Dormantile

Well, this is my first ever post to be done with this new Blogspot platform changes. Everything is so white here and I don't know if I can change things later. However, I really don't have the mood to even think about doing changes to this. Why does everything I get used to change? How do people get the time to adapt to new changes every now and then? 

Anyway, never mind the grumpy mood and the whining here from the very beginning of this blog post. I've lost track of my posts and I didn't have much material to be posted here anyway. I was seriously thinking of stopping to blog for a while. My life with the camera and conlangs had been significantly dormant. I could hardly motivate myself to do any work or even think of any idea. If, by miracle, I do think of an idea, then I'd not the power (and mood) to work on it. 

Yarding

I guess I'm inventing new words into English. Hope you don't mind; English is not my first language and I'm trying to be innovative in the last bits of mind that are left intact still. Anyway, the term "yarding" is just a term I'd like to use for my activities in the yard, where I take my sunbath almost on a daily basis. Now that we have some nice and shiny plants, I've been trying for many times to get away with some shots, specially in ultraviolet. My attempts, though, failed miserably for most of the time. No denying that such failure did put me down even further, and made me lose the appetite to hold the camera often. A whirl of emotions that was, and still is, hard to get out from.

The yard as shot with my favorite Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens from my room's window; (top) normal, (bottom) Red/Blue channel swap. The rectangle at the center is the swimming pool.

One thing (to be positive a bit here) brings me joy though, is when I go out to check the yard and all the plants there that I've been watering myself (not every day) and some of them were planted by me personally. Anyway, I was thinking of some sort of a challenge with my own like I used to do back in the day when I would go to work every morning taking my camera with one lens only, as a challenge to squeeze creative juices out of this rotten brain of mine. Probably thinking too much about ultraviolet and infrared photography did ruin (in some sense) my appetite for just normal photography trends.

HDR version of the same shot.

 

Noticeably though that I've stopped thinking about doing bracketed shots (for HDR merging later), and this is good and bad in the same time. Probably I've stopped thinking of shooting in HDR as I usually do because of the long immersion with infrared and ultraviolet in the past few months (because I usually don't shoot bracketed for such type of photography). Anyway, this is a good and bad point as I've mentioned, because bracketed shots do have the initiatives for more artistic work and not necessarily just for HDR merging, specially as I've learned some new editing techniques that basically uses under-exposed images (or pulling back the exposure down for a properly/brightly exposed image). But did you really think I could stop shooting infrared or ultraviolet?

 

InfraPots

 And just to get myself ongoing with the camera work, I've decided to play around with my fisheye lens (Rokinon's 8mm of course) in the yard, fit on my modified 7D. Since I didn't do a panorama in AGES, I've decided to shoot a little one. I was stuck between the swimming pool and the scene I wanted, so this lens was the best for the job here. And just as if I do need more problems as it is with this very simple shoot, the weather was humid and I had to shoot the scene twice after noticing how humidity blurred the corners of some shots.

InfraPots (Red/Blue swap)

Since the work was with the Rokinon fisheye lens, I didn't really put any filter into the lens to shoot infrared with my modified camera. So, probably I shouldn't call InfraPots with such a name since the image is, technically speaking, a combination of visible and infrared spectra. Shooting without a filter, even under a harsh sun, does make it easier to shoot in brackets for HDR, which I did here even though I didn't go crazy with tone-mapping like I did with the yard shot above. Stitching the panorama, as expected, did bear a lot of stitching errors; I've fixed some and neglected some. I really didn't want to waste much time with something I'm doing merely for fun and to get me going with my camera and break the dormancy. What I like here is the lines on the wall; These are not visible in reality, but only when shot in infrared (or infrared+visible). As you can see, too, that my shadow is on the ground in this panorama, so it is absolutely not something I would be wasting my time on fixing it. Shooting a panorama here would require a lot of work, and with the pool installed at the middle of the yard, it would be hard to setup a tripod even.

