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 III-IV

Busy busy busy. So busy that I can't even play games! Can you believe that? However, to be honest, the major portion of my time is consumed by bad sleeping patterns. All in all, I'm trying to cope with the daily tasks here as well as trying as much as possible to work with my camera and a little bit with a new venture: Adding educational posts to Pinterest. This is a new thing and probably I won't be doing it often, as other things in my life do already have their own priorities. But I'll try to do it whenever I get a new idea or whenever a friend (who is learning Arabic) might suggest.

Announcement

As promised and as with my previous posts, I'd like here to start with a little announcement for a new batch of uploads to the stocks. This time they are scattered across the usual stocks where I upload.

The new batch

First of all, one of these images (won't say!) was canceled from the upload because of some brand name and it would be such a time-consuming process to remove that mark (stock websites usually don't accept such images). Anyway, photos with faces are typically uploaded to Mostphotos, with the exception of only one which is accepted in Canstockphoto as well. The rest are uploaded across Dreamstime, 123RF, as well as to Canstockphoto. However, 123RF, again, did refuse all 5 uploaded images (most of them were denied for being out of focus!). I'm pretty sure they would not be accepted by other stock websites if they were indeed out of focus - there is something fishy or misunderstood going on.

With this new batch, I'm trying to find time to re-process some of my old panoramas, specially the old ones from 2011 and 2012 and prepare them to upload them to my Mostphotos along with the rest of the large-size panoramas there (with a width of 10K pixels). Issues keep arising here though, specially with the new lock-down and health, but I'm trying my best (with coffee!) to organize my time and priorities (and yes, I'm failing so far).

Retinol III

Then, we arrive at my third image for Retinitis Pigmentosa (this year) - which was actually done in the same day as the previous one in the previous post. It was a quickie idea that occurred to me and thought of working it out right away after finishing Sensing which I talked about in the previous post.

The Seeing Hand

The principle thing was to be simple actually; Just using the sun to shoot something and the rest is to be fixed later in Photoshop, and with the help of a fisheye lens (my favorite Rokinon 8mm), the dramatic impact can be achieved (in terms of sizes and emphasis).
The idea of the shot is about the usage of hands to navigate through our spaces as people with Retinitis Pigmentosa and how we are greatly affected with the change (continuous change or period changes) in the environment around us on us; This is specifically about changing furniture at home frequently. Something that I've often suffered from, and still.
People with Retinitis Pigmentosa, like me, are typically using their body parts and memory to navigate through places and when at home, it is mostly memory that gets activated because things are "supposed" to be in their own fixed places.
Now as for the technical part, the Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens does not have provide such a shallow depth of field, thus it was one of the first things to be done (after the general color editing in RAW first). It was important, though, not to exaggerate the synthetic lens bur here. Next, it was time to fix the eye on the palm, and for this, I've picked an old image from my arsenal (of my own eye). It was a struggle though to let it be as natural as possible as if it was drawn indeed on my palm. Till this very moment I'm not yet convinced that I did the job correctly.
Anyway, the shot was liked by some people specially those with Retinitis Pigmentosa and could relate to this particular problem. Thus, if you are reading this and you do know, or live with, someone who has such disease or any type of visual impairments, just mind the change in the environment around them. It can be just frustrating; Big time.

Kika III - Retinol IV

Yes, you read that right. I'm posting 2 shots from the Retinitis Pigmentosa project for this year into one post, here. The whole thing was actually a coincidence.
As I was planning a shot for Retinitis Pigmentosa in my head (for days), Kika gave out the theme for her 3^rd week challenge: Framing; And this is exactly the "structure" that I had in my mind for my shot about Retinitis Pigmentosa!

RPG: Retinitis Pigmentosa Game

The idea behind RPG: Retinitis Pigmentosa Game is, again, the furniture and the obstacles that we face INSIDE the house. I was actually thinking of more like an "earthly" composition; Things set to the ground. However, after watching Kika's video for the weekly theme, framing, my mind started to (automatically) combining the two ideas and I came up with this framing, with furniture (or something similar that is) - of course with the blind cane as well to deliver the idea. Now the shoot was a bit of an adventure and unfortunately, I didn't take any shots to document the setting.

