AnandSangam
Rock carved Buddha statue at Ajanta Caves, Maharashtra, India
The Ajanta Caves are located in the Aurangabad district in western India. The caves are a UNESCO identified world heritage site. The first of the 30 Buddhist cave monuments at Ajanta date back to 1st century B.C. Many more richly decorated caves were added to the original group during the 5th and 6th centuries A.D.(Gupta period). The paintings and sculptures of Ajanta are considered masterpieces of Buddhist religious art and have a considerable artistic influence.
Capturing a shot of the monuments is challenging as the caves are dark and artificially lit using warm low power flood lights. The light gives the monuments a dramatic look but make them difficult to photograph without tripods. As no tripods are allowed, it needed the ISO to be bumped up to 8000 to get a shutter speed of 1/40 sec to make a hand held capture feasible. While the main Buddha statue is the primary focus in this shot, the Buddha paintings on the wall to the left add a lot of character. What I love about the shot is how the high ISO allows the camera to capture a bright scene with detail that cannot be perceived by the naked eye.
Rock carved Buddha statue at Ajanta Caves, Maharashtra, India
The Ajanta Caves are located in the Aurangabad district in western India. The caves are a UNESCO identified world heritage site. The first of the 30 Buddhist cave monuments at Ajanta date back to 1st century B.C. Many more richly decorated caves were added to the original group during the 5th and 6th centuries A.D.(Gupta period). The paintings and sculptures of Ajanta are considered masterpieces of Buddhist religious art and have a considerable artistic influence.
Capturing a shot of the monuments is challenging as the caves are dark and artificially lit using warm low power flood lights. The light gives the monuments a dramatic look but make them difficult to photograph without tripods. As no tripods are allowed, it needed the ISO to be bumped up to 8000 to get a shutter speed of 1/40 sec to make a hand held capture feasible. While the main Buddha statue is the primary focus in this shot, the Buddha paintings on the wall to the left add a lot of character. What I love about the shot is how the high ISO allows the camera to capture a bright scene with detail that cannot be perceived by the naked eye.