Kika XII + Announcement…

Well, I was supposed to wait for 2 weeks to post this but I thought maybe I should do it now and have some rest from blogging for several weeks. So, this post would be a quick one, talking about Kika's photo-challenge for the last week; Week 12. The theme for the last week was "Reflection".
I've mentioned that already in my previous post, and I say it once more here. I think I do need some vacation from blogging for some time (even though I know the content I'm sharing here is not a big deal nor it is large in size).
I'm not sure how many weeks I will be resting (and trying to come out with more ideas for photos) but I would say it might be 3 weeks to 4. Meanwhile, I'm guessing I'll be back to work during that time and things shall get busy back again for sure. Unless the higher-ups decide something against returning back to work because of the Delta-Variant and its wide-spread nowadays. I don't want to sound bad here but I do wish for this decision, of going back to work, to be postponed for a while. 

Kika XII

Well, hope you like the new color for the subtitles here! I think I will use it from now on. As I've mentioned before (as well), the last 3 weeks of Kika's photo-challenge were busy times for me. But the lucky part, the themes that Kika picked for her challenges were, sort of, always related to something I did before. And the theme for week 12 was "Reflections" and, of course, I've worked loads and loads with reflections before!

Reflecting

Thus, I've picked an image that I've shot back in 2019 (and surely posted about it here) which revolves around reflecting on the inside and, well, watching myself in the mirror. I'm sort of used to adjust a bit in every old picture I post for Kika's photo-challenges, but at this level and for this last one, I didn't do much editing really except of some selective sharpening and maybe added a bit of contrast.
It is an old shot (from 2019) so I might just talk about the technical aspect again, in case the reader is interested in it. Reflecting is actually made by merging 2 photos; One regular one for myself and my reflection on the mirror, and another one with ND filter placed on the lens and making long exposure for one minute or so for me shaking my head. To manage the shooting here, I've used wireless tethering. So, the whole image is real but it is just a merge of TWO real photos, and the Photoshop part did not exceed the layer masks (to merge) and converting to B&W along with the rest of the usual enhancements done.

Finale

Well, since this is my last post before my "little" vacation, probably I shouldn't talk much about other photos other than the final one in the series of Kika's photo-challenges, and after all, this is the reason that I wanted to post this earlier than I anticipated (which is supposed to be a week later from now). It does sound weird for me though to make a full post like this just for one image, but well, I guess necessity has its own measures after all.
My head is now scrambled big time for many things that are not adding up together. Specially on the work-ground. As I've stated in the introduction above, we are not sure when are we going back to work; Is it August 1st or July 25th. I do wish this would be even postponed a little further.
I've submitted my papers to get a "special needs" status but so far, no news is coming back to me concerning this matter since the end of May when I did submit the requirements online. This is taking longer than I thought and it frustrates me further. Not sure what the next step would be, but I might anticipate a medical retirement if possible. I can't help but think of how ugly things might turn into back at work with me being alone there and being quite novice when it comes to managerial dealings, or even scientific ones since I didn't do a "real" scientific work in a long time. I'm really having dreams about a stress-less life; A life where I wouldn't have to worry about getting social for work matters, nor worry about getting early for work matters, and not getting a heart attack every time I see a WhatsApp message in the work group.
But a bigger dream is cooking in my head and I'm not sure if it is the dream that I really want but after the chaos I've been facing at home lately, I really dream of having my own place, which would require a lot of money. A lot…

On a side note, I've worked already with some extra panoramas; I mean old ones but in a new processing and looks. However, seems not many of them are worthy for uploading to the stocks yet. I have to re-check some of them and see if I can do more to enhance the quality, and also I need some time to visit more panoramas from the past to re-process. For this reason, and others that I've stated before, I'm hoping that this break from blogging would help me sort things out and create more, and hold the camera back again to create something worthy. See ya after a while…

Kika XI…

Honestly, I was too tired to even start typing this blog post. Thus, probably this one would be somewhat a short post. I think there is nothing weird with being tired, recalling my usual back pain sometimes, and my hectic life or routines everyday. There had been days that I wouldn't eat any lunch or dinner even. Anyway, it is time now for Kika's photo challenge, and this time with Week 11.

Kika XI

At this level of the photo-challenge, I got very busy with my brother and his studies and I barely had the capability or that piece of mind (pun intended) to work with the camera or to think of something new, or even to just edit. Well, editing is what I did but after some long time of searching and reflecting. The theme for the 11^th week challenge was "Weather." And of course, you can't speak about weather, in Kuwait, without speaking about the sun and summer. Because, well, this IS the weather of Kuwait! What else do you expect here?

