Orangila's Place To Remember (Taj Mahal) & Photography Tips

I am writing this post for 2 reasons:

1. To support Hive account@kimzwarch & Hive account@archisteem on their project to collect 1001 stories for different places around the world. You can read the details here & here.

2. To participate in Hive account@sndbox-alpha’s initiation about curation for posts about education and science. You can read the details here.

The place I decide to write on is none other than the iconic Taj Mahal. It is one of the New 7 Wonders of The World and is a UNESCO Heritage Site that needs no introduction. As I am not an architect or well verse in the world of architecture, what I'll do is to share with you tips and tricks to take photos of this famous landmark.

INTRODUCTION

In 2010, my friend (a Sikh from Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia) married a Kadazan girl (from Penampang, Sabah, Malaysia). I have been to many weddings of different continents and culture. The traditional wedding in Sabah is one of the best I have been to, how ever you define a wedding, that wedding was perfect in the sense of happiness, dance, venue, atmosphere, interactions, food, etc. My friend's relatives from India insisted that they should have a proper Indian wedding in Punjab on December that year and invited all of us to attend. The experience and photos I took during that event was beyond memorable but that would be a topic for another day. Anyway, we took the opportunity to travel around India and Taj Mahal was most definitely on top of our list. I have seen millions of photos of the mausoleum and thought that there won't be any element of surprise for me. And boy was I wrong. Just the smell and experience of it made the entire trip a memorable one for me. We had a good tour guide who explained it all in details and gave us ample time for photography too. As someone who has a degree in mathematics and OCD, the fact that the entire Taj Mahal (plus surrounding buildings and garden) is PERFECTLY symmetrical is simply mind blogging to me. The maticulous details of this wonder simply blew my mind away. My goal is to write a few pointers to better prepare yourself should you have to honour to visit this magnificent structure.

TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY ALWAYS REQUIRES A BIT OF HOMEWORK

• Best months to visit is between October & March where temperature is cool and comfortable for photography.
• Visiting hours (closed on Fridays for prayers) is between 30 minutes before sunrise and up to 30 minutes before sunset. Meaning that those who are seeking to take photos during the golden hour can only take photos of sunrise.
• Night viewing of Taj Mahal is available during evenings with full moon.
• Photography is prohibited inside the main mausoleum.
• Tripods are prohibited in the entire premise. As a result, I do not think photography during night viewing is worth it unless you are there for the experience.

Note: Most of the information above is obtained from the official website. Please be sure to revisit this website prior to your visit as rules may change in the future.

To comply to the rules of both submissions. I am required to post no more than 3 photos. These 3 photos aren't the only ones I took but the ones most suitable for this post.

Nikon D3, 70-200mm lense, f/11, 70mm, 1/500 sec, ISO 200

This photo was deliberately tilted because I want to break the rule of perfect symmetry of the already perfect Taj Mahal. The end result is layering for the photo:

• Top left layer - The clear blue sky
• Middle layer - Mausoleum and structure of the building
• Bottom right layer - Visitors. The inclusion of visitors is important to give you the sense of scale.

Nikon D3, 70-200mm lense, f/11, 200mm, 1/500 sec, ISO 200

I am sure we all have come across millions of the frontal shot of Taj Mahal. The one with the ponds in the foreground and Taj Mahal mausoleum in the background. Those shots are popular because of the angle strategic location for a photoshoot. But architecture photography involves breaking the rules and get into the details.
From this photo, you can see that I used a 70-200mm lens to zoom into structure, with emphasise on the details of the marble (upper part) and decorative (lower part). Visitors are not allowed to visit the upper floors, otherwise, the colourful clothing of the locals will greatly compliment the pearly white marble color of the structure.

Nikon D3, 70-200mm lense, f/11, 200mm, 1/500 sec, ISO 200

Again, I used the 70-200mm zoom lens to portray a different perspective. I composed this photo using 2 very important rules:

• 1) Rule of Thirds - The visitors are at the bottom 3rd of the placement on the photo. Importance of Rule of Thirds will be discussed in detail on my upcoming posts.
• 2) Space - The upper 2 third of the photo showcased the amount of space. Also, unlike the first photo above, this photo incorporate the subjects of visitors, which gives the scale of the structure.

Caricature by Hive account@sireh