Bridge-O-Rama...

Hectic week. Or maybe I should say hectic 2 weeks. I thought that allergic reactions have long gone from my body, but with the wake of last week, I've realized that this is not "completely" true! Itchy nose and sneezing continuously with a red face and eyes. It seems that it is related to the dust wave that we've encountered that day. Everything is calm now, except of some sneezes here and there.
Anyway, this gap of a week without a post did accumulate some materials to be posted here, so this post might be lengthy a bit! I'll try to follow some chronological order though.

Back to Flora

With my sister's delivery, flowers hammered in the house. Not so many in fact but it was a chance anyway to do some macro and some other types of magic. The flowers (and roses), however, are typical and seen them before and took pictures for such types before. Thus, it was my task to find something new about these flora.

Comrades in Beauty
Canon EF 50mm + ET, f/22,
400^-1sec, ISO100.

Typical in such floral situations I would go into macro level because the floral arrangement is and might be a good thing for still life, but this is something I'm really not going into for the time being. However, the floral arrangement might be inspirational as I will show later - but not in the case of the first bouquet, thus going macro, to me, was a natural choice as can be seen in Comrades in Beauty. I've named it Explosive Beauty in the beginning but, let's say I didn't like the violent name for such gentle shades and hues along with the soft stems. I've taken pictures like this before in a workshop with the photography group and experimented with the same flower indeed (Lily, or is it lilly?). I see that using a speedlite in such approaches is a must to add some flavor and atmosphere. Otherwise, the shot under the ambient light might be plain and flat. In Comrades in Beauty, the speedlite was adjacent to the lens and to the flower's stems. Because I was using high f-number and High-Speed (to kill the ambient light), I had to get the speedlite by hand so close to a "ridiculous" distance! Probably using 2 speedlites would have solved the problem, but no need to add more stuff to an occasional work.

InfraRose
Canon EF 100mm macro, f/16, 100^-1sec, ISO100.

Then, the idea of doing macro and infrared visited me again (I've done the same 2 weeks ago). However, this time, it would have more abstract sense since it is to be taken from the top of the rose and not from the side like I did before, two weeks ago. Originally, the shot would be highly overexposed but with the IR filter on the lens it retains the details back (and might be underexposed sometimes!). In the processing of InfraRose the red hue (the rose was white) was swapped and turned blue. Red was beautiful as well, but it was so typical, for roses that is.
InfraRose specifically, stirred some weird criticism by some people (and some others do like it as it is). Not something new to me actually, but it is the type of criticism that was handed to me that made me re-think of what or how do people think about such images. Probably I should list these points:

1. Some people said they like the general color, but everything was off and there is a loss of details. My answer is: what details? It is indeed a macro shot, but the general theme is abstract and I don't see any details are to be preserved in the original shot in those white petals.
2. Halos. I didn't pay attention to those in the original shot and I'm not quite sure if they are the result of extreme sharpening, or simple because of the speedlite light (which was used in taking this shot). Yet, I don't understand still, how come such thin halos to make a big deal of the general view.
3. Some people edited the shot already (without my permission) and fixed the general tint and retained the original white color of the petals. OK. Some people did like the white version more, yet I didn't send any invitation to edit my own photo. I know how to make it white, IF I wanted to do so!

This is some of what has been said already about this shot. Anyway, enough with this bouquet, and let's get to the next bouquet which was delivered later. As I've mentioned before, the arrangement of the flowers in a bouquet can be inspirational by themselves. I know, lot of photographers do arrange their own shots specially if they are into still life photography, but this is not the case with me. I work mostly by rules and lines, and if not, I deal with what life throws at me.
The floral arrangement in this bouquet specifically inspired me to show uniqueness and separation from the rest of the herd. Simply, by pushing the central rose upward above the rest, and shooting from the top. It was time for using the lateral arm again!

Eigen
Canon EF 50mm, f/1.4, 15^-1sec, ISO100.

Probably in shots like Eigen I should've zoomed in further, but since the 50mm lens is a prime lens (no zoom) and I'm completely relying on the lateral arm and the tripod to get closer or further from the rose, it was better to settle down at this level and work with some cropping later when required. I did some cropping indeed to remove some edges and to shift the center of the image to the center of the rose, as it was a bit off-center. Another self-note is, probably f/1.8 or f/2 was better just to include the edges of the central rose further into the focus. However, personally, I do like the dreamy sense of it that way in general.

