Escoba…

Things with my Scopa project are going slow but steady, even though in many occasions I find myself baffled on how to create the design of the assumed card under question, specially when it comes to numbers higher than 5. So far, as I'm typing these words, I've been well into cards of six. Depending on what I have at hand, sometimes the card design can be somewhat awkward compared to the original design on the Scopa card, Napoletane design, like the one I did for Five of Clubs!

Cinque di Bastoni

In some other instances, the design would need a completely new shot to add some more elements which I can use in the future, like the Five of Cups cards. Even though I could have used the Ace of Cups card which was previously shot (first one in the series in fact) but I thought that the Asso (or Ace) card should have its own special look, and the Cup used in that card should not appear in regular cards then after. There is an idea though to use that for more advanced cards like the Donna (or Fante), Cavallo and Re cards. Those would include a model, some human figure, which is the hardest part that might take quite a time to be done.

Cinque di Coppe
The central portion of the card was shot anew,
while the rest are elements from older shots.

As the series is going on, I'm planning to do a special design for the Settebello (i.e. seven of Coins) which is a special card in Scopa (worth a point on its own right). The design would be without any hands appearing like the rest, and with more saturated golden tint. I make some shots already for this design but did not work on it yet, as I have to finish the sixes first; Just to be organized rather than working in a sporadic manner. This in fact kind of puts on a crossing thoughts: Should I do the same for all cards of Seven for all suits, or should I do this alone for the Settebello card? I doubt I can ask the opinion of anyone else around…

Album of completed cards.

Now, going back to the court cards or cards that need a model (from 8 to 10), I've been thinking thoroughly and I think I will try to use some members in the family, even though I'm usually the type that does not get encouraged in that venue, since I had my own bad experiment when dealing with photography with family members (not taken seriously as I do it). However, I'll try. Next problem to think of is the problem of the clothing and props; What should I use and how should it look? Medieval or Renaissance? Or maybe something completely different, and simple? I had some plans already for the poses (well, somewhat) but I think I will cut these plans and stick to shots down to the torso level instead of taking a shot for the whole body. However, in that case we might have a problem to be solved with the Cavallo; The Horseman. Many ideas coming in and out and I wouldn't know how to solve them probably until I get my hands on my camera and work! 

Junk

Probably I've talked about my intention to do apply some idea of a panorama in a narrow space just to experiment and see how it would look. I did, and twice in fact. As my first trial seemed to have failed, with me using a speedlite in a dark room, I guess it is final that any trials for a panorama with speedlites is destined to fail anyway for some reasons!

The storage room shot with speedlite (fit with a diffuser).

The speedlite was handheld (with its battery-pack in my pocket) and tried my best to place it behind the camera in every shot (in the darkness) with a globe (oval) diffuser on its head. Good news: with a speedlite, the exposure can be limited to 1/250s. Bad news? Everything; almost. Because of the change in the relative position of the speedlite with every shot, the shadows tend to change positions as well, and that would increase the factors for stitching errors. I have to say, I've never thought about it despite its simplicity! It just slipped through my mind. After all, even the spooky look was not achieved much. You can notice the reflections of the speedlite reflected mainly off the wooden door of the cupboard. That called for another trial, and this time working with HDR, as I usually do. 

Same Location done in HDR and tone-mapped.

Working with HDR bracketing now, I used the single light in the ceiling of this small room, and the technique proved to be efficient in achieving the dark and mysterious I was aiming for, beside other looks; That with some additions in Photoshop later on of course. From that point on, other projections were generated using this stitch only. Maybe the only awkward thing here is, the lengthy working time (one hour or a bit more), and in this place specifically I've avoided shooting the zenith and the nadir points. Stitching errors were there and it was hard to eliminate them, so since it was an experiment I didn't bother much about fixing them. However, this might be caused by the proximity of the place or maybe my panorama head needs some check-up. All in all, my Canon EF 15mm fisheye lens which I usually use for panorama shooting doesn't have a unique entrance pupil which eliminates the parallax error completely; My last check for it some years back proved that it can be reduced, but not eliminated.

Planet projection of the panorama.

My dreams of doing a panorama out of the ordinary using a speedlite or any type of portable light source must end up here I guess and look over to other methods, if any, to do panoramas. The field of infrared and UV are still waiting of course. In fact, I've been planning for one panorama of that kind even before thinking about this panorama in this small room, but the problem is, having someone to aid me with it, and since I have no one to help with this delicate business, I've been seriously thinking of getting a mannequin (just the hand at least) of some sort to what I have in my mind. We'll see…

Finale

 Well, seems things are going somehow slow but steady. Which is fine, but I won't be satisfied until I finish them one by one. Ideas of travel seem to be putting a lesser burden on my mind but they are there after all. And more over, some serious thought but living here as a whole - it's not about the quality of life after all but sometimes you just need the right people to be with, to surround yourself with, and achieve something with. That doesn't seem to be happening in this place on Earth where I am right now. My only soulful joy for the time being, as it seems, is to enjoy every bit of winter, before it all runs out and we are again into the hell of summer. I can't wait to get some long weekend by next week…