The Longest Long...

Caution! A long and a boring post ahead! Read (or try to read) at your own risk!

OK. Been off away from the blog for a week but that doesn't mean I was not working on it behind the curtains. There had been so much work to be done and, accordingly, so many troubles to overcome. I've (almost) dedicated one full week for my photographic experimentation, and I think I've came up with some results after all. I should thank Alexa Phillips for filling in!
Anyway, this is going to be some long post I suppose, so I'm typing this as early as possible; in other words, I'm still working with the same schedule but probably with more material at hand! Let's go!

I. Viva Al Beach - Again

Still coping with the heat and combing the beach for long exposures. It is an endless struggle as it seems, but this time I got my weapons out. I've brought some cooling pads to wrap the camera with and work on reducing the noise caused by the heat to the sensor. There was a major disappointment though to find out that the cool gel pads, even though were coming out of the freezer, they didn't keep their coolness long - 30 minutes of working on the camera and 5 minutes reaching the location in the first place - all of that was enough to leave the pads slightly cold instead of freezing cold. However, to some extent, there was some noticeable reduction, specially that the weather that night was cooler (that doesn't mean it's not hot!).

Cosmos
Rokinon 8mm f/11 8min ISO 100.
Corrected with DxO

The first trial took place after spending around 30 minutes (if not more) trying to fix the composition as much as possible in the pitched dark place. I had to point my flashlight (UK: torch) toward some stones in order to see and compose and focus as well. The exposure took 8 minutes here, mainly because I didn't go dramatic with my aperture as I usually do (with f/22). However, prior to that there were many test shots and histogram examination to see if I'm on the right track as well.
In that awkward position, and because the cooling pads were sort of hard to settle on the camera tightly (some breeze there was and I was afraid they'd fall down), it was (again) not a good time to use my portable monitor. The situation could have been more critical if I was to use my 18-55mm lens (used it later), which somehow has a shaky focusing ring and it could move easily. I've picked the time specifically for a regressing water tide instead of transgressing one; not only to keep it safe, but also to show more rocks in the foreground.
In the processing phase, regular distortion fixation took place (and I somehow started to like this elongated format as well; I wonder if it has a name). Later on though, I was reluctant whether should I crop the lower portion to keep the horizon line perfectly in the middle or not, but I've decided to leave it like that since some rocks at the bottom would be cut in not-so-nice way. The noise now were less, but that doesn't mean they are much lesser, but on the bright side, it means something is working here (but maybe also because the exposure time was not as long as 33 minutes like before!). We'll come to that later.

Traum
Canon Ef-S 18-55mm @34mm f/11 21min.
ISO 100

Coming to the beach at around 3:30 a.m. and just spending 8 minutes to take one picture was something, well, annoying. I didn't come all that way just to take one picture in such short time! So, I've decided to work as fast as I can and see for other perspectives to the location by changing lenses. I had my lenses in my vest pockets ready for the action: Rokinon 8mm, and EF-S 18-55mm.
Now, one thing I've totally forgot here and that was the time I've came in into the beach area. The sunrise was getting closer and I just didn't count for that in my long exposure planning. Initially, and according to my calculations, after framing and zooming properly for Traum, the exposure should take as much as 43 minutes! However, as I started the exposure and settled down by the beach reading a book under the flashlight light, I've recognized that the atmosphere is becoming brighter and I could almost see my way around with no need for a flashlight. Seeing that, I've ran to my camera and stopped the exposure directly at 21 minutes, and it was excessively bright already.
Back home, the processing became a bit funny because of using the Fluorescent WB. After trying to reduce the loss in the highlights (which was not completely successful as you can see), and after using some shadow enhancements like Fill Light, I've arrived at something that looks more like a radioactive material. The green line in the horizon provided some connection to the rest of the image as if making a note that "there is something in here!". With such surreal effect, I've found myself calling it Traum, a dream.

Lunatic Sea
Canon EF-S 18-55mm @18mm f/22 ISO 100.
HDR

After finishing with Traum the twilight already began and the atmosphere was lighted enough to see my way with no flashlights. I yet hated to leave just like that and kept on trying my best to form some composition in the middle of the rocks; and let's not talk about what happened to my feet. Yes, I was barefoot.
Working with Fluorescent WB is fun indeed. It adds magic. I think I will call it the Magical Blue WB. Unlike Cosmos I didn't want to add a heavy blue tint to the whole scene but a light one to emphasize the blue sky. After taking several shots and deciding to leave, I've noticed the clouds in the horizon; something I do rarely notice in summer here. Nope, not the time to leave yet.
It gives me melancholy though to know and remember that back then I didn't take my ND filters with me. I wanted to be as light as possible. With the light becoming abundant, NDs are required for long exposures, even those for 1 or 2 minutes! Anyway, I've just settled down and decided to bracket-shoot, and I thought let's see what the HDR hides for us then.
The irony here is that, instead of making dramatic light with the HDR capabilities, I've decided to smooth out the light giving in for a soft and smooth feeling. The color is adjusted while tone-mapping too by changing the Temperature slide in Photomatix. My strolling on the beach is not over, yet.

