Question about photo opportunity at the Taj Mahal
MikeHenderson...I hope you don't mind me posting this picture from your blog. If you do, please let me know and I will take it down 
Mike posted an amazing picture on his blog and I would like to know if others on the POI trip had the chance to get this picture taken. He said "Tauck arranged for a photographer to assist us with pictures. Here are two he did of Judy and me. He poured some water on the floor and then put the iPhone upside down (lenses down) on the wet surface. The water provided the reflection".
To me, this is a picture that I would cherish forever and I am hoping that we will have the chance to take this same photo.
Those of you who have taken the POI trip, did you also have the opportunity to take this photo?
Thanks in advance for the info
Tamara in Texas
POI 1-22-2025
Comments
tdelliott71 it depends on the photographer and the time of day. - or perhaps this photo was taken shortly after COVID when the numbers of travelers were less. I'm guessing MikeHenderson had this photo taken during the pre-dawn visit to the Taj Mahal as the mid-morning hours crowds are thicker. The photographer will do his best. on my 1st POI tour I found the photopgrapher to be much better at capturing unique photos than on my 2nd visit (India-Nepal). Keep in mind, the India-Nepal tour only includes the mid-morning visit and not the early visit. We actually mixed the schedule a bit for the last trip as it was very foggy on the morning we were to visit the Taj. We instead visited the Fort first and then went to the Taj later in the afternoon and it was very crowded
No problem posting that picture. I'm glad you liked it.
This picture was taken on the early morning visit to the Taj. However,if you look closely, you can see the heads and shoulders of people between us and the Taj. There are always a lot of people at the Taj whenever it's open.
The picture was taken from one of the buildings on the side of the Taj. The floor of that building is raised so when you look out at floor level, most of the body of a person between you and the Taj is not seen by the camera. There were quite a few people there – you just don’t see them in the picture.
He took this same picture of many of the people in our group. He used the "Slo-mo" setting so you get a number of "Live" photos. That allows you to pick the one you want. And since they are "live" you can even pick the best in a photo by using the "edit" function. This is all iPhone terminology.
Tdelliott71 - On our tour those posed shots at the Taj Mahal happened during an optional early morning visit to the Taj Mahal where Tauck got special early entry. During the normal afternoon visit it is too crowded for those posed pictures to take place.
So if they offer an early morning visit don’t pass on it in lieu of extra sleep, a spa visit, etc. That is if you what the chance for that type of picture.
When we went, it was not a Tauck exclusive visit in the early morning - there were lots of people there with us. Here's a picture I took of the Taj during the early morning tour. You can see the number of people. After this, we went back to the hotel, had breakfast, and then made another visit later in the morning. It really is something to see.
Mike Henderson...I just want to say thank you again for your blog. While I travel, I post pics from each day along with facts about what we have seen...kind of like you blog. I am typing up all of my notes in advance so that I only have to edit pics before posting. Your blog has helped me follow along with the printed itinerary from Tauck to get a better feel for how each day will flow. This will save me sooooooo much time when we are there...I know you understand how much work goes into posting pics and information from a trip like this. I'm only on day 9 but I already have 9 pages of notes that can easily be copied and pasted (plus a little tweaking if things change) with my pics before uploading.
Thanks again
Tamara
@tdelliott71 - what I do to make my blog is fairly geeky, meaning you have to know a fair amount about doing webpages and hosting them (I spent my career as an electrical engineer and am comfortable on a computer). And there are costs involved in hosting the blog (maybe $100/year), plus the annual cost of the domain name.
But there are some sites that make it easy. One I know of is blogspot.com, owned, I think, by Google. There are others. If you search for something like "who will host my blog" you should find them. They're free but they put some advertising on the side of your blog. You get the middle of the webpage and they get the sides (if I remember correctly).
I created our blog because our extended family is all over the US - it was the only way to share our travels with them. I have privacy objections to Facebook, but I looked at them to see if I could do what I wanted to. Didn't see any way to do it on Facebook.
Many people post pictures but they don't include text to explain what and where about the pictures. What I do is attempt to tell a story in text and photos. When I'm taking pictures, I'm thinking of the story, thinking about what pictures I need to show what's going on. I often "think" the story (which will become the text) as I'm observing and taking pictures.
I bring a small computer (13 inch screen) with me on the trip (it stays in the hotel room) and I try to write the day's story each night before I forget what we did, saw and felt. Judy often helps me with the story. I post process every picture through PhotoShop and/or Luminar neo to crop, straighten, sharpen, and adjust lighting and color. You can do some amazing things with Luminar neo.
It is a lot of work and it keeps me busy on a tour but I found that I couldn't write the story if I waited until we got home. I would have forgotten too much - I mean like "What did we do in Jaipur? (for example).
I don't know if my family is really interested in what I write but I do it anyway. It's valuable for Judy and me to use to go back and remember our travels. People outside our family have commented positively about it.
And I enjoy being a writer.
Tdelliot71- take the early morning photo trip to the Taj. It leaves quite early but you get there before any large crowds. There’s a young photographer there (provided by the local guide) that will take your phones and take some pretty interesting shots, the one you referenced he took one for everyone. Then go back during the Tauck tour for any other photos.
MikeHenderson, Great picture! Thank you for sharing. I hope you don't mind but I took the liberty of copying your picture and editing out the few people in the distance that you pointed out in your post. The latest versions of macOS and iOS have A.I. where you can highlight an object and it gets deleted and fills the void for continuity with what is around it. I think the new Google Pixel phones have something similar. Pretty cool stuff. Enjoy.
@inlanikai - Thanks for doing that. Yes, most of the modern photo processing software has the ability to remove elements, as you did.
It's good you mentioned that. People on later tours can be a bit more free taking pictures, knowing that they can remove unwanted distractions in the photo.
While a bit off subject, for people who use a PC, I've found the photo editing software "Luminar neo" to be very powerful.
I really enjoy the PSExpress app on my phone. I have saved a lot of travel photos using this inexpensive app....well worth it when traveling
This is an example of what you can
do with it, on your iphone, in just a minute or so. It even has a new feature where you can add things to your pics. Here is an example of that...and it is really user friendly.