Stroll IX…

Well, I think I can say it is officially summer here already, and I have to say goodbye to my plans for strolls in the morning. Fatigue and occupation with other issues at home are keeping me further away from the camera (and I was trying to get closer to it). Actually, I was going to cancel the post for this week but I'm going to try and finish it in time.
Meanwhile, I was busy typing a post for my Arabic blog about pinhole photography; Something I really need to do more (in some creative manner as much as possible).
Anyway, for this post, I'm going to talk about my stroll on April 26ᵗʰ, with my Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens and Kodak's infrared filter (87B), which is somewhat like the second part of my previous stroll (Stroll VIII), where the previous one was to the Eastern side of the neighborhood (into another block) while this one was Westward around my neighborhood and in the same block where I live.

Stroll IX

Probably one of the easy aspects of using wide angle lenses is the capability of achieving hyperfocal distance, to have a reasonable depth of field in the image, without even needing to have some form of autofocus (on most occasions). So, for the most part of this stroll, I've fixed the lens on f/8. The hard part though, is to have the proper frame to shoot, but of course we have the crop option in Photoshop later on so it might not be a big deal, unless one is mindful for making use of every pixel in the frame! Anyway, I'm not such a person.

حَيْ
(alive)

As the routine goes by now, I've made some shots just outside my house to test the exposure range and see the quality of the images on LCD. Alive was actually composed of 2 shots and I was lucky to have the light on the pole on in one shot (while off in the other). It was strange also to see such amount of change in shadows between the 2 shots even though they were successive with few seconds separating them. This called for merging the two shots to see what kind of shadows pattern that Photoshop would produce (and also to merge the different perspectives of the 2 images somewhat). 

ساطِع
(bright)

While my destination was westward from home, but at some point I would need to go southward, and that's where I shot Bright facing eastward. Actually this shot was processed at a later time after a number of images in this series. As i worked on it, I started to unravel some details like those lines around the flare. My guess is that such lines are actually caused by the scratches on the gel filter at the back of the lens. One thing I'm surprised to find at the time of typing this blog is the fact that I've shot 2 shots for this scene; one is dark and the other is light and I've processed only the light one. Probably I should try later merging these 2 to have somewhat an average lighting, somewhat like HDR or fake-HDR image. I've spent considerable time as well to lessen the fisheye or barrel distortion for this image, but it wasn't as successful as it would have been done with DxO. Maybe I should work more on such a skill.

The House

Again, I had to visit the infamous (haunted-like) house, well, if it wasn't haunted indeed, but this time with the bucket in front of it being moved from the last time I shot it (with B+W 092 infrared filter!). I wouldn't say there is anything special about this shot except that it looks more haunted in a monochromatic infrared image. Yet, it was a good target to practice rectifying a fisheye image. The curvatures around the center were reduced a bit but I had to crop the image into a square. If this was to be rectified in DxO, the image would be stretched, somewhat with proportions similar to 16:9 or about that. I'm not sure if Photoshop can do something about that, but some tools in Photoshop needs the image to be in 8-bit format instead of 16-bit (where I do most of the work) and hence my only option in the first phase of editing is using Lens Correction option. Maybe newer versions of PS upgraded such option, but I'm not sure.

ظُلْمَةٌ وَنورْ
(darkness and lightness)

Just next to the "haunted house" there was another "haunted" place (pardon me for using the word "haunted" here but this is just my impression). The thing is that such house was like "absent" for me despite the many times I've passed through that path trying to hunt for photos. I'm not sure how come I didn't notice such a house. Anyway, I've taken several shots and combine them in a single one, and probably because of the infrared effect here, the house appeared to be half lit and half dark! I didn't try out my luck with rectifying the distortion here (I got tired I guess), so anyway, I've decided to just crop the image into a square to remove some excess of "data" or unneeded info in the image, while keeping the door centered.

بَـصـيـصْ
(glimmer)

Had a turn then to that "mystic" tree which I've shot before with B+W 092 filter to see how it would show up with such a wide angle lens and such high-threshold infrared filter. Honestly, Glimmer didn't amuse me much like Rubble before, but the walls I guess add some depth to it which was somewhat lacking in Rubble (which was shot with 50mm lens then). Maybe I've made a mistake here for swapping the channels and turning the image into yellowish tint; Probably blue adds more to the mystery. I think that old palm leaf is adding somewhat of a leading or guiding line, though faint. The irony is that it was there when I shot the same scene weeks before that time with B+W 092 filter, but it just didn't show because the lens was 50mm.
Around the end of this little corridor there is a discarded old tire and I did take some shots of that one too but turned out they were shaken. Even though I've made a 3D anaglyph image out of some of them but probably it's not worth posting about here.

جَنوبْ
(south)

The last shot(s) in this series was taken on my way home after wandering about trying to find something interesting (it was still morning time during Ramadhan and so quiet). I didn't find anything interesting so I started to shoot randomly at some light pole with a sign. I can't remember what I was thinking but when I got back home I've realized that these shots can be tried for stitching; and so it was!
Now, because of the extreme distortion on the edges and non-coherent shooting (they were taken at random, and handheld) there was some stitching errors that I've tried to fix. However, the real hurdle was trying to adjust some of the perspective here (specially the tilt in the light poles) for which I used the wrap tool as well as the puppet wrap tool, and the image had to be cropped several times for various reasons (but mainly to remove the flaring sun). I have to thank the flares here that made me interested in creating this shot after all because I was really going to just forget about them. 

Technically, this was the last shot in this stroll. There were few others but I was "playing" and fooling around with my camera, but unlike South, I don't think they were quite interesting to process and post here. I'll check them out later maybe!

Finale

So, this seems to be the last stroll in the list and I'm not sure what to post about next. I do have plenty of images here and there, scattered around and don't belong to a specific series or project (which I should think of doing any time now). For this, I might be absent for more than a week; who knows.
I've merely made it in time for my Arabic blog and posted an article about pinhole photography before the end of May. Now I'm not sure if I can do something for the month of June! I need to scan for interesting topics (at least for beginners) to post about. Otherwise, I will (again) break my resolution of posting at least one post per month in that blog.

