Durgam Cheruvu/ Secret Lake - A stitched panorama of the photos from the timelapse 

Golden hour, blue hour and twilight photography

The terms ‘golden hour’ and ‘blue hour’ are deceptive because they rarely last a full hour; sometimes, they last just about fifteen minutes, depending on the location. The golden hour occurs just after sunrise and before sunset, when the sun is low on the horizon, creating that signature warm glow. The blue hour arrives shortly before sunrise and after sunset, when the sun’s position is just below the horizon producing those cooler tones. Despite their fleeting nature, these dazzling times of day have served as muse and inspiration to countless artists over the years. While each time evokes different emotions, both result in an ethereal, sometimes otherworldly atmosphere, and they also require many of the same methods.

Very close to my home is the Durgam Cheruvu or Secret Lake, also known as Raidurgam Cheruvu. This freshwater lake, spread over 83 acres and located in Hyderabad, the capital of the state of Telangana, is known as the Secret Lake because it is hidden in a small valley of sorts between the localities of Jubilee Hills and Madhapur. The Durgam Cheruvu Bridge, which traverses the lake, was inaugurated in September 2020. Under the rule of the Qutub Shahi dynasty (ca. 1518–1687), this lake served as the drinking water source for the residents of the fortified citadel of Golconda.

There are a lot of unique rock formations abutting the lake which is why it was designated a protected area. In 2001, the state high court issued an order to the local pollution board and the city's water supply and sewerage board to not allow development of new residential localities near the lake. Furthermore, the court order also asked these agencies to take immediate steps for prevention or collection and treatment of domestic sewage flowing into the lake from the residential colonies in the vicinity and catchment area of the lake. Despite these notifications, the local agencies have failed in controlling both pollution and illegitimate constructions on the lake bed. To tackle pollution in the lake, sewage treatment plants were set up by the local pollution control board in 2006. As years passed by, the plant became non-functional. A separate sewerage treatment plant (STP) was set up at Durgam Cheruvu by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, after Government of Telangana approved it in 2022.

Today the lake is considerably cleaner as compared to a few years back and Durgam Cheruvu is now a place to relax. I can only hope that the people who visit the lake and the park around it keep it clean and put all the trash in the bins provided. There is also a walking/ jogging track going around almost the entire lake which I hope will help to keep the surroundings clean.

This panoramic photo, taken with the permission of the park authorities, is a stitch of 168 individual photos taken between 5.45pm and 7.30pm in the evening. I set it up as a Timelapse to capture the golden hour, sunset and the lights of the high rises through blue hour. I used three filters - a Circular Polariser, my Breakthrough Photography X4 ND 3 Stop & the Formatt Hitech Firecrest Ultra Reverse Graduated ND 2-Stop (0.6) Filter to balance the highlights in the sky. The dark border which seems to run through the top and bottom of the image is from the overlap of the exposures as the images were stitched together. To pan I used the Syrp Genie Mini II and to control my exposures I used the Timelapse+ View Intervalometer. You can find all of these in my Kit Bag.

Exif: Canon 1Dx Mark ii + EF 24-70mm f/4L IS USM at 45mm focussed manually at the hyperlocal distance | f/16 | ISO ramped from 100 to 500 | Shutter Speed ramped from 1 to 30 seconds | WCC Blackstone CPL | Breakthrough Photography X4 ND 3 Stop | Formatt Hitech Firecrest Ultra Reverse Graduated ND 2-Stop

Full resolution image dimensions and size: 21945 × 2905 pixels and 235.5MB