Cártaí…

Well, the work is started and still going on with my "lil" project, the Scopa cards. As I've foresaw already, the process will not be easy, specially with no adequate place, nor proper help, and no proper props. However, I've done some cards already, and I'm using some of these basic cards (specifically the Ace or Asso cards) to create cards of multiples (up to seven supposedly). Not all the time of course, and in many occasions I would have to re-shoot.



Each suit of cards (that is, cards of specific sign) had its own problems, but mainly, the major problem is finding a proper prop or item to act for that specific suit. Talking about aces, which is the most simple and basic shot that should be there, ended up using various items far away from their "real" counterpart: a censer for a cup, a sugar bowl lid for a coin, and a scabbard for a club or baton. However, for the Ace of Swords, I did indeed get a sword (a heirloom of the family). The swords suit specifically is putting me in dilemma somewhat as I made already several cards by merging previously made ones, but I'm not sure if I should continue like this or not, as I initially had an idea of involving my dagger (which I brought from Oman) for this mission as well.

Quattro di Spade (Four of Swords)
made with repetition of a specific shot taken solely for that purpose.

Due

I've done, so far, almost all the "two" cards for each suit.  Some of them are probably on my "re-do" list, but I'll need to figure out some time for them. Basically, however, the "two" card is composed or made out of a single shot which was taken for this purpose previously. I was aiming to keep things simple in fact, to quicken my pace. However, I couldn't resist the idea of using some extra elements when it was about shooting Due di Coppe, that is the Two of Cups. Then I thought, why not merge some High-Speed into it?

Speedlite 430EX II.

Things came along together here in fact. The time this idea popped up in my mind was contemporaneous with the selling of some 430EX II Speedlites by a friend, who is converting to Nikon (as usual) and needed to get rid of his gear, and among them these two speedlites for some cheap value! It was a bargain I could not miss, and so I got them, and now I own 6 speedlites - what a High-Speed photographer wouldn't wish for?! Well, Syl Arena in one of his books made it clear that he owns about 13 speedlites for his "missions." So, having 6 speedlites is nothing really. The problem with 430EX II model though is that it does not accept external power supply like the 580EX II, and cannot be set to a Master like the 580EX II, but only as a Slave. However, in combination with what I have, it just does the job perfectly. Notice that 430EX II is a very old model by now, and Canon issued 430EX III-RT probably a year ago (RT signifies it works with Radio Transmission), and that was after actually issuing the high end speedlite, 600EX-RT. Unfortunately for me, I can't work with 600EX-RT since all my collection of speedlites work with infrared wireless beaming, I would need some extra measures to let the new and old speedlites work  together then.

My playground with 6 Speedlites.

Probably the shot here did not need to work in High-Speed, but I couldn't risk it with the movement of the water. I wanted to freeze it. Thus, I've pushed my shutter up to 1/2000s. When we talk about High-Speed, it does not necessarily mean shooting with such a high speed for the shutter, but it simply means we need to surpass the limitation of the sync speed (which is 1/250s for my camera here). I use High-Speed shooting often just to kill the ambient light, which otherwise, would be visible at the sync speed of the camera.



Now, despite the simplicity of the idea: pouring water into a grail-like bowl; yet there had been some delays to do it. Mainly because I needed a model (my brother of course) to work with me while I stand behind the camera. I tried to do it alone as with the rest of the shots before, but unfortunately, that was awkward and completely clumsy which made my concentration shatter. I had to wait for my brother till he had the time to do it with me. The first thing to do then, was to change my lens from Voigtländer 20mm (with which I've shot most of my shots in this project so far) to my old 50mm; This is to get a proper field of view. Also, f/11 was reduced down to f/8 and then further to f/6.3 to allow for more light to pass in: High-Speed mode reduces the speedlite power, so imagine bouncing it off as well, which makes it weaker further (bouncing here is essential to reduce the flare off the metallic surface) . Initially, I wanted to use only 5 speedlites on the side but the dark shadows pushed me to run the 6^th one which was used as a commander only, fitting a globe diffuser on it. The rest was a work for Photoshop, which was lengthy as well, but doing panoramas and fixes to them I guess makes this nothing to compared to them.



And since we are talking about Twos, probably I should put on this which I've shot for the Two of Coins card, but there is a strong probability that I would need to re-do it again, since the lid which I've used as a coin is off the center on my palm. I've struggled in fact to fix it to my fingers with a rubber band so I can open my palm while shooting this. What it did not occur to me at that time is the fact that I could have done that easily (relatively) by simply shooting down at my palm instead of standing in front of the camera! What was I thinking? I simply do not know...

Finale

 Well, my mind now is having a surge of ideas and I'm trying to keep concentrating on this one project right now, the Scopa project, but probably it is about time that I might have to take a break from this one and work on another idea, then go back to Scopa. Well, just to avoid being bored I guess? Maybe. Or maybe I just need to do these ideas before they rotten in my head and I lose interest. I'm already having an idea for doing a panorama and another one for a single shot dedicated to my urge to travel. Now, on the stack, there is another idea for a panorama in a narrow space (talk about claustrophobia again). I might do this latter panorama first as it is, relatively, easier to do and does not need any help (i.e. a model or so). We'll see by this weekend, with my queue line of games to play!
Winter is getting colder, with a nicer weather (to me), but maybe I should find some time to get some new winter clothes? Well, not fond of shopping in general but maybe I should make time for this. A new jacket might be good. However, it doesn't seem I would be going out this winter to shoot. Many things are there that trouble my mood and mind, so I better keep it all to myself for now. Besides, my need for sleep is growing by day as well. Sometimes I feel like having a 2 weeks vacation, for nothing but merely sleeping. I will keep my hopes for that though for the new year's eve, as I'm planning to have some long weekend by then!

