Indian dozen.

Here's my pick of the best photos from my Indian trip.You can be the judge of whether I have come back with 12 good ones as I planned.
The photos were taken with either my Leica X1 or X Vario.
One disappointment of the trip was that apart from the last few days it was bright but overcast,or pouring with rain in miserable,dirty Bangalore,so mainly the light was flat and there was very little sparkling light and no golden hours after dawn and before dusk.
Another unanticipated problem was that the Indians in the south have very dark skin so exposing for their faces is very difficult.If you do not get the exposure right you end up with a very black underexposed face whilst the rest of the scene is properly exposed or the reverse. I used spot metering on the face for some of the photos.
As well as being very selective about the photos I took-which was a very worthwhile exercise -I also put a big effort into filling the frame-easier with the zoom lens on the X Vario than the fixed lens X1.


I did not photograph tourist sites,beggars or sleeping people but I really enjoyed photographing the locals.Where possible I tried and engage with them and gain their nodded or spoken approval before I photograph them.I only had two refusals on the trip.Of course Murphy's Law dictates they were two really interesting characters but that's life.I used to be very reticent about approaching people to photograph them but as I have got older this reticence has gone and now I am  confident in taking a direct approach.

I have also finally firmed menu settings in the cameras and Lightroom which give me consistent and,to my mind,natural colour renditions from both cameras. I now have it that I cannot tell which camera I used just by looking at the photos the results are so similar.