Strobogenic IV…

As things are going crazy, and my continuous trials to calm myself down and take every day as it is, all I can say is: I'm tired. I'm absolutely tired. And guess what? Even though I don't have to go to work now with the lock-down, but still, I do feel so much pressure on my time, specially that I spend most of the daytime sleeping. Otherwise, things are going easy, sort of. Despite the total curfew or lock-down that had been issued and activated on Sunday May 10^th (it was partial for a month or more I think). All what I'm worried about is my coffee, and chocolate.

Strobo-Faces

And, again, I had an appointment with myself, doing some work with stroboscopic flashes, and this time a kind of a selfie. I did a number of selfies which I've posted about in previous posts, which were done using the stroboscopic flash, but back then, it was about the hand movement. This time, it would be about the head movement with a little change as well, and that is, fitting my speedlite here with a my (new) trusty oval diffuser!

One of the stroboscopic selfies made some months ago.

Oval diffuser from Impact.

Probably I've mentioned before in some old posts that I've lost this diffuser just a time when I really got used to it and started to love working with it because of the nature of diffusion and "atmospheric" light that it produces. Anyway, I've ordered this again some months back and now it is the first time to use this new one! As I've noted before, this time the selfies would include the movement of the head instead of the hands like before and I have to say it was challenging little bit. Despite being comfortable, staying in my chair and working with the camera (unlike other projects I've done like the chess project for example), still it was hard to pin the light, I guess one of the reasons was that I was shooting INFRARED selfies this time with my modified EOS 7D. So just imagine the hassle: Stroboscopic flash + Infrared filter on lens!

اِلْتِفاتْ
(Turning)

Despite setting the stroboscopic flash for 5 strikes, yet the number of ghosts always seemed to be less than 5. A simple movement like turning the head from the side and towards the camera did look harder than it should be! Eventually, anyway, I had to raise the power of the speedlite, as I'm working with infrared here and needed more power, plus the diffuser which of course would naturally need more power. These factors, of course, limited the number of possible strikes at the given frequency, so I had to satisfy myself with 3 or even 2 strikes alone. The results after all were not that bad and conveyed the needed surrealism.

تَجَلّي
(Manifestation)

Of course, things should not stop at the level of such a simple movement as turning my head around, right? So, the work started with doing some extra moves; Up and down, near the lens and far, or the reverse. But at this level I think I've dimmed the room a bit to have some space to lengthen the exposure time even for fractions and be able to adjust the number of strikes accordingly, and the frequency probably. One (digital) drawback of shooting with stroboscopic light is that such info (i.e. frequency, number of strikes) are not recorded in the EXIF, and I fail drastically when it comes to memorizing these settings with precision!

هَسْتيريا
(Hysteria)

I wasn't troubled much with the shortage in the number of strikes as much as I was troubled with the post-processing, as the grain or noise level was not comforting my eyes, despite using ISO100 for most or all of the shots (didn't check the EXIF thoroughly here!). I have to say though that the grain in infrared images is somewhat like a "brand" back when infrared used to be shot on special infrared film, thus it might be considered a typical look or something familiar, but I doubt many people know this fact anyway! Nevertheless, in the digital era things should be different I suppose. Anyway, I must admit that my editing practices to the RAW file here did add a spike to the level of grain here; I've been a bit aggressive with my approach! Nevertheless, the dark attitude and atmosphere did serve my purpose for presenting a psychopathic state of mind despite the grain or noise. If you ask why did I not try to clean the noise, well, the answer is obvious I guess, simply because it will degrade some details.

اِنْسِلاخْ
(Secession)

However, speaking of grain or noise is not all bad. In some shots like انسلاخ (Secession), the grain provided a pretty much needed texture to the skin and mimicked (unintentionally) the effect of changing skin or sloughing (as when the snake changes its skin). Adding a bit of sharpness to that, despite the grains, made quite the mood. Here we also see the virtue of shooting in infrared (with relatively low threshold value), where a brown eye like mine would change to blue; Higher threshold would get the shot closer and closer to be monochromatic with almost no hint of color. I think Secession is the best I did get out of this series in this experiment!

Surreal Appetite

I was going to leave the coming set of images for a later post but I realized that they are kind of connected, besides being a somewhat off-shot from the previous work with the stroboscopic flash. The thing with working with stroboscopic flash kind of triggered my appetite for more surreal portraiture work, but this time without the flash part; Simply, a camera and a lens.

جَدَلِيّ
(Argumentative)

The surreal work here involves the camera movement as you might have guessed already. I rarely use such techniques for anything in my photography, but with the lock-down and staying at home for weeks without stepping out, made me think of things that I didn't even thought I would think of… am I making any sense here?
Anyway, while virtually you can try such techniques of camera movements with anything, I preferred to do "portraiture" for my experiments. I wished to do selfies but this is kind of… impossible (I guess), so I picked my typical target: My brother.