Sunny

For this photo-challenge, as I've stated before, I didn't take any new shots, but I've referred back to some old shots, specifically some of those that I've shot in the shining morning sun of May of 2020, during a total lock down back then. I remember I was testing all my infrared filters back then and this particular shot was probably made with Neewer IR950 filter (and of course using my modified Canon EOS 7D). To be honest even, it seems, for some good reason, the shot was taken with B+W 043 black filter (UV-pass filter).
If I remember correctly, this image was processed differently back when it was taken in May, but for this particular photo-challenge, I've processed it again with a huge crop to the image to let the focus go to the eyes specifically. Not sure what type of processing I used here but I'm sure it is not the typical IR processing that I would usually follow which typically turns the image into almost a monochromatic one. Adding also some more emphasis on the luster of the eyes.
With this, the photo-challenge almost comes to an end with only one week left. Actually I could've done week 12 here as well but I'll leave it for another week. The last image posted for Week 12 is, again, an old one.

Bubbly

At this point, I come to the bubbles project which I've postponed previously. It's a photo shoot that spanned several days; Trying a new method or technique every now and then. The final result was more than 90 images (which have been processed and published).

Final setting

In the process, I've tried several ways to light the bubbles and also worked with 2 lenses (50mm and 100mm macro). I'd say though that the 100mm macro did fit most of the shots. Those shot with the 50mm needed a great deal of crop. Now, I don't want to go on with the story in length, but the goal initially was to shoot a bubble at the bursting moment. Though I succeeded only with 2 shots but nevertheless, the collection of these colorful bubbles was worth the lengthy work. 

Bubblosphere LXVIII
(one of the bursting bubbles shots)

It would have been better if the bursting shot was done in midair but unfortunately, as usual, I had to work alone. So, most of the work was done on a stable ground (used an oil burner as a base for the bubbles) and I've been moving around, blowing the bubbles and taking the shots.
Speaking of bursting, that calls, of course, to the usage of high-speed. However, that was not done right away. I was actually having some trial-and-errors with the lights and I've been using several lighting methods, and even a handheld beauty-dish to light the bubbles. Anyway, turns out that the perfect lighting angle for the bubbles is to be (as seen in many videos on Youtube) from above. The  final setting can be seen in the image above, where I used a white board hung over the work area to bounce the light from all my speedlites below. I had to do it that way since I don't have a softbox.

Bubblosphere XX
(shot with handheld beauty-dish)

Worth noting that despite this number of speedlites (and the supplies of batteries!), I still needed to raise the ISO a bit to get a proper lighting level in the images. Normal I'd say, since bouncing the light or even diffusing it would cause such loss of power anyway. Though at such moment I would appreciate some light source with AC input instead of DC batteries! Ah well…

Worth noting also that I've been doing some stroboscopic experiments before all of this work as well but the results were not quite to my liking but I've merged several images into a single ones (and I've posted about them few posts ago in Kika's photo-challenge about Colors).
Anyway, to summarize it all, I've made a video containing all these images. If you are reading this and wish to get any of these, you can find the full collection on my Canstockphoto profile (you can also click the signature at the end of this post) and some of them had been accepted as well on 123RF. 

 

 

Finale

As I've stated in the introduction of this post, I've quite lazy (or tired) to type down this post. This makes me think of having a break after doing the last post about Kika's photo-challenge in two-week time from now. Not sure how long this break would be but I think I just need it not only for physical reasons, but also to build up some content as I'm actually too tired to hold my camera or even to think of anything new.
As time is ticking, it seems that I will be back to work around the end of July or the beginning of August. I don't want to start talking about the stress that I'm already living in since I heard the news. I'll be back to the rush hours, and even more, more stress at work because of the events that took place there during our days off (around one year and a half). I'm all alone there and surely ugly things will be hitting the fan. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for sparkles of hope to shine as I'm looking forward to get my medical retirement if possible for retinitis pigmentosa, specially before moving to the new location which further away from my home, and it will surely cause me hectic time in driving to there. So many ideas, so many thoughts, and all cramps my brain rendering me paralyzed. All I can do is pray, and send my heart with hopes across Heavens…

Kika X…

How silly was it for me to make a post without an introduction the last time! I guess I was in a bit of a hurry to finish whatever I can in time. Anyway, I don't think there is any important stuff to spill out in the introduction, but I really wanted to make another little announcement. But well, I guess I don't need a special section for this little one, so here we go.
I've lately uploaded my bubbles collection to my Canstockphoto (which you find by clicking the signature at the end of the post) and now I've posted "some" of these images (and some few more outside the series) into my 123RF profile. I say "some" here because some images from this series were not accepted for one reason or another. Thus, the full series is actually available (so far) ONLY on Canstockphoto. I don't know much about the pricing of each website but just in case you want to compare, go ahead. Some people have one account in one and not the other anyway. As for Dreamstime, I never received any email concerning this type of upload or series or any single response, thus I have not uploaded there at all. 

 

Kika X

And up with the 10^th week of Kika's photo-challenge. At this time, I got occupied pretty much with many things, specially helping my brother with his studied. Thus, my mind was not "that" free for much inspirational work. Mind was all over the place. This,in fact, would be the situation till the end of the series of Kika's photo-challenge.
The theme for Week 10 was "light." As usual, since I didn't have the proper time to take new photos, I've searched my arsenal and I couldn't find any better than one particular shot that had a special kind of light…

Boihéamach
(bohemian)

I love this selfie because of the light in use here. It was lit with a single candle (and posted about it back in 2019 and started a project then to portraits with one candle only). Beside the quality of the light here, it was shot in infrared (hence the blue tint and eye). I was lucky here to pinpoint the focus on the eye on my own; It was a lengthy process of trial and error! However, just so I won't be re-posting a photo just like that without any edit or any effort for the theme, I've decided to do a minor adjustment. So minor but with a huge impact: Contrast.

