Speedliting…

I have to admit now that I've been slacking off. In my defense: It was a holiday. Thus, I didn't type anything here for 2 weeks (neither for my Arabic blog either). Speaking of which, I really need to find a suitable topic for the other blog to keep it active a bit. Not sure what to write about though.
Meanwhile, my activities with the camera had been low as well, and my promises to myself about working about a new pinhole stuff did not go well and stopped. I've taken the chance though to do other shootings and experiments with my infrared filters and also had the occasion of shooting a family gathering during the holidays. I made some tiny discoveries - well not really discoveries, but rather a mistake that was shown up clearly while shooting with these infrared filters. Thus, in this post there might not be much for you but I'm trying! In the end, I'm set to talk about a poem I've written some weeks back and surprisingly, it was "appreciated"!

Familia

I did talk in the previous post about my trials to use my infrared filters on the speedlite instead of the lens during the shoot. This procedure has its benefits, as well as its drawbacks as will be shown.
In the beginning, I've used a "weak" infrared filter, as I like to call it. And that is the Night Sky H-Alpha filter, which passes some bands in the red range. I really wanted to shoot in the regular fashion with the filter on the lens. However, it occurred to me that I might as well place it on the speedlite, specially with me using a heavy lens like Sigma 70-300mm (and the speedlite on the camera body). Thus, focusing using the LiveView was not a good option (not using a tripod here). I needed to use the eyepiece and using the AI Servo which somewhat proved to be quicker in focusing than the Single Shot focusing. The Servo mode is usually used for moving objects like in sports and it was the case here with my niece!

To add to my struggles, I had the power pack connected to the speedlite and on full power while hanging on my neck! I pointed the speedlite upward to bounce it off the ceiling which proved efficient with a bit of raise in ISO. The funny thing was, the red streak of light bouncing off the ceiling attracted my niece, and thus I've been taking a lot of shots for her as she was staring into the ceiling; Good poses I got to say!
Remember that I've been using the "weak" infrared filter, namely the Night Sky H-Alpha filter, and because of that, focusing was not a problem. The real problem occurred when I used higher and higher infrared filters on the speedlite. Not only because the speedlite can hardly pass through (which is expected) but also because the focus is shifted drastically, resulting in a soft image EVEN though the image was focused properly when looking through the viewfinder.

Despite the proper focus (with AF) the final shot here turned soft.
Shot with IR750 filter on speedlite and with vibrance increased.

This result is natural but it was really absent from my mind. Lenses are normally designed to be focusing under visible spectrum, and for this reason some lenses bear a red mark to note the focus shift for infrared (though I do believe that the shift might be more drastic as the wavelengths go higher). Here in the situation of placing an infrared filter on the speedlite and not the lens, we are asking the lens to focus for the visible and capture image with the invisible! Does that make any sense? Hope so. Anyhow, all this resulted in such soft images, like the one above (and others).

For several days after these infrared experiments I've been shooting normal shots for some family gatherings during the holidays. More like a documentation process for these moments and yet some good practice with my Sigma 70-300mm lens, since I didn't use much lately (and at all except for solar shooting). During these "sessions" the main play was with how to work with the speedlite(s). Most of these sessions were done with a speedlite on camera pointing upward to bounce the light off the ceiling. However, in the last session (or last day so to say), I thought why not make use of the wireless option, specially that the space is much less than 5 meters even, which means no problem (theoretically) is there when it comes to sending and receiving commands between the camera and the speedlite. Not to say, also, that such procedure would take off the burden of my neck with the power pack being hung on my neck or put in my pocket. Still, though, I had to deal with the problem of placing the speedlites because I need to put them in high places away from the reach of the kids who ran havoc around! This also would provide a perfect bouncing conditions somewhat since the speedlite would be closer to the ceiling as much as possible and this would enable me to make use out of most of the power of the speedlites' pulses. Finally, I've placed 2 speedlites opposing each other (almost) and moved around the place shooting. I have to say though that not all images would benefit from two sources of light, and there were moments when only one speedlite did fire (in fact providing a dramatic look for some shots). However, probably one of the most dramatic (and amazing) shots I've made was of my niece as she was struggling with her blanket (or maybe stole the blanket and running away?)…