Last week I've ran into a serious problem with my modified Canon 7D when I tried to clean the sensor (after spotting many spots in the images). One particular particle didn't move with the usual brushes that I use to clean the sensor. I thought then maybe I should use the swab cleaning kit (which I didn't use in ages) and that's when the disaster occurred, as the swab was apparently expired and should not have been used, and the whole thing deteriorated over the sensor. My trials to clean the sensor further created even worse smudges. Fast forward: All is OK, and the sensor has been cleaned and the camera is working fine.
This issue though made me under somewhat a mental pressure till the moment of typing these words. After the incidence, I've called a camera shot to see if they offer cleaning services, which they do. The center is nearby but the place is quite miserable. Seeing that no one is there to pick me up and I was in a hurry, so I had to drive to there myself. It's a long adventure for me with such eyes but I have to say it delivered such a mental shock and quite lowered my self-esteem with all the fuss that I had to endure. My family "begged" me not to try this again. The next day, my brother picked me to the shop to pick the camera up. My driving limits for the time being is barely to the nearby supermarket to get supplies for the house, and driving to such a busy and narrow place and struggling to find a parking place in that ant-colony was quite a mind straining experience. Now, I can't imagine myself even driving after midnight to do some night photography, which I ever loved to do but didn't do for quite long time by now. 

It all seems like one long nightmare, and I just wish I can wake up at any minute now. My life choices seems to decrease rather drastically on many fronts right now. Recently, all I could think of is to sleep non-stop if I can, whenever I can. I'm losing the taste for it all…

Stroll VII, VIII…

Well, back again with my struggles with the fatigue and guess what? I think my strolling days are over already. Since the last time I've posted here where I thought I would be doing more strolls, the weather here continued to be nothing but miserable. From dust storms and waves and increasing heat (and turbulent sleep); all that just left me no choice at the moment. It seems to be a time for my usual roll back to the oldies and re-editing some photos. And as it seems it's not only the strolls that I'm breaking off with, but with my promises to myself to post at least one Arabic post in my other blog!

You might be wondering about the title and why I'm merging 2 strolls into a single post here. The reason is that the 7ᵗʰ stroll was quite a short one and quite not interesting that I thought it wouldn't fit for a single post on its own. It was a stroll done using my pinhole lens and actually the images taken are not that interesting that I didn't process any of them till weeks have passed already! So, just to keep the track, I thought maybe I should include the few shots in the blog here.

Stroll VII

So, as I said, this stroll was done using my regular Canon 7D camera and the pinhole cap which I didn't use in such a long time on April 8ᵗʰ. Using calculations, I've discovered that there are many problems with this pinhole since a long time ago, and in fact I've considered getting one of these new Thingify pinhole lenses which have some flexibility but I've neglected the idea. Nonetheless, shooting with such a weird apparatus or tool (and an ancient one) is somewhat fun at times. However, my stroll here was a quick one for some factors, and of course done without a tripod and hence I had to use a high ISO to shoot handheld. The images in general are not impressive and I had to end the stroll quickly because of the flies!

Hills and Dunes of Decemania

It is a general belief from my side that pinhole images do look better in B&W. It is not the first time I do shoot with this pinhole lens but it is the first time I do it handheld. Thus, I was expecting much here. Remarkably though, the images might look better when seen from a distance (or at a smaller size) and some details start to appear better to the naked eye rather than at close up where everything is blurry (unless of course the blur is a motion blur, which I prefer in such images).
Still though the story is not ended here and the rest is left to the post-processing to "enhance" the image a bit and extract some textures and details out of it despite the fuzzy view. The issue was somewhat even more sensitive in Hills and Dunes of Decemania because there is a large area of black (originally black even in the colored version) with all these heaps of sand and tar or asphalt. 

Дом и Дверь
(a house and a door)

As I said already, I didn't quite take interesting images in this short stroll and in fact I still check the images now and then in hope that I get inspired by something. One of the ideas I have already (but didn't work on yet) is combining several pinhole images or maybe a pinhole image and a regular one in some way. Anyway, A House and A Door is a later comer to the collection here and I remember that I liked this house and its green door (ironically, forgot where it was located exactly) and I kind of shot it at hip level at this point. Anyway, as with all pinhole images that I take, I had to convert the image into B&W and discard the green (which I like). 

There are few images (maybe 2 more) that I've processed already from this stroll but I don't think they are worth posting still. Composition and contrast are probably the two most important factors (if not the only) when it comes to pinhole photography; This is my own opinion though and I'm not stating this as a fact. But this is how it feels to me. I'm thinking even further of enhancing this pinhole lens in some way, after doing some calculations and realizing that the "stated" pinhole diameter is quite small. So, maybe if I just make it bigger a tiny bit, I would be able to enhance the sharpness in some way. I'm thinking of passing a needle into the aperture to see if I can enlarge it a bit as I think, but let's hope it doesn't get ruined!

Stroll VIII

Days passed since that pinhole stroll on April 8th, and I was literally out of ideas, up until I remember the old trick that I was fascinated by in early 2010s when I worked largely with my then-new lens, Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens. Since the lens is completely manual, I was mainly fascinated with the idea to let it work with various filters, firstly ND filters, then at a later time, infrared gel filter. Thus, I've decided to revive this old fascination and go out in a stroll (two in fact) and fix an infrared gel filter at the back of the lens, on April 23ʳᵈ.

Turmoil

This stroll, with Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens and a Kodak gel filter (of threshold of about 820nm) was dedicated to the Eastern zone from home (and honestly, I see more chances of me taking shots there rather than in the Western side). Anyway, a western stroll was done later. As a starter, and as usual (in some way of a ritual form by now) I took test shots just outside home pointing to the sky. Such test shots are somewhat important to get my camera into the initial settings (which I try hard not to change them as I go on). For my surprise, the test shot was also a "nice" shot where the clouds in infrared showed up (but not to the naked eyes).

