Alexander 6, V91, V92.

Well, it's Thursday! As you can see from the title above, I'm putting 2 verses today since I didn't post anything yesterday. I was at home and didn't go to work (Mowahaha). I had some disturbance in my sleeping schedule and stayed up all the night, and pushed myself to stay awake in the morning just to do the damn fingerprint scan and get back home to have a nap.

I've been considering more notes from Mastering Digital Panoramic Photography, by Harald Woeste, and building back more information on how to possibly fix some of my bad panoramas. I've also tried the Kolor Autopano software; it is one of the softwares recommended by Harald as well. A first trial for this software sounds good and it works with HDR images in OpenEXR format, but I couldn't find any controls to raise or lower down the exposure value for the stitched result. Could it be hidden? I digged the menues but no use. These controls are important for me since I need to see the details, because an HDR image usually looks pale and dark in the default setting of -/+ 0 EV. I've tried the software on my Office panorama, but the results were hideous a bit, but this is not a sign to be able to judge the software yet. The shoot is bad already with me moving objects in the scene. Got to try it on something more standard. It is noteworthy to say that Autopano got a plugin that works with PTGui to help on specificying control points only, but it doesn't work with HDR images, and only with 16-bit and below images.

 The Office (partial)

Now, there is one thing I've noticed while working again with PTGui on this office panorama, and I really don't know is it a problem with the file format, or with PTGui itself, but I do think it is something has to do with the format of the files. Anyway, the problem goes like this:
I was trying to stitch the panorama without the slides where my body is in, and then I would stitch another panorama of the slices where my body is in (3 slides total). I tried that once already but it didn't work out well. Among the problems that I had with blending in the 3 slides with the rest of the panorama, was actually a problem of the black background. When I saved this second panorama with only 3 slides as EXR, the background was black with many strips of various colors, like a TV noise. This time, I tried it out saving the files as HDR (Radiance) format, and the background was compeletely black and so easy to remove! I'm wondering what's behind all of this?

Beside working on these things I think I've forgot to post some of the single images that I've did before on that day, after taking the panoramas.

I do prefer the bottom one over the first actually, and it was taken with a 15mm fisheye lens. I worked hard on many adjustment layers to emphasize the blue sky effect. In these situation it would be a good idea to work with ND filters to reduce the intensity of the sun a bit, but it was a bad idea to work with a tungsten white-balance. I had to adjust the white balance after downloading the images to the PC. However, the white balance later on, after adjustments, had a little effect on the workflow, because after all, I tried my best to merge hot and cold colors altogether here and make a contrast and some opposition. The halo that resulted from the tone-mapping was not something I did like but I didn't want to touch it as well or everything would be messed up again. The thing I like about the first image, however, is the tiny clouds passing through the sky. The first image was taken with a 18-55mm lens @55mm, if I remember correctly. I'm not sure!

I was sort of able to break the spell today and finally got my pen to work a little bit. Not something I would say it's big, but at least it something! I called it "One Lucky Day."  It is something bursting out of my mind, after some events that I deemed unlucky or simply, dull, making my life sometimes without a meaning...

__________

2161. then after the passage over the Avvátallán under him
2162. Alexander saw something like ants on the grounds
2163. the ground was greenish like farms were down there
2164. and Alexander asked: what are those? ants?
2165. the voice of Aramramátáníth appeared with laughter
2166. and this she said to Alexander: no hero, they are beasts,
2167. these are the Jawga Majawga of this world
2168. Alexander got shaken and shocked for the name
2169. and he thought he will never see such creatures
2170. then Aramramátáníth continued: do not worry O hero,
2171. they do not eat the flesh and drink blood like you've seen,
2172. but they eat the pasture and the grass on the lands,
2173. but they are causing problems for farmers and shepherds,
2174. maybe you can stop them O hero like you did in Daynur?
2175. but Alexander disliked the idea in that moment
2176. then he remembered his history of bravery in Daynur
2177. and this he said: but how shall I do that without men?
2178. Aramramátáníth said: I shall try to gather the men for you,
2179. it is one final task for you just before you meet the Hermit,
2180. I shall appreciate your help O hero of Caqobia,
2181. I have no control over these beasts, nor I can kill them,
2182. if you happen to block their way to go in between the valleys,
2183. the soldiers of nature shall I make under your feet
2184. but Alexander kept silent to think about the matter deeply

