Thirumalai Ananthanpillai in kolam depiction !

 

A very beautiful kolam of Swami Thirumalai Ananthazhwan

-at Puraisaivari thottam – Thirumala Tirupathi

-kolam drawn  by Sri Krishnakumar in 2012.

why theevatti flame appears broken in photo !!!

 

FB throws up memories daily  and today happened to see a photo of Sri Azhagiya Singar purappadu after theppothsavam of 2016. 

 

The thirumuga mandalam of Sri Azhagiya Singar is not very clear and that way not a great photo – but what intrigues is that the flame from theevatti appears broken / fragmented !!  Unlike olden days, now we have AI – got the following answers to the query on why ! the flame appears broken. 

Flames often appear broken, streaky, or distorted in photographs due to their rapid flickering and turbulent motion. Camera sensors capture light instantaneously, freezing the flame's shape at one moment, but flames dance at high frequencies (around 10-100 Hz from heat convection), creating unnatural fragmentation. 

Fast shutter speeds (e.g., 1/250s or higher) can freeze flames but reveal turbulent edges as broken wisps if not perfectly synced. Slower speeds blend motion into smooth glows, while smoke trails exacerbate the "breaking" look by trailing separately. 

To be more specific – in this photo, the flame looks “broken” mainly because of motion during exposure plus how the camera focuses and meters in low light. 

•          The torch [theevatti]  is moving slightly while the shutter is open, so different parts of the flame trace out slightly different paths, giving that split, doubled look instead of a single clean shape.

•          The camera is likely focused  more on the people behind, not perfectly on the flame, so the out of focus blur plus movement makes the flame’s core look like two overlapping tongues instead of one.

•          Because it is night and the background is darker than the flame, the camera probably used a relatively slow shutter speed with flash; this combination often freezes part of the flame (lit by flash) while also recording a short motion trail (from ambient light), which visually “breaks” the flame shape.

•          The torch material burns unevenly, with multiple small jets and eddies; when frozen at a single instant this turbulence does not match our eye’s time averaged, smooth perception, so the recorded shape feels wrong or broken. 

Interesting !!  ~  this photo was taken with Nikon d3100 with 18-55 lens – with flash

 
Regards – S Sampathkumar
12.3.2026
 

 

Triplicane ~ Mylapore : early morning scene - the lights

Early morning around 3.30 am on 15.2.2026 – Sri Parthasarathi Perumal Ekkattuthangal thiruvooral uthsava purappadu

 

Taken near Mundakakanniyamman thirukovil, Mylapore – lights on for Sivarathiri celebrations.

Thiruvallikkeni Thirumanjana kudam

 

Thiruvallikkeni Thirumanjana kudam @ Thavana  uthsava bungalow

Kainkaryam – Sri VS Gopinath

https://youtu.be/hmD7oGM5O84