Where to hire costumes for a school play in Chennai

I had to hire a dress/ costume for my sons school play and I have
been to places I haven't seen in last 30 years.
3 places around chennai(aka Mylapore, RA Puram and Royapettah)


1. Shanthi tailors - in mylapore mada veethi in a thin lane opposite
ambika appalam. Recommended for bharatha natyam style
traditional dresses
(These guys have a website and you can get the phone there)


2. Manohar dresses - a nameless nondescript professional hire shop.
They hire for plays etc and won't be interested in small fry like
school plays. They don't stock childrens sizes. Take the right turn
after sanskrit college in mylapore (adjacent to a petrol bunk. If you
are coming from royapettah, it is the left after naidu hall and arya
vaidya sala)


3. Kalaivani dresses - best pic for childrens costumes. Chithrakulam
is the tank adjacent to kapaliswar temple tank. Go around the small
tank and you can't miss it (see pic)(its just after an aavin booth)

My learnings and tips from first time DSLR use

I used the Nikon D5000 I bought quite extensively during vacation. My learnings and tips for newbies (I am leaving out commonly found wisdom on the net to avoid repetition)

1. Always shoot in Manual. Critical snaps - keep a copy shot in Auto also. This way you will learn a lot.

2. Check the ISO before you shoot.Check the ISO before you shoot.Check the ISO before you shoot.

3. Remember the rule of thirds

4. On sunny days , especially with people facing the sun, better to overexpose. (In fact it is better to get the exposure 1~2 points more than 0 in most situations except sunny landscapes.

5. Always carry the camera - you never know when you need it on a vacation. Also carry a hip holster kind-of easy case. SHOOT - dont feel shy or think twce - the moment may go forever

6. Unless you have an open background in a portrait, dont go below f5 on 18-55 zoom. Quite likely you will focus the subject poorly.

6. When shooting through a grill or a window, switch to manual focus.

7. When shooting in live view, shoot with manual focus switched on.

Have fun. Keep the camera back in the bag immedately after you shoot so you dont annoy your friends/family. ;-)