Quick weekend trip to Diamond Harbour, Kolkata

[sabret00the]

I went to Diamond Harbour this morning which is around 45kms from my house. Took some quick snaps so thought of sharing them.

Camera: Fujifilm Finepix S800/S5800

Teaser:

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/500/medium/Trip_to_Diamond_Harbour_Kolkata_001.jpg

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/500/medium/Trip_to_Diamond_Harbour_Kolkata_002.jpg

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/500/medium/Trip_to_Diamond_Harbour_Kolkata_013.jpg

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/500/medium/Trip_to_Diamond_Harbour_Kolkata_014.jpg

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/500/medium/Trip_to_Diamond_Harbour_Kolkata_017.jpg

[KrishnenduKes]

Click and show Approved

I edited your links to be able to see the images. Earlier you had just put the links.

[shutterbug]

Please tell us more about the place else I will ask googal uncle!
On a serious note, what s up with the contrast of the pics?

[hitanshu]

+1

the contrast is gone. I was expecting more outta the fuji

[sabret00the]

Please tell us more about the place else I will ask googal uncle!

Well to start with let me paste the map from Kolkata to Diamond Harbour: http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=Diamond+Harbour,+West+Bengal,+India&geocode=CVJ7YqewIoYMFRqcUgEd1qdBBQ&dirflg=&saddr=Kolkata,+West+Bengal,+India&f=d&hl=en&sll=22.1912,88.188887&sspn=0.011404,0.022638&ie=UTF8&ll=22.370396,88.434448&spn=0.728942,1.448822&z=10
Here's the linky on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Harbour

As you start your journey by driving towards South Kolkata you take the Diamond Harbour Road (NH 117). This road is pretty broad till you are in Kolkata ie. till you cross IIMC campus (Joka). From then onwards I think the road that you embark upon could be the narrowest National Highway in this part of the country. You keep driving more or less through a straight route and you come across a few extremely over crowded villages. The buses on the this route drive extremely rash and recklessly at very high speeds. They often tend to steer into your path which is quite scary. The roads are otherwise fine but you do come across some bad patches. Diamond Harbour is densely populated but as you keep driving along NH 117 you can see the Hoogly river running down next to the road. It's beautiful. You could spend some time near the river banks and head a little further south to see what remains of a "British" or "Portuguese" Fort. Take some snaps. Sit around for a while and then you can go to the Jetty if you wish to get even closer to the river bank.
Try to avoid local food. Try to make it back to Kolkata by afternoon and have lunch. Incase you want to spend a night there I think there are a few hotels like, Sagarika.

On a serious note, what s up with the contrast of the pics?

+1

the contrast is gone. I was expecting more outta the fuji

Well that's entirely my fault. I justify the title "Automode photographer". Infact the idea was to go early in the morning and take a few good snaps of sunrise. Eventually that didnt happen and by the time we reached the place it was already too sunny and the reflection from the water & sky spoiled the fun.

[hitanshu]

Q: Would a CPL have helped here?

[Vicky]

From then onwards I think the road that you embark upon could be the narrowest National Highway in this part of the country. You keep driving more or less through a straight route and you come across a few extremely over crowded villages. The buses on the this route drive extremely rash and recklessly at very high speeds. They often tend to steer into your path which is quite scary

Yes, I know! Coz I've been through the frustration of driving down that road... and during monsoons and in pouring rain!! Even the fact that I was driving a Skoda Octavia vRS could not elevate the experience:(

What a poor start it was to a weekend getaway at the Radisson Raichak Resort!

Q: Would a CPL have helped here?

I doubt.

[anvancy-(macro analyst)]

typical fuji colors.

there is a lot of improvement that you can seriously do to your shots.
next time,whenever you shoot during the day,when there are clouds,put the WB on cloudy.gives nice warm colors.ditto for portraits.gives nice skin colors.

when you have mostly clear skies shift to sunny.works well.

anvancy

[shutterbug]

anvancy, your cam produced similar results sooc?

[anvancy-(macro analyst)]

anvancy, your cam produced similar results sooc?

no shutterbug.

the basis of both our cams are totally different.mine is a 6mp SUPER CCD HR sensor.while his is a normal one.
the processing engines are also different.so my cam produces a different level of SOOC images.

anvancy

[sabret00the]

Here are some more pics:

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/500/medium/Trip_to_Diamond_Harbour_Kolkata_020.jpg

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/500/medium/Trip_to_Diamond_Harbour_Kolkata_023.jpg

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/500/medium/Trip_to_Diamond_Harbour_Kolkata_028.jpg

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/500/medium/Trip_to_Diamond_Harbour_Kolkata_041.jpg

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/500/medium/Trip_to_Diamond_Harbour_Kolkata_044.jpg
This is what remains of the fort I had mentioned earlier.

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/500/medium/Trip_to_Diamond_Harbour_Kolkata_052.jpg

[KrishnenduKes]

I found 5 and 6 to be quite interesting. I think you are capable of taking better pictures.

[sabret00the]

I found 5 and 6 to be quite interesting. I think you are capable of taking better pictures.

Thanks Ken da I think going through the most of the galleries I'm learning newer things everyday.

[synn]

Sabret00the: The important thing to learn is compositional skills. Colors, saturation, contrast etc. can be tweaked later.

You can start off by reading about the rule of thirds and the golden mean. They are not the only ways to frame a shot, but it's a good place to start off. :)

[sabret00the]

Here are the last few pics taken on Sunday morning:

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/500/medium/Trip_to_Diamond_Harbour_Kolkata_046.jpg

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/500/medium/Trip_to_Diamond_Harbour_Kolkata_051.jpg
I focused at the sky and then took this picture to get the blurry effect

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/500/medium/Trip_to_Diamond_Harbour_Kolkata_073.jpg
While returning from the Jetty this village road leads you to NH 117 otherwise known as Diamond Harbour Road

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/500/medium/Trip_to_Diamond_Harbour_Kolkata_076.jpg
My co-passenger took this one and the one below it.

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/500/medium/Trip_to_Diamond_Harbour_Kolkata_077.jpg

[KrishnenduKes]

I definitely liked the last one. :)

[Bibudesh]

@sabret00the - I can see u have two p&s cams. I would have preferred one DSLR instead.
Anyways- I see u have an eye of a photographer, u can do much better. You may need to see what is available with your fuji, use the colour enhancement features.
Also I believe if you would enhanced the photo in Photoshop etc. the critic would have been different.
A hint is trying HDR for the ship shot :)