Lustrous Green

With all that shooting during the daytime, I have to admit that it is probably by night that the plants (though simple compared to other professional gardens and other floral arts) do look fabulous; With all the LED lights in the yard that give a soft touch of light to the leaves. Finding a proper composition was not something to really work with specially in a (sort of) stacked yard like this but I tried. I've relied heavily though on the post-processing aspects, as in Lustrous Green and those that would come afterward. The main point though is to focus on shooting dark on purpose and processing the image with that intent in mind and not adjusting the exposure to get every detail possible from the shades of the image. With my 50mm at f/1.4 it was not a problem to shoot handheld in such a dark place with faint lights. The shutter speeds were just about enough at ISO100. Though later, I think, I've increased the ISO up to 200. No HDR shooting this time though. 

 

The Bright Side of Shade

Bougainvillea Stoccata
Click to enlarge

Something that night pulled toward minimalism and abstract work, but probably this is natural in such place and such limitation (of lens). The lens itself does not give me enough distance to include large bodies into the image (and it is the only f/1.4 lens I have), but nevertheless, I'm just happy to work with it that way. I don't mind abstract or minimalism after all, even though I know that around my circles, such forms of photos are not quite appreciated except in few instances for whatever reason that could be. The whole thing sounded like a "picture-hunting" challenge, like those I've used to do at work, but a nocturnal version of it. At some point, some of these images were actually dark; too dark. Apparently I have to adjust my LCD settings to make sure that I get a close representation for the lighting of the scene. Yes, I did a mistake here for not checking the histogram. Anyway, it was not a big deal as I went on with processing these dark or semi-dark images specially that I don't need a bright image anyway; I needed a representation for the night in these images after all. The image Bougainvillea Stoccata inspired me to start with something (along with a previous re-make of an older panorama) but I think I will leave that for another blog post.

Tranquil Solitude
Click to enlarge

So, I got somewhat encouraged to hunt again, and this time during the day (morning time). And Ta Da, it was humid. Probably you can tell already how much I miss winter already as it is. Anyway, this time, I was more dedicated to find some details, and in order to do that, I've connected my 12mm extension tube to the 50mm; This is just to get closer and not to shoot macro (the magnification factor here is way below 1x). One of the striking shots (to me that is, I don't mean to the outside world) is a somewhat macro shot for the bloom of Portulaca oleracea (or some related plant) which I've struggled to shoot before specially in extreme macro conditions (reversing my 20mm lens and using a rail just to get it right, and never did). Turned out that this simple sitting of 12mm extension tube and 50mm lens was just about enough to get some nice details of the little bloom (diameter might be a bit more than 1cm). The reason for fitting a 12mm extension tube is not to do any work for macro actually; As explained, the magnification ratio is way below 1x. But I had to use it to shoot at a close distance because of the pool in the middle of the yard which limits my distancing from the plants (the shortest focusing distance for Canon's 50mm is 45cm). Anyway, I've used apertures between f/1.4 to f/2.8 to shoot several images (and still under inspection as I'm typing these words now). When checking Tranquil Solitude the photo looked promising even though there was maybe a slight motion blur (caused by the breeze) which I tried to compensate for by selectively sharpening (using NIK) the bloom. The image had undergone massive crops which probably enhanced the "proximity" of the bloom giving, maybe, the allusion that it is a macro shot at 1x. The cropping was due to some undesired elements and distractions in fact and also to re-locate the bloom at one of the cardinal points in the law of thirds (golden ratio in fact). Still, it looks not bad and I might considering uploading Tranquil Solitude to the stocks at some point.

Green Delight

Now, since I didn't process or check closely all the images I've shot in that morning, but Green Delight was one of the images that got my attention from the first round of check-up. The light green hues grabbed my attention already without editing even. In editing, I've increased the brightness on various levels as much as possible and then stretched the blacks or shadows almost to the end. Finally, the image was sharpened selectively at some specific zones of the images. Another thing I like about this one is the fact that the maize leaves acted as a background (to most of the image). The image was also cropped according to the triangular method which fitted the two (left and right) branches perfectly.

(Golden) Triangle crop marks labeled on Green Delight

I have to note though this is usually not the proper way to use this method of composition or cropping, because the trend is to use the spaces (the triangles) to put the elements within, and not the lines to set the boundaries in the image. However, it is a work of art and I guess we need to experiment from time to time. The whole thing is an experiment after all.

