Chandratal - the moon lake

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Chandratal, Lahaul, Himachal

July, 2008
Nikon D80

Situated at approx, 4270m, the crescent shaped bluish green lake has its own charm. It's one of the bigger alpine lakes of this region (around Manali).

Snuggled in between the ChandraBhaga range and the barren mountainscape, Chandratal is at the source of Chandra river and is fed by meltwaters from the Chandra glacier. From here one gets a beautiful unobstructed view of the peaks of the Lahaul range, Mulkila peak (6517m), Minar (6172m), Talagiri (6279m), Tara Pahar (6227m) to name a few.

Digital version of Orton technique

Manali'07
D80, 70-300mm

I was quite excited to see photographs of tulips in the last edition of Photo Life. One of the photograph was clicked using Orton techinique, a technique originated by a Michael Orton whereby a sharp transparency was mounted together with an out of focus one of the same view. And the result is a beautiful dream sequence.

And then I I decided to explore the digital equivalent. A lil bit of surfing and I found this. In summary this is what I did.

1. Open image
   
2. Duplicate the background layer (Right click on the background layer and choose duplicate) and name that layer Sharp
3. Create another duplicate of the background layer.
4. Change the Blending mode of the Sharp Copy to screen
5. With the Sharp Copy layer selected, right click and choose Merge Down
   
6. Right click on the Sharp layer, choose Duplicate and name this layer Out of Focus
7. On the Filter Menu, choose Blur - Gaussian Blur
   Depending on the resolution of the image you are using, the amount of blur needed will change.
   
8. Change the blending mode of the Out Of Focus layer to Multiply

Enjoy!

Just after the rain...

Lodhi Garden, August '07

Morning freshness coupled with rain...

Tenta landscape

Tenta, On way to Chhotta Chandratal
July, 2007

I miss Himachal. I terribly miss my native state. I never ever realized the importance of the surroundings I was growing in until I moved out of the place.

Hope this place is able to preserve its intimacy with nature.

Tenta naturescape

Tenta, (approx. 12500ft above sea level)
Himachal Pradesh
June 2007

Nikon D80, Nikkor 12-24

On way to Chhotta Chandratal, this was our last camp before the summit. A beautiful place surrounded by snow capped mountains and a stream flowing in between. This was indeed the best day of the trek, we received enough sun and enough light from morning till evening. And when the clouds came at around 6 in the evening they came from all sides and we literally slept in the clouds.