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Monday, August 31, 2009

US MBA - One year Vs. Two year, Finance, Reco letters

I have attended informative session conducted by Duke university's Fuqua school of business over the weekend in Pune, India. I got a chance to interact with Alumni and School's Regional Directors for India. Following were the important points which I inferred from that session:

One year Vs. Two year MBA :
If you are looking for the career switch then you should better be looking for 2 year MBA program. For example, if you want to switch your career from Software Engineer to Market Analyst then you need to significant amount of time in business school to learn all the concepts of the area you want to be in after the MBA. Two year programs usually have an internship where the actual career switch might happens. In second year of MBA, you will have internship where you put the concepts which you have learnt into application. In many cases, you may be getting an offer from the company where you did your internship. If you want to enhance your current profile then one year MBA may be the good option. In case you want to be in the same career path but looking for improvements then programs like One year MBA, Executive MBA, etc seems to be the better option. Of course, this my personal opinion.

Financing your MBA:
Two year MBA in a decent college may cost you around $90,000. If you got into good university, you are not required to worry about these expenses as you can easily get the loan. Most of the universities have contacts with the banks and you can get the loan as soon as you reach the campus. For the amount of $900000, you may required to pay an approximate EMI of $550 for 20 years. In your I-20, you can just mention that you will be taking loan to finance your MBA. If you get a cosigner who is US citizen or permanent resident then you can get the loan for cheaper interest rates.

Recommendation Letters:
You are required to submit two recommendation letters from your profession. One of them should be from your immediate supervisor/manger. If you can not get reco from your immediate manger for the reasons like current job security, company not encouraging higher education, etc. then you need to give proper justification for the same. In case you want to submit more than two recommendation letters then you should check if it's really adding a value. I got the positive answer for my question - Can I submit reco letter (in-addition to two recos from my profession) from my professor for the Teaching Assistant-ship which I have done during the MTech.

Miscellaneous:
University may ask you to take TOEFL exam to evaluate your interpersonal skills, language skills, etc. You may be called for an interview to test the same. If you have multiple GMAT scores then you need to mention which one you want the university to consider.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Camera modes and their purposes

We can broadly divide the camera modes into following categories:

Automatic Modes : Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Night, Sports, Snow, Panoramic/stitch, Beach, etc
Semi Automatic Modes : Aperture Priority (Av), Shutter Speed Priority (Tv), Program
Full Manual Modes : Manual

These modes help you control one or more of the camera controls like Aperture, Shutter Speed, Exposure, Flash and Focus. Apart from these modes, today's cameras have extra mechanisms like ISO speed and While balance.

Auto: Camera automatically chooses all the controls like shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance, focus and flash so as to help you get better picture. You may have option to control flash, etc in some cameras. This mode may give good results most of the time. Camera does guess work and sets the control based on it's analysis. You may get better results if you change the controls based on what type of snap you are looking for.

Portrait: Small aperture (Large f-number). Keeps the background out of focus. Focus only the object. Works best if you are close enough to the object either by zoom or standing closely.

Landscape: Large aperture. Ideal for capturing wide scenes. Objects of interest are at different distances from camera.

Sports: Increased shutter speed. Ideal for capture moving objects.

Night: Low shutter speed so that camera gets more time to capture the details. Also uses flash.

Macro: You can shoot small objects like flowers, insects, etc. Since you need to keep the camera at shorter distance from your subject, camera focus is restricted to small area. If you want make the background blurred, keep the background away from the object and just keep the focus object.

Super Macro: You can use 'Super Macro' if you can get close to the object. You may find the 'Super Macro' mode as difficult to use as it lacks the ability to zoom so you need to struggle to lock and focus. Best way is to use Macro mode and then zoom-in.

Aperture Priority: You have the choices of controlling aperture. Camera adjusts all the other controls like shutter speed, white balance, ISO etc., to help you get better image.