Bounce…

Well, so much had been going on with my camera as I'm trying to use every day of Ramadhan before it is over and I'd be back to work then! Well, I have to say that I can be lazy at times but I think I deserve this! Here, I will be taking off from where I stopped last time, as I was experimenting with High Speed photography. After finishing with dropping a cherry into some colored water, it was time to try out a bouncing ball!

Bounce!

I thought about this idea after applying the "cherry" experiment. I was trying to implement my old trigger (again)  but I ended up shooting all good shots with remote cable alone and changing the method of shooting in between sessions (the experimenting took about one week or more a bit): once using LiveView, and other times without it, and also using the Mirror-Lock option.

Splashing Boom I
Canon EF 100mm Macro, f/20,
8000^-1s, ISO200.

The results were majorly for splashes and droplets hanging in the air instead of the ball at the moment of bouncing, but many interesting shapes resulted with these water droplets. After my experiment with falling cherries, I've decided to increase the shutter speed to its max point (1/8000s) since that does not affect the power of the speedlites in general (the aperture does). I tried to apply another technique with sharpening when processing these images, as in Splashing Boom I and others, where I've applied sharpening to specific portions of the image only to pop out some features and make it look like a 3D image somewhat.

Splashing Boom III
Canon EF 100mm Macro, f/20,
8000^-1s, ISO200

I was lucky, after many, many, many trials, to catch the moment at which the ball was bouncing of the table (which was covered with aluminum foil and sprinkled with water), while running the camera on LiveView. Many successful attempts occurred later as well and they were rotated as is the case in splashing Boom III, but with variant beauty. In fact, even with Splashing Boom III, I noticed some slight blur in water droplets and the ball even though the shutter speed was at its maximum, 1/8000s. This made me search for ways to go around this speed in some way (technical or by technique) but I'll keep that for later. The ball here in Splashing Boom III might be blurred for being slightly out of focus after all, and for this reason I've decided to boost the f-number (to increase the depth of field further) in order to increase my chances of catching the ball relatively sharp. This, of course, forced me to change the speedlites sittings (all three of them) in terms of angle at least (all were working in full power after all).

Mirrored II
Canon EF 50mm, f/22, 8000^-1s, ISO200.

As trials went on, I've changed the lens to 50mm to have more space and increase the chances to catch the ball within the frame (it was a bad choice somewhat though since water splash details are not clear at that zoom level). Anyway, at this point I decided to work with Mirror-Lock option (which requires pressing the shutter button twice to shoot the photo) as I was trying to reduce the time lag. In an email sent to Ubertronix about such lag, they explained to me that such lag is usually due the camera's shutter and it would be better to connect the trigger to the speedlite; but this is not possible in my case:

Hi TJ,

The lag is from the camera not the strike finder device or cable length. If you can set up your shot with the Strike Finder firing a flash instead of your camera, the  lag will be close to 0. Let me know what you are trying to shoot and I might have some specific setup suggestions.

Check out the information concerning shutter lag of the 7d in this link  http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/E7D/E7DA6. The other thing you can do is partially depress the shutter release and hold it before a shot. That will cut your shutter lag from 83 ms to 61 ms based on these specs.

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance,

Jane

The Information here were kind of a surprise since working on LiveView does actually longer lagging time than working in normal mode! However, not that, and not even working with Mirror-Lock and a trigger, did time correctly with this bouncing wall, which at the end drove me to work, again, manually and by hand. I noticed that I did capture better results using the Mirror-Lock option and I got the camera within the frame more often, but probably the best of them all was Mirrored II here in which the ball was just taking off with a tiny trail of water underneath it. I will check with possibilities to work with triggering my speedlites instead of the camera later on, but that would require to work in complete darkness (and the camera shutter is kept open for a certain time). When everything failed, though, I've simply punched the table…

Fist
Canon EF 50mm, f/22, 8000^-1s, ISO200.

I tried here again to picture the splashing water, but seems the water wasn't enough, and it is a good thing that I used 50mm lens; Otherwise, my fist won't fit in the frame. And apparently my skin needs some care! Now, all these shots (lot of them not shown here) need to be sorted out again and filled with information for uploading to stock websites.

Sitting for the bouncing ball experiment, with my Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens. This was the initial position for speedlites, things changed later on as well as for the lens.

Finale

I could have gone further with this post, but I'll keep it short for now. There are other experiments I'm attending to at the moment, specially with my very old microscope with which I'm trying to shoot better and sharper images (so far images are kind of blurred). Along with the microscope experiments, I've been working on some various images ideas for our group's June project which is themed "Abstract." I might have some material to be posted by the next blog post.
Meanwhile, I couldn't keep my promise to myself for not placing an order right now, but I had to process an order for various items (and books) but I'm not in a hurry. Thus, all items were shipped for free (which takes nearly a week) and still to this very moment some items are being processed because they are not available. Some of these items are essential and I might talk a bit when this package arrives to me (which might be in July!). I consider this to be my own gift to my own self for my birthday, since no one I know around me would appreciate such gifts for me! Hopefully I'll cope with the finance later on.
As the financial situation is shaky; once up and once down, I'm still not sure about my plans to travel (and not sure where to). One thing is for sure: I need it. I need it like water and food. If only…

Black-Out…

It's been some tiresome 2 weeks, so this is just going to be a quick wrap. I'm still enrolled in some workshops which I'm trying to get over with. Unfortunately, for some reasons related to the lecturer (the founder of our group), things got to be delayed a bit. Anyhow, my Abstract Photography workshop is over, yet no concrete results yet. I tried my best trying to make up some ideas but to no avail. I usually shoot abstract which already exists, but this workshop was about "creating" abstract and play with ideas; and let's not talk about how hard it was to make up an idea from scratch! In fact, I've never made up an idea; I was solely playing with techniques. Afterwards, there is an ongoing workshop about the philosophy of colors, which also required some assignment to do. Anyway, things on hold now for some private matters.