2185. Alexander memorized all of the moments of horror
2186. how his men died out and some of them were eaten
2187. although these beasts eat the grass only as they say
2188. but their name brings the fear into the hearts of brave ones
2189. and he gazed into the ground and forgot his fears of heights
2190. then this he said: yes, I will, bring me the men and put me down
2191. it was not easy for Alexander to refuse the request
2192. it is a matter of glory and bravery, shame and dishonor
2193. then Alexander was lowered down to the ground on a hill
2194. with his Cadid in a chain which he held in his hand
2195. Aramramátáníth then said: wait here O hero,
2196. I shall gather the farmers from the farms around you,
2197. you stay here until I come back, and do not get closer to them
2198. then Alexander replied: sure I will not! you go and I'll be here,
2199. I need some time to think of a way to do this matter
2200. Aramramátáníth then moved like the breeze over the meadows
2201. and made a blowing sound like the air into a sail
2202. then her sound disappeared slowly in the horizon
2203. and far away she moved, through the valleys
2204. while Alexander sat down with his Cadid on the grass
2205. he gave his Cadid some food from his bag
2206. but he did not feel like eating, and his mind was busy
2207. and his gaze expanded to the greenish horizons
2208. until he finally thought of some idea that might work

Alexander 6, V89.

It's here! Woho! My visa to visit Ireland was issued, in like 2 weeks! I remember it took more than one month last year. I remember as well that last year, when the visa was issued for me, it was issued for a certain number of days that matched exactly the time period of my stay, but now, I've been given 3 months in advance, from September 12th until December 11th. I don't remember such a thing happened that way last year!

I'm passing through a time of quietness if I should say, camera-wise. I've finished the panoramas that I was working on for some time before and after getting my VR head, so, I decided to go on shooting randomly outside and I picked the cat in the house as my target. This time, no HDR shoot or anything, but simply me, myself, and the camera and the flash head which I didn't use in a long time!
I can't say they are great as I couldn't really master the lighting conditions yet nor I can say I did master the flash adjustments and probing, however, I'm not planning to give out these to any stock site, since I know they are full of such pictures!

Some images for his highness, Tiger.

I like specifically his "snowy" look and his hair that's not too short nor long. He's a loner as well. The shots here were all done in tungsten white-balance by mistake, but luckily all was in RAW format so I've adjusted this error later and the picture turned as you can see here after being filled with a blue hue. Still, the real atmosphere was actually at the end of the day and before the final sunset with relatively enough light, but with a flash striking the object (without using the diffuser in the flash head itself) made the light concentrated on the object and turned the atmosphere into almost a night time.

After finishing from this I got inside and took some shots for my niece inside the house, and all were blue as well, but those I didn't work with so far. Hopefully doing to do this today.

On the list also there is one task I'm planning to do. I'm going to try my luck with the images refused from Canstockphoto website, and put them in Bigstockphoto. I didn't put anything there for a long time now and actually I'm not so optimistic that they would be accepted, but I won't lose anything (except of some time duh). For some time, Bigstockphoto website was my favorite location for panoramas, as it accepts apparently single files larger than 15MB, as far as I remember. Of course, I've completely dropped Fotolia from my list here...

I've been reading, or flipping should I say, through Harald Woeste's book about panoramic photography and trying to take mental notes as much as possible about the work flow and the tools used, and specially those related to the final product output. Would be nice if you can handle the panorama on a large print-out instead of staring at it on the monitor all the time! I have a weakness when it comes to the press and the printed media, as I'm completely lost in the technicality and the requirements of such field.

