Tips to guard your credit card

I read one article today which talks about securing your credit card against fraudulent transactions. Following are some key points:

• [Preventing Card Swipe Fraud:] The liability always lies with the merchant if he processes a fraudulent transaction without a second glance at the signature. Hence, always keep a photocopy of your credit card (along with the signature) to help you in case of disputed transactions which has to be reported within 60 days. If the signature on the charge slip mismatches with yours then the merchant has to bear the liability and you get your money back. Most card issuers have dispute forms either online or in their branches.
• [Preventing Internet Fraud:] Online transactions require only the card number, validity date and the 3-digit CVV number printed on the reverse of the card. This three-digit number has to be kept confidential to prevent card misuse. Since cardholders often part with their cards during payments, the CVV number should be scratched off or masked with ink to prevent misuse.
• Always subscribe to Mobile alerts available in the form of an SMS confirmation for credit card transactions which help you in checking frauds.
  
• If you "lose" a credit card, you are liable for any fraudulent transaction unless you have covered this risk by signing up for an insurance cover.
• In case the credit card is lose or stolen, you need to block the card by specifying its number so it may be good idea to memorize or note down the credit card number in some safe location.
  

References:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/quickiearticleshow/3271503.cms

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, we basically have 3 controls : Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO speed.

Before we get into technical jargon.. let's understand Aperture, Shutter Speeed and ISO in simple terms..

Let's take look at the functioning of your Eye.. When you are in bright sunlight, eye lids come closer to reduce the amount of light that can go inside.. When you are inside dark movie theater, eye lids wide open.. This is behavior is nothing but controlling Aperture based on the need..

Let's say, you are looking directly at bright sun in the afternoon.. you would not able view the sun directly for longer.. if you do, you go blurred... so you look at sun for a while and then close your eye... so it's Shutter Speed that determine when to close your eye...


Now comes the ISO Speed.. Human's eye cannot see properly in the night but Cat can see in night.. Then we can say that Cat's ISO Speed (or Sensitivity) is more than Human's ISO Speed (or Sensitivity)..


Let's talk about camera functioning now..

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".
'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.

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. ISO Speed:
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.

What is Depth of Field?
It's the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene that appear acceptably sharp in an image. Although a lens can precisely focus at only one distance at a time, the decrease in sharpness is gradual on each side of the focused distance, so that within the DOF, the unsharpness is imperceptible under normal viewing conditions.

In the following figure, the area within the depth of field appears sharp, while the areas in front of and beyond the depth of field appear blurry.

 Let's take a look at another image...

What is Exposure?

Amount of light which needs to be captured on digital sensor is called "exposure". Exposure can be treated as a function of Aperture and Shutter speed because both of these can control the amount of light. Various parts in a scene can have different light intensities. For example, if you are wearing a bright white shirt, your shirt has more light intensity than your face. If the exposure is set based on your shirt, your face will look dark. If exposure is set based on your face, your shirt color may washed out. 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.


As discussed, 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).


What is 'Rule of Thirds' or '2/3rd Rule'?

In this rule, objects in the snap are given 2/3rd or 1/3rd of the area. Usually, objects are confined to 1/3rd of the area. Instead of having objects like 'crime convicts' in the middle, it's good cover the space in which the object is located. For example: If you are covering birthday cake with candles, confine it to 1/3rd of the space and leave the remaining space blank instead of covering just cake in the middle. If you are covering an ant, confine it  to1/3rd of the area, and, use the remaining space to cover the direction in which it's heading.

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.


Few Tips:
- Capture the non-obvious things. Try different things. [Ex: Capturing just one Eye and blurring other eye, Capturing hands but not faces, etc]
- Create things [Ex: Sprinkling water on flowers, etc]
- Camera Flash is strict NO-NO. It takes-out naturality from the snap. If you really need to use flash (in case of insufficient light), cover it with light paper, etc.



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
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field

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.

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. Usually, objects are confined to 1/3rd of the area. Instead of having objects like 'crime convicts' in the middle, it's good cover the space in which the object is located. For example: If you are covering birthday cake with candles, confine it to 1/3rd of the space and leave the remaining space blank instead of covering just cake in the middle. If you are covering an ant, confine it  to1/3rd of the area, and, use the remaining space to cover the direction in which it's heading.

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:

• http://www.ehow.com/how_2176726_watermark-digital-art-using-gimp.html
• http://www.imagemagick.org/script/binary-releases.php
  
• http://www.ab-archive.com/programs/graphics/tools_for_webdesigner/alamoon_watermark.html
• http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?w=48637250%40N00&q=copyright

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