View of the cottages inside the Lake View Resort in Alleppey, with a water body right next door

This is a view of the beautiful cottages inside the Lake View Resort in Alleppey in the state of Kerala, India. They make for a nice comfortable stay, away from the worries of the world. Spend a couple (or more) days over here, and you can really enjoy the beautiful setting.

Entering the main gate of the Jaipur City Palace

People entering the main gate of the Jaipur City Palace. Look at the way that the look and feel of the palace is kept well maintained, with even the pink paint looking fresh. Jaipur is known as the 'Pink city' and the application of pink paint makes that even more striking.

Chandelier with pigeons on them in the Jaipur City Palace

Cities and monuments the world over struggle with the problems of birds trying to sit on them. The birds leave feathers, twigs, and droppings all over, and can damage the structures. The Jaipur City Palace, otherwise beautiful, does not make any attempt to prevent these pigeons.

An ornate chandelier hanging inside the Jaipur city Palace

A photo of a ornate and decorated chandelier hanging inside the Jaipur City Palace, inside the audience hall. It looks a bit old now, but one can only imagine how beautiful it would have been when lighted.

Tip (Shooting panoramas vertically rather than horizontally): Shooting panoramas normally is done by shooting the segments in landscape mode; an alternative model is to shoot vertically (in portrait orientation) rather than horizontally (in landscape orientation). It is supposed to have end up in less edge distortion and maybe a better looking panorama overall.

View of the inside of the Jaipur City Palace

From the doorway, you can get a view of the inside of the Jaipur City Palace. The place and structure is so well maintained, you would think that it is painted every few months (and maybe it is being painted every few months, since I don't know enough about its maintenance).

Tip (Consistent focus): Make sure that your focusing is consistent. If you lock the focus on the foreground in one shot, don’t change your approach and decide to focus on the background in the next segment.

View of the Hawa Mahal in Jaipur

An integral part of the architecture and places to see in Jaipur is the Hawa Mahal. This is an impressive red sandstone building, with a huge number of windows that allowed the royal woman to look out without being seen from others. The Hawa Mahal is essentially just the outer facade, with no big structure inside; another point is that it is located in a busy market area.

Tip (Maintaing the same exposure in a panorama): You must maintain the same exposure used for each shot to make the later stiching of the separate photos smooth and convincing. If you get a scene or time where the entire horizon evently lit, hen great. If this isn’t possible, you’ll need to find an exposure compromise that works for the entire scene and make sure you control the exposure during the entire shot.

View of one of the minarets of the Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal has 4 minarets on all 4 corners. These minarets are beautiful like the Taj Mahal, and are designed to lean slightly outside so that in the event of a severe earthquake, they do not fall on the structure of the Taj Mahal but fall out. In this photo, you can see the minaret in light and shadow.

Tip (Letting an object fit the frame fully): When taking a photo of a striking object, sometimes it makes sense to let the object fill the frame, seemingly appearing as a massive object. Such a photo can make the object look even more grander.

Twinkle of the sun around the structure of the Taj Mahal

I have always liked taking photos where there is a twinkling of the sun around buildings, through fences, through trees. This one is one that I particularly like, where the sun appears to twinkle around the edge of the Taj Mahal. You also get to see a minaret.

Tip (Capturing the twinkle of the sun): Getting a photo of the sun twinkling through a structure (through a tree, around the side of a building, over the edge of a hill, etc) can give a very good effect. However, getting a good view of an exact twinkle requires precise positioning.

Angular view of the Taj from a corner

This is a photo of the Taj when taken from just near one of the minarets. The Taj has 4 minarets at all 4 corners of the compound, and the photo was taken from just next to the minaret. This was taken with a normal camera, but somehow the photo seems to give the appearance of a wide angle.

Tip (Taking photos from different angles): Always explore the angles from which you can take a photo of beautiful structures. It is not always necessary that you take a regular photo like everyone else does, explore a bit, look at the various side including from the bottom, and see whether you can get a good (as well as a unique) view.

The Taj Mahal from a distance

This is a photo of the view of the Taj Mahal that you can see as soon as you cross the great red sandstone gate, and immediately you see this view. It is a grand view, and many times you have to wait since there is a big rush of people waiting to take their photos as well.

Tip: When taking a photo of a historical structure such as a photo of the Taj Mahal (where you have the luxury of no major buildings nearby and you can move around a bit), then try to take the photo such that the structure (and its associated gardens / paths, etc) come out symmetrical and in the horizontal structure of the photo. It looks much better that way.

Light through a small window in Fatehpur Sikri

I really like photos with light effects. In this case, this photo is taken inside one of the buildings in Fatehpur Sikri, and an opening near the top of the dome lets in a small amount of light (visible as rays of light) that in turn are obscured by a hanging metal object.

A great view of London Bridge

London Bridge of the most visually (and seemingly architecturally appealing) out of the Bridges on the Thames in London. It looks beautiful from a distance, and when framed against the blue of a clear sky, the effect seemed great to me.