Air Remote, for wireless tethering.

The idea needed a top-view, and I guess nowhere is better to do such an idea except for the balcony (and we are lucky to have one). The problem here is, though, I am shooting myself with no help from anyone. So, it was a call for the Air Remote tethering tool, which I didn't use a lot since I got it years back simply because it does lack some features and it's quite cumbersome despite the (supposed) ease of use and the relief that it should be providing. This time, it was no exception, because it did disappoint me further. I will talk about that shortly.

Lateral arm from Photek

To shoot the ground from the balcony, it was natural to use the lateral arm to carry the camera and extend it out of the balcony looking downward. Luckily, I had those weight bags which I've ordered 3 years ago or so and never used them till this moment! Nevertheless, the situation was shaky and I had my heart up my throat. I'm blessed to have an elevator (lift) near me in the balcony to go up and down; Otherwise, I wouldn't even think about shooting this. 

The lens of choice here was my Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 because, well, the field of view and the autofocus system. After shooting this though, I realized that I might have done better using Voigtländer 20mm f/3.5, to have a wider field of view and then crop it to a suitable size and boundary, and probably the manual focus of this lens won't be a big problem. After all, I was shooting at f/11, and with wider lenses, the depth of field is forgiving anyway. The main drawback in the whole process, though, was with the tethering.
Actually, day by day, I'm starting to realize that the usefulness of such device is quite limited more than I anticipated in the first place. Here for example and in this situation, I was aiming to capture bracketed images sequence in order to create HDR and be able to achieve the dramatic look by controlling the light in the image at "baking the HDR" level (i.e. tone-mapping). It turned out that because of the timer (10sec) which I've set initially to be able to do my pose, each bracketed image would be taken with a 10sec timer! Of course, holding my pose for 30 seconds is next to impossible, so, I had to go back and just take single images. I'm glad that I could somewhat achieve what I've envisioned using just a single RAW image though. I would have done it properly with an Intervalometer with proper time-delay settings to give me some time to go down to location via the elevator, and that way I would be doing bracketing quite easily, but I still need to check myself on location to pose properly. Maybe next time I will try to combine using both tools, if it was possible (honestly, never tried).
The irony is that every now and then when I decide to use the Air Remote Tethering I do get first a message for updating the firmware and I really don't know how that is done but what I really wonder about is what the update is really about? I don't see any features being enhanced at all; Specially the annoying rotating display which cannot be displayed correctly for shooting in portrait orientation. That's another story for another time and yet, there is another misfortune that I will talk about (hopefully) in my next post when I was about to take the 5^th shot for Retinitis Pigmentosa project.

Finale

Here we are, close to summer again. And yes, I'm not so excited about it. We've gone into partial lock-down here for one month period (ending at April 8^th). Everything will be re-evaluated afterward, and who knows, the lock-down might be extended.
People here are complaining about everything, about all measures and don't get me started with conspiracy theories. Each individual in this great nation is an Aristotle on its own. I just hope my mood swings won't attack me severely in the meantime as it did one year ago, last summer, when we had partial lock-down as well. Not to say it's all gone but I'm coping better. I think the routine of fasting lately beside reading the holy book added greatly to the comfort. I've stopped fasting just recently and strangely I can't stay up late now like I used to do when I was fasting; I'm getting tired easily. Probably because of the digestive operations taking place. Who knows…
Things are a bit awry on the work front, but that's a story for another time I guess. I'm trying to keep my peace of mind as much as possible by trying hard to neglect and forget about these problems. I foresee increasing responsibilities upon my shoulders, and I'm not sure how am I going to cope with these, nor whether I should trust my experience or not (apparently it's not a match, scientifically speaking). From one lock-down to another, things are just spanning and expanding and all there is to hope for form my side is…to stay away as much as possible, until some "right time" comes for a proper resignation.