InfraEigen
Canon EF 50mm, f/1.4, 15sec, ISO100.

Of course, the idea of the IR filter visited me again, and I've applied it. I think it does give a mysterious (and maybe melancholic) feel to it that way. Even though InfraEigen seems like a black and white shot, but there is a slight tint in the image. I can't really remember if I swapped the channels like it is customary with IR shots, but judging from the light bluish tint at some part, I guess I did indeed swap the channels!
After taking the first shot with a shallow depth, I thought it's a good chance to try IR with really sharp focus and a lengthy exposure (because I seldom try this!).

InfraEigen II
Canon EF 50mm, f/22, 6min, ISO100.

InfraEigen II (soft)
Canon EF 50mm, f/22, 6min, ISO100.

In many occasions, and while processing the shots I take, I find that increasing and decreasing the Clarity when dealing with the RAW file can produce many chances for interesting outputs. When dealing with InfraEigen, the situation was the same but probably because of the already-shallow depth of the scene, softening the edges did not have a strong impact on me, but when dealing with InfraEigen II the softening effect was apparent. The green tint in some areas in the soft version (after swapping channels and processing) is due the fact of increasing the Vibrance. Of course, in all infrared versions, dealing with the noise was a hectic matter, but no need to go into those details for the time being!

Bridge-O-Rama

It was about time till I get the chance to do some photography project that I had in my mind long ago. Photography on the top of a pedestrian bridge.
I've delayed this project mainly because the bridge is somehow close to some sensitive buildings and my mood was (and still) not open for more conflicts with some authorities. Anyway, this time I had some spare time so I decided to head to that bridge and work a bit just before dusk time. Finding where to park my car in the first place was a big deal by itself!

Arabestract
Rokinon 8mm, f/22,
6^-1sec, ISO100.

As I climbed up, the first thing to try was my Rokinon fisheye. I was quite sure that it will make up something interesting when it is combined with such straight long lines tending (or seems to) go to infinity. I think this is what classical artists would call Vedutismo. I've taken some shots on one side of the bridge and tried the best I could to place the tripod and camera exactly at the center (but typically my trials failed anyway). Later, I've headed to the center of the bridge, almost, just to check the view from that point. I've realized how hard it is to judge your position in the air compared to the ground, and while I thought I'm at the center of the bridge because the ground below me looked so (!), but the fact is I wasn't and I didn't know this fact until I've shot Arabestract. In this shot, I've literally laid myself down on the ground and lowering the tripod as much as possible while pointing the camera upward. It was hard to look at the viewfinder or even the LiveView, thus I had to use a high f-number with focus to infinity to ensure the depth encompasses the roof of the bridge. Anyway, there were no other details, but only the roof, so I guess no need to worry about the hyperfocal distances. My only fear was to be lying down there while some passers would decide to "pay me" a visit!

Originally, I didn't really plan for a panorama even though I did take my VR-head with me (usually I take it just in case some idea pops up). However, after checking the result of Arabestract I've realized there is a great potential for some amazing geometrical plays, judging from the abstract of Arabestract. Thus, I've settled as fast as I could (because the light was changing and dusk is getting closer) and started taking the panorama.

Bridge-O-Rama

Hungover

I Dream

Before doing this panorama, I tried some weeks ago to re-calibrate the Manfrotto 303SPH with my EOS 7D and Canon 15mm fisheye lens and make sure about the no-parallax point. However, I've realized that because of the distortion originally inherit in such lenses, it was almost impossible to achieve such point, but rather we can reduce it, as I came to believe. Anyway, after doing the panorama I wasn't disappointed, despite the many stitching errors that I had to conceal or fix in one way or another. Lot of these stitching errors are somehow hard to notice in a small size scale. With my new PC I was able to stitch relatively large HDR panoramas in relatively a short time, and I've stitched almost two versions of each projection just for comparison. At times, it is even hard to judge which projection is the best. The vertical projection for example produced two nice panoramas, with each giving some specific feeling to it: Hungover and I Dream. To tell the truth, I do feel that I Dream is closer to my heart.
One of the major problems here though is the tone-mapping of such panoramas. There were many factors that made this a hard task to do somehow:

• I've used the Fluorescent WB which typical for me in such time of the day, but probably the tones of the place were not forgiving for such white balance.
• Photomatix tone-mapping was hard to control with its aspects, thus I had to turn to Photoshop itself to tone-map the tonal curve point by point. Photoshop versions after CS4 really amazed me (currently I'm using CS5) with its tone-mapping capabilities. They have improved significantly.
• Under such circumstances, it was hard to decide whether the color cast should be corrected or left as it is. Lot of work with layer masks was required to control this aspect.

