Camera Doodles…

Well, I think it had been one hell of a "vacation" from blogging, to blog. Did I stay away from this blog for 3 or 4 weeks? I can't recall really. All I remember is that in a week's time, I had so much going on in my life that I could barely sit in front of the PC and do anything except of checking the so-called "social media" (which I pretend that I have). I had some allergy attacks, and a slip on the stairs ending me with a twisted foot and a pain in the tail (or rather the muscles around that tail bone). Meanwhile, I was already engaged in typing a blog post for my Arabic blog, which made me stop everything at that point. On a positive point, I did work on a tiny experiment with high speed, but probably I shall post about that later on as I'm following some chronological order in this blog and I'm supposed to post something related to the infrared shot I've made before and talked about in the previous post.
Meanwhile, I think I'll be busy as well doing an "inventory check" for images from 2022 and 2021 (and maybe even 2020) to see what I can prepare of them to be uploaded to the stocks. This is a tedious task specially when ti comes to the keywording process. I've tried to find a tool to help me out with keywording time and again, but failed to find a suitable one. Anyway, for this reason, I might be away from this blog for another 2 weeks or so (providing that I don't slip on the stairs again!).

Camera Doodles

This sit of images is quite quick, and thus this whole blog post might be short actually. This set of images was taken the day after the shots in my previous post were taken. Not much was done in these images except of fixing an infrared filter on the lens (I think it was Neewer's IR720) and moving the camera around (indoors where not much IR sources exist). Ironically, my aim was to test something outside and check if there are "hidden" clouds in the sky, but nothing interesting was there, so I came back inside and started to shoot randomly at light sources.

شُـهُـبْ
(meteors)

Generally speaking, the images were red (of course) but I added some twist to it to make it purple and interesting. Indoors, most of the lighting in fixtures comes from LED lights; Not a significant IR source but apparently IR720 do let in some of the spectrum from these lights. Anyway, I've tried various movements between shots, and some images like Meteors have been rotated to make it interesting somehow. Even though it is an abstract in general but seems to me that the direction of the "tails" in such images is important; I could've also made the tails going from the top and downward and probably would still be representative of meteors falling down. Anyway, abstracts are abstracts and those coming up won't have a direction most of the time as we'll see.

Camera Doodles 1

As for the next 2 abstract shots I can't quite remember what orientation were they when they were taken, but apparently I wasn't pointing the camera towards some light source like the fixtures in Meteors. Looking at it, it might be suitable for some background but I'm not quite confident that the stock websites would be accept such images, as it looks quite random. Camera Doodles 2 looks even more random than Camera Doodles 1. 

Camera Doodles 2

My guess or let's say I hope that such images would be accepted for their colors rather than their "composition" (if such word applies here). When I come to think of it, I think the hardest part is to assign keywords to such images right now, as they are completely random! Even though some websites state that something around 20 to 30 words are just about enough, I got into the habit of not feeling satisfied in less than 40 words (probably affected by that time when I had an Alamy account some years ago). One thing though about Camera Doodles 2, and that is that I think I've applied some inverse somewhere in the process but not sure how or when!

Moving Door

The last in this series (and I've skipped one here which I will post at the end) and probably my most valuable shot here is Moving Door where I've set the camera on a table and manually rotated it as the exposure was to be taken (about 6 seconds). It did require some trials to do it right though despite its simplicity; Just the right angle and the right spinning speed. The door here leads to guest room and then to the outside so I'm guessing some bits of infrared are seeping through. Worth noting that the place was busy with people and good thing none (I guess?) appeared here. I think Moving Door has this sense of horror movies despite the floral design on the door. Surely will be keyworded for upload to the stocks.

Finale

So this is a short and quick post for some quick abstract shots done with an infrared filter on 50mm lens. I think my plan for the next few days from now is to work on some images and prepare them for the stocks. This will take some time so I'm not sure if I have the time to post here but we'll see. Meanwhile, I'm also trying to dedicate some time and effort to shoot something (anything) and probably I should also think of a proper topic for my Arabic blog for August. I've already skipped June!
On the other hand there had been some problems on Instagram as I've been trying to upload a video of my latest shots (which I will hopefully talk about here in the coming weeks). I've been trying to upload the video daily, and for more than one week, and kept getting some error message which doesn't explain a thing. I've issued a ticket but I didn't get a reply, yet the problem was resolved few days afterward, so I'm thinking that they did respond to the ticket. Too bad though I didn't take a picture of the set when I did this high-speed photo shoot but I might reenact it, though it's not a big deal I guess.

