Lidderwat - Absolute paradise for Trekkers | Tarsar Marsar Trek | Day 2

Day 2 of my Himalayan trek to Tarsar was very exciting and adventurous, and camping at Lidderwat was an exceptionally wonderful experience. Cloud-covered mountain peaks and the landscape all along the trail were just ideal for photographers like me. While starting from Aru campsite, I went much ahead initially but after climbing for about a kilometer, the landscape around made me stop every five minutes and capture all of them. By the time I reached Lidderwat campsite, all others had even completed lunch, and it was almost evening. That beautiful landscape.

How do I get to Lidderwat from Pahalgam?

If you have not gone through my previous post, then check out my day-one drive from Srinagar to Aru via Pahalgam. The journey via apple valley is beautiful, just like the valley right next to the Jhelum river.

How difficult is Tarsar Marsar Trek?

The trail from Aru starts with the initial few meters in the meadows and once you cross a small stream is a gradual climb. As you climb the trail, you get to see the entire Aru village, each house covered with a metal sheet on top. In between the tail, you get to see a few Gujjar huts and farmland. The place is all green with few pine trees and wild horse grazing in the meadows. We continued in the pine forest and gained altitude till we could hear the water flow from Lidder river. As you walk along the trail, you will find Bhakarwal nomadic people who stay on higher grounds during summer.

Comparing Tarsar Marsar to other Himalayan hikes, the difficulty is actually rather low. From the first day till the final, there is a very gentle rise. You only acquire a maximum of 1,500 feet or just about 1,000 feet of altitude per day, which is not much.

Hiking next to Lidder river

Continue to walk along the trail till you reach Lidder river. Take a small break and have fun trying to cross the man-made bridge made of just 2 or 3 tree trunks. Be careful as the water current is high and is freezing cold underneath. You don't have to cross the river. But, on the other side of the river, you will find the Gujjar settlement, and this place is called Nandkei. Just continue to walk along the trail and you get to see a few remains of the older, collapsed huts.

After crossing this place, you enter the meadows. It's a perfect place, green carpet. Looks like someone has well maintained it with proper care. You can take your shoes off and walk here in the meadows. Beautiful landscape around the meadows with Lidder river on one side, huge granite mountain peak next to that, green pine forest covered mountains around. We took a break, slept for a while, and enjoyed the fresh air and green meadows, under the pine tree's shadow.

Soon after this, it was a steep descent to the Lidder river, where we had to cross the river. There is a proper government-built strong wooden bridge. We spent some time again over here photographing, after which we climbed up for another 10 minutes and we reached Lidderwat camp.

Camping at Lidderwat

Lidderwat is another beautiful campsite where there is enough space to camp and plays cricket as well. You will find a government guest house here. We preferred to camp outside, but can be a unique experience staying at this guest house. You can enjoy the evening next to the Lidder river or enjoy yourself at the Lidderwat campsite. The landscape around the Lidderwat campsite is beautiful, an ideal place to capture some timelapse of sunset and sunrise. The rays of light and shadows of the nearby mountains on another mountain appear well in timelapse videos.

Before you go on a hike make sure to check this out - some of the Absolute mandatory Hiking Accessories to carry. Hope you enjoyed reading this blog post. Buy me a coffee to support my work or you can go to my store to buy some of my images. Also, do not forget to join my FriendZone by signing up for my newsletter. Consider subscribing to my YouTube channel.

Srinagar to Aru | Drive to Paradise | Tarsar Trek | Day 1

The Tarsar trek is something that I had planned four months before the actual trek, after completing the beautiful Kashmir Great Lakes trek a few years back. Day 1 is all about the drive from Srinagar to Aru and the drive which is a part of this beautiful Tarsar trek. It's a four-hour drive from Srinagar excluding a few stops in between at the Saffron farm and apple valley. There are two routes to get to Aru from Srinagar. One is via Anantnag, the bus route and the other is via Bijbehra/Apple valley which is a short cut and most of the cabs go by this route to Aru.

Dal Lake, Srinagar, Kashmir, India

We reached Srinagar from Bangalore at around 2:30 pm and spent the evening next to Dal Lake -We enjoyed the beautiful scenery around, the fountains, late in the evening the lighting of houseboats, far away fort, Shankaracharya temple on top, etc. Dal Lake may be crowded during peak season and on weekends.

You can stay in a hotel or a boathouse overnight and the next day morning was another beautiful foggy cold morning. You can just sit next to Dal Lake and watch people going around in their Shikara boats full of flowers and vegetables or go on a Shikara ride.

Srinagar to Aru drive

After having breakfast, we had to get ready to go to base camp. We had early lunch and reached TRC where taxis were available to go to Aru. Those who don't prefer to stay at Dal Lake may reach TRC on the same day of landing at Srinagar if they can reach Srinagar by the afternoon.

It costs around ₹ 450 per head on a shared taxi to reach Aru from Srinagar and is about four hours of drive. It takes three hours to reach Pahalgam and one hour to reach Aru. To save some money, from Srinagar, you can even go by bus to Pahalgam via Anantnagar but is a longer route and may take more time. Srinagar to Aru distance is about 100 kilometers via the apple valley route.

On the way to Aru, you get to see the Jhelum river, some old ASI (Archeological Survey of India) structures, the other side of Shankaracharya hill, and Saffron (Kesari) fields. Saffron is grown here in the fields and you get to see the colorful fields only during the season. We stopped for a while next to these fields and bought some saffron and also had the local Khawa tea which is famous in this place.

Continue your journey and you will reach Apple valley. We purchased a few of them of all varieties and continued our journey. There were few checkpoints and check posts. We continued next to the river and started our journey uphill in the hilly terrain. You will find many tourist spots and parks. The landscape is just too beautiful. As you drive from Pahalgam to Aru, the terrain get is even steeper and more of ghats and steep dangerous curves and narrow roads.