One of the abstract shots of marbles.
Canon EF 100mm macro, f/7.1, 400^-1sec, ISO200.

Meanwhile, I've abandoned my idea for shooting a bursting bubble. It seems to be a pure team work needed with this one, and for someone like me, it is hard to be get it at that. Add to that, I cannot yet get the right mix or tools to have good bubbles production. Thus, I want to invest my time doing something else for the time being, beside the assignments for my workshops. Also, I do have some specific projects in my mind. All that will be done with the help of flashguns.

Probably the best single bubble shot I've made so far.
Used Dark Field technique: white background, black sides.
Sigma 70-300mm @70mm, f/16, 4000^-1, ISO400.
Used three flashes on HSS mode against the background:
2x 580EX II + 1 x 430EX II

I'm having some weird issues with my flashguns and cables; specifically, the 10m (~33ft) long cable, and my newest 580EX II flashgun in particular. Researching the issue a bit, it seems that 580EX II does indeed have some glitches and that's why it was hard to find (and it's discontinued already). Anyway, I can always rely on making it a slave after all. It is just a matter of time before converting completely to radio systems though (which is more expensive). Till the utmost need urges so, I'm not going to get into the radio systems for the time being. However, I'm gonna have some hard time because of that long cable.

Source: Amazon

On the other hand, I finally got my new "toys" but I still could not try my new lens for real. I don't have the time, yet! I also got a new book, which I'm not sure how to start reading, but for the time being I've read 2 pages or 3 in bed along with some other (thick) book which I'm supposed to read since last year!! Yes, such a stuffed schedule, and mind. The book is about the so-called Visual Design. Something I think I do need indeed in the current time specially that I want to work on converting ideas into photographs and kick in some creative work. I'm not sure if it is just a temporary black-out for my brain or it is indeed a basic problem with my own imagination trend, but I feel paralyzed and unable to achieve something unique with my camera away from the panorama trend and landscapes. Well, not portraiture as I completely have lost interest in that field specifically. In addition to this book, I've also ordered a stack of 3D (anaglyph) glasses (100 pieces) which I'm planning to put to some good use when circumstances allows it!

Now, I think it is time to add a bit more to my forgotten website, and check out more for chances to add artwork to stock sites as well. I think I can call this as a real work since I'm not doing any real work (or gaining real respect) in my own workplace. If only I can have my enough of sleep…

Checkmate!

Still going on with the chess board experiment after borrowing the board for a second time from my friend. This comes after a sorting session which we had a week ago. The leader liked the concept but suggested that the knight should be larger and, in other words, the board be turned into a landscape-like setting by the usage of wide angle lenses. Unfortunately, things didn't go as I hoped.
I didn't have much options in my hands, but to use my Canon EF 15mm fisheye lens, for a number of reasons:

1. On my cropped-frame camera, this provides a suitable wide angle without going extreme, like the Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens.
2. Using flashes might produce some artifacts on Rokinon's 8mm fisheye lens. 
3. Minimum focusing distance is 20cm (7.87in) for the 15mm lens, but it's 30cm or more for Rokinon's 8mm fisheye lens.
4. Seeking clarity, the old kit lens 18-55mm is automatically dropped out of consideration, adding to that it has no scale for focusing.

Anyway, after all these points, the common problem was and will ever be, getting closer and creating the optical illusion I was seeking. Extension tubes, with a minimum of 12mm, was quite problematic and I had to keep the knight almost touching the front of the lens (literally). After all, I've cancelled the idea of extension tubes and decided to work with the lens solely. However, another problem arose here: too much unwanted details in the scene because of the wide field of view. Solution: crop. Then another problem arose: the final image size won't make it even to stock images websites. Solution? Well, Super-resolution (SR).

Last One Standing II
Canon EF 15mm fisheye, f/6.3, 1000^-1sec, ISO100.

The technique of "SR" is something I've read about long time ago and I didn't apply it much to my work, simply to the fact that I do work with panoramas most of the time; images are already super in resolution! Anyway, it was a good chance here to apply the concept again since I'm going to crop the final image. I won't go into details here, but the process is simply done using some software and a number of shots for the same scene. Shots are merged then and a higher resolution is produced. The final output can be 3 times the original resolution of the image out of the camera. Anyway, despite the final output here, the composition itself wasn't to my liking after all.
Still trying to figure out a specific trick, I even tried to do a "macro panorama," if I can call it so. In other words, I tried to do a panorama for the set using a macro lens (Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 macro). However, this method proved to be a failure because of the parallax error, beside the fact it didn't really achieve the perspective needed. After all, I had to just abandon the idea for the time being as I realized the fact that it cannot be done with the collection of lenses I have right now. Instead, I made another idea, which I've entitled: Nobles.

Nobles
Canon EF 15mm fisheye, f/22, 250^-1sec, ISO100.

The idea of this setting is, supposedly, a revelation of how a community works: nobles standing, and the rest of the pawns falling. Well, I'm not quite sure how would a chess game work, but I think it depends highly on the same concept of sacrificing the low rank to save the high one. I tried to keep the setting random and not organized, but unfortunately, it seems I was mistaken with this decision; as the board looks clogged and probably featureless. To snap this shot, I've used the 15mm fisheye lens again and raised it (with a downward tilt) behind the black pawns. The aperture had to be maximum here to ensure the sharpness of the whole set (and this is how the concept of landscapes work); yet despite all of that, the far pawns came out out of focus a bit. I think the focusing point was a mistake too. After doing the SR technique, again, I've worked on some aspects as well, like applying"fake HDR" technique to make the scene more vibrant. Ah well, something to be over with, as I have more projects to look after. I will come to those later.

