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Photographing smoke trails gives some weird and wonderful shapes and patterns. When this is combined with photoshop, it is surprising what can be achieved. An abstract smoke trail image. Original photograph manipulated and coloured in photoshop. St Catherines Rock in Tenby is situated just off the end of South Beach the building, originally built as a fort and at one time used as a zoo is now abandoned and derelict. The island is cut off from the mainland at high tide.
A lot of folks who've seen these shots have asked how they were done so I'll attempt to explain...
There's probably a few variations on the theme but firstly here's what I used to do it
1. Canon 100mm macro lens (probably don't need a 'macro' lens as I found the best results were obtained from about 60 cm's ish)
2. What really makes a difference is an off camera flash. I was lucky enough to get a 580EX as a present with an off camera flash cord. This is important because with standard front facing flashes you run the risk of lighting up the background. This makes it harder to isolate the smoke form the background later in photoshop if it hasn't stayed completely black - you with me? If you have remote release for the flash gun even better - no cables!
3. A dark background. I initally used a black jumper but anything black is good. Preferably of a good size too so you have a bit of freedom of movement with the camera whilst still keeping the background in the frame.
4. Incense sticks and holder. Simple!
5. Tripod for the camera.
Basically set your background up and put your incense sticks about 1or more metres in front so the background will be blurred.
Set the camera up about 60cm away from the incense sticks. Pre focus the camera and use an aperture of f8 - f14 so you get a decent DOF. Experiment here.
Check the viewfinder for position making sure it's filled with black backdrop.
Set the flash ready. Vary the angles of flash if you can - I found a 45 degree angle to the smoke pointing 45 degrees up is ok. With the 580EX on 1/4 power about 6 inch distance is good for even light. Just experiment with this. If like me you just have a flash on the stand and no tripod an assistant can be handy to hold the flash.
Light the incense sticks, wait for pretty patterns and shoot away!
The best way I found of getting plenty of swirls is using two incense sticks burning simultaneously. Have the burning tips near each other and one will induce turbulence in the other stream. Otherwise with one stick burning you wait an age for anything interesting.
Download photos and tinker till your little heart's content in photoshop or whatever you use!
On 11th October , 2014, around 2.30 pm we reached our hotel at Leh. After a hurried lunch we proceeded to famous Hemis Monastery. In the late afternoon we reached at Hemis. It was behind a small hill, difficult to figure out such a huge structure from a distant point. We climbed few staircases, crossed a door and finally reached the main courtyard. What a wonderful ambiance it had been, so peaceful and serene. It was getting dark soon, and couldn’t see much of it. The next day we came again and had a vivid look. I was amazed by its richness and traditions of tantric practice of Tibetan Buddhism in such a remote place of the world.
Hemis Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery (gompa) of the Drukpa Lineage, located in Hemis, Ladakh, India. Situated 45 km from Leh, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Hemis Monastery existed before the 11th century and was re-established in 1672 by the Ladakhi king Sengge Namgyal. The annual Hemis festival honoring Padmasambhava is held here in early June.
Terma and tertöns : The essence of Tebetan Buddhism.
Padmasambhava (lit. "Lotus-Born"), also known as Guru Rinpoche, is a literary character of terma (Terma or "hidden treasure"- are key Tibetan Buddhist teaching, which the tradition holds were originally esoterically hidden by various adepts such as Padmasambhava and his consorts, in the 8th century for future discovery at auspicious times by other adepts, known as tertöns. As such, they represent a tradition of continuous revelation in Tibetan Buddhism. Termas are a part of Tantric Literature. Tradition holds that terma may be a physical object such as a text or ritual implement that is buried in the ground (or earth), hidden in a rock or crystal, secreted in a herb, or a tree, hidden in a lake (or water), or hidden in the sky (space). Though a literal understanding of terma is "hidden treasure", and sometimes objects are hidden away, the teachings associated should be understood as being “concealed within the mind of the guru”, that is, the true place of concealment is in the tertön's mindstream. If the concealed or encoded teaching or object is a text, it is often written in dakini script: a non-human type of code or writing).