 

Precautious Selfie (2020)

Meanwhile, as I'm posting these images about this year's Retinitis Pigmentosa project as well as about Kika's photo challenge, I'm still active with my camera but I don't want to post or talk about these images until I finish the Retinitis Pigmentosa series at least. I'm also anticipating working again with my speedlites, with both high speed and stroboscopic, but I'm still puzzled for what I'm going to do. Trying to seek hints from Kika herself, as well as from the work of other photographers I find (mainly on YouPic and YouTube). I'm posting these photos, of course, on my YouPic, but not yet on Instagram. You can check out the link if you like to take a peek on my YouPic profile. But I have to say that many of these images are actually old images re-made or some ignored test shots from the past that have been worked out, specifically to be posted on YouPic. My chores list, surprisingly, is building up and I'm trying to do one thing at a time (including the typing of this blog post actually). There is a lot waiting for me that I've been even postponing playing some games! No time to rest and my body is failing me as usual… also, it is time to think of a new post for my Arabic blog. I think I do need another vacation from blogging at some point, soon…

Warrior…

Blah. I guess after posting using an external text editor and then pasting it here didn't come out well last time. So, I'm back to typing the blog directly in the page and let's hope no fuss this time!
I've been trying to keep myself busy to some extent here, despite the tiresome body. The weather is getting warmer (some rains and winds though) and insects are showing more frequently than before (and THAT is not a good sign!). On the other hand, I also got a new toy, which I will try to talk about along with its usage in capturing one of the photos last week. But before heading there, let's talk about some News maybe?

Relapse

I think I've stated in my previous post that I'm going to participate (or actually did participate already that time) in Trierenberg's Circuit (or Austria's International Photocontest), and I'm going to list some of the images that I've uploaded for the contest at the end of this post.
On another note, I'm back to YouPic; A social media website for photographers (supposedly) which I've been part of for a short period of time 2 or 3 years ago but deleted my account then. Now, after quitting Instagram for almost a year (will be a year in July) and being chased by Flickr with deletion of more than 1000 images as per their new policy, I felt now the need to get some new outlet. Thus, I've turned back to YouPic.

I'm not sure what was the reason back then for deleting my own account, but I think I was focusing on simplifying my life (and still) and I didn't want to waste so much time moving like a bee from one website to another, and thus I've deleted this account along with my account on 500px back then. Now, 500px might be a destination again but not for the time being really.
Things with YouPic were smooth in the beginning. I've used to upload from two to three images per day, but then suddenly things started to get nasty out of no where, and I have to wait for 11-12 hours after each upload. Yes, half a day! This is, of course, to push people to get the Premium (paid) account, but I'm taking it slow. I'm not ready to pay for such websites yet. I think beside the time period limitation (which is way too exaggerated I think) - I do think that they also control the publicity of the photos you upload to the website; Meaning, if you are a Premium member, then yourr photos are more easily exposed and propagated through the platform, while in case you are not (like me) then you have to rely on luck big time. On the other hand, it also has ventures to see other people's photography and styles, which I will be amusing myself with when bored I guess or when I really need some aspiration to continue with my camera. Let's hope this trend lasts a while with me though.

Retinital Warrior

Well, for a starter, I made this term up myself. There is no such thing as "retinital" in the dictionary. Anyway as the month of February went by, I didn't get the chance to do any shot reflecting on Retinitis Pigmentosa. However, I was still on the trail and had some ideas at the back of my head despite being in March already and after the failure of my very first idea. Like my first idea (no need to explain it here really), this new idea involves working with the blind-cane as well.

Retinital Warrior
Sigma 12-24mm @12mm, f/4.5, 250^-1s, ISO100.

I have to admit though that I procrastinated so much with this project, and eventually I've done it in a sleepless night in the middle of the week, waiting to go to work in the morning! Anyway, back to the technical details here.

As you can see above, the lens used here is not a typical portraiture lens, but more like a landscape lens, the same Sigma that I've talked about some weeks ago in doing a one-camera-one-lens challenge with myself, around my workplace. I'm trying to get it into action further here. The thing is, I was forced to use such a lens because of the size of the room I was working in and the limited space. I had some struggles with the angle and the focal length actually but then decided not to waste any time and just do some cleaning later on in Photoshop when required. Focusing on the perspective, you can tell that various body parts are not exactly in the correct proportions, but I think this adds to the drama as well, and it's fine with me.