This was just some of the problems, excluding the original hard time in stitching the panorama in the first place, where the computer was unable to generate lot of control points for some reason I'm not aware of still. However, my amazement was still to come in two projections that I did not even think of or even had a vision for...

Planeta Arabesqueia

Swept Away

The planet projection was an amazement for me. I didn't realize this fact until I've worked it out in PTGui. These lines make an intriguing atmosphere. Ironically though, the tunnel-view projection which is the reverse of the planet projection (i.e. aiming upward from below) did not make an interesting figure, to me at least. This made me make up some theory about the visual attractions and panoramas, which I will mention below. Another interesting projection which was made completely by mistake as I was trying to settle down with I Dream above. This time, probably, I should name such style as the "tilt" or "twist". Without complicating the text, when I try to change the point of view of a panorama I usually work with specific and fixed amount of degrees, like 45^o or 90^o and so on. Sometimes though, I mix things up unintentionally, as it happened in Swept Away, which has an irregular vertical axis (relative to the bridge of course). This image and Planeta Arabesqueia were published in my group's instagram's gallery and received some applause from the viewers.

Arabesquette
Canon EF 15mm fisheye, f/16,
5^-1sec, ISO200.

Not only the panoramas themselves were interesting, but there was one specific point in the whole set where I loved to see alone and separate from the rest of the panorama. Talk about must having an attentive eye while working with more than 40 slides of HDRs. I rarely use the 15mm fisheye lens for anything else other than panorama shooting, but this time as it is in Arabesquette the 15mm fisheye lens made as if by virtue, all the lines vanish into the lower right corner. This point of view, I think, could have been so hard to achieve with Rokinon's 8mm fisheye because the field of view would be wider, and more details would be included. This tight point is just fine as it is.

Arabesquearium
Rokinon 8mm, f/22, ISO200. HDR.

After finishing the panorama above, I've decided to give it one last try with my Rokinon 8mm lens and shoot the bridge from the first point where I started originally, but this time, from the ground level. To stabilize my camera here I've used the battery charger under the lens hood itself! Well, shaky, but with a 10sec time, all was fine. The only problem was to check for the center of the image (which I was somehow lucky here to have the center in a proper place almost). Even though I tried to flatten and fix the distortions in such images taken with Rokinon's 8mm lens, yet I've figured that such step would take all the amusement and the visual interest out of the image, and it is better as it is; all lines converge into the horizon. Vedutismo! I loved this perspective more than the ones I've taken in the beginning of the journey from that same point exactly, in which I've used a tripod and the camera was above the ground (around 1m high, ~3ft). For this reason, I didn't really touch those taken at the beginning. In between also, there was some trials with my 18-55mm lens (yes the old kit lens) with the infrared filter but I was aiming at the road below and the general cityscape. I have to say it was just experimental as the lines did not appeal to me very much.

Theory

Gazing on and about the panoramas that I've already made here, made me think of some visual aspects and how to render or expect an outcome from a panorama. Leaving Swept Away aside for the time being as I need to check it more (probably doing old panoramas in this way and see for myself), the main interest for the time being is the planet and the tunnel projections. It seems to me that the interesting projection for some space is highly relevant to the direction of the interesting feature in the scene. As you can see above, the main feature in the bridge is the roof, which has elaborate designs. Doing a tunnel projection would bring this feature to the middle of the scene, and that specifically rendered it dull and idle. I see that Planeta Arabesqueia, in which the view is from the roof, has a more interesting render. I would lucky of course if the place I'm doing panorama for has more than one interesting feature, like the case in the panorama of the Grand Mosque of Kuwait, done back in 2011. The main interesting in the mosque was the dome and the ceiling in general beside the floor which was covered with laminated carpet. For this, a tunnel and a planet projection (beside a wide view projection) all had some interesting feature displayed - this feature should be exactly the point of the view (i.e. as if we are standing at that point and looking in the opposite direction). This might sound like a paradox; as to how I'm supposed to make an interest by standing or viewing the scene exactly at the point which I'm supposed to be interest in? The answer relies on geometrical plays and the abstract sense of the scene. If there is an intriguing design in my scene, I'm supposed to represent that design in the strongest possible way. This can't be done if I simply put this feature in the middle of the scene (as it is the case in the tunnel projection). I have to stretch or change the perspective of that feature specifically to make it an attraction to the eye. I think I didn't think in details about this point specifically but only this time I'm trying to approach the topic analytically.