Белый
(white)

From the point of leaving the house and up to the neighborhoods of the Eastern zone (the next block to me), I've been taking some shots here and there and some of them are not processed yet at the time of typing this. However, I'm not going to post them all but I'm going to jump right to the ones that I think are "keys", like White.
I did like the original scene because of some details in the sky and the branches but I've found myself drawn more to crop it anyway to add focus at some point in the image (which I didn't plan really, it was a shot in the dark!). This won't be the only one to be cropped. Anyway, even though it might be such a waste of pixels to take such an extremely wide angle shot and then crop it, but the main target here is the field curvature that such lenses provide and the distortion in the perspective as well; So, it's not all to waste!
I've spent quite some time with White trying to darken the image to a reasonable amount to hide unwanted details (specially in the wall at the background) and focusing more on the flower (and in fact it was just a bunch of leaves and not a flower!). In a nutshell, I was trying to create something out of nothing, sort of. Worth noting here that I've shot many images for this scene at slightly different angles and at some angle there showed some nice flare but unfortunately none of the pots did show as well so I had to neglect this shot (but I still keep it just in case!).

Рост
(growth)

Not far from White I've then encountered a lonely growing plant against the wall of some house. Knowing that in infrared such green leaves would turn white, I thought that this is a good contrast to be documented! So, I've approached the plant and shot it as various distances and even almost got myself lying on the ground. Still though, in the final image, I had to crop a big portion of the image to remove the edges of the house and the sky; Actually, I wouldn't mind the sky if not for the edges of the wall which disturbed the harmony. I think I wished that I would shoot this at 50mm at that moment, but oh well, it's like an adventure after all and one has to manage and "improvise".
Composition-wise, I was trying to fit the plant on the left side of the image but because of the structure of the wall I was forced to let it be on the right side. It's probably not much of a critical factor but probably for people who are used to read from left to right, the position might look a bit "awkward" but for people (like me) who read from right to left, the image might look going well to the eye direction. Anyway, in the process and after converting to B&W, some strange white spots or "zones" in the image appeared and I can't quite tell what are those. Maybe some marks on the wall that appear on infrared only? Because I'm positive that there was nothing on the wall when I was there. There is a faint plant on the left of the main subject but I'm talking here about the general halo-like look, and that I don't understand yet!

تَـنْـويـرْ
(enlightenment)

Circling around and in between the houses after shooting Growth, I've came about to the main space or "square" where one can go to various directions at this point (and where I shot some images months ago, like The Army using H-alpha filter). Actually, the image Enlightenment is a late comer and it wasn't processed till a day or two before typing this blog post and not right after it was shot. I shot several images at this location and I was wondering if I can make anything interesting out of them. The most interesting thing here was the flare in some images (I think 2 of them), so decided to merge them and had some crop to remove the bright spot of the sun. It seems fares are just pretty fun and easy to create with this lens! The subject of Enlightenment though is not quite popping I guess, and the main body of the image seems to be the flare itself and in some way the flare do act as a guiding line here leading to the mosque. I have to add here that that mosque is also a favorite destination right now!

Down Under

Now, the bougainvillea branch dangling out of the fence of that mosque has been an attraction to me and I've shot many images here (that I'm still visiting till now and still processing some of them). I've also created some 3D anaglyphs but anyway I guess I will keep it short and post only those important or impressive shots (to me at least). 

Tilt

However, one of the fun images I've worked with lately with this series of shots from the fence, is Tilt (which is saved as a PNG to keep the transparency of the background). As can be seen, the image was indeed tilted to straighten the column, and instead of cropping the image here as I would usually do under normal conditions, I've just tilted the image and kept the transparent background.
There was actually a time when I was interested in creating such images with unconventional dimensions to break down the monotony of the rectangular limitation, and typically such images have to be saved as PNGs to keep the transparent background. However, not many websites would welcome such transparency and would fill the space with black or white upon upload.

Playing With Shadows

Leaving the vicinity of the mosque, after loads of images taken there at various angles, I've started to gaze around as I walked back home, trying to find something worthwhile for shooting. I didn't find much though (or I think I did but didn't like the idea of taking pictures of private premises). So as a result, I've found myself playing with my shadow as can be seen in Playing With Shadows. It would have been better though if someone else did take the picture so that I can pose as I want to but anyway it's nothing serious after all. A little bit of fun wouldn't harm I guess!

بَـقـايـا
(remains)

And not far off from that shadow shot, I've reached a pass between two houses made by bushes from both gardens (sometimes one just wishes to live in such homes but alas). Worth noting, again, that the sky here was completely plain to the naked eyes, and all the clouds details in it appeared only when shooting in infrared. I shot this image in portrait and landscape but seeing that the nature of the elements kind of point upward (and using a fisheye lens which would include unneeded objects from the sides), I went on to process the portrait version. It wasn't until the processing phase when I noticed the remains of leaves or branches on the asphalt (I didn't see them when I shot this). I've literally placed the camera on the ground (padded with my hand) and I just didn't see these in front of the camera! However, it was a pleasant addition and surprise; Not complaining here! One thing in Remains that I'm still struggling with somehow is the tilt. I'm sure that I've straightened the image but yet it looks somewhat tilted. Anyway, I don't think I will be focusing more on this image after all. Unless for some heavenly reason it has to be displayed maybe!