Boihéamach (2)

The difference is drastic and made me wonder: Why didn't I do this in the first place when I first processed this image? Probably, then, I was way too dependent on the histogram and feared going out of the gamut. The contrast here was fixed simply by using the black dropper in the Curve adjustment layer box and using it to set the black point of the image as a whole from a spot near the face (or the eye's pupil).
The image became more dramatic and more drastic and I'd say more Rambrandt-ish after this fix of the contrast, with apparently uplifting the blue tint from the whole image.
I think I really need to detach myself from perfection with histogram. A lesson to be learned in my future work; If my memory and habits serve me right. So, this far is my only contribution for Kika's Week 10 challenge: Light. 

 

Back-on-Villea

So at this time, of March still, I went back to the yard trying to catch some more "extreme" macro shots, and this time for the Bougainvillea. Or should I say, Bougainvillea's blooms. This plant really proved to be hard to work with because of its stiff branch (and thorns!) and a lot of the things that I wanted to try before did fail because of the breeze, wind, or the hard-to-reach pose. 

Hyperstigma

The stigma or central part of the bougainvillea bloom is quite interesting with its cinquefoil-like shape. However, unfortunately, the magnification I was using (4.2X) was way greater than what it should be and there was no time to change and experiment (again!) so I went on and tried to shoot whatever I could. Hyperstigmata here was shot from the top and directly onto the stigma but generally speaking, it is not quite clear and blurry. Probably good for a small size representation but definitely not a large size one. Seems even with a speedlite at hand and at 1/250 of a second, motion blur outside is yet to be conquered.

Stigma Profile

Stigma Profile II

Ironically, despite not being able to shoot the stigma right on, I was able to shoot a "profile" from the side (or behind). In Stigma Profile I and II, the effect of the direction of the light is obvious. It helped on creating an isolation of the foreground without much effort; Just by tilting the speedlite at hand just a little bit!

Stamen Head

Pinkoid

Same thing goes on with the stamen part of the flower, where changing the direction of the light did change the looks drastically (and the feel as well). I kind of find it comical that the masculine part of the flower comes out in such dominant pink, in Pinkoid; A color usually assigned to the feminine nature. Anyway, the bloom itself is pinkish/magenta in color, with all its inner parts. I was amazed to know that there are indeed bougainvillea varieties with white (and probably blue?) flowers! Would be nice to have them side by side with these pink/magenta ones. The plant though is quite random and needs special treatment to let it grow in some organized manner. Needless to say, we plant them in small pots right now, so, they wouldn't grow much like the one we planted long ago when we first settled in this then-new home. Nevertheless, the branches and the blooms do just fine as they are. 

Stigma Furnace

Back to the stigma and with changing lighting conditions again, seems I got something acceptable in Stigma Furnace. However, this result was not possible without editing; A heavy one as well. This said, there are still a number of images that I didn't touch or check thoroughly. A quick look at some of these didn't yield much impression on me but probably another visit to those again, with some cropping and "surreal" editing techniques, I might get out with something out of them.

 

Finale

As I'm typing this blog post, and specially the introduction up there, I've realized that there are a number of promises that I've made and which seems like that I've "ditched". Like the one time that I wanted to do more of the old panoramas in a new suit and upload them to Mostphotos. However, lately, my psyche had a great toll on me. Maybe some, who would read these lines, would consider it such an exaggeration to talk about the mental status in the finale of every post, but all I can say is, I really don't wish to see you in such a place, in your minds. The exhaustion of fighting off such mental issues is quite physical. Sprinkle that with back pains, and you would get such a lovely combination of stalemate.
I am in a phase of life at the moment that I really don't know what I want, where to go, or where am I going. Yes, I have few wishes, but under the current circumstances they are kind of far fetched. In fact, even those wishes I'm wishing and hoping for, probably won't make me any more dedicated or goal-oriented, nor grant me happiness. Something within is very tired.

Kika IX…

Kika IX

And on with the 9^th Week in Kika's challenge, which bore the topic of "color". This theme kind of coincided with a separate work that I was planning for and working on away from the Kika series, and just happened that the photos I've shot were full of colors; Though in abstract sense. And that is my work with the bubbles. However, the work with the bubbles, then, was still in its beginnings and I didn't quite find a valid or perfect way to capture these bubbles, and yet was doing some stroboscopic and macro experiments. Anyway, I think I will keep the majority of these posts for later, but for the time being, I'm just going to post those that I've dedicated specifically to Kika's photo-challenge with "color" as a theme.

Bubbly
Some abstracts shot with a macro lens.

The first problem with the bubbles was not being able to blow a proper bubble, so instead of having one big bubble, there was a cluster of small bubbles, Not wanting to lose the chance, I've decided to shoot those anyway. With a bit of processing, colors popped out more. Not sure why, but these images brings me nostalgia for rainy winter days, specially in my old home.