Finale

For Sale

Some days ago my brother advised me to get rid of those prints that I've framed (and did cost me a plenty) by offering them for sale on instagram. I'm trying to do this slowly in the current time even though I know there won't be anyone who would like to buy them despite the price reduction to almost 50% of what it was. I need to get rid of them in fact, because there is no use of leaving them lying around in my room like that; occupying space and collecting dust. Yet, all what I can do is just wish for some luck to get these sold at such prices. Also, I'm planning to add some more new images to my website, specially those taken recently. I need, however, to check on the panoramas and fix them the stitching errors properly, which will be a very time-consuming activity!

Source: Amazon

On the other hand, because of the lack of the new books, I'm turning back to some of the older books (as I've mentioned in previous posts). This time, I've decided to read The Practice of Contemplative Photography by Andy Karr and Michael Wood again. I felt the need to re-connect with that magical feeling deep inside me, away from trying to make a set-up and planning for shots ahead. I need to awaken that feeling of seeing as the book put it. Probably I need more books like this one in the near future. With the rush in my life and the mess, with all these contests that I've been trying to put up with and the rest of the obligations; photographically and domestically, I think I need to get back to my camera and treat it as a companion, rather than a tool. Specially with an empty heart like this one.

In my work I've signed for a little leave just to get some rest from all the damned traffic jam in everyday. Mom told me that I've should taken this to travel out. My reply was: where to go mother? I didn't like to tell her directly to the face that I'm actually trapped, for taking care of her because, simply, there is no one I could rely on for such a mission. I don't think that would make her feel any good. Anyway, despite the dialysis timing which will still keep me active in the morning and out of bed 3 days a week, I'm hoping that such a resting time would do me a favor and make me produce some more images, beside sleeping more, and dreaming more...

Dubai Back and Fro...

Well, been to Dubai for 3 days this week and I couldn't have much time to take some photos or work on some pictures. I received and invitation (as I've mentioned in previous post) from HIPA to attend to the ceremony of awards giving.
The stay was fine and Dubai is a nice place to stay (I couldn't imagine there was no traffic jam!), but unfortunately way too expensive for my budget. In just 3 days I've spent what I would've spent in Ireland for 5 days or more!
Despite the beautiful atmosphere it was hard for me to take any pictures from there, and the sum was a total of 3 images only and 2 of them were, well, fine.

Dornige Schönheit
Canon EF 50mm + 20mm tube, f/22, 160^-1sec, ISO100.

I went strolling outside of the hotel after breakfast on the 18^th, first without any camera just to check my surroundings, but then I went back to my room and got my stuff and went out again to catch some weird looking plant (but then I've realized it is abundant in UAE). Weird for me at least as I'm no botanist! In here, I've used an extension tube (20mm I think) and took several shots with and without flash, but I think after all Dornige Schönheit was the most stable of all. I did took shots from above but I needed a larger zoom to hide my other hand which was holding the stem. Lately, I've been using the extension tubes a lot with my 50mm lens as I see it a nice and fast substitute for the heavy 100mm macro lens and would give a single hand the power to control the camera body properly more.

Columns and Columns
Tamron 70-300mm @300mm, f/8, 500^-1sec, ISO100.

I've walked and wandered further away and took some shots (mainly of abstract nature) but lot of them didn't turn well, and finally reached a construction site where I've noticed some raising columns under construction - probably the only thing that really caught my attention.
That night there was the ceremony which I went to Dubai for, the HIPA awards ceremony. Nicely done and I got the chance to see such amazing photos indeed. I'm checking with HIPA to see if the ceremony will be published on youtube.