يَـقْـدُمْ
(it comes)

The last shot in the series (not really the last but I consider it so) was shot in a narrow corridor (probably less than 2 meters wide, and 2 meters long). At the end of the corridor, there was a car parked there, and gracefully since it was Ramadhan and it's just after 7 in the morning, it was quiet and I thought not many would notice what I'm doing. The car here was blocking the corridor a bit and I had to squeeze myself to get past and return to my block; Not a pleasant feeling!
Anyway, thanks to the fisheye lens, the shot looks spacious and wide. One thing though I don't like is the nonparallel wall lines which broke the symmetry in some unpleasant way really. In processing this shot, I've used tone-splitting techniques which I seldom use with infrared images. But I thought, since infrared filters with such high threshold do yield essentially a monochromatic image after all, maybe I should consider using tone-splitting to add some life to the image. I guess this is a decision that I did NOT regret at all! Many people liked it actually. My typical tones to be used by now are yellow and blue (with mostly emphasized blue). I surely look forward to use tone-splitting with such infrared images in the future (and I did already with few images by now at the time of typing this).

ِAt this point, the stroll was over and I reached home. I did take some shots inside the house just for fun but I don't think they are interesting much. I have to say that the images taken in this stroll are still being scrutinized to get the most of them, specially to see for possibilities to make 3D anaglyph images.

Finale

At this point, and under such weather, it seems that strolling days are behind me now. This post is the first part of using the fisheye lens with Kodak's infrared filter. There is another one, hopefully coming in 2 weeks time from now, where I picked the same combination of lens and filter and strolled westward from home. Probably not much of a scenery as these I've shot in the eastern side.
At the time of typing this, we've been already under dust for 3 days (or even 4). I was thinking of picking one of my lenses and my ND1000 filter (10 stops) to do some long exposures somewhere, but the conditions are changing quite fast and I didn't and couldn't come up with any new ideas to use such a combination (in addition, I would definitely need a tripod and a shutter remote). Looking back, I think I've used this filter only once, back in 2015 in Malta! I need to experiment more with it.
Meanwhile, I will be trying to prepare an article (post) for my Arabic blog, talking about pinhole photography. I do have a bit a problem there with the lack of material but anyway I'll try to circumvent that in some way. I just hope it will be ready for next week though. I'm having a new keyboard here and I think I'm still having issues typing with it and it gives me a considerable headache sometime!

On the other hand, I think things calmed down a bit with my mood swings lately. I just need to figure out a way to overcome the almost continuous fatigue which renders me "almost" useless. I have a plan to try out a number of herbs if possible and see if they are better than coffee in giving me the "zing". Lately, I've been feeling quite sleepy after having a mug of coffee. My daily dose of coffee had been 2 mugs a day, on average, with having one extra sometimes on occasions. Herbs on my list include cinnamon (which I do drink occasionally), lemon balm, and few others with some weird names which I need to re-check and try to find! I just hope one or some of these would help out with my fatigue problem. 

Άγνωστος
(unknown)

Ag Dul (Going)...

It is a torn out vacation! Many things to do and so much little time, and sleep. I think I do need to organize my daily activity for now, as I have so much leisure stuff I "need" to do. Mom's sudden sickness and asthma got the bulk of my time for now, but I see things are kind of getting better (specially after buying an inhaling device to help her). Beside all of that, I do need to get back to the Arabic blog as well and talk a bit about my trip to Ireland. Where is time when you need it…

Ag Dul

Still working with the load of photos taken from Ireland this year. Well, not a surprise that I'm not able to work with lot of these photos. Not disappointing, for after all I had my vacation! But maybe I will find some ideas for some of these shots later on. Probably the most frustrating incidents are those related to infrared shots (specifically done with 8mm), as some of them are not sharp enough and I'm not sure if it was because of the focusing of the (manual) lens or is it because that infrared slide got scratched. This brings into my mind another topic, of how to fix a gel filter easily at the back of Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens. I can use, of course, a little duct tape. However, this is not practical on location so to say. Still thinking!

Ag Dul (Going)
Rokinon 8mm fisheye,
f/8, 28m, ISO100.

Probably one of the most beloved infrared shots to me is Ag Dul, which was shot on the bank of the lake not far from the Waterfront. I did already a black and white version of this image and sent in a mass email few days ago. However, the new edit was done with the help of the IR profile I've already made for my ACR. This processes usually tends to shift the general tint from Red towards Blue. The only annoying part about it is the slightly out of focus aspect. Not a big deal in a small size but it is so when viewed at 100% (and of course would be so in a large print). As for the grain and the noise, it is a typical story in infrared shots. Unfortunately, stock websites do not comprehend the struggle here! Anyway, such shots, I believe aren't much of use for their line of commerce.
This bluish streak actually makes the infrared gel filter (Kodak's) more desirable than my B+W infrared circular filter (58mm) because of this effect when adjusting colors. Infrared filters have many varieties depending on the threshold value; i.e. the value of the wavelength after which photons may pass (high pass filter of some sort). However, there is so much to learn about them. I wonder now if I can adapt this gel filter even to those lenses which are supposed to be using the circular B+W IR filter.

Áilleacht Dhorcha (Dark Beauty)
Canon EF 50mm + ET,
f/8, 160^-1sec, ISO200.

In one of the weird incidents lately, one of the images which was easily discarded in my first group meeting here, was quite popular in other places. The main reason for the discard is the regularity of the shot I believe as it has nothing to add or no new attraction. This shot, Áilleacht Dhorcha, however, did gain some reputation in communities like Flickr, 500px, and Instagram. Áilleacht Dhorcha was mainly processed (and it is the lowest exposure in a bracket) in a way to mimic the effect of a painting. The main tint of colors was simply achieved by changing the white balance (the original color was pinkish). The rest is the usual job of layers in Photoshop. I do like it personally even though it was discarded from the main stream of reviews in the meeting; The shot gained some popularity in 500px too.