Terma is an emanation of Amitabha (Amitābha or Amideva, is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism. Amitābha is the principal buddha in the Pure Land sect, a branch of Buddhism practiced mainly in East Asia, while in Vajrayana Amitābha is known for his longevity attribute, magnetising red fire element, the aggregate of discernment, pure perception and the deep awareness of emptiness of phenomena. According to these scriptures, Amitābha possesses infinite merits resulting from good deeds over countless past lives as a bodhisattva named Dharmakāra. "Amitābha" is translatable as "Infinite Light," hence Amitābha is also called "The Buddha of Immeasurable Life and Light" ).
Terma that is said to appear to tertons (A tertön is a discoverer of ancient texts or terma in Tibetan Buddhism) in visionary encounters and a focus of Tibetan Buddhist practice (Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet, Mongolia, Tuva, Bhutan, Kalmykia and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, and India (particularly in Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Dharamsala, Lahaul and Spiti district in Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim. It is also practiced in Northeast China. Religious texts and commentaries are contained in the Tibetan Buddhist canon such that Tibetan is a spiritual language of these areas. The Tibetan diaspora has spread Tibetan Buddhism to many Western countries, where the tradition has gained popularity. Among its prominent exponents is the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet. The number of its adherents is estimated to be between ten and twenty million).
Interested Viewers can see the following documentary on Padmasambhava:
Padmasambhava
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQBbfLtxj8A&spfreload=10
History
Hemis Monastery existed before the 11th century. Naropa, the pupil of the yogi Tilopa, and teacher of the translator Marpa is connected with this monastery. A translation was made by A. Grünwedel (Nӑro und Tilo,: Festschrift Ernst Kuhn, München 1916) of Naropa's biography that was found in Hemis monastery.
In this manuscript Naropa (or Naro) meets the "dark blue" (Skr.: nila: dark blue or black) Tilopa (or Tillo), a tantric master, who gives Naropa 12 "great" and 12 "small" tasks to do in order to enlighten him to the inherent emptiness/illusoriness of all things. Naropa is depicted as the "abbott of Nalanda" (F. Wilhelm, Prüfung und Initiation im Buche Pausya und in der Biographie des Naropa, Wiesbaden 1965, p. 70), the university-monastery in today's Bihar, India, that flourished until the sacking by Turkish and Afghan Muslim forces. This sacking must have been the driving force behind Naropa's peregrination in the direction of Hemis. After Naropa and Tilopa met in Hemis they travelled back in the direction of a certain monastery in the now no longer existing kingdom of Maghada, called Otantra which has been identified as today's Otantapuri. Naropa is consered the founding father of the Kagyu-lineage of the Himalayan esoteric Buddhism. Hence Hemis is the main seat of the Kagyu lineage of Buddhism.
In 1894 Russian journalist Nicolas Notovitch claimed Hemis as the origin of an otherwise unknown gospel, the Life of Saint Issa, Best of the Sons of Men, in which Jesus is said to have traveled to India during his "lost years." According to Notovitch, the work had been preserved in the Hemis library, and was shown to him by the monks there while he was recuperating from a broken leg. But once his story had been re-examined by historians, Notovitch confessed to having fabricated the evidence. Bart D. Ehrman states that "Today there is not a single recognized scholar on the planet who has any doubts about the matter. The entire story was invented by Notovitch, who earned a good deal of money and a substantial amount of notoriety for his hoax". However, the Indian Pandit Swami Abhedananda also claims to have read the same manuscript, and published his account of viewing it after his visit to Hemis in 1921. Abhedananda claims on the book jacket that it was translated for him with the help of a "local Lama interpreter." In the same vein, Notovich did not initially translate the manuscript, but reported his Sherpa guide did so as Notovitch could not read the original text. Notovich's version of the manuscript was translated from Tibetan to Russian to French to English. According to Swami Abhedananda's account, his Lama's translation was equivalent to the one published by Notovich. The Gutenberg Project has published the entire manuscript as a free ebook.