Toys

After the recent workshop I had about high-speed photography, I've decided to go further with my flashguns and I got myself a power source: Nissin PS-8. Probably I did mention this fact in a previous post? Or was it my Arabic blog? Anyway…

Source: B&H

As can be seen, this power supply can feed 2 flashguns at a time which is beneficial since I had 2 flashguns: 580EX II and 430EX II. Unfortunately, it comes with only one power cable and I had to find a second one. After roaming all around the known shops for such accessories, I couldn't find it. Thus, I've decided to place an order this time and order some "toys!" Along with this cable I need, I've ordered extra cables for a friend who has a different model of Nissin power pack. I got to say, those are not cheap!
Since I'm placing an order, I had to add more items to make it worthy the shipping price I'm paying here. It's like hell now too with oil prices going down (ironic eh?).

Source: B&H

 My most previous toy in this package is something I really need in a long time now. A wide angle lens (but not a fisheye type), and preferable with some good quality! And I decided to go for it right now with Voigtlander Color-Skopar 20mm f/3.5 SL II N Aspherical Lens. The brand, Voigtländer, has a long history in optics and probably it comes second behind the well known Zeiss. I needed this lens specially with the absence of a proper focal length among my lenses in that range, while the old kit lens is no good anymore for a serious work! Would it be suitable to do a panorama? Who knows! The lens is manual in design but with autofocus capabilities which I didn't quite understand in the specs - but probably it is meant that when pressing the shutter button half way, the camera, and through the lens, would give a beep if the image is focused properly. I would love to try this lens with extension tubes as well, specially that according to the specs, the design of this lens is made compact. My hand is already itchy to use it!

Source: B&H

Along with the Voigländer lens, I've decided to cover myself and ordered a step-up ring with it, i.e. a ring that enables a larger filters to fit a lens with smaller thread (smaller front that is). Voigtländer 20mm lens here has a thread of 52mm and most of my filters are in 58mm format. Not ready to buy all the filters all over again and just for a single lens! Well, I'm planning to increase the arsenal of prime lenses in the future but not yet in urgent need for that.

Source: B&H

My last toy was actually from a local store and not ordered from outside. Not only it is discontinued, but I'm also in a hurry to get it to do some of my experiments with my camera. It is Canon's Speedlite 580EX II. For some time I was thinking seriously of getting something cheap like a Yongnuo flash, which many professionals use as well (the important thing is how to use the light). However, from a quick overlook, I've realized that most of those do work by radio wave in wireless format and not optically. Canon's latest addition, the 600 EX-RT, is a powerful tool and addition, yet unfortunately it could deem the usage of my two other flash units dormant and useless. In a lucky gesture, a local Canon store found the last piece in stores of this flash unit (but unfortunately, no discounts since they realized how much I need it!). Nevertheless, I'm happy with the new addition (and the new power at hand). However, this is not the end after all, and more light sources can be good as well!
There had been some other orders from Amazon, like a set of 100 pair of anaglyph glasses and a new book, but I guess I'll keep it for later.

Projects

As for my on-going projects (that is those related with my camera and not my poor conlang Geltani), I do have a list of things to do and I'm trying my best to concentrate on some of the themes listed in the upcoming Trierenberg Super Circuit; mainly the themes of Selfie and Red. I have some problems concerning the two themes. As for the selfie theme, I'm planning to do a high-key (and I have to learn it the hard way) and it must be done in front of a mirror. The problem arises when it comes to a proper location and a proper mirror. With three flashguns now, probably lighting for a high-key won't be a problem (if the room is small enough). The other theme, Red, is mysterious to me as I'm not sure what to do here. Probably the whole thing would end up with a gel filter on one of the flashes and THAT is something I'm trying to avoid, simply because it is just a cliché and not innovative much. Anyway, probably I have to sort myself to this idea at the end if I couldn't come up with something. I do have some old images that might fit such a theme, but I'm trying my best to create something new.

Finale

I'll be busy this coming week as I've started a workshop for Abstract photography, and directly after that another workshop will kick in: Philosophy of Colors. Meanwhile, I'm trying to do my own projects with my camera and even though I'm not working on my Geltani conlang but the thoughts are visiting now and then without being penned down. Add to that some obligations (mainly to my group) and you will have at the end a mesh grid of a mind. With all this mess and fuss, I'm still not finding this is enough to stop looking back or remember my pains; they just keep getting in whether I like it or not, whether I'm busy or not. They do have some way deep inside within me.
My health is getting better now after the latest visit to the doctors and doing allergy tests and all. Thank God! Finally, something good to contemplate over. I'm going to post this, and get ready for my busy weekend to come… let's just hope by next week I'll be having some good results…

Şaşırmış...

I can't help but say, it is one weird week that has just passed me by. Despite the fact that I've stopped my fasting, in hope to continue by the beginning of the month of Sha`ban, yet I did feel tired excessively with some weak body and dryness most of time - talk about acting as a sponge.
On the other hand I was able to work with my camera just a little bit. I've made up ideas already from brainstorming my mind with the help of some of the websites I've mentioned in the previous blog post, but not all of these ideas are technically available for the time being, or maybe too much time consuming with my hectic schedule in the meantime. Mom is still taking much of my week, and despite some previous talk from the doctors that the dialysis time might be reduced in the near future, I can't see any of that happening soon. With this load, some problems from home are added. They usually call them Domestic Problems but in my case I'd rather call them a Jungle Survival game by keeping my dignity in this house. I've already started picking Mom to and from the dialysis center (before that I used to pick her from there only) because Mom is not happy to go with my sister in the morning in the traffic jam rush. Thus, she decided to go with me from now on in very early hours in the morning to avoid the high blood pressure that my sister causes her on the way to there.