 

I've been notified now that the monopod had been shipped already to my US mailbox. I wished for a combined shipment with the books but unfortunately, seems I have to go and pick my stuff from the DHL twice! Anyway, it is good enough to try it out now, although I was not in a hurry originally, but now I am!

finally, the proof-reading of Alexander 6 is going smoothly and it is about to finish. I've reached like #2257 so far, and won't be days until I reach #3000, the end. Reading is so easy, but writing it down and typing it was a really tideous job. Maybe after finishing this, I would have some time to look upon designing a website for Ayvarith in a more serious manner! Hope so.

__________

2113. then with a smooth voice the Guardian asked
2114. "continue O hero, any more questions?"
2115. but the hero felt embarrassed and said to her
2116. "yes, one more question from me is left,
2117. where to go now? and what I am doing in this land?"
2118. Aramramátáníth said: your destiny is not in my hand,
2119. but to the Hermit, I believe, you must go from here,
2120. my wind shall carry you there easily, O hero,
2121. and under your command it shall move,
2122. the Hermit has all the answers you need,
2123. this is what I am ordered to do for now
2124. then Alexander agreed and decided to move
2125. and he greeted Kaliván and hugged each other
2126. despite the small size of the small creature
2127. but he carried him by the palm of his hand
2128. then Alexander desired to let his Cadid with Kaliván
2129. to help him with the lands of the valley and the trees
2130. but the Cadid refused to go except with his master
2131. and the wind started to gather under the feet of Alexander
2132. and slowly in the air he was raised with his Cadid
2133. then Aramramátáníth announced the beginning
2134. and the invisible wind moved Alexander and his Cadid
2135. to the east they were going now where the Hermit is
2136. where the hopes of Alexander lied for an end

Alexander 6, V87.

 TGIT. WOHO! But unfortunately, I'm not going out tonight. But at least I will have a break from the humdrum of this work place and some time for myself to stay all night as much as I like!
I've left home this morning leaving my PTGui doing  stitch for me. The trials with Autodesk Stitcher did not work as well yesterday. The process was chaotic really. I tried this morning to stitch triplets or singles together but that didn't work as well or maybe I just didn't find the proper controls. The thing is, Autodesk Stitcher is completely automatic, with a sort of a powerful algorithm.

By coincidence I discovered a tiny mistake in Harald's book, in Page 42, where 2 captions and 2 images are flipped.

The only hope for me now is PTGui as it seems and this time I have to work the hard way. The way that I hated the most before. When I left home this morning I left PTGui stitching my office images in storing them as separate layers (with their correspondant layer mask). Later on, I will have to stock these in Photoshop and fix them manually to hide and show what I like, as I like. The name Photoshop brings the shiver to my PC's memory. I;m frustrated more about Autodesk Stitcher by the way, and I'm determined to find some use for this software by any cost!!!

I'm thinking of seriously ordering some new books about Photography and other things, but afraid to do so because I won't have the time to read them. These books were stored in my Wishlist long time ago. The main ones I'm planning to get are:

 

... and there might be others as well. As you can see not all the books are from Rookynook this time. The last book is something I've added recently. WIth my love to Archaeology, I do love manuscripts so much, and wish if I can touch one with my own hands one day! Isn't it amazing how much theories and mysteries lie ahead just by studying a single manuscript?

For the time being, I do need to work a bit just when I get back home, and then fall asleep to have a lonely fiesta of my own...