أمل - Hoffnung

There are also lot of funny shots but I couldn't post them here actually. All the shooting was done at 1/250sec speed, with lowest f-number possible (which ranged from f/4 to f/5 depending on the focal length). It was a fun activity (and a tiresome one too) and maybe I do need to do some more of that. At some point in time, the core batteries of one of the speedlites did expire and needed to be changed with new ones which I didn't have back at the moment, thus I had to stop and examine the images at that point. If only there is a solution for these damn batteries…

Finale

I'll keep this post short and won't post about some other shots done for some flowers (probably not important after all) but I'll move on to this poem which, surprisingly, got me an award on Writing.com! I called the poem The Rosy; I was intending to change it but then made it the official one.

 Pour it down, reddish and swiftly,
like those passions, long have gone.
Fill it, friend, bitter and thrifty,
in sin, till the cries of dawn.
Drunkard, and lonely.
Clinking the one holy.
Fill me, with my laughter alone.

Pour the rosy and let us sip,
where my blood mixes with tears.
In ecstasy, smeared on this lip,
where merriness shied my fears.
Solid, shall be my grip.
No waste of a single drip.
Numbs my heart and so what it bears.

Leave me, O mate, to my sighing
How troublesome passion is.
Upon drunkenness, my relying,
for the ailing bosom's whims.
How a monk is doubting.
Solitude abiding.
Purgatory, within his sins.

Velvet, it settles in my glass,
showering my crimson heart.
To mend the gloom, from pass to pass,
and set this mind to depart.
Drunk by its shiny glance.
Set me to lose my stance.
Never, a love fiction has to start.

The poem had a 2^nd place in one contest, and also I was awarded a "Merit Badge" within the website itself for "Poetry." Previously, my poem Aman Aman did win the first place in one of the contests as well and now this. Somewhat I feel overwhelmed with emotions; Well, just a bit. As I am trying hard to dedicate some time to write poetry now and then, I'm really seeing with my own eyes the fruition of such efforts. They are not really something big for the time being but at least some people do appreciate these, and think of them as a nice work of art. 

The poem, The Rosy, was written (typed) using a rhyme scheme that I didn't find much equivalent to when I did my little research (I did the research after finishing the poem actually). The major rhyming scheme would: ABABAAB; A somewhat weird I'd say since I didn't see much examples of poems made by seven-line stanzas (but mainly Sestains: six-line stanzas). On the other hand, the syllable count was set at (8,7,8,7,6,6,8), except for the last line in the poem, where I allowed myself to go beyond (8) and made it (9). Let's say, I was forced!

After finishing this poem, I was on the go as well to make another one but after typing two lines only, my mind got congested with many thoughts and chores and time has been pressing on me. Hopefully, I will be having some more time to write it down, as I do need some time as well to make sure of my own feelings about it; That is, to type it down. Probably, I need some time as well to turn some of these poems into photos as well! For all of that, I just hope that I can do some of what is on my mind by next week as I've signed for 9 days off work to get some rest. People here are getting ready for Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar and the saddest for us as well, as it commemorates the battle of Karbala. My leave would expand this period till the 10^th day of Muharram (a.k.a. Ashurah). It is a time of sadness and listening to music is not welcomed, nor a polite thing to do. Thus, I really need to check on my attitude as music is becoming now an essential part of my life (I'm typing these words as I am listening to some as well). 

Alexander 6, V11.