Die geltanische Sprache

I hope you don't mind the German subtitle for this topic here. I'm not a German speaker myself but probably this is how I would write the adjective geltanische if I was German!
However, during this week I didn't put much thoughts on paper with Geltani, but mostly it was some work of thoughts in the mind and having mental notes about some drawings of the characters. In the meantime I'm having problems assigning phonic values for some of the characters. I didn't go through the syllabary system all over again as I've promised myself I would do this week. The major change in the syllabary system is about some characters' drawings and not the phonic values given already.
The language do sound, at the current time, a mix of an Arabic base with an English flavor in terms of general aspects; mainly when it comes to the feminine and masculine cases. However, I do have to work on the phonic values for lot of the combination of characters together and the situation is even more critical when it comes to diphthongs, that is the combinations of 2 vowels, or we might even face cases of more than two!
I'm trying to systemize the combinations of phonetics but I'm not sure yet that this would work. The only thing that would prove the usefulness of such approach is the excessive trial and error, with a pen and paper!

Silhouette

In the past few weeks I was trying hard to take a silhouette shot of my brothers depicting the evening life in a typical weekend here. Yet, despite its simplicity, I had to abandon the idea mainly for the cooperative attitude from the family members (and please note the sarcasm here) and then the unavailability of some suitable background or backdrop to represent the idea of an evening gathering. Majorly, I was trying to use some features in the guests room but this was a bad idea because it did cast a shadow and that complicates the matter further raising the necessity of using two speedlites (or even more) rather than one as I was planning. With more speedlites, then you'd need more light modifiers, and in my case, I don't have plenty of those.

Silhouetted Mother I
Canon EF 50mm, f/11, 250^-1sec, ISO200.

Thus, just to keep up with the idea, I've decided to use Mom as a model! Yes, she's more flexible and the idea is simple enough and doesn't need much acting like I had in my mind when I was planning the silhouette shots with my brothers. It is just a profile or an outline of the head. To do this, I've simply placed Mom in front of a green curtain that's already there, and of course I had to use a green gel on my 580EX II speedlite, otherwise the color would get messed up; adding to that a reflector on the speedlite to spread the light to a larger area with a soft approach.

Silhouetted Mother II
Canon EF 50mm, f/18, 250^-1sec, ISO200.

I've taken here two shots (close up and further away) just in case (and I was thinking somehow in a marketing venue as such images can fit into the stock sites for specific topics). Communicating with my speedlite, however, had to be done remotely without a cable, which means I'm stuck with the sync speed (250^-1

sec). The speed was fine however as the lights in the room were not too strong and not so demanding to be killed out. The only change between the several shots was the aperture and this is how I controlled the intensity of the speedlite reflecting off the curtain. I don't quite remember why I've fixed the ISO to 200, but probably I've forgot it like that from the previous session! The noise level after all is not quite dramatic and was easy to smooth out, specially with such style of images not having so many colors.

Freeze Me!

Few days later after doing the silhouette shots of Mom, I headed to do another shot that I've been thinking of for some time and trust me if I say, I had to force myself and my mood to do so! The sole subject of this experiment was a glass vase brought to me as part of a bouquet by the group when Mom was still in the hospital back in March.

Pouring Down
Tamron 70-300mm @92mm,
f/16, 5000^-1sec,
ISO1000.

I have to say that the vase is really seductive for many experiment, but the preparations to do such experiments is really exhaustive to myself, specially when preparing the props. The fact that my older sister wanted this vase too, made me do something, anything, just before the vase is taken away!
I've placed the vase on a table which has a glass surface in the center and placed my 430EXII speedlite below the glass. In typical situation I would actually place the speedlite light on the sides but I just wanted to do this experiment here, specially with the hardships involved because light is refracted through the glass table before reaching the subject. I've placed a white screen as a backdrop and in the beginning I've placed 2 black boards on the side (to emphasize the edges of the glass in a bright scene), but then however I've realized they are not necessary.
If you see the info in Pouring Down, you can see that I've used a telephoto lens (Tamron) while the shutter speed is 5000^-1sec; quite faster than the sync speed. Thus, a cable is required to control the speedlite but with a telephoto lens, I need some distance away from the vase. In this case, I've used the Vello cable I have (which extends only 2 meters, hardly) and connected it to the 580EXII to control the 430EXII and enable me to use high shutter speeds above the sync speed. This is in case you were wondering why I did use 430EXII under the table in the first place and not the 580EXII. In the beginning, the master speedlite (580EXII) was turned off and it was set to control the 430EXII only, but then I've decided to turn it out and help me with the front little bit. It did make a little enhancement though and probably not a big deal, but I've kept it on.

There were many shots to test the light first and settle down with a certain type of lighting. I've made some light patterns because of the refraction that would look nice otherwise, except that I needed a plain background in this situation. After all is set, I added some dishes soap inside (you would think it's beer!) and set up the motion trigger. This is my first time to use the motion trigger. I have to say here that it is bulky and not quite the easy-to-handle thing. The motion sensor (with a long cable from the trigger body to the vase) was not easy to be placed to track the motion of water that I was going to pour down. How ironic it was when it triggers my body movement when I was going to the vase, but as I move my hand to pour down the water into the vase the trigger, sometimes, wouldn't respond. After some trial and error, I've finally made something right.

One of the failed trials at 1000^-1sec.
Notice the movement blur.
Click to enlarge.

You might think about the high ISO here? Well, as I was trying to pour water down I did capture some amazing water texture and movement, but unfortunately, most of them were blurry. I've realized then that 1000^-1sec shutter speed was not enough, and/or the depth of field is not deep enough. For this reason, I've poured down the water out of the vase (which was full after some trials) and filled it again with soap, and then worked again on fixing the light and this time with 2500^-1sec shutter speed, but I've changed my mind quickly and made it 5000^-1sec to ensure the freeze in motion. If I have more speedlites, I might as well have gone further than that speed! However, because of this change in aperture and shutter speed, I've realized that I must raise the ISO as well. The subject is here is not complicated and I thought that cleaning the noise in post-processing won't be such a hard task to do (specially that the experiment took a place in a cold environment and excessive chromatic sensor noise is unlikely).