What is Aru Valley famous for?

We finally reached Aru which is a small town. There is no phone signal in this region other than BSNL postpaid. There are a few shops here and this is the last place where you can buy some stuff. We walked for about 15 minutes until we reached our base camp next to the Liddhar stream. By the time we reached Aru, it was raining and was late in the evening.

Beautiful meadows can be seen in the Aru valley. It is well-known among tourists for its tranquil setting and breathtaking scenery. For hikers heading to the Kolahoi Glacier, the Tarsar Marsar lakes, and the Katrinag valley, the town serves as a base camp.

I hope you found this blog article interesting. Now that you have gone through the post, will you add this to your travel bucket list? Comment below and I will let you know what other places you things you need to know. You might wish to share this post with your like-minded friends and add this destination to your bucket list of places to visit. If you enjoy my work, please consider joining my FriendZone, which is free, as well as subscribing to my YouTube channel. You may also help me out by buying me a cup of coffee to keep me going.

Morning view from Nandi Hills - Incredibly beautiful

If you're caught in traffic all the time in Bangalore, or if you're engaged in a busy job schedule, you'll undoubtedly need a break. There's a site in Bangalore called Nandi Hills with amazing vistas that you can visit even on weekdays and won't take up much of your time. It is, in my opinion, a must-see location.

Camera Gear used: Nikon D610, Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8, Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VRII, Manfrotto tripod.

Is Nandi Hills open?

Nandi Hills is now open to tourists on weekends. Tourists must make bookings for their visit to the historic hill castle at least one day in advance. To enter Nandi Hills, you'll need a pass. Nandi Hills is recognized as one of the best and most appropriate weekend escape spots. The parking ticket was a bit on the expensive side. In Nandhi Hills, you may also stay in a government hotel.

How to reach Nandhi hills

Here are a few things to keep in mind. Nandi Hills is located 60 kilometers from Bangalore city at a height of around 1500 meters. Take the toll road to the airport (buy return tickets to save some money on toll). The Nandi Hills top should take about 75 to 90 minutes to reach with this approach. A large number of motorcycles visit this location in a queue, one after the other.

As of this writing, the roads are in decent shape. It is preferable to own a vehicle or hire a self-driving automobile. To reach the base of the Nandi Hills, leave Bangalore early in the morning, about 4 a.m. At the bottom of the hill, there is a gate that, depending on the local police, maybe locked until 6 a.m. The hours of operation for Nandhi Hill are 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the time of writing.

Morning view from Nandi Hills

It's a 20-minute trip up, and instead of parking, you drive directly into the main fort gate, collect your admission ticket, and then drive within the fort for another 5 minutes to reach the opposite side of the Nandi Hills. Make sure you are there at the hilltop by 6 a.m., or 7 a.m., to see the dawn and the cloud-covered countryside vista. There are several points of view. On weekends, this location may be overcrowded, resulting in a traffic bottleneck on the hilltop. On weekends, I would recommend leaving early or going during the week.

View from Nandhi Hills #bangalore #india
www ravindrajoisa com#goldenhours #travel #landscapephotography #photo pic.twitter.com/89Vr29TpTR

— Ravindra Joisa (@ravindrajoisa) October 28, 2015

The views from these vantage points are breathtaking. Above the cloud, surrounding peaks, forests, and large structures may be visible. Other attractions in Nandi Hills include the pond, temple, and summer palace. The inside of the fort can be explored later that day, but for a glimpse of the cloud-covered countryside, an early morning visit is recommended.

https://youtu.be/KnuoDPYJ_z8

Nandhi Hills hiking trail

Nandhi Hills has a second entrance. Tippu's summer palace stands behind the entrance on the top of the hill. This location has a stairwell entry. Park your car behind the Nandhi temple, which is located at the bottom of the Nandhi hills, to access the Nandhi hills hiking route. Although you may see hikers on this trail early in the morning, I would recommend traveling in groups rather than going alone because there have been incidences of thievery.

https://youtu.be/eUKhpVe0PzQ

This is the path that leads to the top of the hill. The trek uphill will take around 2 hours, and the trail offers some of the greatest views in the area. If you are going on the weekend, I would strongly advise you to take the hiking route rather than the motorable road because the motorable road is still quite congested and people spend hours stuck in traffic. Parking on the summit is restricted, and there are too many vehicles early in the morning to observe the sunrise.

Where is Skandagiri?

Skandagiri, which is close to the Nandhi hills, is another popular weekend trek spot. This is a wonderful site for hikers, similar to Nandhi Hills, where the walk begins in the middle of the night and trekkers seek refuge at the medieval abandoned temple on top while waiting for the morning light.

View of Skandagiri from Nandhi Hills

Note that there is no motorable road to the summit, so you'll have to hike for around 2 hours. Hiking to Skandagiri also needs a forest permit, which may be obtained at the trail's beginning or end. The gate unlocks about 2 or 4 a.m. and closes again every now and again. For the most up-to-date information, check with the locals, then watch the movie below to get a sense of what it's like to walk to Skandagiri.

https://youtu.be/ZRlPX4bD2N8

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Ghairoli Patal to Wan - Heavenly forest trail | Roopkund Trek – Day 8 – Bedni Bugyal trek

Day 8 of the Roopkund trek is all descent in the forest area till you reach Neel Ganga river, after which there is a gradual climb for about an hour, followed by the man-made trail through the Wan village for another 1 hour. It's a short and easy trek on day 8. Once you reach Wan where there is road connectivity, take a local jeep back to Lohajung, which is the starting point of this trek and is about an hour's drive.

Mt Trishul, as viewed from Ghairoli Patal camp, late in the evening.