Set A

Then, there are the trials with stroboscopic flash. As for Kika's photo challenge, I've posted only one set, and that is Set A. Now, the reason for this name is that this image is made up of various images and not a single one, all shot in stroboscopic flash. Because of the empty spaces in each image of those, I thought it might be a good idea to combine them altogether and fill the gaps with other photos in the series. Then there is another series, and that was dubbed as "Set B" but I didn't post it for this theme of Kika's photo challenge. I'll keep that set when it's due when I'll be talking about the bubbles project.
Anyway aside from bubbles, I still had one last try here, and posted it on Instagram on the last day for Week 9 challenge.

Pantone Eye

The idea in the beginning was far from the photo challenge really, as taking a macro shot of my eye was something I wanted to do in a long time. I did it before but usually with 50mm or 50mm plus extension tubes (which provides moderate magnification of 1x or a bit more). This time I was aiming for a bit more but with me failing to get any good perspective, I reduced my ambition down to 2x magnification.
It's not the first time I do take a shot of my eye but with such magnification it was so hard; harder than before even. I had to use a hand mirror and hold it behind the camera to see the LiveView in order to frame correctly. Barely made it there actually with few shots with proper lighting. As the lighting goes, I had to hold two 430EX II near my face (and feel the heat of the pulse!).

Pantone Eye (details)

As the title goes, I thought of coloring the iris to pantone's color of the year (2021) which had a hex value of #F5DF4D. I thought this would also be suitable for the theme of Kika's photo challenge for Week 9. Anyway, coloring was not an easy process; It's not as simple as picking a brush and go over the iris. But I wanted the iris itself to adapt this color to have a more natural look. Thus, I've color-picked somewhere in the brightest region of the iris and started twitching colors to arrive at the proper CMYK equivalent for #F5DF4D (I think that was 8,7,78,0 in CMYK). This might initially resemble the pantone color but of course these digital values would change as I downgrade the file from 16-bit, change the color space and save the file as 8bit JPG. But the visual outlook should be the same since I use conversion of color space and not assigning  the color space. In the end, for the love of details, I've created another image from the first one (a crop) to show more details from the iris. I just can't remember was that my right or left eye!

Oxeneye

Usually, when shooting macro outside, I wouldn't go beyond 1x or 1.5x magnification. Even with such magnification, it is quite a hurdle to get a stable shot. Anyway, I've decided to take this further up, using my Voigländer 20mm lens (in reverse) and reaching up to 4.2X, and shooting outside. It was March, so many blooming plants were still available, in contrast to the situation now in May, as the temperatures already started to reach beyond 40°C here. So, my work begins with the oxeye bloom, or in fact it could be something of that family but not exactly the oxeye daisy itself, as the petals for the bloom here are yellow instead of white.

عَيْنُ الأُقْحُوانِ
(oxeye eye)

I have to admit, despite the hurdles and difficulties (and the back pain) for setting up the tripod and the camera (with or without a rail), the view at 4.2X for such small parts of the flower is simply amazing! I used to work afternoon when the sun is almost gone and not shining on the yard; This way it would be easier for the camera to communicate with my handheld 430EX II speedlite via infrared. Otherwise, it would be impossible to shoot using a speedlite unless I use a cable or a radio transmitter, which I don't have at the moment. Holding the speedlite freely at hand also enabled me to change the light direction and experiment with the looks by changing the light direction and distance even. 

عَيْنُ الأُقْحُوانِ 2
(oxeye eye 2)

As I've stated already, changing the light direction can make quite a difference in looks, as can be seen here in Oxeye Eye and Oxeye Eye 2. In the former, the dark background wasn't quite to my liking (hence cropping to get closer to the stamen), while in the latter, the background was harmonious to some extent in terms of color (keeping the foreground darker a bit). All that change was done by changing the direction of the speedlite and/or its distance from the flower. And it's not only the background here in fact, but also the texture of the stamen's surface popped out clearly (well, in the former version it is clearer because of the crop). Probably with a lesser than 4.2X, such texture won't be visible much.

Cornered

Probably the awkward part of shooting at such high magnification and shooting such a subject, is fixing the composition. In fact, as I was working behind the camera keeping an eye on the LiveView, I would have snapped any clear details I could get there. Images like Cornered and Last were originally aimless without concrete composition, but I've tried to fix things by cropping, sometimes to some severe measures here. I'm not sure if this is normal or not, but I'm guessing that more professional photographers in the world of extreme macro photography do have their own techniques to pinpoint the composition properly. As for me, it was a mere trial-and-error and a game of chance!