Thoughts

After my experiment with the glass vase in Pouring Down, I think I've realized why I used to run away from using flashes or studio equipments in general and loved the free life of an architecture photographer, along side with doing abstracts and landscapes. Setting up a specific set, be it a tabletop or some studio is really an exhaustive process for me and by the time I sit behind the camera I think most of my power is gone already. More over, the fact that in architecture or landscape I deal usually with a light that is already there and all I have to do is control how it looks to my camera - this is quite easily done compared to the completely controlled environments of tabletop photography or studios in general where you have to imagine everything almost and do a lot of test shots before doing the actual work.
There is probably another problem that I have to put up with, but this time it is all inside my mind. This problem revolves around the processes in my mind and how my mind works in general when it comes to space orientation and organization. I'm not sure if this is a serious problem or not, or if it is somehow linked to a psychological problems as well or not, but I do have hard time setting up some configuration from scratch without having any clue about where to begin. Suppose you provide me with an empty room and some pieces of furniture and just ask me to arrange it for you freely - this is something that would be so hard to do from my side because I, simply, can't recognize what freely means in this context. I have to start up with something to build on my hypothesis of the space and how it should be arranged; say for example, how the sun rays get into the room from the window, if there is any, and how I would imagine some furniture pieces against such rays and then try to imagine a specific purpose or relation between the sun rays and the furniture pieces, and then and only then, my mind would start to arrange the objects.
Now, I reflect on such thoughts and how my processing goes with my photography projects and workflow. It seems it is pretty much the same, specially when it comes to tabletop and studio environments. I just can't make up my mind out of a free point in the space. Working with architecture is much easier when all I have to do is frame a previously configured set rather than do the whole thing by myself!

Finale

Source: Amazon

I'm still on reading my Lens Design book which far way too complicated than I thought and it is probably not so practical if I keep reading this without a practical trials or at least some visual aids to help me understand the mathematical formulations inside the book which describe many aspects about the lens (mainly the errors and aberrations aspects).
In the meantime, I've been active for a while on Instagram with all its hassle, but I'm lurking trying to catch photos of people (ahem, females) to edit. I didn't do such activities in a really long time now. Some people might thing that photoshopping or editing the photos is some kind of cheating, specially when it involves fixes. Well, I deal with art. Not all my edits are fixes in fact. Lot of them are simply artistic retouch and somehow a sway from reality at times. I feel the need to do such edits just because it endows my eyes with some beauty that I've been missing for a long time around me. One of the problems though in editing such images is that most of them are taken with phone camera (naturally) and the nature of the color space and the noise level is very questionable and vary significantly. I've seen great faces and great poses, with great facial features (mainly the eyes, I'm fond of those) but unfortunately, the low quality disturbs most of those, second comes the background or the nature of the light in the scene.
There are some ideas of ordering some new toys, but not sure what they will be exactly, but I'm still consulting my budget about this matter. Probably more details in next week's post, hopefully!

Strangely, I've been lately moved around following some foreign music, from Greek, to Uyghur, to Turkish and it keeps on rolling! I think I'm compensating for my inability to have a vacation and travel by listening to foreign music and dream; daydream, that is. Just like how it was in the old days when I was a kid, when my family used to visit only specific places, while I kept dreaming of the big world and couldn't see some of it until I reached 29 years old.
I'm living day to day, without really knowing what will happen the next day or what are my plans. Pressing hard to work my mind on photography projects yet the efforts are humble so far. Makes me ask myself more often, do people still got portions of their feelings, and does anyone out there who would really feel what burden I carry on my shoulders. Most likely, the answer is well-known and no need to state it. Einsamkeit ist ein Killer. Aber mit jemandem nicht versteht zu sein, das ist ein ewiger Folter.

Tatiana

 

Ahoy!

One weird week. Sad, terrifying, and weird. A mix of feelings that doesn't taste any better, but bitter. With this week beginning, on Monday specifically, we got the shocking news of the departure of a cousin in a car accident. He was 18. A memory glimpse passed through my mind, of all the times (even though short) when I had this boy in my lap.With all the sadness, there is a feeling of being lucky to be 32 (almost), and sad again to know such time passed, and sad again to know such a young fellow passed away, and terrifying to know death is lurking. Death, has no alarm clock.

I've finally finished what I was waiting for; the visa interview in the US embassy here. Easily done even with sort of a long wait. I just have to wait now to get my passport back (via DHL?). On the other hand, I didn't book anything yet; not a place, nor tickets. I better work little bit on this soon. Also, I need to plan and figure out how I'm going to move my camera and other stuff with me. It will be a heavy load for sure.

I. Cool me down:

Still struggling with long exposures, and realized now that the weather is one big challenge. With this heat (38^oC~43^oC at night), it doesn't matter if you take a Dark-Frame exposure and subtract it from your shot, the noise will remain a big issue still.

For those who don't know, a Dark-Frame exposure is an exposure that can be done by the camera before recording the data of the image and it is simply an exposure taken at the same time period of the original shot with the shutter shut, i.e. doubling the time of taking the exposure. This Dark-Frame exposure can be done separately by the photographer, simply by capping (closing) the lens and running the exposure and it will be saved as an image. In Photoshop, this Dark-Frame image is blended with the original shot in Difference blend to subtract the noise. I prefer this method because I can keep the image file for later uses when needed. One issue though, the Dark-Frame exposure must be taken around the same temperature.