Meanwhile, I've been also thinking about participating in photography contests (from which my inbox is flooded with), specially after the closure of Trierenberg Circuit lat year (or was it this year?). Anyway, I'm not sure what I would be aiming for in such contests; Like, I'm OK with the money but not sure if it is worth it much. On the other hand, would I get some recognition? Again, what for. Anyway, the idea is still flipping in my head, left and right, and couldn't reach  decision about it, but I might as well participate in few of these contests. We'll see…

In relation to the so-called social media as well it felt being so isolated in the past 2 weeks. Despite the fact that I spend most of my time alone, but I had that urge to talk to someone, anyone, just talk... but there was none. Neither on this social media, nor in reality (from which I'm escaping I guess). It felt as if there was something broken inside my head, staring aimlessly and just doing nothing, and having a nap after another, with total fatigue. Funny how this social media which is supposed to help you grow your circle or do something about the stupidity of the social norm, in fact locks you down further in wait for anyone to reply to your comments or look at your posts and nothing happens for hours and hours. Just the ridiculous life I'm leading…

Tunneling

50mm..

Less than a week left, and I'll be off for some time. I'm not sure if I would be able to post in this blog when I'm away, but I'll see to that. The place I'm staying in is provided with Wi-Fi service, but with the schedules I'm having for myself there, I might be even too busy to sleep! I don't know...

Still Life
I've been skipping a lot of the group's activities because I wanted more time for myself, and because such activities are usually followed with a huge number of images that I need to sort out and filter out (and, of course, process). With my taking off time getting closer, this is not possible to be done right now.

Photography
Canon EF 50mm USM, f/8,
100^-1sec, ISO 100

However, I didn't cut myself off completely. There is a contest among the group members that extends till October 20^th (by which time I would be out of the country already). The contest is for Still Life images, and I've decided to work on it a little bit, majorly on some simple ideas. Just needed to submit the images and forget about the results of the contest. One of the ideas is to pack all my photography books into a stack, over some smooth table and use my speedlites to light the scene. After many trials (with gel filters, snoot, and honeycomb grid) I've made a version somehow close to what I was aiming for, Photography. It is not exactly as I wanted it or as I had it in my mind. I wanted a lighter yellow streak almost mimicking the real light coming from the sun through the window. Also, I wanted some dust particles in the air to reflect the antiquity (despite the books being relatively modern and new!). I have to satisfy myself with this image for now and might use this experience in something else in the future.

Hygienic Circles
Canon EF-S 18-55mm @33mm, f/8, 250^-1sec, ISO 400.

My other idea for Still Life (and actually done first) was a snap from the top for a collection of circular objects. My idea was to bring one form of geometry into the scene and make it dominate - however, framing a circular object in a rectangular scene proved really difficult. I didn't know how to arrange the objects, beside shooting exactly at -90^o degrees. In the beginning I was planning to use my relatively-new lens, the Canon EF 50mm, but that was challenging as I would have to raise the camera with the lateral arm to a level higher than my head. For this reason, I had to change to 18-55mm lens.
Using 2 speedlites here with a reflector and a honeycomb, I did change a lot of settings and positions till I've arrived at this result. Probably should have used some coloring gels to give more warmth on the scene, as the white balance setting proved problematic when changed.

50mm
As I've mentioned before, in last week's post, I've set out a challenge for myself: getting out and taking pictures with camera and lens alone; no tripod, no other lenses but the 50mm. The challenge was carried over 3 days, and as expected, most of the images I could think of were around my work place. Well, except of one which was taken as I was waiting for my sister near the garage...

In View
Canon EF 50mm USM, f/1.4, 1600^-1sec, ISO 100.