Roopkund trek - past 7 days of hike

If you have not gone thru’ my previous seven days of trekking at Roopkund, then check out these links:

Day 1 – Jeep Ride

Day 2 – Lohajung to Didina village

Day 3 – Didina to Bedni Bugyal (same as Bedni Bugyal trek till day 3)

Day 4 – Bedni Bugyal to Pathar Nachauni

Day 5 – Pathar Nachauni to Bhagwabhasa via Kalu Vinayak temple

Day 6 – Bhagwabhasa to Roopkund and back to Pathar Nachauni

Day 7 - Pathar Nachauni to Ghairoli Patal

Our campsite at Ghairoli Patal which is in the forest area is the last place to get a glimpse of Mt. Trishul. The early morning view of this mountain peak that appears in gold color is mesmerizing. There is a small overpriced Tea shop where you can have breakfast. Continue your trek all the way down in the forest. It's a zig-zag trail and can be vertically down at some places. As you reach the Neel Ganga stream/river, you can hear the water movement. There is a concrete bridge to cross this river.

Fun time at Neel Ganga

Trekkers stop at Neel Ganga and a few take baths here. The water at Neel Ganga is crystal clear and can be used to fill your bottle. Ideal place for photographers to get some long exposure shots of the stream and also for a few selfie shots. Spend some time, maybe an hour or so, and enjoy this place. Cross this bridge to continue your trek further. This is a gradual climb. As you climb further you will find less number of trees and more agricultural, cultivated land and small huts. And this is where the man-made stone block trail starts.

Continue till you reach the highest point where there is a U-turn. On the other side of the hill is Wan village. Few people don't like to be photographed, so, remember to get permission/ or request them if you can photograph them. Respect them, and don't blindly click on the shutter button. Few were friendly, and they were happy to be photographed. You will find a lot of kids around and they ask for toffees or money. These kids just say "Bakshish" and also a few kids say "namaste".

The trail continues further down and you will find a lot of wild colorful flowers as you continue further in the trail. As you hike all the way down, don't forget to see the mountain slopes and the scenery around. Once you are about to reach Wan village's main road there are huge pine trees and a temple. Just sit under the tree and take a rest for a while, as this will be the last place to take some rest and you are almost done with the trek. Pray in the nearby temple for your safe return and continue for another 10 minutes will you reach the main road.

The final drive just before the camp

This is where you get cabs that will take you back to Lohajung which was our starting point of the Roopkund trek. Wan village is connected with this main road and you get to see many shops here. Have some snacks here before you get into your cab, as it is another 60 to 90 minutes drive from Wan to Lohajung.

The drive from Wan to Lohajung may not be too far, but the drive is not easy. The roads were good, but scary in some places. You get to see landslides, roadblocks, bridges, under-construction bridges, tar roads, concrete roads, walls, etc. Overall it was a bumpy drive. On reaching Lohajung, we had our backpacks back in our room. Freshen up and have lunch. You get enough time in the evening to go around in the Lohajung village. I visited the local shiva temple and went on shopping. Bought some showcase items and spent the evening in our room in Lohajung.

Bedni Bugyal trek starts from Wan

Update: Most of the hiking groups start the Roopkund trek or Bedni Bugyal trek from Wan as this is easier but you will miss out on covering the beautiful Didina village which was our first-day campsite. Also, camping these days is not allowed in the Bugyals (meadows). So, most of the hikes in Uttarakhand are now under a protected zone. So. check and confirm with your trek team before you register for a hike.

https://youtu.be/_v0-9ljioJA

We packed our bags the next day morning and soon after having breakfast, our cabs were ready to go back to Kathgodam railway station which was another 8 hours of journey in the ghats and mountain slopes. Roopkund trek was a wonderful experience and a must-do. I would recommend you to do this trek sometime at the end of June if you don't like snow and also if you want to reach Junargali Pass.

If you have managed to complete this trek then you might want to try some advanced trek like the Kanamo Peak trek in Himachal which stands tall at approx 19,600 feet. If you find this blog post interesting then you can buy me a coffee to support my work. Also, consider subscribing to my YouTube channel for more and you may join my friendzone.

How to capture Milky Way Timelapse? Capture Stunning Astro photos under 30s.

The internet is full of amazing photos and videos. Timelapse is one category in between, it is a video made of photos captured at a certain predefined interval. Modern cameras have a built-in timelapse option which is very helpful and saves a lot of your time, memory, and editing tasks. Capturing Milky Way timelapse isn't that easy for a few reasons which I have mentioned below. But the final output that we get after all the effort is truly heavenly.

The built-in timelapse option in your camera can be very helpful while capturing Milky Way timelapse or any other timelapse videos. This is good if you can get everything right in the camera, with no further editing or post-production work. All that you need to do is set the time interval. Once this is set, the camera will take care of capturing images, convert them to JPEG, collate, and then stitch all of them into one single small video file.

Note that it will delete all the photos that it had captured and will only keep the final timelapse video. You may edit the video in post-processing. If you do not have this option then you can always use an intervalometer to capture multiple images at different time intervals.

How do you do astro timelapse?

The below video was captured in the Himalayas at Tarsar Lake, Jammu & Kashmir, India. Capturing Milky Way timelapse videos are not that easy. The temperature had dropped to almost four degrees celsius. I'm all alone away from my tent to avoid any kind of stray light from the tent and other trekkers moving around with their torchlight on, around the campsite. I could have used the tent in the foreground which would have been better, but it was too distracting. Moved away from the campsite late at night.

Used my Manfrotto tripod which has a 3-way head used for video. Over which I placed my Nikon D610 full frame camera along with Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8 lens. I used a remote wireless trigger. You may use the in-built feature of timelapse available that will auto stitch all the photos and make a short video or you can have a lot of photos and later edit it using editing tools.

How do you do a Milky Way Timelapse?