Now, with my latest shot that took 33 minutes, I've realized that the Dark-Frame method won't do here, specially with such hot weather. However, I did some trials on cleaning the noise with a free software called RawTherapee.

33 minutes
Canon EF-S 18-55mm @30mm,
f/22, 33 min, ISO100.

Now, away from the technical talk about what RawTherapee did here, just don't be fooled for the smoothness of the image here. It is just minimized, hence the noise effect is not apparent (click to enlarge and yet it is relatively smooth). The exposure itself was dark, I guess I was fooled by the LCD, and I've totally forgotten to base my judgement on the histogram.
However, there are certain mistakes done here that I have to pay attention to next time. First of all, the rocks that were apparent in the beginning disappeared later because of the overwhelming tide. In such darkness, there would be no trace of them at all except of few dark spots beside the main rock (or crag?). Secondly, I should've counted for the advancing water, as I almost got my camera dipped! The advancing tide could have even shook the tripod slightly (even with its excessive weight). Thus, it is better next time to stay away as much as possible for the line of water and zoom the lens if possible.

RawTherapee played a great deal in reducing the noise after all and frankly I didn't mingle much in it because there is a conflicting interest. As much as I wanted it to reduce the noise in my RAW file, as much as I want to edit my RAW in ACR. RawTherapee has all the controls but they are not as flexible and user-friendly as ACR is.
Anyway, one particular option in RawTherapee that was unique, which is the ability to load the Dark-Frame file into it and it will work out the subtraction (even better than the Difference blend in Photoshop). Thus, I've uploaded the Dark-Frame which I did at 33 minutes as well but at home after coming back from the beach (in the balcony) and RawTherapee used this file to subtract the noise from the shot. Despite the relatively good results, there would be still some noise that were hard to remove with any removal plugin like NeatImage and Noise Ninja.
I've realized and remembered how the noise was a lesser issue (but still an issue) when I did a long exposure at the beach in one winter night. Thus, I've decided to take a different (and a serious) measure to reduce the effect of the heat on the sensor.

The Experiment:

Simply put, all what we need is to put down the temperature. This said, I've just got the light bulb upon my head glowing while wandering in ACE store (don't you love this place?). The idea struck as I wondered in the aisle of camping stuff (well, I was originally looking for bubble wrap, but who cares anyway) and remembered the stuff we used to put in our iceboxes when we used to leave for field trips with my work place staff; cooling gel.
Back home mom got some of those gel pads. made for medical uses, in the freezer and ready to be used. Directly after going back home I've decided to do something with those and see the effect, and I guess I wasn't disappointed. The only one thing left here is to put it into practice and see for real.
My experiment was simply to use those frozen gel pads on my camera to cool it down, and for comparison, I've ran the same long exposure of 33 minutes with the pads on.

100% zoom crop of the two slides (warm & cold)
Click to enlarge.

I think the result is astonishing. Just to avoid any wet drops on the camera that might come from the ice on the pad itself, I've wrapped the camera slightly with a plastic bag. Now, that was not the end of the story. As I was trying to make this image above for comparison, I was going to Assign the color space to sRGB (why would I use ProPhoto here?) and by coincidence I've picked Adobe 1998 space and the noise was reduced significantly too! However, sRGB noise profile was much like ProPhoto but with less saturation maybe?

Both slides are on Adobe 1998 space
sRGB slide was converted (not assigned) to keep the visual look as it is in sRGB originally

Anyway, seems this reduction in noise is only apparent or visual, as some pixels do change their color code but not really eliminated as it is the case with Dark-Frame subtraction. Now, why the noise in sRGB and ProPhoto are almost the same, yet Adobe 1998 is lesser apparently, is something beyond me for the time being.

Just to recall the color spaces and understand why it is a surprise for me, the sizes of the spaces are ordered as the following: sRGB < Adobe 1998 < ProPhoto; with ProPhoto giving more flexible adjustments and more vivid colors, as it is more forgiving. Logically, one would expect if ProPhoto is high in noise level, and Adobe space is lesser, then sRGB should be lesser too, but this is not the case apparently!

This experiment is done for now and only a real work is needed to celebrate it! But that means more work to be done in moving my stuff to and from the location. If only there is someone to help, or even cares for what I do...

II. Digging The Past:

Now with DxO Optics at hand, I've discovered new capabilities (far away from the simple Photoshop) and that sparked in me the urge to re-discover the past images, specially those from Ireland. Also, I've been visiting these images again to post them to my Flickr and share them in groups.

Cashel Rock Graveyard
Canon 15mm fisheye, f/2.8, 1/800 sec., ISO 100.
 Corrected with DxO Optics

The joy of working with DxO is to be able to correct those images taken with Canon lenses automatically (and also those taken with Tamron 70-300mm, with many others of course). However, doing all the adjustments in DxO is not that easy still because of some... I don't know what to call it but let's say complexity of design a bit. Reducing the Highlights, for example, is still an issue in DxO and cannot be done in a simple way, while in ACR it can be done simply with the Recovery slider.

Fields and Graves
Canon EF-S 18-55mm @34mm, f/4.5, 1/2000 sec., ISO 100, EV-3
Corrected with DxO Optics

Images like Fields and Graves were re-discovered as well, and despite the fact that they were taken with the simple 18-55mm lens, yet DxO Optics did correct the perspective slightly (and resulting in an image out of the usual aspect ratio a bit). Yet, as usual, not everything can be done in DxO, thus the files are saved into DNG and re-edited in Photoshop for more flexible editing.

Green Mile
Canon EF-S 18-55mm @18mm, f/22, 1 sec., ISO 100.
Corrected with DxO Optics

But shots like Green Mile were completely like new to me. I remember that day though and what I was trying to do, but I've never considered this shot for editing at all. Even though it was a bracketed shot, I've decided to take only one RAW file for editing here with DxO, and then with ACR, typically. I've dug out a lot of old photos (and sometimes I do think how did I dare to make this or that!) and now I also see that I need to clean out some space in those old hard disks!