__________
2065. Alexander did not know what was happening
2066. until he heard the voice that he heard before
2067. and the voice spoke to him: O hero of Caqobia,
2068. you have proved your nobility in the tasks given to you,
2069. thus I shall do what was written in destiny for you,
2070. the air I shall command to be with you,
2071. and the thunder I shall leave by your hands,
2072. the air shall make you walk like a Shágí,
2073. and the thunder shall make your wrath like Khaznútím,
2074. but all of that is yours if you grant me one thing O hero
2075. and Alexander raised his head and asked: what is it?
2076. Aramramátáníth said: they are only used for goodness,
2077. do not use them for personal attitudes or in moments of rage,
2078. I shall be very disappointed if you do so O Alexander,
2079. now Alexander, come near the tree of the valley,
2080. and repeat after me this ritual of healing,
2081. and you shall transfer portions of this brave heart,
2082. to the heart of this tree, that is its Jawsamályá,
2083. after that we can have answers to whatever you have
2084. and Alexander knelt beside the tree
2085. and started to say the ritual after Aramramátáníth
2086. then he felt his spirit being hung in the air
2087. and the tree grew greenish and very alive again
2088. while the heart beats of Alexander increased

Alexander 6, V86.

 My hand is killing me with the pain in the wrist area. Luckily, it's my right hand and not the left, as I'm a lefty. I don't feel like going to some clinic to check for this, as the pain has been there for 3 weeks now. I decided instead to make something at home, some oils and stuff and wrap it up, but unfortunately I've forgot to do so! To decide for something is something, and to do that thing is something else!

I'm still working on the (new) gamma lab panorama, and unfortunately met some difficulty, starting from the weird pinkish plots on the image (and I still don't know where do they come from), and ending with a memory crisis, as usual.

 

I was trying my best yesterday with the Autodesk stitcher to stitch my office panorama, but as usual, I couldn't find any use out of it. First of all, when loading the HDR images it gave an error message saying that only images of the same size (compared to the first image on the list) will be loaded. Hence, not all images are loaded. Why? Well, when I do a batch-process and convert all the exposure-bracketed images into HDR images, there is an option I'm supposed to tick in the Photomatix machine, that is "Don't crop". The crop here is to eliminate some tiny pixels on the edges of the final image after combining into a HDR, because sometimes the camera vibrates, moves, shakes..etc and Photomatix aligns images either according to common features, or according to regular shifts in the vertical or horizontal planes. After merging into HDR, and if your sequence is moving a bit, Photomatix crops the excess of pixels on the sides to make the image look neat. For this reason, you would rather have some problems loading your images into Autodesk stitcher, but never with PTGui.

I love the pain, so, I batch-processed the whole thing again and this time with no cropping. Loaded the images into Stitcher, but alas, controlling was hard to do, and I was not able to raise the exposure value for the HDR images up, because they were dark a bit and wanted to see the features clearly. Stitching was so time consuming and loading as well.

As a final trial, I've tone-mapped the whole new set of HDR images and put them down to TIFF-16bit format. The process might have been a bit faster but alas, the stitching was hideous and a mess. So, why I'm even trying with this software in the first place? Here you go.

According to Harald Woeste, in his book "Master Digital Panoramic Photography", he used this software in many stitches for his panoramas. Mainly, there is one option that looks very interesting in this software, and that is the Stencil tool.

 

This stencil tool works like the layer mask in Photoshop layers; It allows you to remove or recover some features in the stitch by adjusting what part to be blended or masked and what to show up. This feature specifically was used by Harald in one of his panoramas, as mentioned in his book, in a case similar to what I'm trying to do here; showing a person in several locations in the same panorama. The moving object in panoramas is not a favorable topic and a hideous one too, but when you desire this effect for a purpose, you need a grip on the topic. Autodesk sounded a good choice with the stencil tool, but in my case the stitch was almost a mess that I couldn't retrieve the main features of the panorama at all to even begin with the stencil tool. It is unfortunate that PTGui does not have such a feature, although it can save the panorama completely into separate layers with their own layer masks in order to be fixed in Photoshop, but we should talk here about memory issues... specially for a poor guy like me! :(

Yet still, I will try to understand Autodesk Stitcher as much as possible. I think I have to re-visit Harald's book and look again into that project explanation to see what I'm missing. The main point is, Autodesk Stitcher itself is hard to control and to understand, simply as that! While PTGui can be almost self-explanatory, even for a beginner.