About milky way photography settings: Switch to Manual mode. Set the exposure to Bulb mode. Aperture at f2.8, wide open. Set the ISO around 1000, and adjust accordingly if needed. Focus to infinity and set the focus to manual as well. You can use apps to find out where the galaxy is. If it's a clear dark sky then you can make out where it is. I have not used any app when I captured this as we were camping in the Himalayas far away from any human activities. No moonlight, no light pollution as well.

How long does it take to get exposed to the Milky Way?

Now that your camera is focused on infinity, set the intervalometer or the inbuilt timelapse option. But before you do this, take a test shot, as shown above, to see how each of the shots will appear. Once you are done with this, set the intervalometer. To get Milky Way timelapse, use exposure in the intervalometer of up to 60 to 120 minutes. Have extra batteries as this will drain the battery. See that you have charged your batteries to their max.

Best interval for star time-lapse

Try a 10-second exposure time to begin with. After experimenting with 10 seconds, try 30- or even longer exposure lengths to add even more light to your photographs. To get the best interval for star time-lapse, play around with the range between 10 - 25 seconds, and find a sweet spot at around 20 seconds. Long exposure settings' one drawback is their tendency to produce "star trails" while photographing the Milky Way as it sweeps through the night sky.

Now, All that you need to do in post editing is import all the images and then stack all of them. Once the final output is ready this is what the Milky Way timelapse would look like.

Read Next: Night Photography Cheat Sheet – 9 tips

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Using ND Filter - Capture spectacular Cloud movement

Many asked me if I had Photoshopped this image to get that cloud movement kind of effect. Some do understand that this is a long exposure shot, but they still doubt how I had captured a long exposure shot during daytime when there is still sunlight. A long exposure shot during the daytime without an ND filter will overexpose (or blowout) the image. If you are still wondering how I captured this image, my answer would be - yes, this is a long exposure shot (with ND filter) and no Photoshop.

Image: A long exposure shot to capture cloud movement at Sankey Tank, Malleshwaram, Bangalore, India. Camera gear used: Nikon D610, Nikon 14-24mm f2.8 lens, Manfrotto tripod with 3-way head, wireless trigger, Haida 10 stop square type 150* 150 ND filter, Haida filter holder for Nikon 14-24mm. Camera settings used: 15mm, ISO 200, f/9, 30-sec exposure, Auto Focus - OFF, Manual Mode, 10 stop ND filter.

With a filter like Haida's 10-stop ND filter, a perfect dark piece of glass that hardly allows any light, there is no wNikonay for the camera to focus on its own. So, focus on the subject before placing the filter in front of the camera. Take a test shot and check the image for composition.

Once this is done, switch off the autofocus in your camera and lens. Change the settings so that you can capture a long exposure shot with the 10-stop ND filter in front of your camera. Place the filter and use a cable release or a wireless trigger to capture the image. The long exposure of 30 secs is enough to get an image of this kind where you get to see the cloud movement. Using a filter like Haida/ Lee's 10-stop ND filter will help you in blocking light and a long exposure shot of this kind will allow your camera to see through the dark piece of glass.

Also, you can see that there is hardly anything visible when it comes to water movement. To get an even better cloud movement effect, use bulb mode with even more exposure and a bit of change in settings. Capture the image in RAW format so that you will have all the colors while editing and remove any tint caused by filters.

I always try to get everything done in the camera by changing settings in manual mode and capturing in RAW format. About Photoshop, it's high time that I learn some basic editing using Photoshop in addition to what I do currently using Lightroom or other editing software (as of this writing). It's always good to get most of the things right in the camera than modifying them later using some photo editing tool.

What does an ND filter do?

A neutral-density filter, or ND filter, is a filter that decreases or adjusts the strength of all wavelengths, or colors, of light in the same way, offering no variations in hue or color rendering in photography and optics. A colorless (clear) or grey filter can be used.

When would you use an ND filter? - An ND filter may lessen the illumination while capturing a really cinematic atmosphere, especially when filming in harsh light and when the sun is fierce. One of the most important reasons to use an ND filter is to be able to slow down the shutter speed when shooting a shot.

Problem with ND filter

10 stop Neutral density filters play an important role in landscape photography, but these filters can add a bit of a tint to your image. Always, use high-quality filters else it might spoil your image. This can be later corrected while post-processing. Check out the corners of the image when you use a filter, it may add vignetting.

When not to use Hard Grad ND filter

A neutral density filter is something that most landscape photographers love to use. There are different kinds of filters and the few most widely used are the ND filter and hard and soft Neutral Density filters. You basically need to know when you need to use and when not to use these filters.

I have seen few people using these filters where they should not be used. When it comes to a landscape shot full of mountain peaks, snow-covered peaks, tall structures, etc, a hard ND filter can cause a sudden change in contrast and brightness of the image at the center of the image. This is because the upper half of the filter will have one or three stops whereas the lower half of the filter is pure transparent glass.

Some of the Lee Filters

In hard Grad ND filters, the transition is a hard or sudden change in stops whereas in soft Grad ND filters the transition is smooth. I would recommend using a soft ND Grad filter for smooth effect or an ND filter that has no transition in stops and is the same throughout. You may check my landscape photography gear to know more.

Here is an example of where I have used an ND filter and it should not be used. As you can see the mountain peak is dark, but I just wanted the sky to be dark and create some long exposure shots. You can clearly see the transition. In this case, a polarizer along with an ND filter will be helpful. This kind of filter is good when you have different layers in the landscape. For example, sunset where the sea and sky have a clear line separating the two.

There are very good filters available in the market. Lee, Haida, etc are some of the filters available at my place but very expensive. I use Haida 150*150 10 stop ND filter for my Nikkor 14-24 mm f2.8 lens. You need to buy the holder for this filter separately which will cost almost the same as the filter itself. These filters are huge and hard to carry along while trekking, as I do a lot of trekking in the Himalayas.