III. Ahoy!:

I couldn't resist the temptations. I've finally placed some orders online and I'm waiting now for the arrival. Two new books (and yet I didn't finish those from the previous order last month), and some stuff from B&H.

Source: Amazon

As for the books, the first is another book by George Barr, and again, from RockyNook. My first encounter with George Barr was with his book Take Your Photography To The Next Level. A really nice book about aesthetics of photography (away a bit from the technicality of the work with the camera). This book now, seems like a mix between the technical and the aesthetic ventures.
Let's hope it wouldn't take me much time to finish the books that I'm reading still. I'm trying to dedicate more time to those: in the office my flash book (by Syl Arena) and before any nap in bed I'm reading Thomas Kida's book, about skepticism. If, only if, there is any travel outside for a vacation, most probably I would be taking one of those books (present or upcoming). I do believe that when reading a book it is important to keep a chain of thought by reading it till the end without stopping for a significant period of time.

Source: Amazon

The other book, now, is something not related to Photography at all. In fact, it is a book that George Barr (yes, again) advised me to read. Just a note, George Barr is a physician. Since I've been a follower of his blog, he did mention in one of his posts something about ADHD patients, thus I've decided to ask few questions about this case. He replied with some tips, and one of them is to read this book and compare my status to what is mentioned. Frankly, I didn't read the table of contents of the book (it is like I'm surprising myself here), but from the title it seems about giving tips to overcome the ADHD rather than a book of diagnosis. However, this is even better!
I'm not saying that I do have ADHD, however. I'm just not sure. I never did an official diagnosis with any professional in the field. Yet, I can't just deny the traits that I've been witnessing since I was in high school, and were a major abyss for my bad grades (even in college times). The inability to focus, and the (later discovered) daydreaming trend that can't be stopped easily and sweeps through the mind; all of this got to be happening for some reason, and there is something I need to know, and overcome. Yes, there is the Maladaptive Daydreaming (MD) even though it is not yet announced to be an official disorder, but referring to the most known case I believe ADHD comes closer to the symptoms I'm talking about and would be better to work on this for now.

Source: B&H

Now, to the fun part! Far away from books and the boring stuff (pardon me, books I like aren't boring to me anyway). I consider this order, somehow, to be my own birthday gift to myself. Well, it is in August but I can celebrate earlier anyway, can't I? I've placed an order for a set of few simple stuff (wish if they were simple in prices as well).
However, one item is another teleconverter: Bower 2x DGII Teleconverter. Even though I do have one already, it would be nice to have another one and compare and maybe combine the two to work as a quadrupling set! Two were available, a 4-element lens and a 7-element one. I preferred to order the 4-element type (and it is relatively cheaper) even though as it is mentioned in the specs that the 7-element type is sharper. I thought that a lesser number of elements is better (and could even reduce the chromatic aberrations problems). Vivitar's 2x teleconverter did show a strong tendency for chromatic aberrations.

Source: B&H

My second item is the Delkin Devices Fat Gecko Gator Camera Mount, which I was reluctant to order for some time now. With the presence of a gorillapod (I call it spiderpod sometimes) at hand, I've thought this item won't be necessary, but after some trial now, I think it is better to have both. I'm eying some sturdy performance better than the gorillapod, as it failed me in some instances recently. Even though this vice takes up to 1.36kg (3lb), I think it would take up to 2kg (4.4lb) in practice. The camera body, alone with no lenses, is almost 1kg (2.2lb). Just hope I won't be disappointed here. But hey! it can be used for other purposes as well!

Source: B&H

Now with the sweet stuff, my own real gift to myself. A little Canon 430EX II Speedlite to keep company with the big 580EX II Speedlite (well, not that big after the 600EX-RT). After reading Syl Arena's book (and still) my mouth got watering for more experiments and trials with Speedlites. Not aiming at portraiture yet, as it is a field that requires more than simply two Speedlites (plus the interaction with the subject). Yet, it will help in lot of occasions, like the High Speed venture. I'll try to come out with more experiments when I have it at hand. The 430EX II is generally cheaper than 580EX II (around half the price), and has a lesser guide number as well, yet I think it is a suitable choice for now because I'm thinking of using Speedlites in close distances in general and no need much light power. In fact, the opposite might be needed; a minimum power. According to the specs, minimum power (when working in manual mode) for 430EX II is 1/64, while it is 1/128 for the 580EX II - but they might be comparable because of the difference in the guide number after all.

Source: B&H

Further more, and to have more fun with my new (expected) toy, I've placed an order for Vello Universal Duo TTL Off-Camera Flash Cord (6.5'). The reason for the cable (for those of you who don't know yet) is that when it comes to E-TTL operations (let's say the automatic mode of the Speedlite) not all operations are transferable via wireless, and also for some aesthetic reasons, you might want to use your Speedlite as a master AND off-camera; something you can't do in wireless (because off the camera operations in wireless requires that your Speedlite must be in slave mode to be controlled). I'm lucky to have the Canon EOS 7D because the pop-flash (in camera flash) can work as a master for wireless operations.
All I have to do now is to sit, and wait. In hope I can get it ASAP. This seems the only joy I can get so far...

Now on the side of conlangs (and remember the main reason for having this blog is Ayvarith conlang itself!), I still didn't plan my next move yet. I'm supposed to work with Geltani though and design the phonetic scheme and maybe a syllabic system to spell out names, but with the occupations of the mind right now I can't be bothered to work with this right now and I'd rather work with my camera for the time being. However, that doesn't mean I'm forgetting about my dear conlangs! After all, I need to get busy as much as my body allows me to. As Edison said once: As a cure for worries, work is better than beer. Yes.