This is one tiresome day. I couldn't resist sleeping in my office at all, so I had to "snooze" off for about 2 hours! Thank God I got a flexible condition here.
I did one big experiment yesterday, at night, and hence the results still did not show up yet to post them here; I took a 360 panorama of the living room (which we call usually as a "hall"). It was a tiresome task, not for the complexity of the process (which does not change whatsoever), because the people there! Mom and sister were there only and then accompanied by my younger brother and all was such a fuss trying to control and stop people from going into the scene when the camera was working with the shutter.
The total images were around 168 images taken with 3 shots per angle (making it for around 56 angles of view). After finishing I went on right away and combined the images into EXR with the help of the batch processor of Photomatix, and also once again I batched them (in another folder) under Exposure Fusion process with certain parameters. I'm not quite satisfied with the general yellowish-brown hue of the hall (it is really like that), thus I will check later if I can change this to something more pleasant. Now you know why I was awake all night and did not have enough sleep!
This morning I tried to do a sample stitch for the EF version, and for some reason, there was some blurred area in the perview, although I'm almost sure that all images were taken in fine sharpness! I had to leave to damn work thus I couldn't investigate it more, but I shall do so of course once I go back home. It IS going to be a tiresome sleepless day.
Just now, I realized that I did sort of a mistake. I could use the camera in portrait position. I think that would reduce the time and the number of shots radically, like I did with our lab before;

 

Gamma Spectroscopy Lab - CRER, Kuwait University.

The difference here is that this image was taken normally without any intention for HDR, thus the shots were lesser by a factor of 3 than it would be normall for HDR. However, the advantage of using the portrait position instead of the landscape position (for me) in capturing such panoramas is that, and because I use the method of connecting points in the viewfinder of the camera when rotating the camera around its axis, that requires later on to elevate the camera up and down (in case your intention was a 360 spherical panorama). The farthest distance in the viewfinder can be found between the leftmost and rightmost dots, thus with neglecting the zenith point (above ur head directly), you can do 2 rows of images; one is low and the other is high, and then the nadir and zenith come in bottom and on top respectively. In my case yesterday (and I was working on degrees engraved on the tripod and not by the viewfinder), I had to take 5 rows of images in landscape position (not counting zenith and nadir), a row at each angle of: 0, +30, +60, -30, -60 degrees. "0" angle is the horizon of course or the mid-line of the panorama.

Now in portrait you might need only 2 angles (or 3 if you feel unlucky), as I did with the picture above. First, I fixed the camera in horizontal position (still in portrait of course) and I make a note about where the center dot resides. I, then, tilt the camera downward to make the uppermost dot reside in that place in the viewfinder, that was occupied by the center dot. I do the same for the upward direction where I fix the lowermost dot in the viewfinder into that center point. To insure that a stitch would go smooth with control points, I might as well take a third row of images from the center itself. Now if you have fisheye lens with 180 HFoV of course all your life problems would be, almost, over. All what you might need then is simply 4 angles and you're over with it and the rest would be a work on PC to unwrap the fisheye image (and fix aberration). Not only that, but you can just capture a skydome by lowering the camera as much as you can and pointing your camera upward exactly at 90 degrees and hence you got a view of the surroundings in one shot (or 3 if you like it in HDR, ore more if you want a more professional HDR let's say). The work later on is on PC for unwrapping the images.

I'm quite surprised by some manufacturers of photography tools when they put a label or a comment on their products or softwares and say "designed to lessen the time spent in front of the PC and make you spend more time behind the camera," or something that goes like that anyway. The thing is, most of the art is in the PC as I believe. Yes, I do require an easy-going program when I deal with things but if professionality requires complexity a bit, then I wouldn't mind spending more time facing the monitor; this is the fun! I'm not a busy man with my camera, specially with the lack of inspiration these days, and thus, spending more time in front of the monitor is not a big deal for me (the only thing is when I NEED to play a game or so and leave the images-work for some time). If the software is good I presume, for example, and that makes it complex, then it better be able to fix the errors done by the camera or the composition or the lighting coditions in the scene, and hence this is the real benefit as I believe! Less time behind the camera, more time in front of the PC. Why? Well, in past posts (last year) I guess I told you about some stories when I was stopped by security guys and by cops for many reasons and permit is required and all the blah blah blah with that. In such cases, I do need indeed lesser time behind the camera and finish everything as fast as I could and run back home to do what I want, and fix my errors that I HAD to do. I'm not pushing you to be an outlaw like I do (ah yeh), but there are many occasions when you are not comfortable in some situation and MUST hit and go. I think it is just my style that I can't take pre-planned images but I have to hit and run as usual, or just snap something beautiful I saw on my way while driving on some road.

Anyway, I leave you now with Alexander 6, verse 11. I have to look now after some cleaning brushes for the damn sensor!