Last

Finale

Something is going on with my mind and body lately, and I just can't figure what it is exactly. I've been lethargic most of the time and taking a nap after a nap, after a sleep. I'm starting to wonder if this is a normal thing to have at 40? Or should I say 42, if I want to count my age according to the lunar years. Is this part of what they call the "mid-life crisis"? Or it's just a fleeting influence or transit from the planets upon my life and would soon go away? Or maybe it's just escapism at its best? I'm hoping, as I really need to get going and work with my camera more.
I'm still going on with the process (and the bureaucracy) of attaining my "special needs" papers. And who knows, I might work on getting a medical retirement afterward, but the long from here is long and hard to speculate. I'm not sure I'm going to attain the retirement yet. It sounds inevitable though, specially with the move of my workplace to a new location which is double the distance from home almost; I can't imagine myself driving that much on a daily basis, twice a day. My body is not what it was in my 30s and 20s. Trying hard not to think ahead about it but my brain can't stop flipping the channels.
As days pass by here, I just realize how awesome it would have been if I had my own home, and yet how hard it is to gain one. Even my trials years back to settle down and get my own place were never fulfilled, and interrupted with my mother falling sick for kidney failure. I was the main carer for her for 3 years then and I've totally forgot about myself then. More chances came in later, and never worked out, and now here I am… at 40, not knowing where am I heading, nor what I'm supposed to do, or what to be…

Kika VII…

This is somewhat a sad post. As I'm typing these words, our canary (which I've posted about in the previous post) had died after some weird illness or condition. It's a perplexing feeling really; Part of me is sad and part of me is happy. I'm sad because he is dead, and happy because he finally left the damn cage which I wanted to take him off from but couldn't; Because no one cared, and no one liked the idea. I didn't give him a name (and I don't even know if it is a male indeed), but all I can say is, RIP Canary, I'll miss you…

 On a side note, I've also been under some allergy attack, which is gone by now but a slight cough remains. The cough, though, leaves such an awful taste sometimes; Something metallic or like breathing through some plastic pipe! I just hope I won't be needing Seretide for this. I think I had just about enough for 2 weeks of time of my life!

Little Announcement

Just before proceeding with the main post, I wanted to state that I've finally uploaded ALL the batches of images that were on the queue! And now, it is time for me to work with some NEW images that I've shot recently and prepare some of them to be uploaded the stocks. 

The new uploaded batches

 

Typically, and as usual, the selfies were uploaded to Mostphotos exclusively. The rest are spread across Canstockphoto, Dreamstime and 123RF. However, at the moment of typing this, 123RF uploads are still under review (typical) while the rest had been accepted in the same day (with few rejects). Not only that, but also one of the images (1^st in 4^th row) had been sold already via Dreamstime! I remember in the old days when Dreamstime's reviewing process used to take a considerable time but things had been faster now and even more promising!
There is still one image that I didn't upload and it is ought to be exclusively on Dreamstime and that is Killing Evil (1^st in 2^nd row) which is actually a PNG with a transparent background, and thus considered a vector. I've uploaded it several times but it is not getting through and I need to check back on that later. 

Kika VII

So, we arrive at Kika's photo-challenge for Week 7, which had somewhat a weird title for it, and in fact it was not possible to put it all in a single hashtag. The challenge was about combining unexpected items or objects. I have to admit I got my head spinning around and I didn't know what to shoot here, thus I referred back to my arsenal of shots and started playing around. I didn't want to skip a single challenge at this point!

Red Escape II

The shot was taken back in March 2020, where I was working with some random ideas of mixing feathers and water, so I thought it is the right mix for this photo challenge. I've shot many in this series of feathers and water, using both high-speed and stroboscopic flash (Red Escape is apparently shot with stroboscopic flash). The problem (kind of) was that, that I did post this photo back then when I've created it. So, just to make things a bit different I've decided to make a little edit and change the jar color to blue, which I thinks adds even more contrast better than the original (where the water was reddish). All these shots in the series are uploaded to my various stock accounts (you can check one of them by clicking the frame at the end of this post).
Things though did not stop at this photo for this challenge, just yet.

Through H-Alpha

Funny thing is that before the announcement of this photo-challenge by Kika, I did some photo-shoot in the yard at home as I was experimenting with some concepts, as well as trying to practice some editing techniques (those related to creating pastel-like images). Along the way and since I was carrying my two cameras (regular and modified) with some filters, I've shot Through H-Alpha using my H-Alpha filter holding it in front of my (beloved) Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens; By hand of course! I think this raises this image of combining unexpected items (a filter and a fisheye lens!) but also combines 2 scenes into one; A normal one and a filtered one. It did require a considerable work with layer masks and levels to correct the colors outside the circle and enhancing those within the circle as an infrared shot should be, somehow. The shot was, of course, taken with my modified camera, thus even the area outside the filter was tinted because of the infrared coming from the sun. The image originally was all shades of red!

Pastel-ization

As I've mentioned already (in this post and probably previous ones), I'm trying to work on some new technique in editing, but so far, I didn't practice much of it. Most probably I would need to work on old shots from my arsenal instead of working on new ones. However, here are some shots that were relatively new in fact and shot specifically for this edit.

