Flower fest at Lalbagh (Bangalore)

I had been to Lalbagh flower show for the 1st time at around 26th Jan, 2010 but had not clicked too many flower shots at that time. I just felt that flowers were such a common subject and everyone shoots them so whats the fun!!! However over the period I saw many good, in fact stunning flower shots on flickr and other places in web, I realized that capturing any subject can be interesting. Its all about looking at it with a different perspective.

So this time, about a week before Independence day I decided to visit Lalbuag flower show and try to capture one of the many beautiful things God given to the world. As I had visited the show earlier in January, I knew what to expect and I also knew that if I failed to reach the flower show early enough it will get little crowdy for a comfortable photo shoot. So I started off early at around 8.00 AM, yeah I know its not that early but the flower show opens for public only at 9 AM so no point in reaching before that.

This time around I was equipped with my reliable Nikon d40 and Sigma 150mm macro lens and I had decided that I am going to shoot entirely in manual mode. So all the shots you see are taken with manual exposure and focus. I reached the Glass house at around 8.45 AM and since they were not allowing the people to get in before 9, I roamed around to take some practice shots.

By now the glass house was open for public and people, mostly shutterbugs like me, entered in with their fancy dslrs and heavy lens and started clicking instantly. I had realized during my previous photographic trip to Bannerghatta National park that taking your time to take shots will result in better hit ratio. Over the period of 3 hours, solely in the Glass house I clicked many shots. When in Bannerghatta, most of the times I had used ISO 200 with aperture wide open (3, 3.5). This time I used a relatively narrow aperture (f8) and higher ISO (400) compared to what I used in Bannerghatta. This resulted in better control over the depth of field, focus and sharpness. Now I am going to bombard my pictures below. Sorry for posting so many but when I started picking my favorites I picked up so many :)

I still have couple of more shots that I liked but I will not post more. This trip was by far most successful trip as I got many keepers this time and I just loved the time spent at the flower show.

Signing off for now till next trip.