My deep dark world..

La Vida tagged me into this…wait.. I was afraid of tags… I was tricked!! :P
The perils of blogosphere! :(

I got to make a list of 10 of my darkest secrets…hmmm… With the memory of a fish and the intelligence of a chipmunk it’s difficult! Here’s an attempt…

1. I don’t like to watch much TV. I like watching movies, I detest soaps. I’d rather not see what Mr. X’s ex-wife’s son-in-laws step father’s grand daughter does to her neighbor’s dog. I’m probably the only one to have not watched even one episode of Friends…And probably the only Indian not to have watched DDLJ!

2. I’m a silent guy…and until someone speaks to me, I’d rather revel in my own silence. Probably a reason why I get abused by friends for not calling often!

3. I really can’t understand the nuances of a conversation. I only understand partly after the conversation is long over and I have also committed a major foot in mouth type crime! Another reason why people don’t bother telling me much…

4. I can’t flirt for nuts! (Told y’all I can’t talk…so how exactly would I be a good flirt!! :P)

5. Walking the ramp in 2nd year medicine was a terrifying experience!

6. I hate to reveal much about myself. I’d rather talk about the spider that died in Mt.Vesuvius!

7. I love to cook and I make wonderful coffee…but mom won’t let me into the kitchen! :(

8. I’d love to write more, but I’m too lazy!

9. Someday I hope to direct a movie in which I’d do a cameo appearance. And also write a book.

10. Finally!! I really haven’t mastered the art of saying ‘NO’!

Ok…maybe number 5 isn’t a deep dark secret…. I’ll add a bonus…

11. I’m a big time dreamer. I dream and dream and dream…. It’s what keeps me going.
As APJ Kalam says… ‘Dreams aren’t what you have when you sleep…they are the ones that keep you awake’!!

12. Between choosing to go out on a weekend to shop or dinner… I’d rather stay at home.

So, there you have it! I dunno whom I want to pass it on now…but I’ll add that in time…

Go ahead....Honk!

Update: I decided I'd tag Kalam and Baba for this... Sukla has already tagged Kalam...so Baba...its all yours!! :)

Goddamn pre-flash!!

Ok...This post would specifically be a technical rant for the photographically and technically inclined!!

Call it a photographers itch... I wanted to experiment with 'off-camera' flash so I could extend my photograpic creativity!! It so happens that the camera I own, a sony H5 is worthless for this since it does not have a hotshoe or pc port where I can hook up an external flash.
After sometime I realize there is a small solution... to use an optical trigger to flash the second flash.
For those who expect an explanation at this point...
An optical trigger is a small device that is connected to an external flash...and will trigger the external flash as soon as it detects another flash nearby.


The black figure is the subject...the grey is the photographer... The weird object between the subject and the camera is the flash with the optical trigger...

So... problem solved right! Apparently not yet!
Its just the beginning!!
It so happens that digital cameras use what is called 'ttl' i.e. through the lens. The camera fires a small flash before the actual flash.This pre-flash is not to be confused with the red eye reduction option that makes the flash go off thrice...
Its used to judge the exposure and exact flash power required.
It so happens that this 'pre-flash' doesn't get disabled even when the camera is switched to complete manual mode!
So, the optical trigger which fires the second flash actually fires on the pre-flash itself...thus rendering the image dark! And the only way to circumvent this problem and use an external flash is...
1. Buy a camera with hot shoe... which I'm hoping my dear blogger friends will gift me!! :P
2. Make a optical trigger which ignores this pre-flash by delaying the triggering...which again I shall rely on my dear readers to help me out of.... HEY!! Am a doctor...not an engineer!! :P

Now I feel much better!! :P

Cheers!

P.S. If you really dont understand what I've written, don't bother too much about it...

Long Long Ago....

The last day of school brings a lot of cheer and joy to all the students….After all who wanted to slog, get pulled up for not doing homework, not polishing shoes and going late! Of course, they would later crib about how they actually liked school…but that for later!

The last day of school always had a charm to it… We would all assemble in the field and the principal would go about making announcements and we would sing a few songs and then as they said “disperse” we would just run frantically wishing each other well for the holidays and disappear.

On the last day of school, after the assembly few friends hung around talking and chatting. Two of them decided they’d go watch a movie. The first problem was they had no clue which movies were running! They caught a rick and landed up at the most posh locality in town… ‘MG Road’! As they walked around aimlessly they finally landed in front of one of Bangalore’s landmark theatres ‘Plaza’. They are just in time to make it to the next show. The name of the movie was extremely deceiving. Here were two young students looking for a good, clean, fun movie like ‘American Pie’… The guy at the ticket counter didn’t give these two kids a second look and this didn’t warn them!! They assumed they looked like adults…Yeah, at 5foot 3 inches that’s difficult to manage …so shut the hell up!!!

As they proceeded into the dingy hall that from handed-down-gyan from seniors was well known to play “adult” movies, they made their way and found their respective seats. They looked around and saw lot more kids… This time their senses tickled …they knew something was wrong!But they thought it was just a fear that someone who knew them would sight them at Oh-My-God-Plaza!! They thought they still had time to run out and either tel ticket-counter-uncle to take back the tickets or sell it to someone else....

But, that was too late! The movie started. Credits rolled, and then they realized their folly… the movie wasn’t just ‘Babe’…. It was ‘Babe-Pig in the City’.

One of them I guess forgot….the other blogged about it 10 years later!!

Honk!! My dear Bloggers!! Honk!!