Panorama-wise now, I'm still working on flat versions of the panoramas and didn't start yet with QTVRs or any other projections. This is just a step to manage and control the pace of my work as to not scatter my efforts in various directions. I do believe that I made my mind now of the small "gift" that I should print and send to The Waterfront…

The Waterfront

Probably the blues should have been richer? Maybe. Anyway, I'm still working on the rest of the panoramas one by one and might add another target. The work with panoramas wasn't out of (bad) surprises and disappointments, somewhat. One of the panoramas that I was hoping for more vivacity in its appearance turned out to be hard to be managed and had to put (kill) it down. That is the inside of Inchagoill church panorama…

An Eaglais na hInis an Ghiall
Inchagoill's Island

I'm not sure where did things go wrong, and specially with the halo effect around the edges, but I've tried my best to make it better through tone-mapping but to no avail. Probably it would have been better to tone-map such a panorama using Photoshop, but the problem here the seamless edges; if I want to make a QTVR out of this panorama, the left and right edges must be equal in luminance and other aspects so that the QTVR would be seamless and smooth as one unique view (without any cut in the middle when wrapped). This feature is available in Photomatix when tone-mapping, but not in Photoshop CS5 (so far). I might come back to this panorama to make it better somehow, but not for now!

Back-In

Now that I'm back, I'm trying to regain some foothold on some aspects of my life, specifically those related to "social" activities to some extent. The group I'm a member of is working on preparations for Al-Thani photo contest and the sorting process is still going on. I'm thinking of joining in some workshops within the group as well in fields that are, usually, not in my immediate interests; e.g. sports photography.
Meanwhile, after stopping for several months, I'm back to uploading 500px website. I'm not sure really how special or what is the deal with it, but within the circle of the group they do talk much about it (as if being a circle of professionals). The irony here is that some images that were rejected in the group, do have their own fans on 500px! This said, I got into the trap again of renewing my Flickr account again (to Pro) despite removing my Paypal info long ago from the website. Just discovered that the Paypal info were there (again) somehow. I do realize now that having such Pro accounts in any website of this type isn't a big deal after all. Statistics? Sure, they might be important for some to some extent, yet I do not think it is worth the money. If, however, it is a group of photographers sharing a gallery online, it might be worthy to pay for such services. This is what I think.

I've been also trying to get back to poetry somewhat. I still need something to leak my feelings into. The poetic engine is not as greasy as before when things come easily, but I'm planning to try from time to time, or at least put on a specific time on my schedule to think of some words to pen down. This is not how it used to work though. However, the initial result was The Red Leaf. The biggest problem, in my case at least, is that feelings are there, words aren't.

Finale

I'm here now, trying to fill my life with things I'd love to do before I go back to work in mid November. It is not an easy task though, I tell ya.
For starters, Mom got ill out of a sudden; probably allergy-related condition. At least this is what I hope for her, so that by time things get adjusted. I have to do inhaling procedures for her (and she feels better by now at the time of typing this).

Then, there are some of the chores that I have to do, specifically checking out what happened to the parcels sent from Austria, containing the catalogs of the members (of Trierenberg Circuit's contest) and my Luxury Edition 2014 (where one of my images is displayed). I don't know why they still send to my home address even though I've changed my address to my UK inbox; the post services in this country are down the drain. Beside these chores, I do have a plan to go back on educating myself with Gaelic (Irish) a bit. It is a hard language, even harder than German I'd say, but it would be fun to try maybe! This tempts me to talk about all my projects that are on standby! So, I better stop at this for now...

I've said earlier that I'm trying to get a foothold in my life; but until that is done, this heart is going to be swinging in between the matters of life. It does feel like walking a tunnel, with no light burst at the end. Sometimes, it is but a dream, to let someone know how you feel…
Anyway, better start cleaning my camera now.

Uaigneach 's Ag Fanacht
Lonely, and Waiting...

The Nadir...

Well, here we are. A first week in the working force of this country and technically, doing nothing for the time being. But I'm expected to do a lot in the coming few months. Field trips mainly, beside some lab work probably. With Mom's schedules, I think I won't have a day of free time the whole week (weekends are not counted in).
I've started the procedure here to make an appointment for a general eye check and to see if I do suffer any "extra" stuff - mainly, the retinitis pigmentosa, which is a hereditary problem in the family. It's funny how I'm doing all of that when I'm back to work already and didn't do them when I was free already!

No signs for fixing my car any time soon. However, the garage people keep giving me hopes about it which makes me not sure yet to either believe or disbelieve in such spirits. On the bright side, I've finally managed to get my shipment which was held in the customs all the holiday's period and now I have 2 books to read (almost finished one already!) and some tiny stuff for my camera work. Anyway, this week, I've decided to do some bits of a project and put my thoughts in a single lane instead of thinking or waiting for inspiration to hit. More of that below.

Nadir

I had this idea in my head for a while in the past week and didn't come to work with it till this week in fact. I don't remember exactly what inspired me to think of such a project but probably it is George Barr's blog post which included some photos taken at a hill or a cliff. Anyway, probably I should explain a bit what is Nadir.
The word Nadir is usually mentioned in the context of panoramas. The nadir point is the point directly under the photographer and generally it is the hardest to take in the process of shooting a panorama. Now, to the historical part. The word Nadir is derived from the Arabic word Nadheer [النظير] which means "the opposite (point)". Arab scholars (mainly astronomers and astrologers) used this name because this point is the opposite of the Zenith (Arabic: Al-Sumt [السمت]), which is the point directly above the viewer's head.

Liquid Solid
An old shot that probably inspired me beside George Barr's post?

So, what this is all about? The whole process is actually simple. In one time in my life, I was obsessed with panoramas and I would think of a panorama wherever I go and try to do a panorama wherever I settle. Same thing went on for HDR (even though HDR making is now a habit or a second nature to me). I though, since I'm not getting much inspiration for any photography plans maybe I would just concentrate on a trend and try to see through it. This might as well would help me to somehow master a technique or two. This new trend is taking pictures from above like if I'm taking the nadir point in panoramas but with elevated camera. How ironic that I've just read a chapter in my new book about Aerial Photography!

Nadir
Rokinon 8mm fisheye, f/11, HDR, ISO100.