Hemis Festival
The Hemis Festival is dedicated to Lord Padmasambhava (Guru Rimpoche) venerated as the Dance Performance at Hemis Monastery representative reincarnate of Buddha. He is believed to have been born on the 10th day of the fifth month of the Monkey year as predicted by the Buddha Shakyamuni. It is also believed that his life mission was, and remains, to improve the spiritual condition of all living beings. And so on this day, which comes once in a cycle of 12 years, Hemis observes a major extravaganza in his memory. The observance of these sacred rituals is believed to give spiritual strength and good health. The Hemis festival takes place in the rectangular courtyard in front of the main door of the monastery. The space is wide and open save two raised square platforms, three feet high with a sacred pole in the center. A raised dias with a richly cushioned seat with a finely painted small Tibetan table is placed with the ceremonial items - cups full of holy water, uncooked rice, tormas made of dough and butter and incense sticks. A number of musicians play the traditional music with four pairs of cymbals, large-pan drums, small trumpets and large size wind instruments. Next to them, a small space is assigned for the lamas to sit.
The ceremonies begin with an early morning ritual atop the Gompa where, to the beat of drums and the resounding clash of cymbals and the spiritual wail of pipes, the portrait of "Dadmokarpo" or "Rygyalsras Rimpoche" is then ceremoniously put on display for all to admire and worship.
The most esoteric of festivities are the mystic mask dances. The Mask Dances of Ladakh are referred collectively as chams Performance. Chams performance is essentially a part of Tantric tradition, performed only in those gompas which follow the Tantric Vajrayana teachings and the monks perform tantric worship.
Source: Wikipedia and others.
With the last couple days being very wet in Brisbane I decided to give some smokey photography a go using some incense sticks.
Flash camera right wireless trigger manual power Kenko tubes used
Lamp holding statues in Wong Tai Sin Temple for the prayers to light the Incense Sticks.
On the Chinese New Year's Eve, thousands of worshippers wait outside the temple before midnight and rush in to the main altar to offer Wong Tai Sin their glowing incense sticks when the year comes. As the tradition goes, the earlier they offer the incense, the better luck they will have that year.
This photo is part of my HK and China Selection series, I always appreciate your comments and advise on how to improve this photo. Many Thanks.
Day 118 of 365: Some new props from the Chinese Dollar Store as I like to call it. They're selling all kinds of crap, but the owner is Chinese and has a lot of Asian kitsch. The mask was 3 dollars, heh.
For TOTW: Monochrome
For TRP: The Human Condition.
The More You Know™: In Japan, Geishas are hired to entertain guests at parties. Their time is measured by the time it takes an incense stick to burn and is called senkodai (線香代, "incense stick fee" - did you notice how I sneaked in some Japanese characters, looking all worldly and like I know what I'm talking about?). I'm not sure how many incense sticks I could have burned while taking this picture, but I'll be sure to make it up to Sara.
Schmobist: snooted speedlight shot through window blinds at 1/4th and some ambient room light. It's composed of two exposures so I could dodge away heavily on the mask.
XP113 (very surprising because this looks like shit as a thumbnail).
Every year, usually in the month of August ( or 15th of July in Chinese Calendar ) Chinese People in everywhere observe a large-scale tradition of paying respects to the dead. They believe that during this month, the “Gates of Hell” are opened and souls of the dead are freed and allowed to roam the earth. The best places to watch how the traditional rites are practiced in are in the traditional Chinese Cemetery, where fellow believers congregate to burn incense sticks and present their offerings in the form of prayer. As my hometown has a large Chinese population, they still keep this traditional celebration from generation to generation.
I follow one of my friend to visit her father grave to see their praying ceremony. Usually this kinda very awkward for most of the Chinese people to let outside guest to join this personal praying...Honestly, in my hometown during this festival period was a little bit creepy atmosphere .^__^
Thanks for the views, comments, faves...^__^
I've been wanting to try photographing smoke for a while. I finally bought some incense sticks and proceeded to smoke-up and stink-up my home office. Graham Jeffery has an excellent blog entry on how to photograph smoke. If you're interested, I'd head over there to see his photos and read about his technique. I'll post some comments on my blog when I get a chance. I colorized some of these images in Photoshop. Those that are more subtlety colored (about half of them) show the natural colors of the smoke itself (with some saturation added in a few cases).