Shutter Priority: You have the choice of controlling shutter speed. Camera adjusts all other controls to help you get better image.

Program: This is nothing but Auto Mode with some extra controls like ISO speed, Flash, While balance, etc.

Manual: Gives you full control. You can control everything including and not limited to shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance, focus and flash.

Photography - Basic concepts

When you talk about photography, important controls are : Aperture, Shutter Speed, Exposure and ISO speed. If we know how the camera works then understand of these controls become simpler.

Let's talk about camera functioning..

Camera is box with a lens at one end and light sensitive film or digital sensor at the other end. A lens will have a diaphragm that opens and closes to allow the light to pass through. The amount of light which can be passed through lens is called "aperture". When the light crosses this diaphragm, the shutter exposes this light to a digital film for consistent amount of time; the amount of time is determined by "shutter speed".

Amount of light which needs to be captured on digital sensor is called "exposure". Various parts in a scene can have different light intensities. Camera finds best average light intensity for the scene and digital film gets exposed to the light based on this intensity. If the light is too much then the picture will be washed out. If the light is not enough ten then picture will be too dark. Exposure can be treated as a function of aperture and shutter speed because both of these can control the amount of light.

'ISO speed' determines the sensitivity of the digital sensor. The higher the ISO speed the faster the camera collects light but it also adds more noise to the photograph than the lower speeds. Increasing ISO speed is nothing but increasing processing speed of digital sensor.

More about each of these controls now... Let's also discuss about purpose of each of this control.

Aperture:
Aperture size is usually measured in f-numbers or f-stops. The smaller the f-stop number, the larger the lens opening; the larger the f-stop, the smaller the lens opening. The aperture (f-stop) determines the amount of area which is in camera's focus.

The f-stop is a fraction that indicates the diameter of the aperture. The f stands for the focal length of the lens, the slash (/) means divided by, and the number represents the stop in use. For example, if you were shooting with a 100mm lens and with an an aperture of f/2, the diameter of the actual lens opening would be 50mm. Here, 50 (focal length of the lens) divided by 2 (stop) equals 50 (diameter of lens opening). So smaller the f-stop number, the larger the lens opening; the larger the f-stop, the smaller the lens opening. An aperture of f/1.4 will have very very focus, while f/32 is extremely narrow focus. If the aperture is set to large value, the surroundings which are not in camera's focus get blurred. Aperture can be used to draw attention to one subject (like the flower on the right) by blurring the background with a wide aperture (low f/stop). Aperture can also be used to focus everything in a picture with a narrow aperture (high f/stop).

Adjustment to the aperture controls the depth of field, the distance range over which objects are acceptably sharp; such adjustments generally need to be compensated by changes in the shutter speed.

Shutter Speed:
As discussed above, shutter speed determines amount of time the light coming from the lens is allowed to stay on the sensitive film. Shutter speed (more literally exposure time) is measured in seconds, but often marked in reciprocal seconds. A typical exposure time for photographs taken in sunlight is 1/125th of a second, typically marked as 125 on a shutter speed setting dial. Very short shutter speeds are used to freeze fast-moving subjects, for example at sporting events. Short shutter speed for example can be used to freeze subjects in midair with a fast speed or it can be used to blur water with a slow speed i.e., short shutter speed is suitable for capturing water falls with high speed. High shutter speeds are often used in low light conditions, extending the time until the shutter closes, and increasing the amount of light gathered. Very long shutter speeds are used to intentionally blur a moving subject for artistic effect. High shutter speed means lens closes fast.

Exposure:
As discussed above, exposure is the amount of light collected by digital film. Cameras have light meters which measure the light in the given shot and set an ideal exposure automatically. If you control this, you can get creative picture some times.
Look at the following image to know about the trick of exposure:
http://www.twin-pixels.com/wp-content/uploads/exposure-tutorial-7.jpg

The two values – shutter speed and aperture are intertwined. To get the correct exposure, both have to be set correctly – that is, if you increase the exposure time then you need to decrease the aperture. Exposure can be treated as function of all these.

