Rant 74: Steeped in Sepia

Next up for a bit of Post-Production mayhem...ladies and gents, I present to you, my friend Vinod!
This picture was taken - like this one - along the return journey during a trip to Chikmagalur.
Now the editing on this one is not done with the "quick-fix" method of pre-installed Filters that Photoshop provides. Instead, I've used Adjustment Layers (Hue/Saturation and Black/White) to get absolute control over which colours I want in their original state and which I want with the Sepia touch.
Sepia for me represents a sombre mood, and I'm trying to steer clear of using action shots for this kind of editing.
And if you want to see what a difference this method can make, I give you the original photo below.

Rant 71: The stuff of dreams

Continuing my foray into post-production, here's one I took at a place called Chikmaglur (around 4 hours drive away from Mangalore. Here's the post of that visit).
This random ghat area is on the way to the Mullayangiri hill, and having picked up a trick called the "dreamy / misty" effect, I knew I had to implement it on one of these photos. Best results emerge with photos of water/river taken with a high-end camera...still hunting around for such a shot on my comp, so posting of that will have to wait. But hope you enjoy this as well...kinda reminds me of the whole Pandora island effect!

Rant 34: Checking out Chikmagalur

So after weeks of mind-boggling work (minus one saturday @ the beach) I finally got a chance to unwind fully...that means absolutely NO work at all. Dont talk about work, dont think about work, dont come near me with work...
2 colleagues from the office plus a mutual friend of theirs and of course yours truly headed out on a one day getaway to chikmagalur (the name basically implies small = chik mangalore)

to start off...

an almost brand new Innova, courtesy Bobby (the mutual friend)...his life philosophy being Work hard, Relax harder...
the rest i say is in the pics...

We four...our one trip was a sight to behold

(R2L- Yashpal, Vinod, Bobby and Me)

Let the road trip begin I say

Night modes

What were you thinking???

Big Boss cold drink factory

Mullayyangiri....the tallest hill in karnataka at 1930 metres....and this is the scene there

Posing for cows.............and for a hilly stretch of road
and to top it off...

Chikmaglur city....the view from (almost) the top