All of my smoke images were created with two light sources. The first was natural light coming through an window on the left. I doubt the natural light contributed much (if anything), because my shutter speed was 1/250 and the f-stop was f/10. To the right of the smoke I placed a Canon Speedlite set to full power. Those setting pretty much nuked any ambient light. To prevent any light from spilling onto the background, and flaring into the lens, I attached a couple of 4" X 8" cardboard "gobos" to the sides of my flash (using Velcro). I wish now that I had taken a setup shot. Oh well, next time.
I have seen pictures of smoke photography for a while and always thought it looked like fun so after trying i can say it is but i now have a terrible headache becuase of the smell from incense sticks so next time im wearing a respirator.
Strobist sb600 at 1/4 snooted camera left
Po Lin Monastery is a Buddhist monastery, located on Ngong Ping Plateau, on Lantau Island, Hong Kong.
The monastery was founded in 1906 by three monks visiting from Jiangsu Province on the Chinese mainland and was initially known simply as "The Big Hut" (大茅蓬 Tai Mao Pung). It was renamed to its present name in 1924. The main temple houses three bronze statues of the Buddha – representing his past, present and future lives – as well as many Buddhist scriptures.
Tian Tan Buddha, a giant Buddha statue completed in 1993, is an extension of the monastery.
The Ngong Ping 360, consisting of the Ngong Ping village and a gondola lift running between Tung Chung and Ngong Ping, was built near to the Po Lin Monastery.The monastery boasts many prominent architectural structures, such as the Main Shrine Hall of Buddha, the Hall of Bodhisattva Skanda.
This monastery is also noted for making wooden bracelets that are only sold near the Tian Tan Buddha statue.
Incense sticks left burning by people leaving the Jing'an Temple after visiting to pray to the buddha and other statues in the temple.
Loy Krathong (or Loi Kratong, Thai ลอยกระทง) is a festival celebrated annually throughout Thailand. It is held on the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar, in the western calendar this usually falls into November.
“Loi” means “to float”. “Krathong” is a raft about a handspan in diameter traditionally made from a section of banana tree trunk (although modern-day versions often use styrofoam), decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, flowers, candles, incense sticks etc. During the night of the full moon, many people will release a small raft like this on a river. Governmental offices, corporations and other organizations also build much bigger and more elaborate rafts, and these are often judged in contests. In addition, fireworks and beauty contests take place during the festival.
The festival probably originated in India as a Hindu festival similar to Divali as thanksgiving to the deity of the Ganges with floating lanterns for giving life throughout the year.
Loi Krathong[a] (Thai: ลอยกระทง, ) is a festival celebrated annually throughout Thailand and certain parts of Laos and Burma (in Shan State). The name could be translated "Floating Crown" or "Floating Decoration", and comes from the tradition of making buoyant decorations which are then floated on a river.
Loi Krathong takes place on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. In the western calendar this usually falls in November.
Loi means 'to float', while krathong refers to the (usually) lotus-shaped container which floats on the water. Krathong has no other meaning in Thai besides decorative floats, so Loi Krathong is very hard to translate, requiring a word describing what a Krathong looks like such as Floating Crown, Floating Boat, Floating Decoration. The traditional krathong are made from a slice of the trunk of a banana tree or a spider lily plant. Modern krathongs are more often made of bread or styrofoam. A bread krathong will disintegrate after a few days and can be eaten by fish. Banana stalk krathong are also biodegradable, but styrofoam krathongs are sometimes banned, as they pollute the rivers and may take years to decompose. A krathong is decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, incense sticks, and a candle. A small coin is sometimes included as an offering to the river spirits. On the night of the full moon, Thais launch their krathong on a river, canal or a pond, making a wish as they do so. The festival may originate from an ancient ritual paying respect to the water spirits.