For the given exposure, a fast shutter speed requires a larger aperture (smaller f-number). Similarly, a slow shutter speed, a longer length of time, can be compensated by a smaller aperture (larger f-number).

ISO Speed:
As discussed above, The common span of ISO speed is 100 to 800. If you are trying to take pictures in dim light without a tripod, you might want to raise the ISO speed in order to get a picture that's not blurry. Most of the time you should keep it at a lower ISO speed if there is enough light, but it makes a big difference when there isn't. Note that, ISO speed and Shutter Speed are related. When you increase the ISO from 100 to 200, you are cutting down the amount time required to capture the scene on the digital sensor by half. So when you change the ISO from 100 to 200, your shutter speed may change from 1/125s to 1/250s.

References:
http://www.twin-pixels.com/photography-understand-exposure/
http://photo.net/learn/basic-photo-tips/aperture-shutterspeed-iso/
http://www.picturecorrect.com/photographytips/ExposureBasics.htm
http://photo.net/learn/basic-photo-tips/aperture-shutterspeed-iso/
http://www.betterphoto.com/article.asp?id=135

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Photography - How to make the background blurred?

People want to make the background blurred so that their subject gets sharpness and focus.

The farther the background is from the object, the more blurred it will be. Some times you may need to move away from the the object so that background gets more blurred. So focus only the object then zoom to the fullest and also keep the object as far as from the background. If you zoom to the fullest, you may need to move backward to get the focus on the object.

In canon cameras, you can use Av (Aperture Priority) mode. As you increase aperture, focus on the object increases and background gets more blurred. Keep aperture as large as possible (i.e. small f-number). Then you can try the zoom for extra help. Note that, aperture gets smaller if you increase the zoom. Also, try to keep the background away from the object.

In summary, following are the important factors to consider:

Large aperture (small f number)
Full Zoom (Long focal length)
Keep the background farther from the object

If you have SX10 then you can try 'Macro mode' [and keeping the camera closer to your object]. You can use 'Super Macro' if you can get close to the object. You may find the 'Super Macro' mode as difficult to use as it lacks the ability to zoom so you need to struggle to lock and focus. Best way is to use Macro mode and then zoom-in.

Otherwise, you can use photoshop after taking the image. Just select the background and blur the background. You may not get good results as it blurs the image uniformly irrespective of distance at which background objects are standing. Not sure if photoshop has option which applies blurriness depending on the depth of objects in the background.

Why does aperture decreases if you increase the zoom?
Aperture is described in terms of 'f-stop' or 'f-number'. It's the relationship between the focal length and diameter of the lens. If the focal length is 100 mms and the aperture's diameter is 25mm, then the f-number is written as "f:4".

When you increase the focal length (i.e., zoom-in) if focal length becames 200 mms, then the f-number becomes "f:4" even though aperture has not changed. The f-number always changes if you zoom-in or zoom-out.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Photography - Post processing of images

Post processing is an important step. You can really make any snap look better by adjusting few parameters. Read on....

1). Adding contrast

What is 'Contrast Ratio'?
Contrast ratio is measured as the difference between the brightest and darkest colors on the screen. You can treat it as the ratio between brightest white and the darkest black on the given screen. For example, a 1000:1 contrast ratio means that the brightest white is 1000x brighter than the darkest black. If you want the best picture possible, you need to have more ratio between the brightest white and the darkest black. It can also be thought as the amount of shades between black and white. For better quality image, you need to have more shades between black and white. However, there could be instances where higher contrast ratio looks bad.

1.1). Adding contrast in Picasa

Contrast brings life to a snap. Picasa is very easy use tool which provides user friendly options for adjusting contrast, cropping, straightening, shadows, highlights. Adjust these parameters appropriately to make your snap better.