I do realize that lot of people are surprised for the fact that I didn't take much pictures and I didn't go out a lot in Dubai - but this is back to the simple fact that I don't really consider it a vacation (or completely a vacation let's say). I would spend a vacation in a calmer place like the countryside or a sea village probably, but not in a big city. Also, I'm not a shopping person and I didn't go there for shopping in the first place, and photography-wise, the urban scape is not greatly inspirational for my mind. However, it is a nice city with nice people and there were lot of things to think about by observing my surroundings - Culture, attitude, and arts. Dubai is a big city but not within the same reputation line as other big cities like New York or London. This would seem hard to explain but probably easy to observe in Dubai itself!
Anyway, after a fast roll over Dubai events, I'm back to my previous regular work with my own humble photos the week before.

Flora Mood:

Well, they say it is spring already but years of living here as a native, I sort of realized that Kuwait has no spring. It's simply: Winter, Summer. It's an On-Off case, so to say. However, some blooms and flowers had sprung already and I didn't want to miss the chance. I think after my last workshop with my teacher about geometrical plays in floral arrangements, it seems that I'm (or my mind is) more aware of floral arts and the inside arrangements of floral lines.

Aglow
Canon EF 50mm+ tube, f/16, 50^-1sec, ISO400.

These images were taken the week before I travel on two days, when I started packing my camera and taking it with me to work. This time, however, I decided not to take my tripod. In fact, a tripod can be a hassle in such situations specially for one heavy and cranky tripod like mine!

Quinquenia
Canon EF 50mm + tube, f/20, 60^-1sec, ISO400.

As you may notice from Aglow above, that even f/16 can have a shallow depth of field in such situations (with extension tubes in used). Lately, I've been using the tubes a lot (I've mentioned that already above) because it is fast and easy to get a close up and ALSO because I can use 50mm lens which has a maximum aperture of f/1.4. This is of course a very shallow depth of field and when you compare it to f/16 which still has a shallow depth, f/1.4 might not be that good as an option. However, adding this value to the range of stops available is pretty valuable and I wouldn't know when would I need it. Anyway, in both shots here, Aglow and Quinquenia (and also shots that would come later) I was forced to raise the ISO little bit and use the on-camera flash. Here comes another advantage for using extension tubes: the length of the 50mm lens with an extension tube (be it 12, 20 or 36mm) is shorter most of the time (I'm talking here about connecting only one tube) and it gives a good close-up abilities. This relatively shorter than 100mm macro lens length makes it feasible and possible to use the on-camera flash easily because if the lens is too long like the 100mm lens, then a shadow cast is most likely to occur. A cast from the lens itself that is. Of course, we are talking about on-the-go photography and not the precise and making-art photography in which a photographer would spend many minutes if not hours studying the situation and settling the tripod and picking the lens and then choosing the appropriate moment.

Green Ankh
Canon EF 50mm + 12mm tube,
f/22, 200^-1sec, ISO100.

The on-camera flash solved lot of problems, and mainly allowed me to use the manual mode on the camera to speed up the shutter speed as much as I like. I would say though, if I was to use my 580EX II speedlite here, I would need help or something to stabilize the plant's stem at least. In most of these situations, both of my hands were busy and the on-camera flash seemed the appropriate solution for such situation, even though a slight shadow might burst out as in Quinquenia or to a lesser degree as in Green Ankh. The on-camera flash as well helped to create that translucent look and glowing atmosphere in Aglow; but the talk about the ISO noise is something else of course.
Yes, the on-camera flash does eat out some of saturation of some colors specially if no gels are used as it is the case with Green Ankh where the plant's stem was faint in color and I had to reduce the highlights and boost the vibrancy of colors (not the saturation) to some degree. But such situations are easy to deal with in general.

Quadraspinasphere
Canon EF 50mm + 36mm tube, f/20, 20^-1sec, ISO400.

