Celso, I’m glad it’s helpful. I’ll try to keep posting info and such, but out here in Jaisalmer, the connection isnt so good…wish you were along on this trip! Some day for sure! Take care my friend.