The results can hardly be predicted, for the time being. You will see below that there are some images that I just didn't like but I enjoyed the experimenting. One of the first images, however, was Nadir. The technical aspect for the shot and stabilizing the camera is a terrifying experiment - at any moment the camera can simply slide out of the grip and go down. This shot specifically was taken from the top of the roof of my home looking down from one side which has a brick tiling roof (happens to be above my room's window). I've taken several shots at some different elevations by changing the central column of the tripod itself and because the lateral arm and the camera combination can and would flip the whole tripod over, I had to have a firm hand at the tripod and the camera's belt.

Flat Perspective
Rokinon 8mm fisheye, f/11, HDR, ISO100.

The Rokinon fisheye (and generally, fisheyes) are my favorite choice when shots from elevated space are considered. They add depth and encompass more scenery into the view, and with the help of DxO nowadays, the distortion can somehow be adjusted as in Flat Perspective. The shot for Flat Perspectve is different than Nadir; the former was done with the central column raised higher while the latter was done with the central column was down. Raising the central column high actually helped me to crop safely without cropping much from the body of the roof, this is because when the lens is raised higher, more adjacent spaces for the roof gets included in the view, and with flattening the image, these parts will eventually be cropped and deleted. One of the hardships of taking pictures in such manner is that you can't really plan for a center. Just take it and manage whatever you can manage later. If I had or have a helping hand, I would surely connect the portable monitor as the camera is dangling in the air and try to adjust the position, while the other person is holding the gear firmly. Adding weights is an option but working with them would be hard and impractical when moving from one place to another.

Bird In My Yard
Rokinon 8mm fisheye, f/11,
30^-1sec, ISO100.

My next target then was the balcony, overlooking the yard of the house. The shot was taken in the morning time. After waiting for a day to check for the shadows at different times of the day, I've realized that no interesting or pronounced shadows are produced in the yard, and thus I though that the morning time is the best as there are virtually no shadows in the yard.
The situation in the balcony was shaky because the ground was a bit slippery and the legs of the tripod did slide a bit (and had to use a brick I've found there to hold it firm). The tripod itself was going to trip over as well because the lateral arm was extended to its full length almost; this is just to try to put the camera as far away from the rail as possible. Even though I did shoot for HDR (with the help of a timer of course) yet I chose only one shot from the bracket to process. The image needed lot of work with DxO and yet it's not to my liking but I did like the experiment anyway. I did crop to align some lines to the frame accordingly.

Geometrical Coma
Canon EF 15mm fisheye, f/11,
0.5sec, ISO400.

The main hall was also a target and I was ambitious about it, but unfortunately, my current gear didn't help me with it and I do have to improvise as it seems. The idea is to hang the camera (safely) onto the light fixture and trigger it either with the cable remote somehow, or even better with the IR remote (but it would give a shorter timer period). Anyway, after the fail, I headed elsewhere. The stairs. The situation at the stairs wasn't any better; dangling my camera from the third floor's staircase to look at the lower floor staircase has its own dangers as well. I tried to improvise a way to stabilize the camera but no avail. Finally, I've found myself holding the camera and dangling it by holding its strip firmly. In this experiment specifically, I've tried several lenses to encompass the right elements but probably the best I liked were the 15mm fisheye lens (after rectification and cropping) as you can see in Geometrical coma and the shot done with my 50mm lens, Dementia.

Dementia
Canon EF 50mm, f/11, 0.6sec, ISO400

As you can see from the shots on the stairs, the ISO is raised here to compensate for the shake, and the camera's mode was set to Av. I've put my trust in the camera here to get the right exposure time (which was relatively slow but enough). In close-up, there is still some shake in the images but probably less noticeable when in small size. Both images, Geometrical Coma and Dementia needed some rectification to make the lines as straight as possible. Both of them would be classified as abstracts I presume.
Many places run through my head right now but first of all I need to get some proper gear to hang the camera when it is required to do so. As for the time being, I have to rely on improvising. Even though there are some DIY solutions to such problem, but it requires some time and a space to achieve the purpose and build the gear.

Finale

Source: Amazon

At the current time, I'm digesting the first book that arrived finally: The Wild Side of Photography. This book in fact didn't bring much new things to me and doesn't go deep into the topics. It is a collection of articles written by various photographers, each to his or her own field. Ironically, there is an article about aerial photography and the use of kites at the time that I'm planning for more nadir or bird-view shots. This field of photography is out of my reach and probably will never do it but it is inspiring after all. My nadir shots are mostly in confined places and without winds, quite the opposite of aerial photography, in which winds and spaces are critical. Interesting topics and I've almost finished the book in 3 days only - only few is left to read.
I need some more time to test my other gadgets, specially the RoundFlash which is a substitute for the ring flash somehow (and it can be used for portraiture as well). The other critical gadget is my IR gel filter from Kodak, which looks darker and more opaque than my round IR filter (from B+W). I'm hesitant to cut this gel filter into a small square to fit into the 15mm fisheye lens but I guess sacrifices have to be done here. I'm just afraid that it won't work as I wish because of the opaqueness of the filter.

The nice weather now is fixing a bit of my spirit that got shattered during the summer and the problems of the summer. I have my wish now to see my car fixed again, as my financial situation is, not shaky, but not advancing either. Mom keeps asking me from time to time, whether I'm going to travel or not, or why wouldn't I travel. All what I have as an answer is: I can't. Life is weird, but even weirder, are the people living in it.

Blank...

Long time ago, I've stated that a vacation is not a vacation if you don't travel out of Kuwait. This week specifically, life demonstrated for me (again) why is that.
I couldn't do much with my own projects the passing week. My car is still not working and that kind of put me up with hard times. The problem that I thought was simple got complicated and the car won't start all. I'm waiting for the electrician and his solutions in hope. During this time, I'm using my brother's car and I really hate to drive it. I just use it for necessities. This situation makes me drop my plans for visiting Failaka island as I planned prior to the vacation. No car, no photography; the perfect vacation...

Bubble I
Canon EF 50mm + Extension tube, f/4, 25^-1sec, ISO500.

