Capturing Hussain-Sagar

 On 27/11/2011 i boarded the flight to vizag from hyderabad with Mom and Dad.  The flight took off at 7:30 PM one hour late than the actual time. It was night as it has to be. I was excited since the cities lights would be a fantastic view from the top. At 7:33 PM i spotted Hussain Sagar in the distance. It was a Dark blot in the middle of an ocean of lights. Immediately i trained my camera on Hussain Sagar as a hunter would his rifle on his prey. In a few seconds the wing of the flight blocked my line of sight. I used this time to plan how i would capture the spectacle. A photographer will understand the technical difficulties involved in capturing it.

First thing i did was to choose the max ISO speed and max aperture of my cam, 1600 and 3.4 respectively. Now came the bigger problem, shutter speed. What speed should i choose?? If i choose a high shutter speed the pic will be sharp but very dim. If i choose a low shutter speed the pic will be bright but blurred. How ?? How?? How?? I did it , i managed to capture Hussain Sagar in its all stink glory. . .   :P

The first pic i shot was at a ISO 1600, shutter speed 1/20 , aperture 3.4 . Here it is

ISO 1600, shutter speed 1/20 , aperture 3.4

The second pic i choose a smaller shutter speed of 1.6 seconds. I knew it would be blurred and bright still i took it.

ISO 1600, shutter speed 1.6 sec , aperture 3.4

Mera Solution :
At this point i lost hope and thought its impossible to capture the beauty of hussain sagar from a great height. I was watching it and then it suddenly struck me that since the aircraft is still gaining height i might have a chance indeed.

As the aircraft rises the ground doesnt seeem to move much slowly.

 For example : When driving a car in a vast open space like a highway 100kmph seems like nothing , but if you travel at 20 kmph in a congested gully it seems like 100kmph. Thats the way we perceive. When the reference is large and far away we cannot perceive speed and distances. This is true. If you try to estimate distances and speeds with reference to massive objects like mountains you will most probably fail to estimate.

So i waited for a few seconds for the aircraft to rise higher and give me a chance to capture hussain sagar bright and sharp ! My only worry was whether the aircraft would reach the required altitude before hussain sagar passes away . It didnt. After approximately 45 seconds i managed to capture hussain sagar bright and sharp.

shutter speed 1/5

PS :  The first picture is not the actual one.I posted another dark pic i clicked in that journey. I deleted all the  failed attempts.
PSS: That journey is the most terrible journey in my life. There was a thunderstorm in vizag. The pilot attempted to land 6 times. The plane was shuddering and vibrating like a hand kerchief in a wind tunnel experimental setup. The flight was sent back to hyderabad owing to bad weather conditions in vizag.