Hinter der Schatten
Rokinon 8mm f/11 15min.
ISO 100.

Then again, there was a time to head to the beach for another trial in another day. This time, instead of taking mom's cooling pads, I've got myself one of those cooling pads that are usually kept in iceboxes to keep it cool for longer time.
I was exhausted that night, thus I didn't stroll deep into the beach; you need a will power to cross the soft sands! However, I've found me a spot in front of the Pizza Hut, which is not ideal because of the strong backlight, which explains my long shadows in Hinter der Schatten, Behind The Shadows. Another reason was that the timing of the tide, which was advancing, and I was not in mood to get wet here; it is better to play it safe here, until I get more will power (and time) to work as I want.
In the beginning, I didn't find myself working easily here, mainly because there were some people having a picnic or simply fishing (yes, fishing), but I tried to shut my mind's window and act like if they were not there. One of the points of being far off on the sand on the beach is that you get that calm and peaceful solitude.
Some shots with ISO 12,800 (called ISO H on the 7D) to fix the framing as best as I could, knowing that my shadow along with the tripod's will do a cast in the final image, but heck, what I'm supposed to do? Pointing away you might say, but unfortunately, the city lights were around me and in portrait position this is the narrowest band of the sky and the sea I could have without lights in the background. On the right there was this family doing a picnic, and I'm sure they would get annoyed (in fact they left few minutes after my arrival).
However, beside the test shots in ISO H, I had to check the histogram carefully and not depend on the LCD for judging the brightness. I was metering the sky; one good thing about working with live-view, is the easiness to meter any zone in the view by moving a simple square across the scene and check the meter. I've realized that a good histogram (somehow) was not at 0EV, but at +3EV. From there, all the calculations began. Initially, the aperture was at f/8, but I've added one more stop and made it f/11 just to lengthen the time. Finally, it all yielded around 15 minutes.

100% crop of the original RAW,
at initial settings.
Click to enlarge.

We come to the noise now. The noise profile at 100% was much lesser than the usual. However, this exposure was for 15 minutes only and not as before, for 33 minutes. The weather was warm, but not as hot as it was 2 weeks ago when I did a 33 minutes exposure. I've attached the cooling pads to the back of the camera (by means of a rubber band), but I'm not sure yet that this has any real effect. I might as well study the camera's design to see if the sensor is really close to the back of the camera where the LCD lies, hence we can argue that the coldness of the pads would reach there eventually.
I'm happy with the result after all. I didn't dream of such low noise profile after all! But I better get concrete results in order to work efficiently, and with confidence as well.
The majority of the editing was done in DxO optics of course. I think I'm establishing a style already with these elongated images. They give more depth and a nice surreal effect. I've been filtering the noise in DxO and then in ACR, and sharpening even more with Noise Ninja; I was trying to pronounce the faint lines more. I picked this image for a contest within my group, and I did minimize it and sharpen it with NIK, and man, even the static stars got pronounced making a majestic look - but not to be posted here for now! It is a promising trial, and man I just can't wait for the winter to come!

II. Strobo-tique

Source: Amazon

After reading Syl Arena's book and getting my new 430EX II I thought it might be the time to start playing around. This time, I wanted to do the hard stuff first - Stroboscopic lighting. As Syl put it, there is no way around it, except by trial and error. For two days, I was trying to record my hand's movement across a piece of paper, writing some phrase in Arabic.
Working out with two Speedlite units proved to be not an easy task after all. Good thing that you just have to set one to master and the other to slave, and everything to be controlled from the LCD - specially if you are working in E-TTL.  My first trial didn't work out, as I was literally trying to write down on the paper while the strobe is working on for a 20 second exposure in a completely dark room. You can see that it wasn't the great atmosphere to work. I gave up the first night. Then I thought, why the fuss?

Love Drunkards
Canon EF 100mm macro f/22 ISO 200

I thought then, if the whole thing is to record my hand movement, why should I write?! (Duh!). Thus, the next night, I've prepared the set again in my room with the phrase written and ready on paper, and within 10 seconds exposure, all I had to do is move my hands all over the phrase. As Syl put it "imagine you are doing a time-lapse photography in a single frame," this is all what the stroboscopic is about. In order to break the dullness of the white paper, I've set the WB to Flash, and gelled the two Speedlites with 1/2-CTO on the master, and 1/4-CTO on the slave. Some adjustments to the WB later was done when RAW file was edited. Probably one Speedlite was enough to add some drama lighting to the scene from one direction, but I thought it is better to lighten the shadows a bit with some light on the opposite end.
Just a final note about the phrase, it is a line from an old song (from 40s or 50s) sung by Um Kalthoom, a famous Egyptian singer. It translates as: Did the Love see drunkards, like us?