__________
241. this talk sparked the pains in Alexander
242. he can see the events in front him
243. like it is happening in that moment
244. just like it happened before thirty years
245. when his father, the glorious, fell in a trap
246. arranged by demons and wizards who followed them
247. because he banished them from his lands
248. because he punished them so hard
249. he can remember the image of his father
250. when he fell on the floor unconscious
251. and his skin turned red and purple
252. while his body was like a piece of wood
253. when the wizards and witches attacked
254. accompanied with demons on their sides
255. and started to eat the flesh
256. just before he attacks them with his Charnagút
257. young he was at that time but he never forgets
258. the pains accompanied him all the way
259. until he buried his father under the sea
260. so no one would reach the body or see
261. and he could remember the face of Kadmún
262. the demon who who poisoned his father by trick
263. and the demon who tried to get his father's heart
264. how shall he forget the face of such cruelty?

Bét Harrá...

Been some days away from work and away from most of the activities in my life and for the day of Ashura (which I took a single day leave for yesterday), but today, which happens to be a Monday (yes, a Monday) is a day that should not be considered in a life time. For some reason, I did not hear the alarm and thus, naturally, woke up late at 7:15! Moved out in a hurry and I joined the road's carnival! Almost around 45 (or more than 30 minutes a bit, I really lost my track of time), just to reach my work place, with all that pain in my feet! Now after arrival, I need to find something to eat!
Lot of people mix up between the term "Ashura" and the month of Moharram (first month in the islamic calendar). Thus, just to elaborate a bit about it: Moharram is the first month of the islamic calendar, and Ashura is the term used for the 10th day of Moharram ONLY. It is the day mostly remembered for the Battle of Karbala, where the grandson of the Prophet was massacred with his companions and his household, and the women of his household were taken like prisoners of war. Some people call this month "Ashura" which is wrong.

During the last few days I was busy with scanning some old photos that belonged to mom's collection and most of them were in black and white. I didn't finish though but I finished the majority. I just realized how beautiful mom is. I think by now, I want a girl that looks like her, in everything! I had a problem though after scanning that huge amount in TIFF format; I can't covert them back to JPG. Should've scanned them in JPG in the first place but I was thinking of some "compressing" that might make some data loss here. I hope there is some way around this problem! There is no way I'm going to scan 47GB back again in JPG! Never!
I discovered also that if I scanned the negative form (those negatives from the analog camera exactly as they are), I would be able to flip and inverse the colors back and I would have the original image just by scanning the negative! But, this is not a complete experiment... I need to do further investigation because flipping the colors produces a very bright image which needs some corrections in color to make it normal looking. Let's see what we can do later on!

It had been some days now without snapping anything, and mainly because I'm concerned about the dirty spots that I get in my images. It is clear that I need sensor cleaning. So much to spend on for now and just remembered some promises I made for some people, to lend them some money. I guess I have to rely back on my visa for a while, again. I might try to go to Canon's headquarter for services, and ask them to clean the sensor, but I just hope that doesn't take a day or two, because I'm totally out of mood for such a task.

I was doing some surfing the other day and I've discovered that I might indeed have what's called "ADHD" or the (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). I don't know if it is that bad, although according to some "screening" test (that should not be taken seriously), I do have some of this ADHD. Maybe this is obvious in my lack of patience specially when it comes to focusing on doing a task for a long time.

The yield for today is 3 verses, reaching line #2232. Can't wait to finish all of this! However, the word for today is "bét harrá" [Ankh: beyt hurWa] as you can see, which stands for "sail" (of a ship). The literal meaning is "house of air" and it points out to the mission of the sail of collecting the air to push the ship. Beside this word, I had to make out a word for "sail" as a verb, which I modelled after the word "sea" and became (baħam) [Ankh: buxuM]. Notice that the word for "sea" is (bħím) [Ankh: bxyM]. Also, the noun form of "sail" was modelled after "sea" and became (baħámah) [Ankh: buxamuH].
I can't imagine the amount of words that I've made up so far by translating this last part of the story of Alexander, and that makes me think of the hard work needed to put them down in the dictionary!
Please, shoot me...