Kolkata · Durga Puja 2026
Photographing the idol
A brightly lit figure in a dark frame, with a rite happening in front of it. The technical problem and the etiquette problem are the same problem.
Written for Durga Puja 2026 · Last updated 14 August 2026
The exposure problem
The idol is lit hard and everything around it is dark. Matrix metering will blow the face out every time. Spot meter on the face, or expose for the highlights and lift the shadows afterwards — the face is the picture and a clipped face cannot be recovered.
White balance drifts wildly: the lighting is often heavily coloured and changes on a cycle. Shoot raw if you can, and if you cannot, set a fixed white balance rather than letting auto swing between frames.
The chalchitra — the painted backdrop arch behind the family — is usually the most interesting thing in the frame and the first thing people crop out. Include it.
No flash
Never at the idol. It is disrespectful, it flattens everything the lighting designer did, and in a dark pandal it blinds everyone around you. It is also the fastest way to be asked to leave.
If you cannot get the shot without flash, raise the ISO. A grainy photograph of a face is a photograph; a flash-lit one is a document.
When to put it down
During a rite. Aarati, pushpanjali, Sandhi Puja, baran — these are things happening to people, not for you. Photograph from the edge if at all, never from in front of the priest, and never with the camera between somebody's face and the goddess.
In bonedi bari courtyards, ask the family first. Some are delighted; some absolutely are not, and it is their house.
Some committees prohibit photography inside, particularly where the artwork is a commissioned piece. There will be a sign or a volunteer. Respect it.
The 8 pujas on this guide
The pujas the dataset records as bonedi bari — household pujas where the idol styles are the most distinct and the etiquette matters most.
Every one of these has a confirmed position, so the Route Planner can order them and draw the walk between them.
- Baghbazar Haldar Bari er PujoBaghbazar
- Hathkhola Dutta Barir Durga PujoPathuriaghata–Jorabagan / Bonedi
- Khelat Ghose er Durga PujoPathuriaghata–Jorabagan / Bonedi
- RAMDULAL NIBAS er Durga PujoPathuriaghata–Jorabagan / Bonedi
- Rani Rashmoni er Durga PujoPathuriaghata–Jorabagan / Bonedi
- Roychoudhury Barir Durga PujoPathuriaghata–Jorabagan / Bonedi
- Sovabazar RajbariSovabazar–Beniatola
- Srimani Barir Durga PujoPathuriaghata–Jorabagan / Bonedi
Read next
Photography etiquette
A short list, and following it will get you better photographs as well as fewer arguments.
Bonedi bari pujas: the family pujas of old Kolkata
Household pujas in the courtyards of old Kolkata families — older than the public pandal by more than a century, and a completely different experience.
Photographing pandals
The pandals are architecture, they are lit for the eye rather than the sensor, and there are four thousand people in front of them. Here is how to work with that.
Written by Pujo Kolkata. Pandal listings come from the PujoKolkata master dataset, with coordinates from the IndianOil–Kolkata Police Puja Guide and from community-curated puja maps of the city. Nothing here publishes a 2026 theme, a timing or a crowd level for any puja, because none has been announced. Browse every pandal.