وَسْواسْ
(Delusion)

Equipped with my Canon EF 50mm, I've set the camera on (TV) mode, and probably this is one of the rare occasions where I would use such a mode to shoot. Typically, I'm on Manual, Av, or Bulb. This is because I know the time that I need, so I want the camera to adjust the aperture for me. The time was set to 1 second only, which was enough for a quick twist to the camera. The aperture then was somewhere between f/11 and f/16. I have to say, producing some good lines with such movement is not as easy as I thought, and probably it would have been easier with light sources, but nevertheless, it was a good surreal experiment.

اِخْتِلاجُ فِكْرٍ 1
(A convulsion of thought 1)

اِخْتِلاجُ فِكْرٍ 2
(A convulsion of thought 2)

The processing of such images proved to be a challenge as well. But maybe this is more affected by the subject rather than the nature of the style itself? I'm not sure. I was struggling to strike a balance between adding contrast to the image to emphasize the motion blur lines and yet keep some dark areas untouched; A lot of dodge and burn and layer mask work.

Now with all this work with these images, there had been some photo-shoots on the side and I've started a series (somewhat) for some of these while planning to do so for some others as well, but I'll keep that for later times. I'm not sure though I'd be able to do a post in 2 weeks time from now, as I would be busy in preparing a blog post for my Arabic blog, or so I'm thinking for the time being!

Finale

Maybe I never imagined myself saying this, but as an introvert, this lock-down and situation is starting to suffocate me. Even though not much has changed in my life, and even I'm relaxing as much as I can (even with Ramadhan ongoing). But the stress that comes from the circle around me is pushing my buttons to some extent, specially with the regulations and the curfew (which turned to be almost full curfew for 22 hours a day) that makes going out for essentials a bit difficult (a permit is needed to go to the nearest supermarket and only to the nearest supermarket). Children on the other hand are also some hassle as they are gradually and slowly seem to lose sanity for not going outside like before, and not meeting their "comrades" in mornings like before. Keeping them amused is a hard task, and they are pushed to spend more time on devices; The thing that their parents were telling them not to do just some weeks ago. Strange times indeed…
Number of hits here is increasing by a ridiculous rate because of the stupid and careless people, which pushes me further into depression. Meanwhile, I'm trying as much as possible to think of ways to invest my time with my camera, and even to do something that might give me some extra income on the side if needed (but I didn't conclude anything yet). I've also started to follow some of my interests in astrology reading and watching videos, but mainly in a trial to understand myself before anything else.
On a positive note, it is May here and I don't remember the temperatures being as low as 33^oC in daytime like that for years. I've started a routine (if I can call it so) to stay in the yard for 20 minutes under the sun and read some e-books on my tablet. The real test for the temperature would be in June. Last year, June was the hottest month of the year with temperatures reaching 70^oC in some places here. We'll see if the coronavirus fixes this weather now, and minds as well.

جاحِظْ
(Pop-eyed)

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…

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.

After Math...

Well, well. Ramadhan is over and we are back on the busy tracks on the everyday work. I wished for one complete week holiday though, but anyway it was not possible at all, with Eid starting out on Friday, and since Eid lasts for 3 days, it was over by Sunday, and then Monday was given as a substitute for Friday since Friday is already a holiday originally (weekend).
I wonder if I'm going to write here daily since I'm back to the fast pace life and the coffee-drinking in every morning, but if it is to be so then it must be limited to the size of material at hand. As I'm writing this today, I do have some material indeed and some news, as I am waiting as well for my travel to Ireland to arrive on the 28th of this month. Two weeks from now. Two long weeks...

In the meantime, I'm waiting for my shipment of the new Canon EOS 7D to arrive, which surprisingly is still in my Borderlinx box in the US (according to the website). This got me worried so far. What if the shipment took so long (abnormally to DHL!) and I didn't have the time to pick it up myself before going to Ireland? Even if it was to be here before 28th, I do have my worries of getting used to it before going to Ireland. I have to train my fingers with its controls and my eyes with its LCD display.

Canon EOS 7D

I like the idea here that the modes knob is on the left instead of the right side of the camera. I guess it will make me more flexible and easy to change modes easily (specifically between the Tv, Av and M). The thing which didn't appeal much to me is the fact that the LCD panel where information like EV and other criteria is fixed on the upper side of the camera, not like my old 350D, where it is above the LCD display and everything is done in front of you. I hope the situation is like my friend said, that Borderlinx website is just not updated regularly. Days feel so so so long when you are waiting for something, and I just hate that.

My friend, thankfully, presented to me 2 books as a gift for my birthday. Well, it took so long but anyway he wanted to do that anyway! I gave him a list of books in my Amazon's wishlist and told him to pick whatever he likes to pick. Too bad he doesn't blog but I might consider put his email address here to send him your requests :), he is a generous man! 

The first book he got me is the one book I need so urgently since I'm working with my inkjet printer and printing out my photographs: Fine Art Printing for Photographers: Exhibition Quality Prints with Inkjet Printers, 2nd Edition 

 

I'm just starting to read and so far it's all in the circle of an introduction to printing systems. With my work start right now, seems work time is the only time I'm able to read this book for now, specially with my Ayvarith business being idle for some time now.