III. Save Me A Disaster!

Source: B&H

Over the course of two days, I had some hard time trying to achieve one idea that I've been thinking of for sometime, and for which I've ordered the Delkin vice.
If there is a definition for the word disaster, then it would be such a device. The best of it was the clutching hands where it did stick to my window glass firmly without breaking it (because of the rubber covering), and also the coldshoe that comes with it to attach a flash unit; I can use this shoe on various stands (with 1/4" thread). The knob controlling the ball head was hard to move and literally I was moving it with pliers just to ease it down or locking it up. I've decided to leave it locked and move the ballhead by force if possible just to adjust the camera orientation. Everything in the head was sort of loose!
I was trying to do this experiment in daytime in my work place, where I would attach my camera over the vice to the rear window and point it at the side mirror, and with an exposure of seconds I would move my car slowly. First day, after spending about an hour in the sun, I realized that to capture the side mirror I have to attach the camera on the opposite side of that side mirror (i.e. to take a picture of the right side mirror, I have to attach the camera on the left rear window), otherwise I would only see the body of the car at all times (however I move the side mirror). To achieve a longer exposure, I made use of the welding glass piece which provides me easily with 11.7 stops, and this time using big paper claps; easier and less shaky for the focus.

My camera after the disaster.
Ironically taken with my phone camera.
Click to enlarge

Second day, for my good luck (please note the sarcasm), some car parked in the space so I had to move my car a bit further away to be able to move freely for the experiment. However, the sun hit directly on the LCD, and it was hotter than the day before and to adjust the camera, I had to move the whole ballhead with force since it was tightened the day before by pliers. Finally since the camera was swinging easily with any slight shake, I've tightened it to the head firmly; and that's when troubles began.
As you can see in the picture on the right, when this experiment didn't work out, I've decided to take everything off. In the office when I started to remove everything, the screw from the ballhead got stuck in the camera, and no pliers would take it off. I even got some of the iron filings planted in my hand. After trying for more than one hour, I've finally took off to the nearest garage and used a vice to press hard on the screw while rotating my camera body and take it off easily. After coming back to the office, I've screwed the bolt to the ballhead back again tightly in hope it won't take off again!

Reflected Move
Canon EF 100mm macro f/2.8 20sec., ISO 200.

Didn't bring my old 350D,
so I had to shoot using my phone.
Click to enlarge

I've realized already in the two days course that a daytime for such an experiment won't do. I would need interesting lights and a darker atmosphere. A darker atmosphere would give me a longer exposure freely with no need for any filters. In the same day when my disaster with the camera happened, at night time, I've headed after dusk to some open space I've known for a long time in order to be free to move my car. After settling down and around 30 to 45 minutes of fixing the camera and checking the focus, I've finally managed to take Reflected Move. You can see the settings on the left, and pardon me for the quality as it is a phone camera.
Unfortunately, the text on the mirror and the frame of the mirror did shake little bit. In theory, since the engine shakes the car's body, and the camera is attached to the body, then the side mirror and the camera would shake at the same rate making the image relatively stable, and this was proved by testing shots prior to the final shot. Anyway, as I took the 20 seconds exposure and moving my car in a circle slowly, seems that the car's body shake as a whole (as it was moving on sand and not paved road) caused this little shake after all. Some sharpening took place to compensate a bit for this shake.

Stadt von Licht
Rokinon 8mm f/8 + teleconverter
HDR

After finishing from this experiment I couldn't resist the urge to shoot the surrounding buildings. Their lights (which were changing in color and going on and off) made a spectacular view, in a place that I don't recall any beauty in it.
Stadt von Licht, or City of Lights, was taken in a haste and I wasn't really careful for the composition. I made some few shots that showed my shadows with Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens, then it occurred to me: why not trying HDR but with a relatively longer exposure instead of automatic bracketing?
I've connected my teleconverter to the Rokinon 8mm, which means technically, the focal length right now is 16mm. I could've used Canon's 15mm here, but I didn't want to touch this for now since my mind was set to manual all the way. After doing some metering to the sky and the ground, I've taken 3 shots with the intervalometer at 13, 25 and 100 seconds. Apparently, each had a different luminance.
Merging the HDR and tone-mapping was done as usual; no magic. But the magic appeared later when I started to correct the image in DxO Optics. Away from the distortion corrections, I've re-discovered that color options in the software and my eye,directly, spotted the Fuji Velvia. Now, I didn't work with films ever and I didn't develop any at all, but from the books I've read, Velvia is known to be the choice for saturated colors. And this is exactly what I did get! The composition and the distortion fix is not something I do like, but I'm happy for the result here for two things: a) I did HDR using longer exposures; an experience I might need for later, and b) expanding my color horizons in DxO which will give me more options to render the colors.