Source: Wikipedia
The Swe Taw Myat paya or “Buddha tooth relic pagoda” is one of Yangon’s recent places of worship. Construction was funded with donations of Burmese people and Buddhists from all over the world.
The pagoda was constructed to enshrine a sacred Buddha tooth relic, believed to be one of the teeth of the Gautama Buddha who died some 2,500 years ago. The tooth was brought over from China in 1994 and enshrined in the pagoda for 45 days for Burmese Buddhists to pay homage. Enshrined along with the original relic were two ivory copies, one of which is still enshrined in the Swe Taw Myat today.
Access to the grounds is through a large, elaborately ornamented gateway on Sware Taw Myat road. Approaching the pagoda are stalls where devotees can buy flowers, incense sticks and other items to pay homage to the relic.
The pagoda, a large white building adorned with golden ornamentations, was constructed to resemble the ancient Ananda pagoda in Bagan, that was build late 11th century.
The Swe Taw Myat is a symmetrical building with four entrance portals protruding out from the main structure. The stairs to each entrance are flanked by a pair of white and gold Chinthe, a mythological creature that looks like a lion, in Burma often seen guarding the temple. The center of the structure consists of several tiers of receding size, topped with a gold painted sikhara and a spire. - www.renown-travel.com/
Why Chinese always want to rest? After so many times spent in China, I still not get a proper answer, except that "it is part of the culture"... I have my proper idea which is linked to the one child policy but here is not the right place to talk about it.
As the Xingguo temple is located on the top of the Qianfo Shan, It follow the geographical constraints related to it. Many stairs need to be climbed to reach the highest pavillon. This kind of situation can offer some great perspective for photographers. I was staying dow the last stair part and find an aperture offered by a tree. A very good place to capture one part of the temple and people with a specific angle. Here is a group of 3 friends having a rest, before going to burn some incense sticks in the temple.
Hemis Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery (gompa) of the Drukpa Lineage, located in Hemis, Ladakh, India. Situated 45 km from Leh, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Hemis Monastery existed before the 11th century and was re-established in 1672 by the Ladakhi king Sengge Namgyal. The annual Hemis festival honoring Padmasambhava is held here in early June.
Terma and tertöns : The essence of Tebetan Buddhism.
Padmasambhava (lit. "Lotus-Born"), also known as Guru Rinpoche, is a literary character of terma (Terma or "hidden treasure"- are key Tibetan Buddhist teaching, which the tradition holds were originally esoterically hidden by various adepts such as Padmasambhava and his consorts, in the 8th century for future discovery at auspicious times by other adepts, known as tertöns. As such, they represent a tradition of continuous revelation in Tibetan Buddhism. Termas are a part of Tantric Literature. Tradition holds that terma may be a physical object such as a text or ritual implement that is buried in the ground (or earth), hidden in a rock or crystal, secreted in a herb, or a tree, hidden in a lake (or water), or hidden in the sky (space). Though a literal understanding of terma is "hidden treasure", and sometimes objects are hidden away, the teachings associated should be understood as being “concealed within the mind of the guru”, that is, the true place of concealment is in the tertön's mindstream. If the concealed or encoded teaching or object is a text, it is often written in dakini script: a non-human type of code or writing).
Terma is an emanation of Amitabha (Amitābha or Amideva, is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism. Amitābha is the principal buddha in the Pure Land sect, a branch of Buddhism practiced mainly in East Asia, while in Vajrayana Amitābha is known for his longevity attribute, magnetising red fire element, the aggregate of discernment, pure perception and the deep awareness of emptiness of phenomena. According to these scriptures, Amitābha possesses infinite merits resulting from good deeds over countless past lives as a bodhisattva named Dharmakāra. "Amitābha" is translatable as "Infinite Light," hence Amitābha is also called "The Buddha of Immeasurable Life and Light" ).