The other book was also a book that I was urge to own, but for some time now I've been delaying this in favor of photography books, upon which I'm concentrating to expand my horizon in this field. The book is: Introduction to Manuscript Studies. I've been always fond of such artifacts and eager to see them with my own eyes, and take snaps of them with my own camera. These objects gives you a vivid imagination even if you can't read them, and if you can read them, some wisdom is added as well, something beyond our physical world and the wisdom of the internet nowadays.

 

But this book is large and big, and I can't start reading it right away. I'm thinking of having it with me when I travel to Ireland but even with that I'm reluctant. I have 3 books in my mind that I need to pick only one of them. The printing book, the manuscripts book, and a book that I got last year from Ireland about Irish myths which I just started to read recently. Mainly it is a set of stories.

Beside these books I'm concerned so far by the weight of my luggage and the security procedures in airports, as I am trying to transport with me a tripod, a monopod, a mini-tripod and the heavy VR-head 303SPH Manfrotto.

All I have to do I guess is just pray for some good luck my way. I might need some bigger case for all this mess I have at hand right now. Or, I might just end up making my backpack for my own clothes!

Back to printing, I gave a try on calibrating my monitor as it is usually adviced for people who process their photos and print them out. The calibration process is aimed at giving the processor (me) to see on monitor almost the final product that would be printed out with the inkjet for maximum quality. I surfed the net a bit for some methods to calibrate my 19" LCD monitor. One of the methods that I've tried was using a special chart displayed on monitor and you'd have to adjust the brightness and the contrast of the monitor in order to view the chart correctly.

from http://www.photofriday.com/calibrate.php

In this chart, you are supposed to see different grade of whites and blacks over all the letters from A to Z. In the laptop's monitor (14") this is the situation by default, but with my LCD back home, the struggle was tiresome. I tried everything in the monitor's control but I gave up in favor of fixing the brightness and the contrast in the NVIDIA controls in the Control Panel (along with the Hue and Vibrance). I was able finally to almost see the different bands, but the general light of the monitor was greyish and so hard to see clearly with it. Just in case, I saved the profile in a separte file just in case I want to load it when I work with my prints. So far, and after looking at my laptop's monitor and see how it is clear, I think I will work again with this problem and see if I can find a suitable compromise. Probably I'm supposed to fix my LCD at a right angle.

The other method for calibration involves printing out a specific set of images and changing the parameters of the monitor to match the tones of the printed image. Despite the idea which sounds logical, but yet I don't feel it is a practical way or should I say, a systematic way for calibrating the monitor, but when all fails, seems there is no escape to follow this as a last resort.

Behind the camera now, I've decided to have fun my own way with Eid's visits. Personally, as a loner and so much isolated from the social life in here, I don't go out and visit the rest of the family members like my family members do usually in such occasions, hence, I decided to go on and work with my camera when my brothers and sisters started to visit with all the noisy kids (and adults as well). I mounted the flash of course, which I didn't master yet, and went on splashing the light pulses all over the place (and blinding people sitting around as well). I realized again that I still need to practice the basics to use the Speedlite flash before I think creatively with it, but anyhow, the whole thing was a point-and-shoot process with a high shutter speed (but not higher than 200 since the flash unit automatically limits the speed). I'm still trying to figure out some way to shoot in higher shutter speeds like 1000 and above with the Speedlite flash, and probably this is only possible in single shot mode in the camera and setting the flash unit to Manual and full power as well. The Canon EOS 7D has a wireless control which would enable me to control the flash without any need to attach it to the camera. If only I had it back then.

 

Canon Speedlite 580EX II

No trials in HDR field this time of course, but only trials on catching the moments. Although I tried to take on bracketed exposures later in a group photo with my brothers but it failed as well for the shake. Now I realized how hard it is to mke a HDR for portraits.

My niece! Hilarious!

Angela

Of course along with other troubles, you can expect the hard shadows as well. No softbox in use here, nor a reflective surface to bounce the flash light from. Just a direct hit in the face! I'm thinking of printing some of those images. Usually the time of Eid is something I don't have much fun with, mainly because I don't get along with others as well as being bored more than the usual. But now, seems I have a sort of an effective way to have my fun, my way.

I've finalized the last slideshow with photos from Ireland, and entitled "Ireland - VI," but so far, I'm trying to find some way to send it over to many emails of friends I know. The final size of the WMV file was more than 23MB a bit and with some trials to minimize the size (and quality a bit) the final product so far is an AVI of 13MB. I might put this file into my Google account for downloading and put a link leading to that in the email. I've just found out that in Google you can't upload a file larger than 20MB into your account.

Just before I finalize this post, there is one hilarious event that took place few days ago, and I really would like to mention this here, problably some reader would find me an explanation for this. If you followed the previous post, you might read something about creating a SR imge of a toast texture and produced almost a 31MP image out of three 8MP images. I had to fine-tune the final image a bit and fix the tones and contrast. The image was submitted as it is then to Canstockphoto, which accepted it, and also to Bigstockphoto, which unfortunately, refused it. Now the reason for this refusal was hilarious a bit. Grainy image. Do they realize the image is of a TOAST surface?!?!