IV. Get Me Outta Here!

Again, another one of those crazy moments just sparked as I was going in and out from my work place and been noticing something that I was completely blind to. The parking lot (or parking garage). After taking a note of it, I've planned my shoot carefully so that I won't be distracted by the security guys. Thank God that it is Ramadhan and people are mostly dizzy and got no mood to hassle with some photographer at 6:30 a.m.! Well, one of the benefits of fasting before Ramadhan for a month or more, everything looks so easy during Ramadhan itself!

Exit at Infinity
Canon EF 100mm Macro f/32 8 sec.
ISO 100.

Now, prior to the shoot, I've decided to work without a timer. This is just to silent the beeping to make less distraction, even though my location was relatively far away from the security stand post. I think I paid for this dearly.
I took several stands raising my tripod to about 2 meters off the ground (~6 ft) and getting it low, and using my 100mm and my Rokinon 8mm fisheye lenses. I was shooting with brackets for HDR merging later on, but in my mind I've already decided to convert it to B&W. This is mainly due to the composition, as the colors were not so important, nor they were pretty anyway (unless for a horror movie).

Infinitarium
Rokinon 8mm fisheye f/22 4 sec.
ISO 100
Corrected with DxO

The great disappointment was to find later that some of the images were shaken. Another disappointment is that, seems that there is a curse following me for being a left handed. However I fix my point of view and everything would seem alright, yet I would discover that I didn't center my tripod correctly. Unfortunately, such off-center orientation is delicate that only when editing the image it would be noticeable. This problem had been chasing me for a long while now, and I just don't know how to fix it. My eyes seem to be, simply, left-eyed!
Infinitarium, for example, was skewed after correcting many aspects of the image itself. The skew was to force the horizontal lines into place after correcting the horizon, and forcing the vertical lines to be parallel. It was hard to do the perspective correction, however, for Exit at Infinity but merely a tilt to fix some lines. Also, I ended up editing singular shots instead of doing HDRs. After doing on HDR slide, I've realized that there is no need for it and doing B&W from a single chosen shot is faster, and the HDR won't add much in fact. Some dodge and burn were required too.

Gerade

Anyway, I couldn't resist the colored version so I just prepared one just in case, for the Likes.
In the colored version there were many adjustment layers for fixing the colors, and strangely for some reason there was a green cast, so I just tried to reduce that if not eliminate it. Here also, I tried to frame the image properly, so I cropped (with respect to aspect ratio) stopping at the end of the black pipe on the right, and the red post on the left. I think framing was lousy a bit in the previous B&W versions.
I'm trying few of the tricks that I've encountered so far in George Barr's book that I'm reading currently (more about that below). One of his tricks was to reduce the noise (specially in the shadow areas after dodging) by doing a gentle Gaussian Blur. I did that trick as well to the colored version to around 1.2, and then followed with Noise Ninja filter, using the sharpening and the contrast sliders there to pronounce the edges. Not bad I would say. Print-wise though, I don't know how it would look!

Park Here!

A friend of mine as well suggested that I do a color splash; converting everything to B&W and keeping the blue only. I thought it is a good idea so here you go. I've just saved the file directly (from JPEG) without any dodging or burning. I like the light quality on the right and wish if the light would expand further to the left.
Notice how the lines in the middle on the signs, that separates EXIT and P do not coincide exactly; and that what pisses me off!

 V. Dark Hours

Same day I did the garage shots, I've decided to break the silence in the office with some work using my Speedlites. The target was my watch. It is not a new idea anyway; I've done it before, but in this instance, I was trying to put on some Speedlite touch just as a training.

Dark Hours
Canon EF 100mm Macro f/2.8 1/160 sec.
Series

After about one hour of trying different positions for the Speedlites and controlling the ambient light by increasing the shutter speed, I've realized that all what I need is only one Speedlite, and a reflective white surface (a piece of opaque white (glossy) paper; a calendar). I did produce some interesting patterns though with two Speedlites but I couldn't control the zones of lighting precisely. Finally, I've settled down with placing 580EX II behind the watch and connected via cord and bouncing the light off a white piece of paper placed in front of the watch.
It was a job for the Intervalometer again, as I configured it to take a shot every 5 minutes and 10 seconds. Around 15 shots were taken but in the final composition I had to give up some shots in the layers stack just to avoid congestion in the image. The layers were blended with Darken. Of course, after flattening the final image, some adjustments were done for the contrast and the glow, and also cleaning some spots. Should have cleaned my watch prior to this shoot! If you are wondering about the format - yes, the image was cropped from the sides and made into semi-square shape.