Hope you enjoyed reading this blog post. Next, you might want to read my article on ideas to think like a Professional Photographer. Leave a comment below if you have more ideas. Buy me a coffee to support my work or you can go to my store to buy some of my images. Also, do not forget to join my FriendZone by signing up for my newsletter. Consider subscribing to my YouTube channel.

Pathar Nachauni to Ghairoli Patal - Breathtaking hiking trail | Roopkund Trek - Day 7

Day 7 of your trek is more of a gradual climb from Pathar Nachauni for about 1 to 2 hours followed by descending all the way to Bedni Bugyal. This is the same trail that we had taken to go from Roopkund to Bedni Bugyal. After having lunch we continued our trek through the dense forest to Ghairoli Patal where we camped at night. This forest area is beautiful and you can explore the place in the evening, some even go on bird watching.

Roopkund trek – past 6 days of hike

If you have not gone thru’ my previous six days of trekking at Roopkund, then check out these links:

Day 1 – Jeep Ride

Day 2 – Lohajung to Didina village

Day 3 – Didina to Bedni Bugyal (same as Bedni Bugyal trek till day 3)

Day 4 – Bedni Bugyal to Pathar Nachauni

Day 5 – Pathar Nachauni to Bhagwabhasa via Kalu Vinayak temple

Day 6 – Bhagwabhasa to Roopkund and back to Pathar Nachauni

Pathar Nachauni camp

It was really cold at Pathar Nachauni and was raining at our campsite the previous night, but we managed to get some good sleep as day 6 was the summit day. Day 7 was a bright sunny day and we packed our backpacks to start trekking back to Ghairoli Patal. This is more like a goodbye to Roopkund trek as we had to take the same trail back to Bedni Bugyal.

As we continued to trek, many trekkers spent more time capturing photos. This day doesn't take too much of your time. You can even go to the last point till Wan if you want to but we took our own time and stayed overnight at Ghairoli Patal forest. The start of your trek on day 7 is a gradual climb till you reach the point as shown in the above image. The mountain that you see far behind is Mt. Trishul.

View from the highest point in today's trail

It's a place to get some amazing panoramic shots as you will be able to see both sides of the slopes and you will be crossing from one side of the mountain to another. To the left is the Pathar Nachauni campsite and to the right is the Bedni Bugyal meadows. The landscape and the cloud movement is so beautiful that their shadow forms different kind of unique patterns on the mountain slopes.

Lovely campsite of Bedni Bugyal

We continued our trek downwards till we reached Bedni Bugyal. People opted to go to Maggie point, a small shop where we get some hot noodles, bun, bread, and chocolates for double the actual price, and this is where we had our lunch. Spent some time around in the meadows after which we continued further from the meadows to the forest area. There is some 15 minutes walk that you need to do before you take a right to the forest. You can easily make where exactly to enter the forest as there is a Buddhist prayer flag. This place is the last place where you can get some wide-angle shots of mountains without too many trees around.

Ghairoli Patal camp

As you enter the forest you will find oak and rhododendron trees with some beautiful flowers in this area. There is a proper man-made trail here all the way to Ghairoli Patal. Continue downwards, till you reach the green permanent metal tents used for storage. This is where we camped. There is another shop where we get cold drinks, again for double the price. We had reached much earlier in the afternoon.

After having something to eat we had enough time to explore the forest area. The trees in the region are massive. We enjoyed the evening by spending time singing, playing, and dancing around the campfire. You can try some great nighttime shots like galaxy shots, and star trails; as the huge trees can act as foreground and night sky in the background.

Day 7 was great fun and we crossed dry land, then the meadows followed by a forest area. Beautiful landscape, amazing place. Follow me on social media to know more about Day  8 trek and other trekking, photography, and travel posts. On day 8, we continued our hike from Ghairoli Patal to Wan, which is a complete forest trail.

 If you find this blog post interesting then you can buy me a coffee to support my work. Also, consider subscribing to my YouTube channel for more and you may join my Friendzone.

Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED | Must have top class legendary lenses of all time

I have been using Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G lens for a few years now and had this camera in my bag during all my local and Himalayan treks for landscape photography. This lens belongs to the ultra-wide-angle lens category and also comes under the so-called legendary lenses of Nikon. This is one of the best ultra-wide-angle FX lenses you will find in the market (as of this writing) even after so many years of its release when compared to any other brand. This lens can also be used with the DX body. Here is my review of the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lens.

Image captured using Nikon D600 + Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G lens

Is Nikon 14-24mm a fisheye lens?

The Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lens is not a fisheye lens (even though it appears a bit like that) and is intended to be used with full-frame cameras. The images captured using this lens has very less distortion, for example, the straight lines of buildings and trees appear straight and are not curved/ distorted.

This lens is really sharp even when compared to Nikon's 14mm prime lens at all apertures and in its zoom range. The corners of the image captured are really sharp even when the lens is wide open at f/2.8. If you look into the MTF curves of the Nikon 14-24mm lens, then this lens is an insanely good lens that you can think of purchasing. You will hardly find any fringe, flare, or ghosts in the images that are captured using Nikon 14-24mm unless you don't keep your lens clean or directly point towards the sun.

Architectural shot

Filters for Nikon 14-24mm

The focus system is internal, you can see the huge glass element in front moving in and out. The lens petal-style hood is attached and cannot be removed. This acts like good protection. This hood has no thread on the inner side and hence the only option to add a filter will be to attach a square type filter. I will be writing an article on filters for Nikon 14-24mm soon, so follow me on social media to get updates on that. There are filters available for Nikon 14-24mm, by Lee, Haida, etc but are very expensive. Haida filters are cheaper and better than the Lee filters. The filter size would be 150* 150 mm.

Landscape shot.