Frankly, there is no philosophy or purpose, and I believe I'm not supposed to dig any philosophy when you go out strolling like that with a camera and one lens wherever you go; it is a bit like street photography, but without waiting for events or watching out for people. Simply, training your eyes to see things you deem interesting. In In View for example, I like the reflection (yes, I'm in love with side mirrors) and how the handicapped parking lot sign resembled a dot. I took several shots from this angle with little adjustments left and right - and I believe it fits the golden spiral unintentionally!

Light Tick
Canon EF 50mm USM, f/1.4, 200^-1sec, ISO 100.

Now back to work where most of my shots took place. As stated above, I didn't care much about a message to get it through the images, but merely what really attracted my eyes. Like Light Tick, it can be an example for minimalism (a trend that I've been after lately), and some people really liked it despite its simplicity. What does it mean, and how it conveys a message, please be my guest and add your own philosophy to it. All what I know here is that my mind and imagination were on a roll!

Lost in Space
Canon EF 50mm USM, f/2.8, 50^-1sec, ISO 100.

Another plug point in my office room at work was down close to the ground level, so I've decided that day I might have nothing better to shoot. As I was preparing and getting lower to shoot, I've realized that my eyes were playing a trick on me and I almost lost sense of orientation here, and that inspired me to do Lost in Space, which is just another minimalistic approach.
I have to admit here though that I've used the cloning tool in Photoshop to eliminate the hard lines of the corner and show the plug point as floating in space. Again, some people said it's genuine; well, Thank you all!

The Last Dangling
Canon EF 50mm USM, f/1.4, 1250^-1sec, ISO 100.

And let's face it, floral arts are not mine and I don't like stepping there. But, there are moments when you just want to have fun with f/1.4 lens! This is exactly what I did here. I had to crop the image a bit to adjust the framing, but all in all, it doesn't attract me personally, even though some people liked it, and probably some of them were surprised for shooting such an image; not quite my style!

Ziegel und Linien
Canon EF 50mm USM, f/16, 20^-1sec,
ISO 100.

Now, there is one corner in the wall, in the outside of my work place, which was subject for many shots before, and even a vertical panorama. I would love to make a proper vertical panorama instead of the handheld one done before (with lot of broken lines). Here, however, all I had to do is just increase the f-number to encompass a greater depth from the start (bottom) to the end (top) and aim upward.
It didn't occur to me that I can increase the ISO to fasten the shutter further, but it did well at 20^-1sec without a handshake! Balancing my fat body in that pose proved to be an extreme job to do!

Stripes Spangled Door
Canon EF 50mm USM, f/1.4, 800^-1sec,
ISO 100.

The bomb was that, in a period of one week only, I've got two of my images into Flickr's Explore feature! Meaning they are featured as something interesting. Not sure how did that happen, but in both cases, the image went into Explore directly the next day after uploading them. The first was Stripes Spangled Door, then followed by Ziegel und Linien the other day. Despite the simplicity (or so I thought) of Stripes Spangled Door when I shot it, it proved to be one of the difficult (and surprising) shots that I've ever done. Unlike Ziegel und Linien which comprises, mainly, diagonals, Stripes Spangled Door is mainly composed of straight lines; horizontal and vertical. I did my best to shoot face to face (and the door was a bit raised up from the ground), and when everything did look fine, my computer and Photoshop had another say. The image was out of perspective and I've spent some hard time fixing it, and even DxO did not do much to help me out. I had to resort to some old tricks of skewing and stretching and manual perspective fixing. On the left side of Stripes Spangled Door I've kept some tiny stripes so as not to dock the the vertical lines on the side as, as I see it, typically done.

Finale
Now, this is my last post before taking off. I will try to post when I'm abroad, but I'm not quite sure if the time will allow me to do that. That will be one big city, and I'm not fond of cities, but I just need to finish this to see what's next. Beside the worrying about my tools and camera before the travel, there are matters that I've postponed till after the travel; matters of projects, business plans if possible, and on the top of them all, matters of the heart...

See you after some time...

My bro goofing around. Guess he never heard of a barber?
Canon EF 50mm USM, f/1.4, 30^-1sec, ISO 200.