VI. Bingo, The Flamingo!

Out of boredom, and just two hours before the fast breaking, I've carried my camera and headed to The Free Zone. The Free Zone is a commercial zone, with a port, and usually so busy in regular days, and it is situated on, seemingly, an artificial island named Akkaz (عكاظ). It is a famous sports for flamingos. They say flamingos were immigrating birds and used to pass Kuwait on seasons, but now they are a permanent component in certain coastal lines here. I had no specific goal in my mind, just the idea that it will be the sunset soon, and the light quality is should be good for shooting, but I had no idea what to shoot in the first place!

Fly, Forrest! Fly!
1200mm f/13 1/500 sec, ISO 400.

I did take a lot of shoots (in hundreds) but I'm going to post 4 main images here as they are the ones that attracted me. I would still need to work more on the other at some time. The bulk of the images were not good in fact, and a lot were out of focus (specially for the flamingos) but it was, after all, a good trial for my teleconverters at work.
In the beginning I headed where I used to spot flamingos long time ago, behind the Mövenpick hotel in some narrow water intrusion into the land. I didn't find any flamingos, but some pigeons. It was a good practice anyway using my Tamron 70-300mm + Bower Teleconverter + Vivitar Teleconverter. I've discovered prior to this shoot on same day that Bower teleconverter records the focal length data in the EXIT but Vivitar does not - Vivitar's mainly handles the communication between the lens and the camera but does not record much information in the EXIF (that's why I thought that Vivitar teleconverter doesn't shift the f/2.8 for the Canon 100mm Macro. It does, but it doesn't record or communicate that).
It is indeed a hard task to stabilize the camera in that way; not a professional tele-lens and no screws at the bottom to make it stand on a monopod, and to make things even worse, the autofocus is stopped (but this is something I do know already). I had to work all the way by hands and focusing manually too.

One To The Last
280mm f/11 1/100 sec., ISO400.

We come to the flamingos now, after moving away from my previous spot. I had many shoots on these calm flamingos from the top of the cliff but the situation was shaky still. I've used a tripod then with my pan-head, which did stabilize a bit, but still with the dark viewfinder and the sun's beams falling on the LCD it was hard to judge the focus there. One of the tricks I've used was to take several fast shots while rotating the focusing ring in hope that one shoot will be sharp. I can't say it is a promising method though!

Π
280mm f/16 1/30 sec., ISO400.

And wherever I go there would be always abstract of course. Now, I don't know what is that; a pipe, or knot or whatever, it just did pronounce itself from the ground of the sabkha (swampy land) saying Here I am!. There were several abstract shots taken later from a nearby ground for some of those large shipping containers with various colors, but I have lot of focus issues to sort out, and probably I wouldn't be able to pick a good one after all. I was afraid to be spotted and chased out - who knows what lies in these containers!

Zwischen die Räuche
200mm f/5.6 1/160 sec., ISO100.

Why I named it in German? I Don't know. It just sounded to me it is better be in German. The shot was taken in my car using Canon EF 100mm Macro, attached to Bower teleconverter. It was hard to focus of course and keep the camera still, so I've rested the lens combination on the steering wheel first, when that didn't work out, I had to use some muscles and shoot dangling myself out of the window. After the heat and the sweat, I really didn't feel like stepping out of the car! Well, this post is long enough already as it is so I better save pictures from this session for later use!

VII. The Bookies

Source: Amazon

Well, I don't mean any races here, but simply the books I've been reading lately. Don't Believe Everything You Think, that was the title of the book, and I say, don't believe what they tell you about this book. It was such a boring book about skepticism and being a skeptic that I really regret having it now. In the beginning I thought it is a motivational book, or something that raises hopes inside you to cope with life and make you see life differently. However, it sounded later like if I was doing a practical joke to myself. I got bored before reaching the half. I do realize most of the aspects, and I don't believe everything in the media (which the book attacks), so frankly I don't find much benefit here.

Source: Amazon

On the other hand, I've started to read my newly acquired book: Taking Charge of Adult ADHD. Now, this book is giving me the shivers. I have to say that I'm indeed scared to do a real profiling to see if I have ADHD, but lot of the contents of the book do make sense and reflects much of my personality aspect (or should I say, my behavioral aspect). This said, I still need to do a professional check-up or profiling. I might have to look for a clinic, or a psychiatric that is, to do all of that - with affordable prices of course!

Source: Amazon

After finishing Syl Arena's book about Speedlites, I've started with George Barr's book about editing photos. So far, there are lot of tricks and workflow procedures that I do differently but might have yielded the same result after all. There are also some reflections and comments about images that the author worked on, and about the framing and composition. George Barr is mainly an abstract shooter as I can tell, and this is something I do like because this is what I've been doing mostly now. Might think of heading the other way and do portraits? I'm not sure. I still don't have the appetite of shooting people, except, when it is candid without subjects knowing that. Product photography can be a goal as well and I do consider it more than I do consider Portraiture.