I've taken 2 images before I start my vacation, specifically at work. I wasn't going to post them actually but since there is not much for this week, I'm putting them here. These two images were hard to take because they are macro shots (with extension tubes rather than 100mm macro lens) and without a tripod. The actual process took actually 2 days, one day to notice the texture (on the inner side of my hibiscus mug), and the next to take the picture! Probably this is not how the contemplative photography is supposed to work as I'm currently reading, but I guess some details for such abstracts are nice - somehow gives me some confidence that I do still have an open eye for details!

Bubble II
Canon EF 50mm + Extension tube, f/4, 25^-1sec, ISO500.

On the other hand, I've decided to place an order for some stuff despite the squeeze in my financial situation because of the car. In fact, I was more pushed to place such an order because of the family. Some of them needed some stuff from outside and I thought it is the time to place an order for the time being.

Source: Amazon

My first order is on Amazon for some new books (finally). My habit was to order 3 books, 2 of which are photography-related. However, this time I've ordered only 2 books beside many other stuff for the family members here. The first book is The Wild Side of Photography by Cyril Harnischmacher. I own another book for the same author dedicated to tabletop photography. This book, with quick inspection to random pages and the table of contents, would hopefully give me some insight into some tricks - ticks in the sense of special effects or probably simple solutions for some problems.

Source: Amazon

The second book is dedicated to Product Photography. It might sound a bit like tabletop photography but probably I would find more advices dedicated about commercial aspects of such photography and more information about light formations and settings. I thought maybe I should check out this field a bit in depth (specially after the Coffee Contest that was sponsored by the group). In here, it is one of the common fields of photography that people would ask about (with some gains) beside Portraiture Photography.

Source: B&H

Away from Amazon, I've ordered some items from B&H stores (typically). Even though my wishlist contains a long sequence of lenses as I'm dedicated to have some new wide angle lens with flat perception other than the highly distorted fisheye lenses that I already own. However, I think I didn't make up my mind yet about such lens, beside the narrow budget for the time being. Thus, it was better to delay such an order. Instead, I've placed an order for the RoundFlash which is a product that would help in macro as well as in portraiture. It might act as a beauty dish; a common accessory for portraiture lovers. I just hope it fits my speedlites. This cheap solution came to me like a gift in a time I was thinking of having a ring-flash to help me with my macro shots. Concerned about the high prices for such flashes, I've started to look up cheaper solutions or DIY methods, when I received a newsletter from B&H containing this product. I'm having my hopes up, let's hope my hope won't be without hopes... wha?

Source: B&H

The next toy on the list is the Tote Vision HS-1 Hot Shoe Mount for Tote Vision LCD Monitors. A small gadget just to place my portable monitor on the top of the camera (in the Hot Shoe). This is generally to help me in situations where I need to shoot myself, but that doesn't mean it doesn't help in other situations. This simple gadget would give me a great relief from using one extra tripod or monopod just to hold the portable monitor, or holding the monitor by hands while shooting at critical angles.

Finally on the list is the Kodak 3 x 3" #87B Opaque Infrared Wratten Gel Filter. I'm not sure if the size would suitable for cutting, but anyway I'm having plans to apply this to my fisheye lenses; specially the Canon 15mm because it is the one I use commonly for panoramas. There were many varieties of IR gels with codes like 87B and 87C and I'm not sure what's the difference between them. Most probably the difference is in the range of wavelengths after which waves are allowed through the filter (i.e. the threshold); but how to know this from the code is beyond me and even if I knew, I wouldn't know which one is the best for my own uses! So, let's see how it feels to do a panorama on infrared. I'm pretty sure the exposure times will be exaggerated in a ridiculous way!

Now all I have to do is wait for this delivery and pray for some good luck to "enjoy" my vacation, or whatever remained of it...

Rover...

A quiet week of some sort. I'm adapting the habit of bringing my camera to my work place as much as possible, everyday, whenever possible, because there are chances that might occur at any moment. More to come about this later.
I've finally managed to upload the most recent recordings and the vocalizing work with chapter 6 of Alexander's story is going on again. The problem was simple, and now I feel really dumb for not noticing it in the first place. The Google Sites account I used to upload to was simply full, and I needed to find another place. However, I've made another account and the recordings are up again from 1417 to 2016. There are moments when I just decide to stop recording for one day, simply because I'm so tired to read correctly and the whole process becomes a headache!

The form for the Job Request is ready I guess and now I'm supposed to move on and contact potential customers, specially those who did not reply. It is majorly a marketing campaign.







In the meantime, I'm educating myself more in the fields of exposure control and flash photography. I'm preparing for some new order of books and tools to be ordered soon, I hope. I've already ordered some items and books, but it will take some long time to arrive to me since I didn't use any speed mail options.

IndiPRO portable monitor
Source: B&H

Maybe one of the most important items for me right now is the portable monitor (left) along with this order. Compared to other portable monitors, like Sony's for example, this portable monitor is not much with options. However, it works with LP-E6 batteries; same as those used in Canon 7D. For this reason, I've placed an order for one extra battery as well (since it's not included). It would be beneficial as an extra battery for the camera when needed too!
This monitor will be useful when I need to take shots in critical angles with me having to bend my back severely. Back issues are a reality with a man in my age (yes, 32 is old).
Along with this monitor it occurred to me to check on something, and I'm not sure I would be able to use it, but I won't know till I try myself.

Rosco Polarizing #7300 Filter
Source: B&H

 Searching for some way to polarize the light and reduce reflections with my Canon 15mm fisheye lens, I though I might find some kind of gel filters to be fit into the rear side of the lens, like I previously ordered some ND filters gel sheet to be cut and made ready to be used with the lens. However, Rosco Polarizing Filter seems to be used mainly with light sources, but I'm interested in experimenting with this kind of sheet and whether I can cut it into pieces and fit it in the rear end of the fisheye lens. All of this was sparked by a friend who needed my help to order a specific polarizing disk for one of his own lenses. The sheet is relatively large (17x20" ~ 42.5x50cm) and might be useful in many situations, if it is to be cut into various sizes.

