Photography – Learning How to Focus With DSLR Cameras

DSLR Cameras
Image: tabletopstudio.co.uk

Niraj Vora completed four projects at Hack Reacter, an advanced software engineering program in San Francisco. Previously, Niraj Vora studied chemical engineering for three years at University of California (UC Davis). During his time at the university, he was part of the UC Davis Chem-E team. During his free time, he enjoys photography.

Achieving professional-looking photos involves mastering optimal sharpness, thereby making the ability to accurately focus crucial. If you are focusing the camera manually, adjusting your diopter – or eyepiece – is the first step to maintaining focus on a subject. Better DSLRs have a diopter adjustment, much like a pair of binoculars, that allows the user to adjust the viewfinder to match the vision of the user. Without seeing what is sharp through the eyepiece, it’s not possible to clearly see if the subject is in proper focus. Look for a small wheel by the eyepiece to adjust the (diopter) focus of the viewfinder.

Additionally, mastering the auto-focus on your camera can help you achieve the sharpest focus possible. Make sure that the active automatic focus (AF) is over the subject. The viewfinder consists of several focus points, and it’s beneficial to have the prime focus point on the person’s eyes (if the subject is a person) to ensure that this key area is sharp and in focus. Make sure you know where these focus points are, and practice using them until placing the object of interest at these points becomes second nature.

Drake Celebrates Warriors Move with Kevin Durant

Drake
Image: billboard.com

Niraj Vora studied chemical engineering at UC Davis from 2011 to 2014. Aside from his education, Niraj Vora likes basketball, and his favorite star is Kevin Durant.

To help celebrate his move to the Golden State Warriors, Kevin Durant was recently brought out on stage during a Drake concert in Oakland, California.

Currently co-heading his Summer Sixteen tour with Future, Drake played Oakland’s Oracle Arena in mid-September. The tour had already seen Drake bring out big-name guests like Snoop Dogg, Rihanna, and Usher. During the tour’s Chicago stop, Drake brought out another NBA player in Derrick Rose, who used to play point guard for the Bulls.

The crowd was thrilled when the rapper called Durant to the stage. Drake told his fans to make some noise for Durant, before saying the team was going to get some “Big Rings” this year, a reference to a song collaboration between Drake and Future from the duo’s mixtape What a Time to Be Alive.

Though this is his first season with the Golden State Warriors, many fans are hopeful that the addition of Durant to the team will indeed lead to the team getting some “Big Rings” in the 2016-2017 season.

The Most Successful Team in NBA History

National Basketball Association (NBA)
Image: nba.com

 

Niraj Vora studied chemical engineering at UC Davis. An avid basketball player, Niraj Vora spent three years playing intramural basketball at UC Davis. He continues to play the sport recreationally today.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) was established in 1946. Since that time, the Boston Celtics have won 17 NBA championships, more than any other franchise in the nation. The Celtics spent 10 years in the league before securing an NBA Finals appearance, but the team’s seven-game series triumph over the St. Louis Hawks in 1957 marked the start of a dynasty.

Boston fell in the 1958 NBA Finals in a rematch with the Hawks before running off eight consecutive championship seasons. The team won no fewer than 52 regular season games between 1958 and 1966 and twice reached the 60 win mark. Despite recording 60 wins for a third time over the course of the 1966-1967 season, the Celtics lost a division series to the Philadelphia 76ers. It was the first time Boston did not take part in the NBA Finals in 11 years.

Though the Celtics would never fully regain their dynastic identity, the franchise has enjoyed several periods of significant success. The team added 10th and 11th championships in 1968 and 1969, completing a sequence that included 11 titles in 13 years. After missing the postseason over the following two seasons, Boston regrouped to make five consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearances, two of which led to NBA championships.

The 1980s marked another period of extended success for the Celtics. Between 1981 and 1987, the team reached five NBA Finals and won three, bringing the franchise total to 16. Boston would endure nearly three decades of mediocre basketball before the trio of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen secured the franchise’s record 17th banner in 2008.

The Star Wars Film Franchise at the Box Office

Star Wars Film Franchise
Image: imdb.com

Niraj Vora studied ceramic membranes and conductive efficiency as a chemical engineering student at UC Davis. He also played UC Davis intramural basketball. Niraj Vora enjoys reading science fiction and watching sci-fi movies, particularly the Star Wars franchise.