Well, now, I doubt you've reached this point at the end of this blog post but in case you are reading these words, I do thank you indeed for your patience. You deserve a reward!
Right now, my mind is occupied with traveling and the procedures and bookings. Everything is almost ready - the place, the tickets, all what is needed so far is packing in time and signing up for a leave before that of course. I thought about it for a while and I thought it is better to delay the flight further, and instead of making it on September 30^th, I would be, hopefully, flying on October 10^th. Until that time comes in, I have many things to look after. Not a cheap vacation I have to say, even though I'm trying to make it so, but hey, why do we save?
... say, isn't it my birthday already!?

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.

Rover...

A quiet week of some sort. I'm adapting the habit of bringing my camera to my work place as much as possible, everyday, whenever possible, because there are chances that might occur at any moment. More to come about this later.
I've finally managed to upload the most recent recordings and the vocalizing work with chapter 6 of Alexander's story is going on again. The problem was simple, and now I feel really dumb for not noticing it in the first place. The Google Sites account I used to upload to was simply full, and I needed to find another place. However, I've made another account and the recordings are up again from 1417 to 2016. There are moments when I just decide to stop recording for one day, simply because I'm so tired to read correctly and the whole process becomes a headache!

The form for the Job Request is ready I guess and now I'm supposed to move on and contact potential customers, specially those who did not reply. It is majorly a marketing campaign.







In the meantime, I'm educating myself more in the fields of exposure control and flash photography. I'm preparing for some new order of books and tools to be ordered soon, I hope. I've already ordered some items and books, but it will take some long time to arrive to me since I didn't use any speed mail options.

IndiPRO portable monitor
Source: B&H

Maybe one of the most important items for me right now is the portable monitor (left) along with this order. Compared to other portable monitors, like Sony's for example, this portable monitor is not much with options. However, it works with LP-E6 batteries; same as those used in Canon 7D. For this reason, I've placed an order for one extra battery as well (since it's not included). It would be beneficial as an extra battery for the camera when needed too!
This monitor will be useful when I need to take shots in critical angles with me having to bend my back severely. Back issues are a reality with a man in my age (yes, 32 is old).
Along with this monitor it occurred to me to check on something, and I'm not sure I would be able to use it, but I won't know till I try myself.

Rosco Polarizing #7300 Filter
Source: B&H

 Searching for some way to polarize the light and reduce reflections with my Canon 15mm fisheye lens, I though I might find some kind of gel filters to be fit into the rear side of the lens, like I previously ordered some ND filters gel sheet to be cut and made ready to be used with the lens. However, Rosco Polarizing Filter seems to be used mainly with light sources, but I'm interested in experimenting with this kind of sheet and whether I can cut it into pieces and fit it in the rear end of the fisheye lens. All of this was sparked by a friend who needed my help to order a specific polarizing disk for one of his own lenses. The sheet is relatively large (17x20" ~ 42.5x50cm) and might be useful in many situations, if it is to be cut into various sizes.

Camera Rover:

It was somehow a status of hiatus and unsettling mind along this week. As I've mentioned before, I'm taking my camera to my work as much as I can, and I try to take it out in regular outings as much as possible. I'm trying to capture an inspiration at the slightest chance or hope in the air. This triggers for more abstractive work.
Maybe one of the first trials to increase my understanding for the light and shadows and how they work together was my trial with the camera's flash in broad daylight.

Botanical Arc
Rokinon 8mm fisheye; DxO-corrected.

As I made few test shots for the arc, I've noticed the hard shadows in the lower part of the arc, so I've simple turned on the on camera flash (which I couldn't control because the lens was completely manual and no support for TTL) and just made the shot. Few adjustments were added then by DxO and the distortion was corrected slightly and the whole image was cropped. It's not much of an art work, as much as it is one experiment I loved to do. However, this little experiment was done without any thought to the light level of the flash or any measurements. The same scene was tried for 3D anaglyph too, but didn't work out well.
Also, around my work place, in those moments when boredom just crashes my mind (and there are a lot of them), the camera, then, would help me out in getting back to reality or at least jump from one dimension in my imagination or daydreaming to another. Some weird ideas can occur in weird places, like the bathroom.

Mönster (Patterns)

Even though this place is visited daily, there are only specific moments when everything stops and your eyes would gaze with gushing thoughts and images of ideas. I liked the geometry that I couldn't resist but to go ahead and take my camera from my office and head to the bathroom again.
Despite its simplicity, the shot was not easily done and I had to shoot many times (handheld). After going back home I've I've sorted the images out and with the help of DxO I've picked the best and enhanced its highlights and its distortion as well to make it as straight as possible. Simple patterns like that and such abstract art got its own people I believe. The least to do is to print it out on A3 paper and frame it with a simple plastic frame and hang it in the office to disturb the routine of the office or cubicles work humdrum. 