Terma that is said to appear to tertons (A tertön is a discoverer of ancient texts or terma in Tibetan Buddhism) in visionary encounters and a focus of Tibetan Buddhist practice (Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet, Mongolia, Tuva, Bhutan, Kalmykia and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, and India (particularly in Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Dharamsala, Lahaul and Spiti district in Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim. It is also practiced in Northeast China. Religious texts and commentaries are contained in the Tibetan Buddhist canon such that Tibetan is a spiritual language of these areas. The Tibetan diaspora has spread Tibetan Buddhism to many Western countries, where the tradition has gained popularity. Among its prominent exponents is the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet. The number of its adherents is estimated to be between ten and twenty million).
History
Hemis Monastery existed before the 11th century. Naropa, the pupil of the yogi Tilopa, and teacher of the translator Marpa is connected with this monastery. A translation was made by A. Grünwedel (Nӑro und Tilo,: Festschrift Ernst Kuhn, München 1916) of Naropa's biography that was found in Hemis monastery.
In this manuscript Naropa (or Naro) meets the "dark blue" (Skr.: nila: dark blue or black) Tilopa (or Tillo), a tantric master, who gives Naropa 12 "great" and 12 "small" tasks to do in order to enlighten him to the inherent emptiness/illusoriness of all things. Naropa is depicted as the "abbott of Nalanda" (F. Wilhelm, Prüfung und Initiation im Buche Pausya und in der Biographie des Naropa, Wiesbaden 1965, p. 70), the university-monastery in today's Bihar, India, that flourished until the sacking by Turkish and Afghan Muslim forces. This sacking must have been the driving force behind Naropa's peregrination in the direction of Hemis. After Naropa and Tilopa met in Hemis they travelled back in the direction of a certain monastery in the now no longer existing kingdom of Maghada, called Otantra which has been identified as today's Otantapuri. Naropa is consered the founding father of the Kagyu-lineage of the Himalayan esoteric Buddhism. Hence Hemis is the main seat of the Kagyu lineage of Buddhism.
In 1894 Russian journalist Nicolas Notovitch claimed Hemis as the origin of an otherwise unknown gospel, the Life of Saint Issa, Best of the Sons of Men, in which Jesus is said to have traveled to India during his "lost years." According to Notovitch, the work had been preserved in the Hemis library, and was shown to him by the monks there while he was recuperating from a broken leg. But once his story had been re-examined by historians, Notovitch confessed to having fabricated the evidence. Bart D. Ehrman states that "Today there is not a single recognized scholar on the planet who has any doubts about the matter. The entire story was invented by Notovitch, who earned a good deal of money and a substantial amount of notoriety for his hoax". However, the Indian Pandit Swami Abhedananda also claims to have read the same manuscript, and published his account of viewing it after his visit to Hemis in 1921. Abhedananda claims on the book jacket that it was translated for him with the help of a "local Lama interpreter." In the same vein, Notovich did not initially translate the manuscript, but reported his Sherpa guide did so as Notovitch could not read the original text. Notovich's version of the manuscript was translated from Tibetan to Russian to French to English. According to Swami Abhedananda's account, his Lama's translation was equivalent to the one published by Notovich. The Gutenberg Project has published the entire manuscript as a free ebook.
Hemis Festival
The Hemis Festival is dedicated to Lord Padmasambhava (Guru Rimpoche) venerated as the Dance Performance at Hemis Monastery representative reincarnate of Buddha. He is believed to have been born on the 10th day of the fifth month of the Monkey year as predicted by the Buddha Shakyamuni. It is also believed that his life mission was, and remains, to improve the spiritual condition of all living beings. And so on this day, which comes once in a cycle of 12 years, Hemis observes a major extravaganza in his memory. The observance of these sacred rituals is believed to give spiritual strength and good health. The Hemis festival takes place in the rectangular courtyard in front of the main door of the monastery. The space is wide and open save two raised square platforms, three feet high with a sacred pole in the center. A raised dias with a richly cushioned seat with a finely painted small Tibetan table is placed with the ceremonial items - cups full of holy water, uncooked rice, tormas made of dough and butter and incense sticks. A number of musicians play the traditional music with four pairs of cymbals, large-pan drums, small trumpets and large size wind instruments. Next to them, a small space is assigned for the lamas to sit.