This said now, I need to "waste" more of my time with Autodesk Stitcher in order to understand the work here. Sounds a bit awkward now that it might be my only hope in this situation!

__________
2041. the two collected branches from the forest from other trees
2042. they picked the most greenish branches from the trees
2043. Alexander asked for certain number of branches
2044. then Alexander started to make cuts into the bark
2045. and he planted a branch in each cut inside the tree
2046. then he brought the ropes he had before and tied them all
2047. Kaliván then asked: how this is going to heal the tree?
2048. and Alexander replied: think about it O Kaliván,
2049. the tree bear fruit with its branches like the hands,
2050. thus the first thing would be is to give her hands,
2051. and soon the roots of the branches will connect with it,
2052. and then be part of the mother tree who is young again now
2053. then Kaliván asked: and you think this will fix Jawsamályá?
2054. Alexander replied: I am not sure about it since I never experienced it,
2055. your world, O Kaliván, got things I never saw before,
2056. I can barely accept the idea that there is no sun here!
2057. Kaliván raised an eyebrow and said: sun? what is sun?
2058. but Alexander replied rapidly: nothing, forget it for now,
2059. we have more important matters to think of right now,
2060. how to get Jawsamályá back to its balance as before?
2061. and just when Alexander finished his sentence
2062. some weird breeze started coming out from no where
2063. and Kaliván knelt down and said: kneel Alexander!
2064. and Alexander knelt down and looked up

Alexander 6, V30.

Again and again. Issues with this damn connection like every morning. I'm connecting now to a wireless network that is sittled in the building next to us, and my ethernet cable is not working at all. Even the signal from that building is low, so I'm expecting problems soon. This is a nice way to say 'good morning' to me by this working place. I can't even understand how did I wake up in the first place.
Still struggling with my Guest Room Panorama here. This time, I played around and around with the 8-bit images trying to fix something suitable panorama to make as a template. I also tried another software, Autodesk Stitcher Unlimited.

 

Although many people talk about this software and about its strong algorithm in stitching, but I rarely use it and, unfortunately, I rarely find it useful for me. It has an option to produce a QTVR (those 360 panoramas that you can move around in). Maybe I shall try to make panoramas by PTGui and use this software to make the adequate effects. As why it is not so useful for me, here you go, some of the reasons:

1. Does not support HDR files (although there is a menu for HDR in the program itself but can't find out how it functions). [It does]

2. Unlike PTGui, I can't find my way through the program. It has some buttons and that's it for me. Tried to experiment with it but I couldn't learn much out of it. So mysterious.

3. Unlike PTGui as well, it's full automatic (even with some extra options to control images in a panorama).

4. Some buttons there, just don't have the pop-up comment to make you understand what it does. I ended pushing buttons all the way trying to find their effects to learn, and yet I couldn't see any effect, and still I don't know what they do at all!

5. Some options are not as easy as PTGui like panning or rotating, but it has zooming in and out which PTGui does not have in the display window after stitching a model.

Well, maybe you might say I should read tutorials before working with the software, but let's be serious, does any read them before working with a software unless later? I found out (and still learning more) from PTGui and still I didn't read much of its help file (except for few times when I wanted to know the definition of some projections and the meaning of some terms, yet I was using them already). Anyway, Autodesk Stitcher is one of the recommended programs (along with others) that were mentioned in Harald Woeste's book, Mastering Digital Panoramic Photography.

 

And so far, I'm not giving up with it. I will have to try more in some way. It might come in handy when working with 8- or 16-bit images, but unfortunately it doesn't open HDR images, and hence, it's on the side at the moment. If you ask me, I think $329.99 is a bit too much for the software.