It's not all about my work place however. Strolling outside had its own benefits too, even though now it's summer and the beach area is not hospitable for my needs as it is in winter. The temperature would simply reach around 38^oC by 6:00 a.m.!
The funny thing is that, I was on a hunt for some scenery that would produce some good 3D effect like the 3D Gazebo that I've done last week. Ironically, none of the shots did work, but on the other hand, I've discovered a place on the beach that I might consider for another visit at night, if possible, and do some long exposures there. Also, I've caught two images, that with some twisting, did produce some abstract (if I can call them so) with a philosophical blend in them.

Einsam (Lonely)

Waiting The World

In Einsam, beside emphasizing the color of the sand, I had to clone the uppermost portion of the image to hide the water line. There was cropping as a consequent for adjusting the horizon line and make it straight. I took the picture from above (something like a watching post) and the umbrella was lying in a diagonal line with respect to my vision.
Waiting for the World, however, was another story (and it was shot first before Einsam). I've cropped the image here to remove the horizon line and give a sense of infinity, and also cropped from the lower edge to let the shore line cut through into the corner. Call it Perfectionism if you like, but I did hate leaving the line of the shore hitting on the right side freely!

The chain of thoughts did not stop here anyway and accompanied me home, with some trials on a burnt out bulb. Taken from my car couple of weeks ago, I've stored this bulb specifically for this experiment. Though I've forgot about it a little, but it just came in time.

Colorful Bulb
Tamron 70-300mm

The bulb had a black patch, and I was thinking already of doing HDR to eliminate this problem. To add some twist, I've decided to do the HDR by bracketing the Flash pulses instead of the Exposure brackets in the camera itself. Placing the bulb in front of a printed paper used for making noise profiles for Noise Ninja added even more glamor to the image I believe.
Maybe it was a mistake to point the flash from the camera directly into the bulb without bouncing it upon some surface, but this might be debatable. The noise level was relatively easy to remove except of some areas that a Median trick would do.
In Photoshop, many, many, adjustment layers were added to increase the contrast and pronounce the bulb more (specially its edges) and fix the color cast little bit. It would have been done more easily if I did take a picture of my Kodak card and simply point the Black eyedropper into the black patch of the card.

QTVR

I've decided to go back to some of the images taken back from Failaka back in March. I've tried my best again with the Ikaros Hotel panorama, and this time with single images and not HDR, yet my trials were a failure again. Seems the critical point which ruined the whole thing is the fact that it was a windy morning and the shades covering the main yard (where I took the panorama) were shaking already and causing much of the fuss and the non-alignment problem in the panorama as a whole.

However, this was not the issue for now. I've remembered one panorama that I've stitched only in one format; which was then called the Planeta Herba.

Planeta Herba

This panorama specifically is semi-full spherical; with exclusion to the zenith and the nadir shots. In fact, and because of the blue sky, the zenith shot is not necessary I believe and could be fabricated easily I presume. The nadir shot was not a big deal too because there is sand only and it is easy to clone out. However, the shadows of the tripod and the camera (ad mine at some points) needed some work to be cloned out.
The panorama was stitched again but in flat format in order to make a QTVR. A simple QTVR.

Θάμνοι του Ίκαρου (Bushes of Ikaros)

The noise level did persist and nothing was all easy to clean, beside some burnt edges. All of these details are apparent of course in the original file, but printing the image itself has the final word when it comes to the noise level and other artifacts.
When it comes to the QTVR, I've been putting some of my Prefectionism, if I should say. It is indeed nice to have a full spherical space to look at in all directions and feel free, but also I'm trying to put down my expectations and also be realistic. In this QTVR, the space is almost fully spherical, with only zenith and nadir missing:





Again, the window was made small for quality reasons. The original file (which sizes up to 130MB) is clearer. Maybe it is a change in my own psychology or something; I just don't know. I think there are lot of things I need to give up in this life just to be going on. I hate it when I'm forced to, but what difference does it make? Annoyance is available in either case: whether you put down your expectations, or not.

The world is becoming a scary, and a silly, place to live...

Racing Time...

Wow! What a busy week. I'm so exhausted that I don't even know how I'm typing these words. I've been going out daily (out of work that is) to do some chores, and all of that is done with all the traffic jams. Also, I go out in the afternoons amid the same jams just to complete the tasks! I've been busy with my "business" if I should say. Catalogs, prints and soon, the expo will be coming on the 22nd. Now, I've been sleeping so early (9 or 10 p.m.) which is something rarely done, but it is good so far, but the not so-good part is not being able to wake up easily, even though I've been sleeping early like that. I'm sleeping for 7 hours now instead of 5, but it's hard to wake up in the morning. I indulge in daydreaming the most at morning times, which makes it harder even to raise my head up above the pillow.