This is a heavy lens which is almost 1+ kg and on a full-frame body will be approx 2 kg (including the weight of the camera body). It doesn't feel that heavy to me when I use it for general use but when I take this to my Himalayan trek, every gram counts. The ultra-wide-angle view on full-frame is insanely wide with an angled view of 114 degrees. The Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lens on a DX/ Cropped sensor camera is equivalent to 9.2-16mm.

I will not be speaking on the technical specification here as you can always find this info on the Nikon website. The glass in front is dust and moisture-resistant. I had used Nikon 14-24mm during my Himalayan trek that too when it was raining. The water droplets don't stick to the lens. In the last 9 years, I dropped this camera along with the lens 9 times during my trek up the Himalayan slopes and for expeditions. Luckily nothing had happened. In addition to landscape shots where the focus distance is really far off, Nikon 14-24mm has a min focal distance of 11 inches which is really good. This is important in landscape shots to capture the foreground in the landscape shot.

Conclusion

Overall, in short Nikon 14-24mm, f/2.8G is a must lens for Nikon users if you are a landscape or an architectural photographer. It is considered one of the legendary lenses of Nikon, even though it's expensive, it's worth the money for its fast, razor-sharp performance and contrast.

This lens is of good use if you are photographing landscape and architectural shots and to get wide-angle shots of the place of the event (I use it when I do wedding photo-shoot as well to get the wide-angle view of the place). Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lens is so good that there are few famous canon photographers who use this lens with an adaptor on Canon's body. All the images that you see here are using this ultra-wide-angle 14-24mm lens without filters or polarizer.

Hope you find this article on lens focal length useful. Also, check out more on the gadgets that I use on my YouTube channel and support my work by subscribing. You may signup for my fortnightly newsletter by joining my Friend Zone.

Makalidurga Trek - An ideal weekend budget getaway, just 60 km from Bangalore

Makalidurga is a hill fort that is around 60 km from Bangalore city. The remains of the fort at the summit have an old Shiva temple. This temple and the fort are on top of a huge granite hillock. The approach to the top of the hill is to hike all the way up through tall grass and boulders. This is an ideal place to start with trekking as it's comparatively easier when compared to other local treks and the view on top is really good. People from Bangalore and neighboring places go to this place for a day or night trek.

How to get to Makalidurga

We took the early morning 7:40 AM train from Cantonment Railway Station in Bangalore to Makalidurga. Makalidurga is a remote place and the railway station looked deserted with just a few monkeys around it took about 90 minutes to reach this station from Bangalore city. From here the train went further and we followed the same track route for another 3 kilometers by walk till we reached the foot of the Makalidurga hill. There is a parallel jeep route which is equally good to walk if you feel that the railway track is not the place for you.

Take a left from the railway line and after walking for about 5 minutes you will find a temple. Take a small break under the shade. This is the last place where you can find some water to drink. So, it's better to fill up your water bottles. The trail continues behind the temple. Continue further for about 10 minutes.

How long does it take to climb Makalidurga?

Even for beginners, the climb up and back should not take more than 2 hours. The whole distance would be between 1.5 and 2 kilometers. It begins as you cross the railroad tracks into the woods. Arrows are used to denote the trail. This trek is suitable for children as young as six years old, and they will enjoy it, just be careful around the boulder section.

How difficult is the Makalidurga trek?

Makali Durga is a day hike that takes around 2 to 3 hours to complete. The treks are now administered by the Department of Forest, Karnataka Government, and so require permission to participate. The walk is easy to complete, with the exception of a few large stones that must be climbed. There is no formal man-made route; rather, it is an exploration and journey to the hilltop.

Entrance to Makalidurga

To the right, you will find the Makalidurga hill (also called Makali betta). Take a right and the trails go up which is a gradual climb. There is no proper trail, and you will have to find your own way to go up through the tall grass and boulders. It's easy and there is only one way up. At some point midway, you may only find a rock that is manageable to climb without any rope.

Take a short break and turn around to see the beautiful green landscape around. You will find many such small peaks which are like Makalidurga, which you can explore on your own on weekends. There is a lake named Gundamagere where you can spend some time later once you are done with your trek while going back. Continue further for another 30 minutes and you will reach on top. The total time from base to top should not take more than 90 minutes excluding breaks.

Once you reach on top is the entrance to the remains of the fort. This fort is not maintained and is in a sad state. Go around the fort to see the beautiful landscape around spend some time under the trees. There is a Shiva temple at the other end of the fort. This place is being worshiped even now. Visit the temple and sit there for a while. It's really cold inside, ideal place to be in the afternoon after hiking the entire morning.

Have lunch outside and relax in the tree shade for a while. Once you have explored the fort, it's time to leave. Follow the same route all the way down till you reach the railway track. Now, you can either go by train (the last train is at 5 pm) or go by bus. Continue walking for another 1 km from the base of the Makalidurga hill and you will reach the highway. There is N number of buses both private and govt that will go to Bangalore.

Are there entry fees for Makalidurga?

It was great fun for us and really enjoyed the weekend. Not too far from Bangalore, ideal one-day hike with a total expense of Rs. 150 (2 $USD) including food and travel from Bangalore. Note that now there is an entry ticket of Rs. 250. It's nice to get out of the crowded and polluted city once in a while and go for a hike of this kind, will keep you physically fit and healthy. Also, if you are planning to go for some easy to moderate level Himalayan treks then treks like Makalidurga, Shiva Gangey, etc are good ones to start with.

I hope you found this blog article interesting. Now that you have gone through the post, will you be adding this to your travel bucket list? Comment below and I will let you know what other places things you need to know. You might wish to share this post with your like-minded friends and add this destination to your bucket list of places to visit. If you enjoy my work, please consider joining my FriendZone, which is absolutely free, as well as subscribing to my YouTube channel. You may also help me out by buying me a cup of coffee to keep me going.