Camera Rover:

It was somehow a status of hiatus and unsettling mind along this week. As I've mentioned before, I'm taking my camera to my work as much as I can, and I try to take it out in regular outings as much as possible. I'm trying to capture an inspiration at the slightest chance or hope in the air. This triggers for more abstractive work.
Maybe one of the first trials to increase my understanding for the light and shadows and how they work together was my trial with the camera's flash in broad daylight.

Botanical Arc
Rokinon 8mm fisheye; DxO-corrected.

As I made few test shots for the arc, I've noticed the hard shadows in the lower part of the arc, so I've simple turned on the on camera flash (which I couldn't control because the lens was completely manual and no support for TTL) and just made the shot. Few adjustments were added then by DxO and the distortion was corrected slightly and the whole image was cropped. It's not much of an art work, as much as it is one experiment I loved to do. However, this little experiment was done without any thought to the light level of the flash or any measurements. The same scene was tried for 3D anaglyph too, but didn't work out well.
Also, around my work place, in those moments when boredom just crashes my mind (and there are a lot of them), the camera, then, would help me out in getting back to reality or at least jump from one dimension in my imagination or daydreaming to another. Some weird ideas can occur in weird places, like the bathroom.

Mönster (Patterns)

Even though this place is visited daily, there are only specific moments when everything stops and your eyes would gaze with gushing thoughts and images of ideas. I liked the geometry that I couldn't resist but to go ahead and take my camera from my office and head to the bathroom again.
Despite its simplicity, the shot was not easily done and I had to shoot many times (handheld). After going back home I've I've sorted the images out and with the help of DxO I've picked the best and enhanced its highlights and its distortion as well to make it as straight as possible. Simple patterns like that and such abstract art got its own people I believe. The least to do is to print it out on A3 paper and frame it with a simple plastic frame and hang it in the office to disturb the routine of the office or cubicles work humdrum. 

It's not all about my work place however. Strolling outside had its own benefits too, even though now it's summer and the beach area is not hospitable for my needs as it is in winter. The temperature would simply reach around 38^oC by 6:00 a.m.!
The funny thing is that, I was on a hunt for some scenery that would produce some good 3D effect like the 3D Gazebo that I've done last week. Ironically, none of the shots did work, but on the other hand, I've discovered a place on the beach that I might consider for another visit at night, if possible, and do some long exposures there. Also, I've caught two images, that with some twisting, did produce some abstract (if I can call them so) with a philosophical blend in them.

Einsam (Lonely)

Waiting The World

In Einsam, beside emphasizing the color of the sand, I had to clone the uppermost portion of the image to hide the water line. There was cropping as a consequent for adjusting the horizon line and make it straight. I took the picture from above (something like a watching post) and the umbrella was lying in a diagonal line with respect to my vision.
Waiting for the World, however, was another story (and it was shot first before Einsam). I've cropped the image here to remove the horizon line and give a sense of infinity, and also cropped from the lower edge to let the shore line cut through into the corner. Call it Perfectionism if you like, but I did hate leaving the line of the shore hitting on the right side freely!

The chain of thoughts did not stop here anyway and accompanied me home, with some trials on a burnt out bulb. Taken from my car couple of weeks ago, I've stored this bulb specifically for this experiment. Though I've forgot about it a little, but it just came in time.

Colorful Bulb
Tamron 70-300mm

The bulb had a black patch, and I was thinking already of doing HDR to eliminate this problem. To add some twist, I've decided to do the HDR by bracketing the Flash pulses instead of the Exposure brackets in the camera itself. Placing the bulb in front of a printed paper used for making noise profiles for Noise Ninja added even more glamor to the image I believe.
Maybe it was a mistake to point the flash from the camera directly into the bulb without bouncing it upon some surface, but this might be debatable. The noise level was relatively easy to remove except of some areas that a Median trick would do.
In Photoshop, many, many, adjustment layers were added to increase the contrast and pronounce the bulb more (specially its edges) and fix the color cast little bit. It would have been done more easily if I did take a picture of my Kodak card and simply point the Black eyedropper into the black patch of the card.

QTVR

I've decided to go back to some of the images taken back from Failaka back in March. I've tried my best again with the Ikaros Hotel panorama, and this time with single images and not HDR, yet my trials were a failure again. Seems the critical point which ruined the whole thing is the fact that it was a windy morning and the shades covering the main yard (where I took the panorama) were shaking already and causing much of the fuss and the non-alignment problem in the panorama as a whole.

However, this was not the issue for now. I've remembered one panorama that I've stitched only in one format; which was then called the Planeta Herba.

Planeta Herba

This panorama specifically is semi-full spherical; with exclusion to the zenith and the nadir shots. In fact, and because of the blue sky, the zenith shot is not necessary I believe and could be fabricated easily I presume. The nadir shot was not a big deal too because there is sand only and it is easy to clone out. However, the shadows of the tripod and the camera (ad mine at some points) needed some work to be cloned out.
The panorama was stitched again but in flat format in order to make a QTVR. A simple QTVR.

Θάμνοι του Ίκαρου (Bushes of Ikaros)

The noise level did persist and nothing was all easy to clean, beside some burnt edges. All of these details are apparent of course in the original file, but printing the image itself has the final word when it comes to the noise level and other artifacts.
When it comes to the QTVR, I've been putting some of my Prefectionism, if I should say. It is indeed nice to have a full spherical space to look at in all directions and feel free, but also I'm trying to put down my expectations and also be realistic. In this QTVR, the space is almost fully spherical, with only zenith and nadir missing:





Again, the window was made small for quality reasons. The original file (which sizes up to 130MB) is clearer. Maybe it is a change in my own psychology or something; I just don't know. I think there are lot of things I need to give up in this life just to be going on. I hate it when I'm forced to, but what difference does it make? Annoyance is available in either case: whether you put down your expectations, or not.

The world is becoming a scary, and a silly, place to live...