Oval diffuser for speedlites from Impact.

Since it was a dramatic shot, I've pulled my eagerness back a little for using multiple speedlites here and used only one, on the lane of low-key, so to say. After some struggle with the location of the speedlite, I've placed it on a small bedside table with an oval diffuser (which by now became one of my favorite light modifiers!). Beside using one light, I've kept the power low; Lower than I usually do with my selfies. This is to keep the dark aspect or atmosphere (otherwise, in some sense, the image might point to the concept of power rather than exhaustion). I soaked myself, literally, to give the impression of exhaustion (in fact I was at that time but without the sweat!) and the water spraying bottle which I got specifically to do this shot didn't work quite well. I needed to soak myself heavily, so I did... under the shower. I was really afraid of catching cold after finishing this.
The rest of the job is the usual cleaning and straightening a bit, but the major edit here was to pull out the colors and make the image closer in looks to B&W, while it's not. I've used the Vibrance adjustment layer here which pulled the colors' saturation in the scene perfectly but in the same time kept the vibrant red tone of the cane obvious; Which is perfect! There were also some minor dodge processes for the central part of the image or so.
Now, would I do this again using a conventional portraiture lens (like 50mm, which is equivalent to 80mm on APS-C sensor)? Most probably, I won't think about it even. I like the distortion here with some parts being exaggerated, and I think it ads more emphasis on the hand holding the cane, and my facial expression, while leaving other parts relatively smaller. Some people liked it already, but unfortunately, this image was done AFTER uploading the photos to Trierenberg's contest. Oh well, I might upload it for other (minor) contests if I get the mood to, or simply just wait for next year's contest. This said, I'm not over with RP ideas yet, and I might as well revisit the failed attempt later on.

Wirelessly

It has been a habit in the family here, with every Friday gathering, to play UNO (a card game in case the reader does not know it). With few weeks, I had this idea sparking in my head for taking a photo, a long exposure to be precise, for the game from above. That, of course, would be done without a drone. For some reason, actually, I don't look nicely on drone photography despite the beautiful images and beautiful perspective that is shown from above (bird's eye view as dubbed sometimes). Not sure why though... because it is easy? Limited? Anyhow, I did spend some long time thinking about how would I do this shot.

Case Air

Part of the solution came in as I was watching some YouTube videos and realized that such thing as "wireless tethering" do exist indeed! I really didn't know about it till that moment. All that time I was thinking that such a process would be done using a cable. But here we go! I was so lucky to find this in a local store here in Kuwait (AAB-World stores) which even had a delivery service (took a while to be delivered because the payment was not in cash but by Visa), and the price is not too different from other stores outside. Just connect this to the tethering port in your camera and download the corresponding app to your mobile phone and you are ready to go! They provide various cables to fit various camera models. It took me a short time to get used to it and to surf the app thoroughly, even though I can get stuck sometimes and a bit sluggish (a lag in the image update on the app) but that's not a big deal, when I can view things on my mobile regardless of the camera position and its angle! The Case Air solution works on Wi-Fi signal, so you would need to connect your mobile phone to it via Wi-Fi option (i.e. no internet while connecting it to the camera but that's not a big deal for me). That also means, I suppose, it works fine under the sun, because Wi-Fi signals are radio signals and not infrared (like when I control speedlites by that) and the sun does not issue any problems with that.

Case Air overview,
with a glimpse on its app.

Clamp mount similar
to the one I have.

As I've stated, this was one part of the solution. Yet, I have to come out with a solution that enables me to raise the camera high above while the card players would be situated underneath it. One of the solutions I've thought of, and the easiest (sort of) is to use a clamp with mounting thread (which I've used before to shoot from above). The problem with this solution is, though, that the fixtures in the ceiling are not quite in proper places related to the ground where the group game would take place, usually. Under these circumstances, I had to think of something. I really tried to improvise something but all roads lead me to one solution: Old School → High tripod and a lateral arm. For this purpose, I had to use one of the old tripods I had (which I stopped using because of its shaky status). I was really afraid that it would flip over specially with the lateral arm being extended at full with the hinge of contact between the arm and the tripod being close to the edge of the arm. Gracefully, things went smoothly, without a shake. To help on achieving the long exposure, I had to use my Kenko's ND filter (super ND, 10-stops), which I had no problem attaching while is up high. And since the camera is up high, the Case Air tethering tool helped me fixing the angle and the perspective of the camera to centralize the carpet's design as much as possible. One problem was there though: The tripod's legs show up in the scene, and I had to work on that later in the post-processing phase.