Understanding Lens Focal Length to capture stunning photos

The lens focal length of an optical system is the inverse of the system's optical power; it measures how strongly the system converges or diverges light. A system with a positive focus length converges light, whereas one with a negative lens focal length diverges light.

Many people ask me, "Hey Ravi, what lens do you use?" And I respond by adding, "I use such and such a lens" (Example: 50mm f1.4 FX lens, 14-24mm FX lens, or a 70-300mm lens). It's crucial to understand not just what lens I use, but also what camera body I use. It is the sensor size, not the type, that I use. The reason for this is that the output/image of a 50mm on a full-frame camera and a 50mm on a cropped sensor camera is not the same, despite the fact that the lens focal length is the same.

What is focal length in photography?

When a lens is focussed at infinity, its lens focal length is calculated. The angle of view, how much of the scene will be captured, and the magnification, how large individual elements will be, are determined by the lens focal length. The smaller the angle of vision and the greater the magnification, the longer the lens focal length.

The lens focal length of your lens is the distance (in millimeters) between the point of convergence and the sensor or film that records the picture. Your film or digital camera lens' focal length determines how much of the scene your camera can capture.

Lens Focal length size guide

There are a variety of lenses available, including Fisheye, Wide-angle, Telephoto, Prime, and others. The lens focal length indicates the user's field of view and how wide the lens/camera may be extended to let light in. Let's take a look at a 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 lens as an example. This lens has a zoom range that starts at 70mm and extends to 300mm.

At a lens focal length of 70mm, the maximum opening of the lens is f4.5, while at a lens focal length of 300mm, the maximum opening is f5.6. Let me offer you another example of a high-end lens with a 70-200mm f2.8 focal length. Regardless of the lens focal length, the maximum opening of the aperture stays at f2.8.

Lens Focal Length	Type of Lens	What is it used for?
4mm - 14mm	Fisheye	Abstract, creative
14mm - 35mm	Wide-angle	Landscape, architecture
35mm - 85mm	Standard	Street, travel, portrait, wedding
85mm - 135mm	Short telephoto	Street, portraits, candid wedding
135mm+	Medium telephoto	Sports, wildlife, action
300mm+	Super telephoto	Sports, wildlife, astronomy

What are mm and F in the lens?

When you see "mm" after a number or a pair of numbers on a lens, you'll know that the number refers to the lens focal length (single number) or focal range (multiple numbers) (pair of numbers). When you look through the viewfinder of your camera, the focal length is what you see.

What does focal length affect?

The angle of vision is affected by the focal length. And your camera lens's angle of view determines how much of the world it can see. A lens with a lower focal length, such as 24mm, can capture more of the scene than one with a longer focal length, such as 300mm. Lenses with shorter focal lengths capture a wider field of view.

Impact of sensor size

It's very important to consider the sensor size when we speak about focal length. Check out my previous article, where I have written about sensor size - Which one to buy, a camera with a Full frame or an APSC sensor? If I consider my 50mm f1.4D on a full-frame FX body, the image output that I get is equivalent to the image output that I get using a lens with a 35mm focal length on a DX camera.

I captured some random landscape photographs with a full-frame camera and a 14-24mm lens in the images above. The image has been saved in raw format. Both were taken at the same moment with the same focal length of 24mm, the same aperture of f/9, the same shutter speed of 1/320 sec, and the same ISO 100. The sole difference is that the first image was taken in full-frame FX mode, while the second image was taken in DX mode with the identical camera. Even though there is no change in focal length while shooting in DX mode, the mountain and clouds in the backdrop are now zoomed in.

This is why some wildlife photographers use a DX body or DX mode on a full-frame camera to get that extra zoom in on the subject, even if they're using a super zoom lens like 600mm with a teleconverter to obtain a very close-up view of the subject. Keep in mind that a telephoto lens may compress the backdrop as you move away from the subject.

Read Next: Basics of Aperture to capture stunning photos

Hope you find this article on lens focal length useful. Also, check out more on the gadgets that I use on my YouTube channel and support my work by subscribing. You may signup for my fortnightly newsletter by joining my Friend Zone. 

The Magnificent view of Roopkund | Hike from Bhagwabhasa - Day 6

Day 6 of the Roopkund trek starts very early in the morning much before sunrise. It's a gradual climb followed by a steep climb from 12500 feet (Bhagwabasa camp) to 15750 feet. Roopkund is at around 15500 feet. The image that you see on top is the Roopkund. The further climb will take you to Junargali Pass. Followed by this is the return back to Pathar Nachauni via Bhagwabhasa camp where you can camp for the day.

Hike to Bhagwabasa - Previous days

If you have not gone thru’ my previous 5 days of trekking at Roopkund, then check out these links:

? Day 1 – Jeep Ride to Lohajung

??‍♂️Day 2 – Lohajung to Didina village

??‍♂️Day 3 – Didina to Bedni Bugyal

??‍♂️Day 4 – Bedni Bugyal to Pathar Nachauni

??‍♂️Day 5 – Pathar Nachauni to Bhagwabhasa via Kalu Vinayak temple

Altitude sickness at Bhagwabasa

Bhagwabasa campsite which is at 14,029 feet, is one place where you need to get some rest and also to get acclimatized as this is the place few of them feel sick because of the high altitude. Some fall sick and few of them do get high altitude sickness. So, have healthy food and make sure you get enough rest and sleep before you trek further. The night before was very cold and even though the temperature meter displayed close to zero, the cold breeze makes you feel as though it was minus four degrees Celsius.

Trek Roopkund on day 6 starts very early in the morning much before sunrise at around 4:00 or 5:00 AM. We had to wake up early and have breakfast. Soon after this, we packed our day pack and were asked to wear crampons, and helmets and use headlamps. It's better to start early much before sunrise as the snowflakes will be hard and it would be easy to walk on them.

