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...

TJ Prints...

Been one busy week. I could hardly touch or even think of the camera. In between my work and my projects, and the exhausted body and turbulent sleeping, my inspirations for new photos was lost amid this atmosphere.
However, not everything was gone in a thin air. I've been trying my best to represent my photos already and I've managed to build a website and register my own domain, as well as working on a catalog (which is not over yet).

I've got some up and down comments about the prices that I've settled already for my pieces, but I wouldn't know the public's opinion until I try to show them myself. Everything will be evident by the time when the expo comes. So far, I'm not sure how good they are still. I'm not sure how I'm going to cope psychologically, because I'm sure there will be much stress, either I sell something or not, the stress is there.
My daily schedule for the time being is, go to work, come back home, and work on something; no exercises as I was planning, and sometimes I can't even stay awake in the afternoons because of the exhaustion, with the return of the traffic jam into the streets of Kuwait (with school return) and the erratic behavior of drivers on road and the stress coming with that. Sometimes I don't even feel like having my lunch and all what I look for is my bed. To keep it even busier, some car issues and meetings pampered me this week.

Back to my projects. As I've mentioned before, the projects with Geltani and Ayvarith recordings are on hold for now. I've made a model catalog but not being able to print it yet because I'm waiting for the next week to get some framing samples to photograph and put in the catalog as well (so customers can choose what framing they would like to have for their prints).
In the beginning I had to design a sample page, and thanks to my Bulgarian friend (you can tell she's a multi-talented) who worked with me to put the final touches to the overall look:

Sample catalog page. Click to enlarge (large image). And please don't be shocked for the price!

Ten pages of that kind were designed for old and new images, six of them are from Ireland and four of them are from Kuwait. There will be a cover page and some introduction page just before the beginning of the catalog itself.

The cover page. Seems final even though I'm not sure that it is to my satisfaction.

As for the website, I've been working the whole week (along side with the catalog), but the work seems far from finished with it, but the basic layout is there. I've registered the domain for a year so far, which was relatively cheap in fact and in hope that it will be so for some long time to come.

TJ Prints

I've included the catalog in the website already, but I had to turn off the Portfolio section after some technical problems. Typical with me. Nothing goes right easily. However, the work is still on.

The whole thing with the sales and selling my prints, makes me think of reducing my contribution to the stock photography websites like Mostphotos and Canstockphoto, as well as Bigstockphoto. I might keep my work uploaded in these websites, until revoked.

I can't wait until the national day here comes in and I might have some time to relax and sleep as much as I want (and stay awake as much as I want). Maybe new opportunities to use my camera are to come soon...

Here We Go...

They are here finally. Signed, sealed and... framed. Soon to be delivered hopefully. It did cost me a fortune somehow but I have some hopes on selling those and gain some profit to cover up for my losses in February so far (specially after paying up the bills for electricity and water).

Signed, sealed, framed.

However, the experience here in taking this picture was something I wanted to do long time ago. Funny though that I had to fix my camera with the flash unit attached to it, by my spiderpod (or gorilla pod as some call it I think) and all is wrapped on a toy car. The flash was pointed upward to bounce of the ceiling even though the ceiling is not close so much, but the illumination was fair I'd say. For an experiment like this I didn't think of doing HDR out of the situation. Too bad I didn't think of taking a picture of the set!
The experience is new to me but the idea is old in fact. I always wanted to do such a panorama where the image can be kept flat instead of being wrapped, and that implies that I can't use the VR-head and rotate the camera on location, but I have to move the camera in a straight line as much as possible in order to keep the perspective, and the blend should be then some sort of a collage for all the images.

In Photoshop there is definitely a "collage" blend, but of course the Photoshop era was long gone. I had to sort things out with a baby called PTGui. However, using PTGui with complete manual control, means there are things to be done, unlike the totally automatic and relatively easy processing in Photoshop.

On another note, I've dug up some old photos that I didn't touch or process before. Or should I say panoramas that I didn't stitch before.
Because of my search for some material to add on the list and prepare a catalog for some prints-to-be, I've began sweeping through some of the old pictures and folders, and of course I had to stop by 2010's Ireland's collection. There, I've discovered one small panorama that I didn't touch and post before, but I've prepared the HDR slides already!

Once Upon A Gothic

Maybe one of the reasons that made me look away from this image is the fact that there are some people in the image and usually stock sites don't like images in that way (or let's say they ask you to put on a model release for each person in the image sometimes!). Anyway, things have changed as it seems. Looking back at this image and looking at my workflow now it is amazing how many things have changed about my considerations and techniques.
The HDR slides for this small panorama were taken on tripod without VR-head. Generally, a small panorama like this (4 slides) might not cause much of a headache in stitching. However, the bracketing for HDR was done in -3,0,+3 sequence, and THAT proved to be a problem. Back then, I thought such EV level is something good to include extremes of highlights and shades, but judging from my position now, I think -2,0,+2 is enough (and even this might cause some problems at certain atmospheres). I think now it is the time to use metering from the camera to decide on a proper range of EVs, specially before working with a full panorama.
In case you are wondering about the title, this is because I think the architectural style here is Gothic; elongated windows and sharp tops. They say the medieval architecture in Ireland was greatly influenced with this Gothic style and some argue as well that it was brought to the island from southern France in that specific era.

I'm in a rush now to do many things before the time of the expo comes; a catalog, and even a website. For this rush, my recordings for Alexander's story - 6th chapter, and also working on my Geltani project, all are on hold for the time being. All what I'm hoping for is to cover up for some of the expenditures I had to bear this month, by selling some of these prints for real. I've wiped out all my salary already and no way to save anything now...