عَـطْـفْ (Bending)

The work here is actually inspired by a Portuguese lady artist and photographer which I, unfortunately, can't recall her name; I've seen an article (interview) with her in one of those Google suggested pages on my phone. Anyway, looking at her images and reading swiftly through the interview, I kind of managed to take the main points of such a style:

1. Saturated colors.
2. Somewhat happy colors.
3. Bright colors.

Thus, I was working on these key features. Of course, the heavy work relies on editing rather than in-camera work. However, I guess not all subjects are suitable for this type of style. Nevertheless, one wouldn't know unless one tries!

Bougainvillian Curve

One of the key points in "shooting" the images, as the Portuguese photographer stated, is shooting when the sun is high up (noon time). However, I did shoot when the sun was just rising on the yard at home, and I think I do now understand why did she mention this point specifically; Shadows and dark tones are not good candidates for such a technique! Not only shadows in fact but darker tones in general so it is better to avoid them as much as possible I guess. As can be seen above in Bending and Bougainvillian Curve, the dark black pots of the bougainvilleas are hard to render in such technique and they feel much like being obtrusive. Just to aid the image a bit here I've added a tone or two to the black or the shadows in these images. It's clear  now why the midday sun is the best for such a technique of "editing".
As I've stated, I didn't work with this editing technique much still and maybe I did some photo here and there (one of them was posted for Kika's photo-challenge). I've been swept away with other photo-shooting and, as usual, domestic issues. Hopefully I will attend to this technique further in the future and try to have a grasp on it.

Finale

I consider myself lucky to finish this blog post actually. With all the tired body and the stack of "work" to do (not related to my actual job nor to photography) and I managed to finish this blog post - but I had to start earlier than usual! Ah well…
I'm having an idea of starting a blog post in Arabic for my Arabic blog, which I didn't post in for a long time now. The post would be about my experience in shooting bubbles, which I will post here in time, as I'm trying to go chronologically here in this blog with all the images that I've taken in the past few weeks. The bubbles shoot was a big deal and I've come out with loads of images (some of them even uploaded to stocks already). However, the bulk of them are not yet prepared to be uploaded. I'll keep that talk for another time.
I've been also taken by astrology lately; An old passion and interest that got re-kindled for a while now (even before COVID time) and I've been reading texts here and there and watching videos about topics and all that. But this is a bad habit actually and I know, because there are priorities I need to tend to. This also brings to my mind the passion for Conlangs which I didn't attend to, and specially after the lock-down of my other Instagram account, @Ayvarith. Funny how this blog was first started to talk about the Conlang of Ayvarith but then changed to other topics completely. Despite being taken over by photography, Ayvarith still has a place in my heart, and it might get re-kindled after some time, along with other Conlangs and Conscripts. Who knows?
On a domestic level, my isolation is getting tighter and tighter and I barely leave my room for few minutes (mainly to make me coffee). The mental disconnect is getting quite hard to fix in this house and nothing seems to make sense to me, neither I make sense to anyone else. On a mental level, ghosts from the past keep visit me unexpectedly with the thoughts "Why did it happen that way?" or "How did it happen that way?". Quite useless thoughts and there is nothing I can do about them, but the stress that loads on my mind because of the house keeps recalling these memories. How I wish I could just afford my own place and stay alone… At least if such memories come, they would visit without a stress…

Retinol V…

Honestly, I was not sure that I will be typing this post this week and would have left it for another week, but I'm pushing my luck here in hope that I will finish it in time. Things had been accumulating on my plate, specially with me helping my brother in some of his studies (because he's not so versed in English). It's like living a second life!

Retinol V

As you "may" know, I've posted about my Retinitis Pigmentosa project image No.4 in the previous post, so here I'm jumping right into the 5^th installment of the series, and the one before the last. It was a "somewhat" quick shoot, if not for, again, the cumbersomeness of the Air Remote wireless tethering, which proved, AGAIN, to be such a cumbersome addition.

RP Feet (I)

RP Feet (II)

The idea was comical in nature, showing the struggles of toes for a person with Retinitis Pigmentosa, from crashing into various objects around the house. So, the idea was to shoot my feet at different distances (to change the virtual or apparent size of the toes) and then merge the two images (the bigger toe specifically). I hope you pardon the skin here as I'm not that "bright" with pedicure!

As I've stated above, Air Remote wireless tethering tool proved to be a failure here as well. As I've placed the camera on the ground of the balcony, I've started using the wireless tethering to focus and take the shots. However, what I've discovered is that the focusing algorithm in the app or device does not work on the lowest portion of the image at all. It was as if the image does not exist on these parts of the frame. In the beginning I thought it was just a contrast issue (though it was apparently not) but as I was trying hard to get it to work, it was clear that the app controlling the camera wirelessly was just not functioning at these points - and just for comparing, the focusing mechanism within the camera itself when using the LiveView option do work in that portion of the image close to the lower frame. In the end, I had to resort to use manual focusing for the two shots and lengthen the process of checking and re-composing… etc.
In the post-processing phase, I've made 2 versions of the idea: RP Feet (I) and RP Feet (II). After making the first one, I've realized that the big toes size was not quite large to make a difference and a comical sense, and so I had to re-do it again and this time exaggerating the size deliberately.
The thing came out like a meme and actually I've posted it that way on Instagram!