The ceremonies begin with an early morning ritual atop the Gompa where, to the beat of drums and the resounding clash of cymbals and the spiritual wail of pipes, the portrait of "Dadmokarpo" or "Rygyalsras Rimpoche" is then ceremoniously put on display for all to admire and worship.
The most esoteric of festivities are the mystic mask dances. The Mask Dances of Ladakh are referred collectively as chams Performance. Chams performance is essentially a part of Tantric tradition, performed only in those gompas which follow the Tantric Vajrayana teachings and the monks perform tantric worship.
Source: Wikipedia and others.
A priest is seen blowing a conch at the start of the Ganga Aarti.
Varanasi is the oldest inhabited cities in India and home to more than 85 ghats (Ghats are steps leading into river Ganges)
Dashashwamedh ghat located close to the Vishwanath temple is the main and the most spectacular ghat. As the sun goes down, the priests set up the ghat to perform the incredible Ganga Aarti. A prayer offered to river Ganges and dedicated to God. This magnificent prayer is performed using multi tiered oil lamps, an idol of the goddess ganga, flowers, incense sticks, a conch shell and a brass lamp with snake head. The priests turn in all four directions and perform the prayers which is witnessed by the localities and traveller's.
Joss Stick worker setting up piles of Joss Sticks to dry
.
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We bought some incense sticks, so it's time for some smoke shots.
Based on the instructions from gavtrain.blogspot.com/2009/07/smoke-photography-made-simp..., I had some fun :)
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Used on
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For the three nights straddling the Mid-Autumn festival[3], visitors can also see the spectacular Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance. It's a 67-metre-long 'fire dragon' that winds its way with much fanfare and smoke through a collection of streets located in Tai Hang, close to Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. The Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance started in 1880 when Tai Hang was a small Hakka village of farmers and fishermen on the waterfront of Causeway Bay. This custom has been followed every year since 1880, with the exception of the Japanese Occupation and during the 1967 disturbances.[4]
According to local legend, over a century ago, a few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival, a typhoon and then a plague wreaked havoc on the village. While the villagers were repairing the damage, a python entered the village and ate their livestock. According to some villagers, the python was the son of the Dragon King. A soothsayer decreed the only way to stop the chaos was to stage a fire dance for three days and nights during the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival. The villagers made a huge dragon of straw and covered it with incense sticks, which they then lit. Accompanied by drummers and erupting firecrackers, they danced for three days and three nights – and the plague disappeared.
Another one of my smoke "demons" created using backlit smoke off a black background and some swirling incense sticks and some cigarettes.
Photographing smoke trails gives some weird and wonderful shapes and patterns. When this is combined with photoshop, it is surprising what can be achieved. An abstract smoke trail image. Original photograph manipulated and coloured in photoshop.
This is a technique that can be easily achieved in a cheap studio setup. All I did was drape my black muslin over a chair, light up 2 incense sticks, place them on the incense holder, which is sitting on the chair. I then placed my YN-560 speedlite flash on a tripod with the RF-602 receiver at 1/8th power. The flash is positioned to the left of camera pointing from behind the smoke. Light the incense sticks and then wave your hands in front of the smoke to make it swirl - then just take the pictures at f/16 on the 50mm at 1/200th of a second at ISO 200.
The inspiration came from this pic:
www.israbox.com/uploads/posts/2012-01/1327420865_va-chill...
I also changed the colour temperature in Photoshop to "daylight" (originally at 4300 Kelvin), increased the contrast and saturation a little.
Uploading after 10 days !! Hope you guys are doing great !! It almost seems like a home coming !! I had terrible time with my internet service provider [ Tata Indicom] and simply they blocked my net access for the last 10 days [ and in fact this is not the first time that they have done that]. After much follow up and fight :-), they have rectified the error. Anyway, I have switched to another provider now [ Airtel broadband ] which seems to be better. Anyway - I could not access Flickr and hence could not cmment any of your photos last week. Will catch up very soon though.
