It’s Time to Meet Platyball!

January 14, 2020 by sverma | 0 Comments

Tomorrow on The Grid Platypod will unveil a new Kickstarter campaign for an incredible product, Platyball. It’ll be best explained and demonstrated during the show, but for now, here’s what can be shared.

The Platyball presents a new, revolutionary way to level.  Featuring an inverted design, single-handed ergonomics, and a unique twist-action Arca Swiss compatible clamp, we have literally taken the classic tripod head design and turned it upside down.  Redesigned from the ground up, the Platyball becomes an extension of your hand and allows you to quickly level your camera better than ever before. It is heavy duty and accurate to 0.5 a degree.

Want to see the Platyball in action? Check out this thirty-second segment of the upcoming launch video. It’s just a click away.

Join the team on Wednesday at 4:00 pm EST on The Grid at kelbyone.com/livewebcast. Registration is FREE.

Make sure you don’t miss the launch. Visit www.platyball.com and click on the launch notification button. For first day backers, there’s a special bonus of a FREE Platypod Ultra!

Posted in Photography

Post Focus & Focus Stacking

January 10, 2020 by sverma | 0 Comments

Just posted my latest YouTube episode on Post Focus and Focus Stacking

Click Here for the link to my channel

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The Platyball

January 8, 2020 by sverma | 0 Comments

“Everything you know about tripods and ball heads is about to change. Check out this week’s announcement from Platypod and visit www.Platyball.com. Their Kickstarter campaign launches on Jan 15 and there’s a special bonus for early backers. What a kick!” 

The Kickstarter campaign launches on Jan 15 on The Grid. Larry T. will be Scott’s guest along with Don Komarechka. The show starts at 4:00 and the Platyball Kickstarter video and announcement should kick off at 4:30. It’s a pretty remarkable product. Here’s a general description…
The Platyball presents a new, revolutionary way to level.  Featuring an inverted design, single-handed ergonomics, and a unique twist-action Arca compatible clamp, we have literally taken the classic tripod head design and turned it upside down.  Redesigned from the ground up, the Platyball becomes an extension of your hand and allows you to quickly level your camera better than ever before. It is heavy duty and accurate to half a degree.

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Peace and Tranquility

December 30, 2019 by sverma | 0 Comments
Lumix S1R, Lumix 24-105 mm, 10-stop ND filter.
f/10, 60 sec., ISO 200
Please click on the image for a larger rendition.

This image was captured earlier this year in Falmouth, Massachusetts.  At about 7:00 PM the sun was low on the horizon. I wanted to do a long exposure capture but these pilings had a flock of cormorants perched on them,  Fortunately, a noisy ski boat disturbed them giving me just enough time for this 60-second exposure.

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2019 Favorite Images Part 2

December 29, 2019 by sverma | 0 Comments


I just posted the second segment of my 2019 Favorite Images and a few back story video clips.

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The start of my YouTube Channel

December 25, 2019 by sverma | 0 Comments

Happy Holidays, Seasons Greetings and All The Very Best for 2020

I am happy to announce the launch of my YouTube Channel. Please click on the embedded link or go to the direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpvJ3CvISYQ&t=19s

I do look for your suggestions for future episodes and I do hope you will subscribe and please do click on the “bell” icon to be notified of future episodes.

Posted in Photography

Creative Photography

December 16, 2019 by sverma | 0 Comments
Exposure triad: f/9, 1/30 sec, ISO 400
The set

As I tend to spend more time indoors during the winter, I am looking for unique ways of image capture. I love using my Platypod – tripod alternatives as they are so convenient and maneuverable. For these images, I went a bit overboard, one Platypod Max to support my Lumix S1R with the 24-105 f/4 lens, one Max to hold up the LensBall, two Platypod Ultras with a Platypod gooseneck and a Litra Torch 2 each. A third Platypod Ultra with a gooseneck and a clothespin to hold the flower.

Tiny shifts in the camera angle or flower position create beautiful fluid lines since the Lensball acts like an exaggerated fish-eye lens.

I captured hundreds of images – here in this post are two that I really like a lot.

Exposure triad: f/9, 1/30 sec, ISO 400
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Light Table Photography on a Snowy Day

December 3, 2019 by sverma | 0 Comments
Alstroemeria, commonly called the Peruvian lily or lily of the Incas

With 8 or more inches of snow and not being in a mood to go outside, I set up this composition on a makeshift light table. It is the top of a slide viewer placed on four plastic cups for support. The lights are three Litra Pros set at 5500 Kelvin and full brightness. 7 images were captured starting with a normal exposure for the flowers and then increasing in exposure by 2/3 stop for each subsequent image. The images were then blended in Photoshop 2020 with selective masking for this final result that gives the effect of translucency.

The starting exposure was f/14, 1/160 sec at ISO 400. Captured with the Panasonic Lumix S1R and the 24-105 f/4 lens.

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Luminar 4 released

November 18, 2019 by sverma | 0 Comments

Skylum today released Luminar 4. You can get your copy or upgrade your current version. Luminar 4 now costs $US89 for new customers / US$74 for owners of previous versions of Luminar, but you can now get a US$10 discount if you use the code VERMA. Click on the image above or click here

Posted in Photography

Pushing the Limits

November 18, 2019 by sverma | 0 Comments

It was very early morning when we spotted this young lion. He has been through some territorial fights – see the scars. The sun had not risen and I was not sure if I could get a decent image. Captured with the Panasonic Lumix S1R and the S Pro 70-200 mm f/2.8 lens. I had the ISO on “auto”, and I set the shutter speed to 1/160 sec (i wanted to be as close to one over the focal length I was at). The focal length was at 130mm. The aperture was set at f/2.8 and the camera set the ISO to 16000. Typically I set the limit at ISO 6400 but there would be no image at that sensitivity.

The image a direct conversion from RAW to JPG – no adjustments at all except a crop for composition. The noise reduction is at 0, sharpening at 0. Image processed using Capture One 12.

Please do click on the image to view it larger.

IMPRESSIVE!!!

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