I. Media Race:

I've finally finished my catalog and printed out. Only 20 copies so far, and they cost a fortune. I've been spreading the catalogs around and some people did already talk about "ordering" some. Hope this will lead to more money on the way. I've spent more than 200 K.D. (~ US$720) in two months just to initiate the project.

The Catalog.
Didn't have much care for taking this photo in fact!

I've been asked already to make some prints by a "customer" but till this moment no "real" sale yet. I'm optimistic though, and I know a business in these times is not an easy thing to achieve. One step at a time.

Photo for the first print around the size of A2.

The second print I've made on A1 size (and waiting for framing).

II. Dark Aspect:

I've mentioned before in previous blog posts that I was thinking in two types of panoramas, but I didn't say what are they I suppose, since I don't like to spill my ideas out. However, one of these ideas was achieved (partially). The panorama was done using the flash unit attached to the camera in the process.

Dunkeltraum (Dark Dream)

I've said "partially" earlier because, simply, this is not the place I was hoping for. The panorama was done on the roof of the house and it is a simple horizontal panorama. I was aiming for a place that would be more clogged with objects and showing signs of destruction of violence, and needless to say, I hate to work on the roof, specially with a flash firing. It happened though as I expected and there was someone watching me as I heard some windows or doors sliding, but I didn't react. If I did look around trying to find the source of these sounds in this pitch dark environment, most probably I would be like a guilty person in their eyes. Whoever was there, it surely give me some nuisance that I don't need, and I had to pace up my work speed.

However, the image above was not to my liking in general, because as I said the place is not well-chosen as I wished, but after all I got some of the lessons and remarks that I've made for myself concerning flash photography combined with panoramic photography. I was trying in the beginning (before this trial) to fix the bracket I've purchased a while ago to carry the flash well above the camera, but it didn't work out well and I couldn't attach it to the whole configuration.
Maybe, just maybe, as it is a thought for now, maybe it is possible to mimic the effect of the flash making spot lights on the scene by using the capabilities of the HDR for lowering and raising the exposure value for certain areas, but I'm not sure this will be perfect for resembling the flash strokes.
Also, there is the fact that I might need to change the power of the flash frequently while working in a dark environment to resemble the spot-light effect. This is just to avoid making everything so dark, and the power should be concentrated on the important features of the place. Such stuff are hard to do (but can be done) with HDR slides.
I need another round with "flash panorama" (I coined it here) but I need the proper atmosphere and space to do so.

III. Windy Encounter:

Last Saturday, and just for the sake of keeping my hand warm with the camera, I've decided to go to the beach, anywhere on the beach, just to snap some images. I was lucky somehow with some images, but the wind there almost knocked me off! It was a tough wind, and with me wearing a jacket and trying to stand in a place and snap and image raising my hands up, that made me like a sail and the wind kept pushing me back hard. However, I think I achieved some stability there!

Graceful City
Canon 18-55mm @42mm

The first catch was the image above; Graceful City. What captured my eyes is the sun rays blowing from behind the clouds. Of course, in my mind I was estimating what kind of workflow to emphasize this feature and to emphasize these lines, and the answer was simply, HDR. There is really no time for metering and working peacefully, and the wind wouldn't give a chance. However, even though I took a bracketed image (3 shots of 3 different exposures) I tried in the beginning to work solely on a single shot and tried hard to fix it and emphasize the rays coming out of the clouds, yet, unfortunately, this didn't work quite well. Now with HDR, I thought of completely changing the mood of the image. One thing is annoying me though, and that is the white spots caused by the high lighting coming from the sun.

The second catch was the gazebo that I've snapped from afar before. Combined with the clouds in the sky and the horizon, I thought I would get out of it with some scene. I've changed my lens at this point to Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens.

Into

Arousal

Heavy work was waiting for me with DxO Optics. I could have left the images untouched with their fisheye distortion, but I thought it would be nice when the sky and the edges appear stretched a bit, giving some depth to the images. The hard time was in fixing the horizon mainly, and by implying some highlight and shadow enhancement to show more details. These two images were made out from single RAWs, but with DxO, there is a possibility to turn it out with some HDR feel to it. These two, might be a target for enlisting into my printable collection...
At the end, and under the gazebo, I had a shot for that fancy roof (with the same lens). It was hard to balance myself over the benches and I almost flipped backward!

Wooden Web

This shot, too, was done with a single RAW and not HDR bracketing. Of course there is some cropping after adjusting the rotation of the image. It was hard to balance with that wind.

I'm missing my doodling with Geltani and Ayvarith for sure, but in such times there are measures I can't stop. I just hope I'll be back to all soon, beside being in the business... I need to finish with this expo as soon as possible, if only time can run as we wish...