1.2). Adding contrast in GMP:

We can adjust contrast by going to 'Colors -> Brightness-Contrast Tool'. But, we can achieve better results by using following tools. Links will give you more info on how to make use of these tools.

Colors -> Levels [http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/levels.htm]
Colors -> Curves [http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/photoshop-curves.htm]

2). Cropping

Crop the snap appropriately so that the object which you want focus gets it's share of space. Below mentioned rules can bring better look. Ideally, you should be following these rules while taking the snap but you may improve the snap further by following these rules during post processing.

2.1). 50-50 Rule

If you want to capture 'cloudy hill' then you can make the snap symmetric by giving 50% area to clouds and remaining 50% area to hills. If you want to project certain portion more, it should get more area in the snap.

2.2). 'Rule of Thirds' or '2/3rd Rule'

In this rule, objects in the snap are given 2/3rd or 1/3rd of the area.

Applying Rule of Thirds Vertically:
If your snap is covering both water and the sky and if you want to give emphasis to water then it should get 2/3rd portion of the snap. If your snap is covering water, hills and sky then you may want to give 1/3rd portion to each.

Applying Rule of Thirds Horizontally:
If you snap is covering an object (Tree, Person, etc), you may want to keep it in the 'left most' or 'right most' 1/3rd portion of the snap.

2.3). Golden Ratio Rule

Here, you apply Golden Ratio to photography.

What is Golden Ratio?
If area 'A' is divided into two parts (B and C) where one is larger than the other then the golden ratio is achieved if A/B = B/C, which is around 1.618.

When you apply this to photography, you have to to adjust the position of the objects in such a way that they get area in the ratio of "1 : 1.618". The best way is to make use of following golden rectangles.

3). Adding border

3.1). Adding border in Picasa

Open the snap in picasa
Go to: Create -> Picture Collage
Select 'Mosaic' in the drop down box under Settings tab
Adjust the 'Grid Spacing' to depending on the border size you want. Select the color of the border in 'Background Options'
Set 'Page Format' to '8.5X11: Letter Paper' to get full snap without cropping [This step may depend on the size of the original snap]
Select 'Landscape or Portrait' as per your snap
Click on 'Create Collage' and you are done :)

3.2). Adding borders in GIMP

Open the snap in GIMP
Filters -> Decor -> Add border
Specify the values : x-size, y-size, color
Click OK

4). Add custom watermark (copyright text) to your images.

There are lot of tools available to do batch watermarking.

Following link provides you the script which can be integrated with GIMP. With this, you can do watermarking at batch level or individual snap level.

http://www.td-e.com/soft/watermark-it.php

If you are looking for other ways to watermark, just read the following links:

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Kauri Pass Trek

We have recently completed Kauri Pass Trek. This is my first himalayan trek. I enjoyed the trek like anything and I was very excited after seeing himalayan peaks and icy hills for the first time.
Following is trek itinerary suggested by our guide Sohan. As per this itinerary, we were to cross Kauri Pass on 2nd day of the trek itself. But, we wanted to keep all the excitement to the end so we started our trek from Chefana(Ghat) instead of Joshimath. I liked the trek overall but I haven't find as much greenary and ice as I expected. We got to see some icy hills on the last two days. So if you are expecting to see lot of icy hills then Kauri Pass may not be the right place. We were also not able to see the himalayn peaks clearly because of the smoke which is coming out of forest fires.

If you are not interested in lot of physical activity and still want to go for Kauri Pass then the best way is : Joshimath -> Chitrakhana -> Kauri Pass -> Chitrakhana -> Joshimath. You can finish the trek in just around three days as per this plan.

In the last two days of our trek, we were able to see following himalayan peaks:
- Mt. Nanda Devi
- Mt. Trishul
- Mt. Kamet
- Mt. Burmal
- Ghoda and Hati peaks

How to reach Joshimath from Pune?
Pune -> Delhi -> Haridwar -> Joshimath