I'm back after a "little" vacation of my own, during some holidays as well as working days in fact wit a lot of sleeping upheaval, as usual. This post won't be much actually but just to announce my return! Well, if anyone cares anyway.
So, in this post, I barely have this selfie which I've shot in the first hour of August 17th, and turning 39. I think I've made a new tradition of my own, to take a selfie with every birthday, in the first hours of it. The selfie (or self-portrait as some make a distinction between the two) was shot using Voigtländer 20mm lens (my favorite for the time being) and using a candle to light my face. My hand is not strong as before so it was a bit shaky and a bit out of focus (naturally using a wide aperture). With the help of the white balance as well, the image came out orange or bronze somewhat in color. I like the color but I have to be honest, I really hate the overall quality. It might look good in such a small size but it's not so in the original size. For this reason, I've promised myself to do some other selfie and using the candle light as well at some other time. Meanwhile, I did indeed take other selfies, with the same style, but this time using LED torch or flashlight.
Shot this right after having a shower (good thing I didn't catch a cold, yet) and used a small LED torch. Despite its size, it was such a powerful source in fact, and I've reflected the light off the wall but still there were some white areas that were out of details (because of the hard reflections from the water-soaked skin). This shot was taken with my Huawei Mate 9, so I had little control here. The only virtue I had here is the lightweight of the device. So, in a nutshell, this one, too, is not to my liking. I had other selfies which are a bit personal or occasional rather than artistic so I'm not going to post them here anyway. This said, I'm in fact about to work on a new idea regarding a selfie or a self-portrait as I'm typing this but I didn't finish it yet. Not sure how it will turn out but hopefully things will go as planned and I'd be able to post it by a week after the next.
Slowly now trying to get up on my feet again, specially after finishing off with the Huawei contest and my mind is ready to receive other ideas. I have to say though that such a contest really did some work on my brain and I'm not afraid to use my mobile phone to shoot, but definitely not as a substitution for my regular work with my DSLR and my passion for it.
I've worked already with some abstract concepts as well (on macro level) so we'll see if there is anything about it to be posted later on. Alas, I do miss my work with panoramas, but where to shoot in this place? The need to travel is arising and I'm still not sure about my decisions yet. First, let me fix this damn sleeping pattern…
A busy week just passed. Busy in the sense of chasing around for your needs and never find a match. Not much to be with my camera (on a vacation from that remember?) and not much to be done with my Ayvarith project and voice recording, only roam, roam, roam...
I've been moving like a bee from one electronics shop to another looking for two things: A shower heater, and a PC terminal head. The former for my bathroom of course, 'cause I'm no Eskimo with the central boiler turned off, and the latter was for my sound trigger circuit, which arrived two weeks ago and never got the chance to work with it because I didn't have the head (they didn't send it along with it) to connect it to my flash. However, I went around that in some primitive way.
Wanted. Cut or a whole.
PC Terminal head (connected to a hotshoe). Source (B&H)
Monday. Been moving from one store to another looking for a wire with such a head or just the head (better), but all of that went null, except that in one shop specialized in photography tools and lighting equipments had some adapters that I've been looking for in a long time; adapters to fit the small screw of my tripod into the larger hole size of my VR-head. They weren't cheap too! I didn't find though the device that I want, a shower heater. It's common outside, but not in here. I think it is the fantastic solution for the boiler's problem in many houses here, also, it saves energy.
The next day, Tuesday, I went even to the local Canon's (not Shannon, not Conan) store here looking for such a wire. Something I was trying to avoid to do from the beginning because I know the average of prices in such stores. However, the result was null, again. Not only that, but the guy there didn't even realize there is such a cable! Now, being desperate to try my new toy, I decided to do it the manual (unprofessional) way. Well, like I am professional already? All what I wanted to see is if this thing works or not!
At home now, with a sleeping time that got screwed up before my tired dead-body. I don't know even how I'm typing this! Anyway, woke up like 3 hours before midnight, and without a dinner or anything decided to raise up and do my experiment with the sound trigger without the head itself. I've decided to connect the wires from the circuit to the flash directly without a head, simply by plugging the wires into the port or the plug point of the flash unit. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of that setting...
PC terminal plug point at the bottom (2 concentric circles)
It was simply but delicate; the positive (red) wire goes inside the small circle, while the ground (black), with the help of a clip, attached to the outer circle. I was afraid that they would touch and make a short in the middle of my work, but all went fine. Once I connected the wires, the baby started to shoot randomly at my face turning me partially blind. I had to decrease the sensitivity at once!
SK2 or Sound trigger circuit, from Hiviz. Connection wire to the flash unit not assembled here. Source (Hiviz)
Finding out that the circuit works indeed, does not mean my life will become easier now. The hardships just began in fact. In the darkness I was trying hard to find my way and to set the focus from the right angle and with the right zoom, and after each failing trial I had to collect the coins. Yes, coins. I didn't want to use water here because it is an old idea AND it would make a mess in the place. Coins were better for my situation here. However, after many trials and errors; ups and downs and fixing the power and the angle of the flash, I think I did something suitable (even though it got rejected from some stock sites for noise level, as it was shot in ISO400)...
Savings
Some friends suggested that I would clone some coins out to fill in the gap in the middle, as the slide of the coins from my hand was not smoothly done. It is a good idea but I think it might make a repetitive pattern, which I'm trying to avoid most of the time (exceptions: architectural or landscape, where it occurs naturally). Another thing was sort of annoying me here is the flare reflection from the edge of the jar as I was not using a diffuser (and the flash was set to 1/128). With the image above, such settings were modified by RAW editor and later on with some extra layers in Photoshop with dodge and burn techniques (and faux dynamic range increment). The problem is, if the flash was to be hitting on the front, the background (black paper) would turn bluish! It would be awesome if I can, instead of triggering a flash, use some normal light bulbs on light stands (desktop lamps or the like). I bet there is a way, but I'm never good with electronics! Just thinking about it now, seems all what I have to do is bring a desk lamp and instead of having to switch it on, I plug in this circuit as a switch. Well, this is the idea in my mind but seems it's not quite the right thing to do...
However, with this capability, new ideas are flowing in my mind. Damn, I just can't control thinking about it even after the "break" that I was planning for myself.
Finished reading one book already. The fastest read so far. It's the Freelance Photographer's Handbook, by Cliff and Nancy Hollenbeck.
I've wrote a review for it on Amazon, and generally I think the book is good, and tough as well. The authors want you to be professional, and that means no DIY stuff or anything like that. Well, I like such stuff!!! Anyway, it is quite the book for beginners and discusses many issues related to the freelance photographer in various aspects, even personal manners and attitude, up to laws and regulations. Maybe most of the talk would be in the circle of the American law, but nevertheless, it is useful to know about such steps and regulations in advance. Who knows; I might have my own business one day? Hmm...
Now the work is on reading the other portraits book which I got from Amazon as well, beside some other book lying at home on my bed waiting to be read!
Time ticks slowly now, and my mind is busy, while the work is piling up. Can I see that someone one day? I think I'm losing my connection with this world...