For the three nights straddling the Mid-Autumn festival[3], visitors can also see the spectacular Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance. It's a 67-metre-long 'fire dragon' that winds its way with much fanfare and smoke through a collection of streets located in Tai Hang, close to Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. The Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance started in 1880 when Tai Hang was a small Hakka village of farmers and fishermen on the waterfront of Causeway Bay. This custom has been followed every year since 1880, with the exception of the Japanese Occupation and during the 1967 disturbances.[4]
According to local legend, over a century ago, a few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival, a typhoon and then a plague wreaked havoc on the village. While the villagers were repairing the damage, a python entered the village and ate their livestock. According to some villagers, the python was the son of the Dragon King. A soothsayer decreed the only way to stop the chaos was to stage a fire dance for three days and nights during the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival. The villagers made a huge dragon of straw and covered it with incense sticks, which they then lit. Accompanied by drummers and erupting firecrackers, they danced for three days and three nights – and the plague disappeared.
A-Ma Temple (Chinese: 媽閣廟; Chinese: 妈阁庙 Portuguese: Templo de A-Má), situated on the southwest tip of the Macau Peninsula, is one of the oldest and most famous Taoist temples in Macau. Built in 1488, the temple is dedicated to Matsu, the goddess of seafarers and fishermen.
The name Macau is thought to be derived from the name of the temple. It is said that when the Portuguese sailors landed at the coast just outside the temple and asked the name of the place, the natives replied "媽閣" "A-Ma-Gau" (bay of goddess A-Ma). The Portuguese then named the peninsula "Macao". The temple was well described in ancient Chinese texts, as well as represented in paintings, related to Macao. It is also one of the first scenes photographed in Macao.
Temple consists of six main parts: Gate Pavilion, the Memorial Arch, the Prayer Hall, the Hall of Benevolence (the oldest part of the temple), the Hall of Guanyin, Zhengjiao Chanlin - Buddhist Pavilion.
In 2005, the temple became one of the designated sites of the Historic Centre of Macau enlisted on UNESCO World Heritage List.
1st January 2005: Though the Buddhist new year is in April, Sri Lankans celebrate the Gregorian New Year too. Many Hindus and Buddhist went to the temple at Sella Kataragama on the 1st January to pray for the souls of the deceased. Sri Lanka Tsunami.
Joss-stick burning is an everyday practice in traditional Chinese religion. There are many different types of joss sticks used for different purposes or on different festive days. Many of them are long and thin and are mostly coloured yellow, red, and more rarely, black. Thick joss sticks are used for special ceremonies, such as funerals. Spiral joss sticks are also used on a regular basis, which are found hanging above temple ceilings, with burn times that are exceedingly long. In some states, such as Taiwan, Singapore, or Malaysia, where they celebrate the Ghost Festival, large, pillar-like dragon joss sticks are sometimes used. These generate such a massive amount of smoke and heat that they are only ever burned outside. Chinese incense sticks for use in popular religion are generally without aroma or only the slightest trace of jasmine or rose, since it is the smoke, not the scent, which is important in conveying the prayers of the faithful to heaven.
Off to a good start this year, I gave zooming while exposing a go yesterday, today we move onto all things smoke. I've never tried this before, so it was trial and error. I setup some incense sticks on a chair in the basement, propped a black cloth behind, and placed two 580exII's below and at either side of the stick pointing up at it, and behind it. I then took 200 shots of the incense stick, occasionally utilizing a small reflector to waft the smoke a little.
I think you can only try something like this once you're older than 21 years old, any younger and you'd be taken away in a van with square wheels! I got some strange looks from my wife on this one.
I stopped when I could stand the smell no more. This is the first one I've processed. While waiting on the images to import into Lightroom, I came across a great blog on this subject, it looks like I did everything as described in the blog... without even reading it (remember the square wheels!). Some great tips on there though for post processing smoke, here is the link:
lightingmods.blogspot.com/2007/07/diy-smoke-made-easy.html
strobist: 580exII left & right of incense and slightly behind so not to light the backdrop. Sigma EF-500 Super DG flash on camera (flash disabled) acting as master for ETTL, FEC -2.