A Circle of UNO
Voigtländer 20mm, f/9, ~17m, ISO100.

Now, in doing this shot, A Circle of UNO, I did discover some disadvantages for Case Air, but I was able to go around them (with some mathematics!) but life would have been much easier if such problems didn't exist in the first place. Here are some problems I've noticed:

• Case Air app does not simulate the exposure properly (if any in fact) like it is the case on LiveView. This was obvious when I attached the Big Stopper filter and raised the ISO to max to estimate the time required for the long exposure (as I usually do), but once the filter is on, then that's it. No simulation and no histogram estimation possible even on high ISO. Because of this, I had to calculate the exposure from images shot in Av mode, and even with that the final image, A Circle of UNO, was a bit dark and I had to add 1 stop or more in RAW editing.
• When switched to "Bulb" mode, the Case Air app switches off the view (or LiveView) on the app and you would not be able to check the scene as on LiveView on camera. Thus, everything must be done prior to putting the ND filter and before switching the app to "Bulb" mode (of course Bulb mode must be switched on the camera as well).
• After capturing an image, in whatever mode I'm on, I can't review the image on the app but I have to do so on the camera itself. I think there is a way to control the camera in such a way that I can view the images saved in the card inside the camera (by displaying what the LCD is viewing as if the HDMI cable is connected to an external monitor, but wirelessly this time). With my case here, the camera being up high would not allow me to check every image after capture.

Other than these (major) points, this product worked well for me in this occasion. The rest was post-processing job of fixing the exposure and the contrast, while emphasizing some aspects of the image (like the UNO card at the center), and then removing the tripod legs (at the bottom of the image). Too bad though, I wanted my nephew, sitting on the top frame of the photo, to show more, but it seems he adjusted his pose before shooting and hence barely his knees show up in the frame.
This tethering tools have some promising stuff that I need to test as well, mainly the "focus stack" mode, which I'm not sure what it does really, but I think it works (or MUST work) with a lens of AF system. Something to try in the near future, I hope.

Finale

As promised in the beginning, here are "some" of the photos that I've uploaded for participation in Trierenberg's contest, and of course they are minimized in size to fit in here.

 

Now, if there is one thing I'm regretting really is the inability to write some poetry, which started maybe about the beginning of this year. Despite being in abundance, but emotions don't come easily into words. Writer's block I'm guessing? Typical. Same thing happens with me in photography. Meanwhile, I do keep writing some thoughts and save them on Writing.com, as I might reflect on those later on.
Away from all that, there are some ideas related to RP cooking at the back of my head but I'm just waiting for the opportunity to start with them. I've started a fasting cycle already here, for the month of Rajab, and I'm not sure when I will stop; I guess when I'm totally exhausted? We'll see. In fact, at some level, fasting somehow do push me to do some more sometimes despite exhaustion, but the lengthy naps are a must here. Good thing is, even with afternoon naps, I'm able to get some sleep at night (though sometimes late a bit). I think exhaustion works to my advantage here. For the many worries and anxiety issues have kept me sleepless AND exhausted already.
Many things are happening at work, and everyone is talking about moving to the new location which is further away from home (more struggle with the traffic than what it is already), but I'm keeping myself silent and all to myself. Here I am, trying to put my mind off with games and photography and not sure what will happen next. They say I should not worry about what's coming and focus on the moment and live each day to its own; Yet, I really don't know how people are supposed to do this. It never worked for me. I have to get my skin (and mood) prepared for summer here, and I must think of my next travel. Apparently, the only way to capture panoramas for me now is to travel, since nothing seems worth it here. Supposing I can shoot anything I like…