Wild Canvas
Armed with an artist’s intuition and a photographer’s technical finesse, Baiju Patil’s photo journeys are resplendent with colors and moods that are inspired by nature itself.
Bee hovering on a flower
Location: Kaas Plateau
Camera details: NIKON D700 S/N: 2137132
Lens: 105.0 mm f/2.8 Focal length: 105.0 mm (in 35mm: 105.0 mm)
Exposure: 1/2000 sec; f/4.0; ISO 400
This photo is taken at Kaas Plateau .Macro photography is very pain full photography. I got this shot for siting at a place with a hand held camera for 1 and half hr.
Great White Pelican (Pelecanusonocrotalus) with a fish in its beak
Location: Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary / Keoladeo-Ghana National Park
Camera details: NIKON D4 S/N: 2040063
Lens: 500.0 mm f/4.0 Focal lenght: 500.0 mm (in 35mm: 500.0 mm)
Exposure: 3.2 sec; f/5.6; ISO 1250
Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary is my favorite Bird sanctuary in India. You have a lot of scope for creative photography here. On the lake I was shooting the birds, Cormorants were catching the fish and the big birds like pelicans were scanting them. This fight between the birds was very fast and far from me, but suddenly this activity happened very close to me and I Captured it.
Demoiselle Crane (Anthropoidesvirgo)
Location: Kheechan Village, Rajasthan
Camera details: NIKON D700 S/N: 2137132
Lens: 300.0 mm f/2.8 Focal length: 300.0 mm (in 35mm: 300.0 mm)
Exposure: 0.7 sec; f/5.0; ISO 200
Courtship feeding in Pied Kingfishers (Cerylrudis)
Location: Jayakwadi Bird Sanctuary
Camera details: NIKON D4 S/N: 2040063
Lens: 300.0 mm f/2.8 Focal length: 300.0 mm (in 35mm: 300.0 mm)
Exposure: 0.5 sec; f/5.6; ISO 12800
This picture is taken at Jayakwadi Bird Sanctuary in Maharashtra. In early morning there is low light and I was trying to shooting River tern. But one day I noticed a Kingfisher catching a fish and feeding the young one. I thought that I missed the shoot but it happened again and I clicked it at the right time.
White-bellied Woodpecker (Dryocopusjavensis)
Location: Nagarahole Tiger Reserve
Camera details: NIKON D700 S/N: 2137132
Lens: 500.0 mm f/4.0 Focal length: 500.0 mm (in 35mm: 500.0 mm)
Exposure: 1.7 sec; f/5.6; ISO 100
This picture is taken at Kabhini National Park in Karnataka. This woodpecker is the largest of all woodpeckers. Sometimes we can’t understand the behavior of birds, woodpeckers generally hide themselves on the other side of the trunk of a tree when they notice other animal nearby. But this one was very bold because I was shooting him for near about half an hour and it is very long period in bird photography. I used slow shutter setting and clicked the photo and so you can see the birds speed.
Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis) bathing
Location: Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve
Camera details: NIKON D7000
Focal length: 500.0 mm (in 35mm: 750.0 mm)
Exposure: 1/250 sec; f/4.0; ISO 200
This photo was captured at Rathambore in Rajasthan. Generally when we are in National park for photography we have an ambition to shoot the large mammals. But we neglect the common subjects. As I was shooting suddenly rain started and everyone packed their equipment’s. I was watching egrets getting wet due to the rain. I asked the driver to drive the Gypsy near them. I didn’t care about my equipment’s because I knew that egrets would do some movement to dry themselves. That time I captured the photo.
Brown-headed Gulls ( Chroicocephalusbrunnicephalus) mobbing
Black-necked Cranes (Grusnigricollis)
Location: Ladakh
Camera details: NIKON D7000 S/N: 8129728
Lens: 500.0 mm f/4.0 Focal length: 500.0 mm (in 35mm: 750.0 mm)
Exposure: 0.8 sec; f/5.6; ISO 200
Ladakh is the only place in India where Black Neck Cranes come for breeding. They migrate to Ladakh from China in the month of May and June. This is the most favorable month in Ladakh for breeding of different birds as there are many insects present at the time. The place where black neck cranes were breeding at the same place there were the nests of Brown Headed Gulls. So Gulls attacked the cranes every time they came near to the nests and their young ones. Cranes were larger in size but they were frightened of the small Gulls they were very aggressive for protecting their young ones.
Tiger (Pantheratigris) cubs sparring
Location: Tadoba Tiger Reserve
Camera details: NIKON D700 S/N: 2137132
Lens: 500.0 mm f/4.0 Focal length: 500.0 mm (in 35mm: 500.0 mm)
Exposure: 0.8 sec; f/4.0; ISO 400
My guide informed me about the Tiger and her three cubs, so I wanted their family photo. While I was observing them I realized that the cubs were 12 to 18 months old and they were fighting for their territory with each other as they became aggressive among themselves.
Laungwala long-headed lizard (Bufonicepslaungwalaensis)
Location: Desert National Park, Rajasthan
Camera details: NIKON D7000 S/N: 8034005
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8 Focal length: 24.0 mm (in 35mm: 36.0 mm)
Exposure: 0.4 sec; f/4.5; ISO 100
This picture is taken at Desert National park in Rajasthan. This lizard in the picture is very rare and lives inside the sand. It emerges out as the Sun sets. It is difficult to take a picture of this lizard because it is very quick, buries itself into the sand if we disturb him and we cannot follow him as it disappears into the sad. First I studied the Lizards behavior for an hour and as it came out of the sad I clicked this picture.
Nilgai(Boselaphustragocamelus)
Location: Velavadar National Park
Camera details: NIKON D7000 S/N: 8129728
Lens: 500.0 mm f/4.0 Focal length: 500.0 mm (in 35mm: 750.0 mm)
Exposure: 1.3 sec; f/8; ISO 100
This picture is taken at Grasslands of Velawdar National Park. This picture was taken early in the morning, their was mist and lift in air. These female Blue Bulls were Grassing in the grassland I wanted to shoot them at a ground level. Sometimes Bule Bulls graze in the farms on the outskirts of the park and destroy the crops. But these Bulls are considered as God in Velawdar so they are no restricted to do so.
Egrets on their roost
Location: Kagzipura Wetlands, Aurangabad
Camera details: NIKON D200 Lens: 70.0-200.0 mm f/2.8
Focal length: 70.0 mm (in 35mm: 105.0 mm)
Exposure: 30.0 sec; f/11; ISO 400
This photo was been taken at Kagzipura, Aurangabad. These Egrets were sleeping on trees which were surrounded by water from all the sides. As I used long exposure to shot this picture after taking some shots I noticed that the photos got blurred due to the heavy traffic moving on the road, so with the help of my collogues I stopped the traffic for a minute and requested the Drivers of the vehicle to focus the head lamps on the trees and I got this twinkling shot.
This article first appeared in the January 2014 Saevus magazine issue