Back to the panorama, and after trying out Autodesk's software, I couldn't do much, so I'm back to PTGui trying more tricks from the bag here and there and changing some values. I did something but I couldn't check up with the results since I had to fall asleep indeed! This time I changed what's called, the pitch. In panorama softwares usually (and also in other softwares that stretch and morph the images I guess), there are 3 variables that can be controlled to change the orientation of the image: a) Yew, b) Pitch, c) Roll. I laughed when I read these 3 terms in the first time really, but then I understood they are more like a coordinates system; just like (X,Y,Z) or (R,Theta, Phi) [yeah, that's spherical coordinates system]. At least this is how I imagine it to make things easy for my brain. We physicists got weird trends and fashions, trust me.

However, Yew is supposedly to control the panning from left to right and so on. It can be done manually with click and drag by the mouse, but you can also make this precise without any handshake that might shake the panorama up and down by just inserting some number (degrees) in the dialogue box specified for this.

Pitch, which is the value I changed, controls the curving of the panorama. I can also think of it as dragging the panorama up and down as well. I did this and I found out that more lines are connected easily at the bottom of the image and hence, the broken lines in the rugs were fixed to some extent!

Left to say, Roll, is the value or degrees to rotate the panorama around its center. All these three values can be also edited for any single image in the panorama as well, but this is a far reach for me since I got blinded already when I worked with control points alone!

The panorama above now, is not the final product and as you can see this yellowish or goldish hue is just a result of fat tone-mapping by Photomatix to reduce the HDR and make some images to build my template upon. Upon that configuration, the optimization process rendered and yielded 'Good'. For this, I saved the template (and the panorama image as well) and I apply it directly to the list of HDR images without doing any oprimizations. Unfortunately, the stitching process took a long time as usual and I was already preparing to go to bed. The red (supposedly) rug is stretched at the bottom and the tripod legs aren't cloned out, but it is not important for the time being since it is just an example here. I'm not bothered much by the stretched red rug, which I think can be easily cropped from the bottom. This curve emphasizes the idea I had in my mind before, that the spherical projection (or sometimes called Equirectilinear) is not the best way to represent this particular panorama yet. I think a Little Planet (Stereographic projection) would be fit more. I shall try this later. An idea I'm thinking of right now as well is, to apply the Transverse Equirectilinear projection. As I understand it, it is a spherical projection but it works on the images or starts to stitch the images in a flipped position, like 90 degrees. Sounds logical to me, if the normal spherical projection works for normal landscape orientation of images, then the transverse version might work perfectly for the portrait images, like in my case.

As it is usual with every Monday, the day does not come without any surprises (except of few times when the bad surprised were delayed to the next day). I was asked to watch over a group of students in their exam, and it was tricky and hard to go through out the situation and refuse. I could barely bear myself as a student and now I have to watch over them and see if they are cheating or not... ugh. Add to that now, there is a plan that I might have to go out and "collect" some data from somewhere accompanied by some people that I don't know really... great. Seems it is just another one long week...

__________

697. Alexander then asked: is it a treasure that I am seeking?
698. and Utéfah answered: what you are seeking is greater than a treasure,
699. but this man's head made tricks on his soul,
700. and he imagined that you are after the gold and silver,
701. I read some papers from Ázilis, the blessed,
702. and I know what to do next and where to go,
703. but first we must find the Charnagút
704. then Alexander said: but I lost it, maybe to the groove,
705. I cannot seem to find any trace of it after the fight
706. and Utéfah replied: call upon it by the name of God,
707. and kneel down on your knees to show the respect,
708. verily the Charnagút will come back to your hand
709. thus Alexander slowly bent down on his knees
710. and shouted with his voice like a roaring lion
711. "by the name of God, I call upon you O Charnagút"
712. it was but moments and the sword raised up in the air
713. and slowly went into the palm of Alexander
714. then Alexander turned around to Utéfah with a smile
715. and this he said: verily there are lot of tricks that you have O Utéfah,
716. was all of that mentioned in the papers of the blessed Ázilis?
717. and Utéfah replied: yes O good king, he kept these papers away from others,
718. thus when I saw them separated I knew they are special,
719. so then I read them and they were written with Yabjadítah
720. just like Ázilis taught us all how to write it and read it