Mysore Palace - Day and Night

[shaloot]

<p>Hello!<br>

During our trip to India, we went down to the city of Mysore for the day to check out the sights and sounds. The main attraction in this city is the royal palace, which was built in 1912 but has a history going back to the 1700s. The current palace is the was designed and built after the previous one was destroyed in a fire. The family does not live here anymore, and only moved out sometime later this century. What was extra special for our visit was that it fell on Republic Day, so it was a National holiday which meant that the palace will lit up. This only happens on the weekends and during a special festival called Dasara.</p>

<p>I haven't seen the palace lit in many many years, and the last time I obviously did not have a camera, so we were really looking forward to this.</p>

<p>However, since it was a public holiday, the crowd was quite ridiculous. As it is, places and events in India are already crowded, at least by western standards. But today, the locals too found it way too crowded! Because of this my wife and I decided not to tour in the inside of the palace, and that was disappointing. But factor in the heat, the crowd, the fact you have to leave your shoes outside and hence might lose them, and did I mention the crowd? So we just walked around the grounds some and took some shots with her point and shoot.</p>

<p>This is the public entrance. That's me in the green shirt not looking forward to hustle through this crowd:<br>

<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/uK9lt1OOW9kCGee3FBFN0g?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_gLM4LFJ9zCk/S4LrS5Vd7BI/AAAAAAAAG-I/HiG49wrWKog/s400/Picture%202%20203.jpg" alt="" /></a></p>

<p>This the view you get of the palace once you get through the entrance:<br>

<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/cAmZ21RTfDsgJ57PVuGKCA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_gLM4LFJ9zCk/S4LrTyYlJsI/AAAAAAAAG-I/p2eFW4ShOu8/s400/Picture%202%20205.jpg" alt="" /></a></p>

<p>Here is the palace from straight on. Not a great shot. Terrible afternoon lighting and it really takes the grandeur of the palace away. Not so impressive.<br>

<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/xLjwUh-zigDfa-91ywUGHw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_gLM4LFJ9zCk/S4LrUt97VCI/AAAAAAAAG-I/sAg_HHa29mI/s400/Picture%202%20207.jpg" alt="" /></a></p>

<p>This is the main entrance to the palace. That's my wife posing and she'll kill me if she knows I putting this picture here! But then again she doesn't read this forum!<br>

<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/LnrPrTUQANf5KlgSczCVzg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_gLM4LFJ9zCk/S4LrYlwPHHI/AAAAAAAAG-I/nGq0Ao2Js8w/s400/Picture%202%20215.jpg" alt="" /></a></p>

<p>So we left, and tooled around the city some and waited until the evening for the light show. It was only going to be on for 1 hour, as to conserve electricity since there are between 96K and 100K light bulbs! This is how the palace is at night, shot at 1/4s @ f/5.6 ISO400 using the kit lens.<br>

<a title="Mysore Palace by Shaloot, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2748/4536145261_1b8dfea267.jpg" alt="Mysore Palace" width="500" height="282" /></a></p>

<p>A view from the side, and one of my fav. shots because of the people. 0.4s (braced against a post) @ f/5.6 ISO400<br>

<a title="Mysore Palace by Shaloot, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4054/4536143429_caf3fc10f5.jpg" alt="Mysore Palace" width="500" height="309" /></a></p>

<p>This is the main entrance, 1/4s @ f/5.6 ISO400<br>

<a title="Main Entrance - Mysore Palace by Shaloot, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/shaloot/4536152751/"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4013/4536152751_000b98b4dd.jpg" alt="Main Entrance - Mysore Palace" width="500" height="340" /></a></p>

<p>And then finally a view looking back from one of the arches in the main entrance, 1/6 @ f/5.0 ISO800<br>

<a title="Mysore Palace by Shaloot, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2784/4536154441_c04cb9b42f.jpg" alt="Mysore Palace" width="357" height="500" /></a></p>

<p>All shots were done hand held and in RAW cause I knew the color temp would be tricky with these bulbs. I ended reducing the temp just a bit though. I shot in ISO 400 cause I didn't want too much noise, but I think I could have gotten away with 800. Cropping was done to eliminate most the black sky. If interested in seeing them larger, please check out my flickr site by clicking on the photos!</p>

<p> </p>

[shots worth sharing]

<p>The night shots are great, Somanna!</p>

[jgredline]

<p>Wow, Those night shots as Dave said are great. Frankly<a href="http://s404.photobucket.com/albums/pp128/jgredline/?action=view&current=fantastico-1-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp128/jgredline/fantastico-1-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a></p>

<p>What is with wifes not wanting their pictures posted? LOL...</p>

 

[jeremy_corbin]

<p>I'm not sure, Javier. I'm just not sure. I usually bribe Cait by making her dinner. :-)</p>

<p>Excellent work, Somanna! The pole-tripod works great!</p>

[mountainvisions]

<p>Ugghh, video on a photographers site!</p>

<p>Just kidding, I still forget you can upload video, so I'm always shocked when the picture starts moving.</p>

<p>I'm impressed you were able to handhold them. Most aren't tack sharp, but they are definitely pretty darn decent for 1/4 second handheld, i think if you had boosted the ISO to 800 you could have approached full sharpness (1/8th second)...seems SR does work though!</p>

[jgredline]

<p>Jeremiah, I was amazed at how you pulled it off!. My birthday can't come soon enough 8-)</p>

[jeremy_corbin]

<p>LOL, Good Luck Javier!</p>

<p>Justin, I've noticed that although I can hold pretty still with slow shutter speeds that I know there should still be some blur from my heart beat, a butterfly nearby....etc.... How can you tell that there is blur on low-res images? I'm not a pixel peeper...</p>

<p>Somanna... I keep coming back to look at the full on view with the lights on.... It's awesome!</p>

[shaloot]

<p>Justin- What video? The one with the coffee? Lol... it's the best to upload videos imo! Yes in hindsight I should have taken ISO800 and slightly faster shutter speed. I have a few I did do that but i think the brilliance of the lights is lost. I think I'm pretty good with slow shutter speeds on wide FLs, but it's a whole other story on teles! Ideally I would have loved to have used a tripod and been able to have a small aperture to get more of the star effect on the lights. Or I could get a star filter...<br>

Javier - I have no idea what is their deal! But as long as we don't tell them... :)<br>

Glad everyone liked it! Thanks for looking!</p>

[hagar]

<p>Those are uber nice Somanna! And very well done with the night shots.. and no tripod!</p>

[johnw436]

<p>Fantastic night shots!</p>

<p>That palace must be awesome in real life. Your night shots are great and the fact that they are handheld just blows me away.</p>