I Progetti…

Weather getting colder here, with some rains; A time to rejoice. The only thing I'm hating about this is the traffic jams. They are there all the time in this place of course, but with a tiny spit of rain and the whole scene turns like if it is a snowstorm in Siberia. I quite realize the need to drive safely but no need to create a "soap opera" about it. Such conditions, specially at night, tend to put more pressure on my vision as it seems. Let's see if we are able to go out and shoot at late nights as in the old days during this winter. Though, thinking about it, I really can't think of a proper place that would deserve my attention right now. Most of my projects and inspirations are done indoors, and specifically my home, and with my body being split between work, traffic jams, and home, I really started to hate the idea of driving just to do a shoot. Unless it's for money of course. Meanwhile, I'll keep trying to do my thing with my own head and my own ideas with little projects…

Let's Play

I've done a session about 2 or 3 weeks ago with my brother doing the preacher gesture. Out of 8 or 9 shots, I've settled with 2 shots mainly that were relatively good. I've discussed these in the previous post anyway if you like to read about it. However, I've decided to take this one step further with a little edit.

Due del Predicatore

Due del Predicatore (Two of Preacher) is formed by one of these shots done previously, with duplicating the image and rotating it. Some delicate masking work was involved here as well. It was an experiment just to see how it would look like, but this experiment did trigger something else. An idea.
This idea is still waiting to be completed, but I've managed to put a plan or a general view for it by writing them down, and all I need now is some props, and a model. As usual, I might need the services of my poor brother again!
The idea is about creating a set of Scopa game cards, but in images; Real ones. Thus, I will need some disks or coins for real, swords or knives, for real, and many other things that I'm still not sure how I will be getting those.

Notes and plans for the next project.

In a nutshell, I'm supposed to end up with 40 images, one for each type of cards in the Scopa game. Sounds too much work, and I think it is indeed, but I think simplifying things further would help on quickening the process. For example, I'm set on using a single speedlite for all images and probably I would be using the globe diffuser on it for most of the shots. I've decided also that all shots should be with my modified camera and using the infrared filter (B+W 092), but later on, the images would be converted to B&W completely, and maybe with some reduced contrast like in the case of Due del Predicatore. I think the lighting should be dramatic, but with some sense of mystery, and I believe nothing mimics the feeling of mystery better than the gray tones. In Scopa, the "faces" cards, or cards with human figures are three: Donna, Cavallo, and Re (queen, horse, and king respectively). I'm planning to keep the shooting for these cards to the end since they require a full body shot, and it would be nice to have various figures instead of working, again, with my brother alone. Thus, for the time being, I might get on working with the "normal" cards. There is a problem with the Donna though, as I don't think I will be able to get a female figure to help me here (not ready to pay for a model, pardon me), so a little research here revealed that in some Italian versions of the game, the Donna is called "Fante" instead; soldier, or foot soldier, and sometimes this would be translated into English as "The Knave." So, there are other routes around this problem I guess; we'll see.
Lens-wise, there will not be a single lens to work as I might range my shots from macro to normal, but I believe the work won't be out of 3 main lenses I have: 20mm Voigtländer, 50mm Canon, and 100mm Macro Canon. The last one though seems to be acting weird lately so I might use extension tubes if I have to with my 50mm lens. For a beginning, I'm already planning on setting the aperture to f/11, always. Talk about more flash power! There is some thought ahead about how to represent this set (and how to upload it to stock if it is feasible to be sold like that) but such thoughts are kept for later in the meantime, and it's important to get it done first. Till the time to complete this comes, I need to get busy with another simple project that I've decided to do and might post about it later!

An Taobh Níos Dorcha

"The Darker Side," this is what the title is about. However, to be honest, this idea was not the core of this shooting session with myself, but rather the idea was completely stemming from a technical aspect, and a desire to create something that would be suitable with the Swipe property on Instagram. In other words, an image made specifically for Instagram in the first place. There was nothing to think of, naturally, except of my face. Beside the fact that selfies on Instagram seldom appear as slides to swipe through; it's either regular shots in a slideshow or a panorama (which I post regularly on Instagram). Thus, a selfie sounded the perfect idea!