With the release of The Force Awakens in 2015, the Star Wars series of science fiction films surpassed James Bond as the most financially successful movie franchise in the United States. Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope, the first film in the series, was released in the summer of 1977. The movie grossed nearly $800 million worldwide on a budget of just $11 million, setting in motion one of the most influential series in all of cinema.

Three years later, Star Wars returned to the big screen. Although not quite as profitable, The Empire Strikes Back took in a still impressive $534 million at the international box office. The original trilogy of films concluded in 1983 with Return of the Jedi. With a gross of $572 million, Star Wars drew within touching distance of the Bond franchise, despite the latter having released 13 installments compared to just three Star Wars films.

Star Wars would not overtake the Bond franchise in America for another 16 years. The Phantom Menace became the first Star Wars film to gross over $1 billion and finally established Star Wars as the most profitable American franchise of all time. Subsequent releases in the second Star Wars trilogy, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, would gross $657 million and $849 million, respectively, but a new run of James Bond films starring Daniel Craig once again put the Bond franchise over the top.

More than 10 years after Revenge of the Sith, Disney released the seventh official Star Wars film and the franchise’s eighth film overall. The Force Awakens has developed into the most successful Star Wars movie ever, and one of the most popular films of all time. The Force Awakens generated in excess of $2 billion at the box office, bringing the franchise total to about $6.5 billion worldwide and $3.19 billion domestic, ahead of the Bond franchise’s $2.1 billion.

Synergies Between Renewables and Fast-Ramping Fossil Fuel Plants

Niraj Vora, UC Davis

With a background as a chemical engineering student at UC Davis, Niraj Vora pursued research into ceramic membranes and their conductive efficiency. Throughout his time at UC Davis, Niraj Vora focused on alternative energy technologies that promote sustainability. A major focus of the chemical engineering community is on generating fuels from renewable resources.

A new National Bureau of Economic Research paper highlights the necessity of tying solar and wind capacities with fast-ramping natural gas plants that can be started up quickly, as supply and demand dictate. The intermittent nature of wind and solar energy means that both types of installations must be coupled with fossil fuel-based production that provides continuity. An example of this is a French natural gas plant by EDF Energy and General Electric that is capable of reaching full 600 megawatt capacity power within half an hour.

Having this capacity online in tandem with renewable arrays is necessary, given current technologies and the nature of consumer demand. The fast-reacting nature of complementary fossil technologies means that the maximum amount of energy possible is conserved, as the plant is not online when supplies from wind and sun are abundant. Researchers are looking toward a time when large-scale grid batteries will have storage capacities that negate the need for fossil fuel plants altogether.

Socket.IO – Efficient Coordination of Realtime Web Applications

SocketIO
Image: socket.io

A former UC Davis undergraduate who studied chemical engineering, Niraj Vora focused much of his research efforts in green technologies. He participated on a UC Davis Chem-E car team that created a shoe box-sized vehicle capable of traveling a specific distance, with a set weight. Niraj Vora also has a background as full stack software engineer and is experienced in projects involving Socket.IO.

Socket.IO is a bi-directional JavaScript library communication layer that is event-based and used to coordinate real-time web applications. Through Socket.IO, a variety of transports, such as WebSockets and AJAX long-polling, are abstracted into a single API. These transports ease developers’ frustrations with cross-browser compatibility, when arranging the sending and receiving of data.

Before attaining version 1.0 in 2014, the Socket.IO contained two distinct projects, encompassing implementation of transport handling and a high-level application program interface (API). Transport handling was subsequently shifted to the Engine.IO framework-agnostic project, as a way of allowing realtime web projects to be undertaken independently of core Socket.IO functions. Mr. Vora employed Socket.IO in creating chat rooms that allowed real-time updates between a network of users.

Golden State Warriors Sign Forward Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant
Image: espn.go.com

 

A former undergraduate student at UC Davis, Niraj Vora studied chemical engineering for three years before being accepted into the competitive Hack Reactor software engineering program in San Francisco. Following his time at UC Davis and Hack Reactor, Niraj Vora transitioned into a career as a full-stack software engineer. In his free time, he enjoys following Bay Area professional sports teams such as the Golden State Warriors.

In a recently released statement, the Golden State Warriors announced that they signed highly sought-after free agent Kevin Durant to a contract agreement. Although the team did not disclose details of the contract, it is a reported two-year maximum deal worth $54.3 million.