The trail to Roopkund which is about 2.5 to 3 hours is a gradual climb followed by a steep climb. You cannot see Roopkund till you reach there as Roopkund is a pond which is at a bit lower altitude as shown above. As you climb don't forget to turn around to see the beautiful landscape.

Why are there so many skeletons in Roopkund?

Once you reach Roopkund, check with your guide for the mysterious story of that place. You will find a lot of human skeletal remains here in this pond, but none when there is snow. There are a lot of theories behind the Roopkund skeletal remains and the latest theory says that the death of so many people was due to huge hailstones.

We discovered that the Roopkund skeletons are divided into three genetically diverse groups that were deposited over a period of about 1000 years. These discoveries contradict prior theories that the Roopkund Lake bones were deposited in a single tragic event.

Junargali Pass

Another 20-minute climb from Roopkund is the Junargali Pass. On the other side of Junargali Pass is Mt Trishul. You can see the entire stretch from the bottom to the top of Mt Trishul. To the right is the glacier and to the left is the very deep valley named Sheela Samudra. The trail here is dangerous and slippery. The trail continues to the advanced base camp all the way to Homkund and Ronti Saddle which is another 3 days of the trek. Our group did not go beyond Roopkund and we had to return back to the Bhagwabasa campsite. On the way, we got a chance to slide down the snow-covered slopes.

After a short break at the Bhagwabasa campsite, we continued our trek back to Pathar Nachauni via Kalu Vinayak temple. We were stuck for a while because of hailstorms and snowfall. The ideal place to visit this place would be after June and before Oct when there is not much snow. The landscape is awesome, with snow-covered mountains on one side and a deep valley on the other side. The weather is very much unpredictable. We camped at Pathar Nachauni and had an awesome evening at our campsite. Check out the video below.

https://youtu.be/r1z9fCyjuVU

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Night Photography Cheat Sheet - 9 tips

Have you attempted photographing at night or dabbled in night photography? The majority of us have attempted this to acquire an overexposed subject created by a powerful flash or a fuzzy photograph when no flash is employed. Night photography may be challenging, and you should be familiar with your camera's settings. Night photography may be a lot of fun if you know what you're doing.

The first thing you should do is set up a tripod. To achieve the greatest and sharpest image quality, you'll need a nice robust tripod. When shooting night photography, utilize a wireless trigger or a cable release to eliminate any camera shake in the image. When you zoom in on the image, you can see that using the default release button causes a tiny camera to shake. For the shutter release, you can utilize inexpensive third-party camera attachments. You can employ the timer in the worst-case scenario.

Why are my night photos grainy?

When your scene is excessively dark, grainy images are the most usual result. If you don't want to use flash to wash out the scene, you may compensate by increasing the ISO instead. The ISO determines the sensitivity of your sensor. Full frame and high-end cameras with larger sensors perform well in this area. Additionally, having a larger aperture will be beneficial. Having a high ISO alone will not improve your image. So, don't fall for these marketing gimmicks.

Captured this late in the evening at Surathkal #beach , Arabian Sea, #India#IncredibleIndia #travel #lighthouse pic.twitter.com/FCF05RRftN

— Ravindra Joisa (@ravindrajoisa) July 28, 2015

What settings should I use for night photography?

Here in this article, I will be speaking about night photography and what settings to use to capture the night sky. Now that the tripod and trigger are ready, set the camera mode to Manual and choose the metering mode to Matrix. I recommend using a wide-angle lens like a 14-24 mm lens. In the above image, I have used a Nikon D600 body along with Nikon 14-24mm f2.8 lens.

What is the best ISO for night photography?

Others advise that the ISO be kept as low as feasible. I believe that with today's cameras and sensors, you can obtain amazing shots even at high ISO without noise. To stay on the safe side and prevent noisy, overblown, or weird contrast photos, don't go to the extreme end of ISO. If you have an older camera, I advocate keeping ISO as low as possible; but, if you have one of the more recent (Full-frame) cameras, you may want to increase ISO. I rarely use ISOs higher than 3200, preferring instead to use ISO 1600.

How do you take pictures at night without flash?

The aperture should be about f16 and not too wide open. Try using a shutter speed of 20 or 30 seconds. Because the shutter is open for 20 seconds, keeping the aperture at roughly f16 makes sense (long exposure and to keep everything in focus). A shutter speed of moreover 20-30 seconds will make the stars appear to shake, however, this is not the case. Is caused by the earth's movement. You may use bulb mode to capture star trails and long exposure photos.

You can even keep the aperture wide open to f2.8 if needed for long exposure shots and capture images like star trails or galaxy shots. When you keep the aperture wide open there will be enough light entering the sensor, so you can bring down the shutter too for galaxy shots, but for start trail, long exposures are the best. Basically, play around with the exposure triangle.

Is night photography hard?

The shutter speed is far too slow when the photographer takes the image, hence most night shots fail. If you shoot handheld for more than roughly 1/50th of a second, the image will be grainy; it's simply not feasible to maintain your hands absolutely stable enough. Always use a tripod or secure your camera to a surface to prevent it from moving.

See that you choose a place that is dark. You might not want to do night photography when there is moonlight or in a city full of light pollution. I do this when I go to a village or in my hometown where there are no industrial or city lights. Check on the composition of the image. You may put something in the foreground but may appear dark when you do night photography. So, use a hand torch to light up the foreground and move it around, as shown in the first image where I have used torchlight (and a lamp) to light up the foreground/coconut trees.

Give it a try, let me know what you think, and share your pics in the comment below. Hope you have learned something today by reading this article. Buy me a coffee to support my work or you can go to my store to buy some of my images. Also, do not forget to join my FriendZone by signing up for my newsletter. Consider subscribing to my YouTube channel.