The set (and mess) for this little project.

The idea of "the darker side" of the personality sounded cliché to me. I think the idea had been used since early sci-fi times, but thinking about it, I really couldn't think of anything better to put to proper use with this shoot. However, I was already planning to do this using some Photoshop editing, since I can't make myself look like a wolf or something on location, specially with such sensitive shooting!
As can be seen here with the set, I've placed 2 white paper boards or sheets of cardboard behind the camera with one speedlite pointing to one of them. The idea was to give an effect of two speedlites with the power of one higher than the other, all that using just a single speedlite (which kind of worked here after a struggle with the settings, and the power supply!). The shoot is pretty sensitive because I have to stay still in front of the lens without moving a muscle, except of changing my facial expressions from angelic, to demonic! Of course, my old portable monitor had been put to some good use here. Since I wanted some "dramatic" look and unusual ones, it was natural to think of shooting infrared again. I didn't want to deprive the image of colors this time, since I believe colors here, the slight addition of them, makes greater impact on the viewer. I'll save the B&W when it comes to absolute facial expressions and skin wrinkles!

The Joker Side of The TJ

The work is to take 2 shots, as stable as possible, in the same position as much as possible. Thus, it requires high shutter speed, but indoors, however, the sync speed (1/250s) is just enough to dim the surrounding. You can see or imagine part of the mess that my room is if you checked the set above, thus it was important to dim my surroundings, or in other words, kill the ambient light. I mentioned above that I used a single speedlite reflecting it off 2 boards in V-shape to mimic the effect of 2 speedlites, one more powerful than the other. After mingling with some settings I've created the effect needed but it appeared in reverse order: left of the picture is darker. I have to admit though, the monitor kind of tricked me into believing that the test shots were properly lit (I didn't check the histogram) and when it was the time to process the RAW files, I had to pump the Exposure drastically. There was a trial also to use a second speedlite (430EX II) to add light to the hair somehow, but I've neglected the idea and I'm glad I did so!
Because of the way that Instagram slides work (swiping to the left) and I want to show the "angelic" side first, I had to reverse the image and go on with my work. The rest was some Liquify tool job with some masks to complete the demonic figure on the right. There is some tiny work that had to be done to the size of the image as well since I need to divide it to two equal parts, and hence The Joker Side of The TJ appears in somewhat panoramic ratio.

A post shared by TJ.Photography (@tj_q8) on Nov 13, 2017 at 6:17pm PST

On Instagram, it seems that many people liked the idea and considered it something new. This is encouraging to think of something similar, to be going around the various options that Instagram offers like the Swipe option here. It is an open door to surrealism. Nevertheless, I do wish if Instagram enables or do something about 360 images which might make my life a bit easier. However, this swipe display on Instagram does indeed spark for me some ideas about displaying the images in a special way physically, when the time allows for that. Anyway, the idea is still not concrete and I'm trying to focus on other projects right now.

Saved By PS

I've talked before about doingsome product photo shoot for my nephew and his Rubik cubes (though cubes is not a precise term for that anymore). Since I do not own a dedicated product photography gear (e.g. a tent or light cube), I usually try to improvise, and discover as well.

On two occasions, I've used a white themed set, something close to high-key environment to shoot such products, specially that most of them are contained in white. In all these occasions though, the plastic or acrylic piece underneath was the main problem. It did provide some reflections nicely, but it showed a seam line behind the products. Though I used this seam to fix the horizon tilt, but that doesn't work all the time and not necessarily correct. Quite a considerable time was spent to eliminate and do a surgery to remove this line in Photoshop. What came after, made this a child's play.