As I've said before, using the on-camera flash allowed me to work with manual mode but this is not always the case. Like in Quadraspinasphere, I was not so sure where to begin with my shutter speed so I've just turned the the dial to Av and let the camera choose the shutter speed for me (in combination with the flash). Here, I was lying on the ground after putting the car shade on the floor out of my work place (and thank God no one was there to watch me do it!), thus it was reasonable to concentrate on my approach to the plant in such a low level, rather than work or think about the shutter speed. I had to crop Quadraspinasphere to make it as a quarter of a sphere as I envisioned it, but one of the hardest points in taking this picture is the fact that I have to work in manual focus most of the time. A fact that had been persistent with using extension tubes, as the auto-focusing function seems to be baffled when it comes to extension tubes, probably!
One of the tricks that I usually do in such situations with manual focusing (and with such bad eye vision like mine), and with a shaky situation (like a plant in the wind or breeze or a shaky hand) is to do a scanning with continuous shutter speed clicks. Meaning: with relatively high shutter speed (20^-1sec seems fast enough but slower with flash turned on), I set the camera with continuous (or burst) mode/drive and check out a point where the sharp focus is most likely to occur (all within the viewfinder). After that, I get closer to the subject little bit (not much!) and press the shutter button and keep holding it while moving my head slowly to the back getting further away from the subject. This way, I get load of pictures of course, but at least my chances for getting a sharp image in between are more. It is a talk of probability and statistics if I should say. 

Thoughts:

There is a hard mix in thoughts right now, specially after this trip to Dubai, and regarding many aspects. In Dubai, it seemed to me that people talk about arts wherever you go, and galleries of art are displayed in public - it was like a public education concerning arts. How was this done? What elevated the level of consciousness of the people of Dubai, at least those I've been meeting on the way, about arts. Such level of thought that I didn't encounter so far in here. Needless to say, that such big city get a traffic jam only in the rush hours time (morning and evening), unlike us with 12 hours a day.
I remember back in the 1970s and 1980s Kuwait was something like that, and the simplest form of art appreciation would be seen in the National Day celebrations, when people and schools used to go out on the streets in an organized parades with props and stuff made memorizing and emphasizing the history and the identity of this country. Where did all that go? All these parades are now replaced by a bunch of sanitarium inmates going freely outside and splash each other with water and foam and traffic jams blocking the roads. Is this the identity we are commemorating?
It is clear and evident that the foreign policies and the openness of Dubai to the world made it a global center with an elevated level in most aspects of life - but do we really need to be open that much as much as to indulge in (mostly) western culture to be elevated in the level of consciousness? Logically and from the perspective of history, Arabs did conquer such place in time and now it is gone, hence, I think building over what was achieved and not merely adapting to the western way is possible; thus, creating a self-identity awareness. The thing is, where and how to start and what could spark people about such advantageous endeavor? One particular clue lies in the ruling family of the UAE and Dubai specifically. I was surprised that HIPA (which stands for Hamdan International Photography Award) was established by the crown prince of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan and he, himself, was a contributor. He is a young man, and I thought he was old, or not-so-old type of person. I realized at this point that the upper class and those under in a community like UAE's is really entwined to some extent and the leaders themselves push people in that direction and encourage the openness of thoughts and arts. He should be an example to be followed in the region, and the ME in general. This is what I believe.

Writing this now, with a call from the main organizer in the group about another fair or expo that they want me to get involved in. I have to say frankly that I'm getting tired of this. At the time that I want to raise consciousness and arts appreciation in the group members and make them stronger in spirit facing the criticizing of their images, needless to say raise their technical skills, the management of the group on the other hand concentrate so much on the aspects concerning the group's reputation and pronouncing its name. I wonder now, how this can be done with members that don't even shoot in RAW format?!
I've been chitchatting with a friend on dinner last Friday and he made a note that he felt that the group and its responsibilities are pulling me down, and I'm pulling or carrying the heavy load of the group's well-being on my shoulders like Hercules. He suggested that if it didn't quite work well, I should quit.

I'm not memorizing all those beloved projects that I've established some time ago along with Ayvarith conlang, like the Bulughman and the Betenic for example. I need to continue and I need to spend more time with these projects that suddenly stopped in time. My Geltani project is also postponed and can barely touch it with all these responsibilities over my head. I have to say NO to many stuff just to sit down and complete some of these fantasies of my own. That might mean, for some time, saying "Goodbye" to my camera and have some rest from all the mess and confusion that I've got myself into with photography world - specifically here in Kuwait.