Durant, a 6-foot-9-inch forward out of the University of Texas, has played his entire career for the Oklahoma City Thunder, during which time he led the Thunder to six consecutive playoff appearances. Throughout his career, Durant has averaged 27.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists a game. In Golden State, the seven-time NBA All-Star will play a prominent role alongside 2016 MVP Steph Curry.

Two Games of Interest on the San Francisco 49ers’ Schedule

SF 49ers
Image: 49ers.com

Following studies in chemical engineering at UC Davis, Niraj Vora completed his education as part of the Hack Reactor program in San Francisco. Since leaving UC Davis and finishing his Hack Reactor training, he has operated as a full stack software engineer. In addition to his professional pursuits, Niraj Vora follows the San Francisco 49ers football team.

New 49ers head coach Chip Kelly inherits a team in transition. One-time star quarterback Colin Kaepernick regressed in 2015 and was unsuccessfully shopped to other teams during the offseason. Kelly now faces the challenge of either reviving Kaepernick’s career or making a star out of Blaine Gabbert, who also has struggled since being drafted by the Jaguars in 2011.

Kelly also faces a challenging schedule, sharing a division with the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals, who both figure to be in the NFC playoff mix once again in 2016. Besides those opponents, the 49ers have two other high-profile contests of interest on the docket.

Los Angeles Rams – Sept. 12

San Francisco opens the season at home against the newly relocated Los Angeles Rams. The first Monday Night Football broadcast of the season typically draws big rating numbers, and given the buzz around the Rams’ relocation, there’s no reason to believe that trend won’t continue. The attention gives Kelly an opportunity to showcase his team’s progress, but also puts the pressure on him to show improvement right out of the gate.

New England Patriots – Nov. 20

In all likelihood, this will be Tom Brady’s last game in San Francisco and represents a home come of sorts for the four-time Super Bowl champion. Much has been made of Brady’s childhood love of Joe Montana and the 49ers teams the latter led to greatness. Kelly will face a major test against a Patriots team that once again looks poised to make a deep playoff run, but last year he did orchestrate an upset of New England on its home turf.

Golden State Warriors’ Top Player Expected to Make Full Recovery

Golden State Warriors
Image: nba.com/warriors

With three years of experience studying chemical engineering at UC Davis, Niraj Vora transitioned to the competitive Hack Reactor program and became a full stack software engineer. Outside of his studies at UC Davis and Hack Reactor, Niraj Vora plays sports and follows a number of professional teams, including the Golden State Warriors.

Warriors’ fans recently lamented an injury to Stephen Curry, one of the top scorers on the team and one of the most effective players in the league this season. Curry slipped and fell during a playoff game with the Houston Rockets, which prompted a MRI of the injured right knee. Following the MRI, the Warriors announced that Curry had a Grade 1 knee sprain that required two weeks of recovery time on the bench.

Despite fan despair surrounding Curry’s injury during the playoffs, an orthopedic surgeon at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai told the New York Times that the Grade 1 sprain is probably the best-case scenario for the injury. He believes that Curry won’t need surgery and expects that the knee will fully recover without treatment.

The Kevin Durant Charity Foundation

Kevin Durant Charity Foundation
Image: kevindurant.com

After studying chemical engineering at UC Davis, Niraj Vora was selected to participate in the Hack Reactor, a high-level, immersive software program located in San Francisco. Niraj Vora is an avid basketball fan and participated in intramural basketball at UC Davis; he cites Kevin Durant as his favorite NBA player.

Kevin Durant plays forward with the Oklahoma City Thunder, wearing number 35. A hugely popular player in the community, Durant participates in local outreach and has created his own charitable organization, called the Kevin Durant Charity Foundation (KDCF).

KDCF strives to impact the lives of at-risk youth across the US through social, educational, and athletic programs. The KDCF program Build It and They Will Ball is a basketball court renovation and development initiative that aims to improve and build basketball courts in underserved communities. These newly developed and renovated courts provide a high quality place where youth can play the game that Durant loves.

KDCF also partners with Positive Tomorrows, an Oklahoma City public school established specifically for homeless children. Durant recently gave $35,000 to the school, to be used for a renovation of the school kitchen. Additionally, KDCF regularly donates items found on Positive Tomorrow’s wish list, such as educational materials, classroom desks and chairs, and household items needed to help families transition into permanent housing.