Kika IV

Then we arrived at Kika's challenge for Week 4, which had the theme of Superpower. It was a bit tricky to think of something as I'm not quite into the "super" stuff that most people are crazy about in movies and whatnot. The good thing about Kika's challenges is that they are "free" or an "open" invitation for creativity and not quite strict in terms of photography. It is about creating art and not the art of photography, if that makes sense. Thus, one can feel a bit free in editing and creating all sort of surreal stuff that one can think of. Despite, the themes can be quite tricky to do. Sometimes, having so much space puzzles and baffles the mind as to what should be done without any restrictions that are apt to work as guidelines to work on something!

Superhero

The idea was to reflect my love for coffee but it kind of transformed into something like a"mad scientist" theme! All in all, the quantum physics book at hand is enough, I guess, to give that impression of a superhero!
Obviously as can be seen, the image is an edit and not a single shot. It is composed mainly from 3 parts: Me holding the book, close-up of my head, and the mug separately. The close-up of my head was to remove the top part and fit it into the first image of me holding the book. I have to say here that the goal was not quite achieved since my aim in very beginning was to enlarge the forehead, not the hair. Eventually as I was going on with the cloning and masking processes, I've realized that I'm working on enlarging the hair alone! I left it at that anyway and thought "Well, I can get away with the mad scientist thing I suppose."
As for the mug, it was shot separately at close-up too, under the same lighting conditions (on same location, the yard) and of course it needed some brushing work to isolate it and put it there. The smoke, though, was a trick done in Photoshop and to give a slight impression of coffee here I added a slight brownish line on top. It was a mistake though to take a photo at this angle I suppose but it was a must. Personally, I really don't think this mug gives the impression of being coffee specifically, but rather of some hot drink; Any drink.

Kika's challenges are still going on and as of the time of typing this post, it is the 9^th challenge or week, and I'm still going on with it. There were some challenges that I didn't really create any new images but rather posted an old photo, edited in a new way if possible (as it was with challenge No.2 some weeks ago). All in all, such challenges do push me to work with my camera further and if it wasn't for other responsibilities (and health issues) I would even work more instead of posting old images in a new suit. 

Finale

As I've stated before in previous posts, beside the RP project and Kika's photo challenge, I've been doing other photo shoots and experiments as well, though not as frequent as before, but still, at least I'm touching my camera!
I'm trying hard to live each day on its own here. COVID and lockdown did help a bit, but the fact that I'm in a family house and not alone, with everyone being grumpy and full of ideas of conspiracy and how things "must" be, makes me really awry and prone to isolate myself even more than I was back in normal times.
The perplexing feeling here is, as much as I need isolation to have some peace of mind, I do need to socialize to ease my mind, but the problem, again, is not having the right surroundings. I would be working with my camera all day long if it was not for my health issues and tired body, and some of the other chores and duty that I have to do. Being on my own, as a way to have some peace of mind, gives me more frantic thoughts and anxiety, even though many of such thoughts are not really profound but I can't help it. Now with my co-worker being dismissed after his long years of experience and expertise, I'm left alone in my workplace which is quiet for now, but I'm not sure of what to come then. You surely can't compare 40+ years of experience to the mediocre experience of 15 years (which had even passed without much serious work). I'm growing sick of this administrative cycle (which wanders away from my supposedly scientific domain of expertise). Needless to say, moving to a new campus at any time now makes me awry about my own safety for driving to that place, daily. I'm so tired… just tired…

Retinol II

To be honest, I'm sort of lazy to type this blog post! I've been loaded with many things to do and little power to do them, specially with the start of the month of Rajab in the lunar (Islamic) calendar and typically every year, I would try to fast as much as I can of this month (and the next month as well, Sha'ban). This leaves me a bit powerless most of the day and napping along on and off. Anyway, I'm trying my best to re-schedule my time and organize some of it (if I can call it so) and trying to do bits here and there. As a starter, I'll start with my little announcement here:

Little Announcement

As I've promised before, I'll be uploading more images to the stocks on batches, and I've done so already with the first batch of 8 images (originally they were 10 but had to cancel one and keep one specifically for MostPhotos alone since it's a selfie).

Preview of the batch

The batch had been uploaded already to Canstockphoto (you can also visit my profile there by clicking on the signature at the end of this post) and on Dreamstime (only 3 were accepted!) as well as 123RF (all accepted but one still pending at the moment of typing this post). As for MostPhotos, I didn't upload this batch on there because I'm planning to keep my account there specifically for artistic selfies (or self-portrait) and large files of panoramas, specially with the fact that I've received an email recently from MostPhotos stating that they have changed some of their policies, and raised the bar for the minimum resolution accepted, from 6MP to 11MP!

This said, I won't be preparing another batch any time soon I guess since my dish is full already as it is, specially with the supposed preparation for contributing to Trierenberg's Circuit (or Austria's International Photo Contest). I was reluctant to participate, but I've decided to get into it. Sounds like gambling to me though specially that there is money involved (AND I didn't receive my gold medal for my panorama back in 2018 because of the bad postal services and protocol).

