Houseboat

Photography by shaji philip

This beautiful picture was shot when we had visited kerala.The boat that is seen in this picture is called as a Houseboat.The Houseboats are fully furnished with an open lounge,  bath attached bedrooms and a Small kitchen (kitchenette).They are extremely eco friendly.It takes pain and  great skill  to construct these giant houseboats.they are built by tying huge planks of  wood together.Infact not a single nail is used in the making of a houseboat.There used to be an entire clan of artisans who were involved in house boat construction.usually houseboats in kerala(INDIA) have a three men crew consisting of a cook,guide and oarsmen.In ancient times these large boats were used to transport rice,coconuts and other commodities to the kochi port .Nowadays a Houseboats can be an innovative Holiday idea. 

Munnar -Kerala

Photography by Shaji Philip

This picture was captured at Munnar which is in kerala State of India.In Tamil language Munnar means three rivers.This beautiful place is located where the rivers Nallathani ,Mudrapuzha & Kundala meet, and so is the name.its is a very beautiful place with tea plantations, hills, lakes and forests.South India's highest peak Anamudi is located there, standing  2,695 m tall. The economy of Munnar is primarily from its vast tea and coffee plantations.Tourism also plays an important role in its economy.Munnar is referred to as the Kashmir of South India, amidst beautiful landscapes Munnar also offers Tourists relaxation,peace of mind and adventure 

Free Adobe plugin - Pixel Bender...

Pixel Bender is a free plug-in for Photoshop CS5 that will give you a "painting" effect and a whole lot more.

Though it is from Adobe and free, it does not come as part if the Photoshop installation, you will need to head over to Adobe and download it here. You can check out (and download) Pixel Bender filters that have been designed by others at the Pixel Bender Exchange.

And if you're feeling real ambitious you can also download the Pixel Bender toolkit and develop some filters of your own.

In this episode of Photoshop User TV Dave Cross gives us a look at the capabilities of Pixel Bender.

My My friend Mike Palmer recently did a couple posts about Pixel Bender (here and here), below is one of the images he posted.

The details: "Shot using a D300 with a 24-120vr Nikkor... a 5 shot HDR merged and tonemapped in Photomatix Pro, to Lightroom 3 for small develop tweaks, then to CS5 to use Pixel Bender".

(click on image to view larger in a new window)