On the third occasion, I tried to change my approach and headed to use black themed set; Not close to low-key though as I'm supposed to use more than one speedlite here in various directions. I tried to keep it simple as well, but that didn't work out unfortunately, and I had to go for the plastic sheet for reflections again, as the look was flat and quite simple (in looks that is). Despite moving the speedlite off-center and away from the camera but it did make the image look flat (and I used a bit of on-camera flash to fill the front). Generally speaking, something was missing and I was working in a haste. Anyway, I had other things to finish, so I uploaded these images and showed them to my nephew who was pleased about them but he is no artist - I told him that I was in a haste as I didn't want to keep him waiting for more than week but he said it's fine to wait. Thus, I went through another trial and this time using the plastic sheet underneath for some reflections, but again, problems happened!

To begin with, I had to change the viewing angle (or camera angle that is) and lower it further. I think that way is more interesting to look at than a typical view from the top. After shooting few trials, it was obvious that speedlites are not doing any good for me here in this situation with much flare and unwanted stray lights and even shadows. Thus, I've decided to go ambient and it proved to be quicker in terms of the workflow, and reliable. I think I fell a victim to what Syl Arena described in one of his books as: the eagerness to create light and forgetting the available possibilities. Meaning, the ambient light can be good enough, but still you might try hard (and waste time) to create an interesting light thinking that a good look is only achievable by external lighting, or modified lighting that is. This is wrong, and probably I should have considered the ambient light from the very beginning of the whole thing.
Another problem prevailed though, and it is a lesson for me to learn: Black is quite sensitive to dirt. While shooting on white, dust particles can get overwhelmed by light and eventually disappear from the scene, or almost. However, with black set, the situation was drastic (specially that I didn't wipe the plastic sheet before the work) and that pushed me to work my fingers around with Photoshop again to save the situation and this time using Lens Blur for the lower part of the set, i.e. the reflections. This created a diffused reflection, almost close to reality as if some "matte" material was been used for reflections, and eliminating the dust particles that were spread all over the place. It was then a work for Layer Masks with a delicate brush to specify the areas where it should prevail and where it should be hidden. Gaussian Blur on the other hand would have made quite a mess, so it is better to avoid it in such situations.

I was lucky though with some shots that the dust was not quite spread over the place so a tiny work of cloning or spot healing was just enough to clean the image. However, since the whole process here was shot using my 100mm macro lens (from a distance), I did notice some weird softness in the images despite using high f-number (f/16 here). I'm not quite sure here, is it something has to do with the nature of the lens or indeed my lens is malfunctioning. If it is malfunctioning, then why? Is it fixable? I'm not sure. But sure thing that I have to think of my 100mm lens as my last resort when it comes to normal shooting that is. As for the images, the softness do not have a great impact since they will be used on Instagram in a small size after all, and that will suffice anyway. Now, is it the time to get proper product photography gear? Maybe... specially with this acrylic or plastic piece causing a problematic seam sometimes. I need to finish some stuff first…

Finale

Well, at the moment my mind is racing through to go through some of these projects I've described above and I'm already tired of looking for props. I've at least shot a single shot for the "Scopa" project at the time of typing this. However, I need to be faster, and I must get some proper props ASAP!
On the other hand, I was hoping of getting one image done at least from another project in my mind, inspired by another (folk) Arabic song of Sabah Fakhri [صباح فخري] which involves a globe miniature. All I need to do is shoot just a single picture, but it requires some work with the lighting I presume which would make the process long. Anyhow, I didn't find the proper place I need to shoot it so the whole thing is postponed till I can think of something or some place to do it. That's why I switched to the Scopa project instead and done at least one image from whatever prop I have available at hand.
Meanwhile, I'll keep dreaming about being outside enjoying my time away from the fuss in this mess of a country. I'm getting to the point of being cold, senseless, and careless; careless to the point of not judging my actions or what I say sometimes. We have a bit longer weekend coming by next week, let's see if I can put that to some good use... doubt it.