Retinol II

As I've stated in my previous post, I won't be posting all my work regarding Retinitis Pigmentosa Awareness Month altogether. Just to not keep all eggs in one basket. So, in this post I'd like to talk about the second image in the series that I've made so far, and it is a quite simple idea but I have to admit, I've struggled in the beginning with the camera. 

Sensing

The idea was simple and reflective on the process of going down the stairs. It is quite a struggle for people with Retinitis Pigmentosa, like me, specially when going outdoors in the sun or going indoors as well. The problem is in finding the edge of the step using the sense of color and shades of color (this is how most people perceive depth and distance when going down the stairs).
The hassle (somewhat) was setting up the camera vertically on the ground. Typically I would use the L-Bracket and it does the job perfectly, but this time it didn't, probably because the ground was not even. Thus, I had to fit something under the lens just to let it stand still. Exposure-wise, it wasn't a big deal as the shot was taken indoors and with most of the lights being off. The exposure of 4 seconds (at f/11) was just about enough to depict the foot motion as if it is trying to sense the step.

When posted on Instagram the shot gained some momentum (as well as on YouPic) and some people with RP did relate to it indeed. It was a "Mission Accomplished" moment for me. I guess I've proved to myself that complicated ideas are not necessarily the best. If I wanted to complicate this further I would have implemented some stroboscopic flash here. Saying this, I've been having this urge to work a bit with my messy speedlites but I'm not sure for what idea, specially with my busy schedule nowadays; A schedule that I'm still not grasping its horns.

Kika II

In my previous post I've talked about Kika's weekly challenge and the theme for Week 1 was "Childhood," and to be honest, I didn't like my simple shot then. Anyway, the week after, i.e. Week 2, bore the theme "Hidden;" As in, hidden face. 

Anxiety (II)

Once I've heard of the theme's name, that image that I've made back in 2019 jumped right into my mind; That is Anxiety.
Ironically, the shot was made in January 2019, as if it was reflecting on the anxiety that would ensue by the end of that year with the start of the pandemic.
The photo here, though, was re-retouched, for adjusting the aspect ratio (4X5) to be posted on Instagram and adding few dodge and burn, contrast, and few touches here and there and adding a soft dreamy effect. This photo had been uploaded to some photo contests before, so I figured that Kika's challenge is all about creativity and not authenticity or strict photographic rules and conditions, so I kind of had my time with such edits to my liking. But this was not the end of the story there, because I did take a similar shot just few days before that theme started already!

Three Quarters Blue

I did add the proper hashtag for Kika's challenge (#Kikasphotochallenge) to Three Quarters Blue but it didn't get that much attention I suppose because it was not new when the theme started. It was posted already few days before the theme officially started. Three Quarters Blue was shot with my Huawei Mate 9 phone while I was in the office in my workplace (yes, been there few times already to supervise the "cleaning" process). While I was waiting in my office, facing WhatsApp in my tablet for any new "orders" I've decided to kill the time a bit. I noticed that most of the protective gear come in blue color (intentional?). Anyway decided to do something similar to Anxiety and fill the image with blue, but since the phone camera can't focus up close and personal to my face, I had to take the shot and then crop it considerably in post-processing in a way to hide all other features. I've succumbed to the fact that I can't crop this keeping the aspect ratio of the original image and I had to do free cropping and that made the image come a bit elongated more than the usual 3x2 ratio (or whatever Huawei uses). The other hard part of the story was inducing vivid colors and brighten the eye. The eye would have been brightened in a suitable way if it was struck with a flash or sunlight, but with this quick selfie, it was all a burden for the post-processing. Processing JPEG files of 8-bit and in sRGB color space is not the ideal condition to create vivid colors as it is, thus one of the first steps to do was to assign ProPhoto color space to the image and work from there. The image was saved later in Adobe1998 when finalized. The eye here looks unnatural but I tried to make it so as much as I could, I just couldn't pin down the "normality" level here. All in all, I think it just contrasts the overwhelming blue in a good way.
On a side note, this photo was recently used by someone on Instagram as their profile image AND even sent me a DM to get to know me (probably it was a bot after all). Reported that, and Instagram removed the image (yay finally something good), and they put it back again and reported it again and Instagram removed it for a second time (yay another good thing). Waiting to see if this would happen for a third time.

Finale

Things are going slow on my side, and at some aspects, it kind of anxious as well. I'm trying to manage my time to the best I can in order to do the tasks that I've set myself to do, like uploading some photos for Trierenberg contest. I've uploaded a set of panoramas but I still need to add some more, and each image needs some inspection before uploading. This said, I need to see when to prepare the second batch of uploads to the stocks.
Work-wise, there had been some developments along the lane which made me awry and uncomfortable. There is seldom a moment when I wouldn't think of the upcoming events and how things would develop. There is a certainly some point along the line when I would have to leave this job but how, when, and what then? Such a pressure on my mind that leaves me paralyzed at times. Retinitis Pigmentosa is not giving me the best moments of life and I would have taken it differently, maybe, in my 20s or 30s; But at 40, that's a load on a back that already started to bend for the passage of time. I lay it all in the hands of God.