Finale

First of all, I have to say that this new design for Blogspot is really giving me a hard time typing the post and organizing the photos. So, you might have already noticed (if you reached this point in reading that is) that there gaps and texts stuck to the photos. I've also stopped checking the statistics of the blogs here because of the bulky design and navigating through the options and too many clicks just to check a graph or see origins of hits. Why do they do this? Why do developers like to complicate other people's lives? Specifically, my life; As if I don't have headaches of my own.

I wanted to talk a bit further about other things and ideas that have crossed my mind lately and I'm trying to work on them currently, but I'll keep these ideas for later posts, hopefully. One of these ideas involve re-working panoramas, and another one involves breaking the conventional photo display. The latter one is still under inspection and I'm trying to find the ins and outs and form some ideas about the... idea (if that makes sense). Anyway, we'll see if I can post in 2 weeks time. 

I think I've been grumpy enough at the beginning of this post, so I guess I don't need to pour more into it here in the closing of this post. Everyone is waiting for 2020 to finish as if things will be better by 2021. I really don't know how they got this idea as if circumstances and epidemics do count the years and are limited by some time limits. To me, I don't find much difference anymore in the passing of time. All I want is a garden, or a sea, and some birds; And if possible, to die there as well…

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.

Cropping Away...

Week of delays and troubles, yet I'm still alive. Trying to forget some aspects of my own world and life by trying to work more behind the camera. Some ideas come and go, but seems like I'm running out of time...

Friday, on a sleepless morning, I've decided to break out the vacation from my camera and do something. It was morning time, and not in mood to drive, so I just decided to take pictures from my home. My first goal was to catch something from inside the house with some scene made by sun rays striking the stairs. Unfortunately, the maid was working in the hall and I didn't want to give her a hard time (or should I say the opposite?). Anyway, seeing this I've headed outside just roaming the vicinity.

My home's yard

The picture above is for my house's yard before some adjustment that appeared later on. I have to say that I'm not happy about the changes that were made later on by my brother, when he added some small bathroom outside for guests (although we have one inside). Anyway, just for fun, I've decided to do some experiment with this structure (even though I hate looking at it).
First of all, it was some trial for some abstract art I would say. Nothing special about this little bathroom from the outside except when it's cropped, or so I'd say.

Cabin Cut

A friend once told me that one of the tricks of illusions is to remove the edges and let your vision swim freely into the object not knowing where it starts and where it ends. I was trying to do this here when I removed the top and the bottom of this cabin or bathroom. I think it would appear more flat if only these screws on the right side were removed, and the vent fan would be removed as well. I didn't want to crop more than this or to clone out. The shot was taken from the side, centering the corner of the bathroom. Cropping here beats the depth I guess.

The original cabin before cropping.

After "snapping" this shot, I went around and fixed my Tamron with my Vivitar teleconverter and went on trying to catch something, aiming at the little cat (veeeery annoying one) that lives in the yard. With a manual focusing and handheld camera, it wasn't easy for sure, but I got something after all, which made me think of a particular theme!

Beast

Instinct

Wild

The images got a colored version but I don't like them as much as I like the black and white version (with the last one being selectively colored). I have to say that I didn't get much out of the collection, but I might work out something other than the ones above. I've found myself, having an image of animal in my mind, that I'm naming them with some basic elements of behaviors (animal or human). I didn't plan for such a theme for the 3 images, but it just came out, and that makes me think of doing more around this, either now or in the future. Maybe...

Cropping, cropping, cropping. This is all what I'm doing recently with some of the old images that I've forgot about; mainly those taken from Ireland in 2010. One of the pictures that I've totally forgot about (intentionally) because I didn't find any much interest in it, is re-visited. Well, it was there in one of my albums for Co. Tipperary, but this time, with cropping, lot of people (specially on MostPhotos) appreciated it...

Raining

As a background, the image was taken in one rainy day in the lounge of the Thornbrook House. I think it was taken on October 2nd, 2010. In the beginning, I was going to work with a single RAW, but decided to go with HDR to pronounce the greens more and brighten the white frames, and also pronounce the rain drops on the glass, as a single RAW would show some and hide some for a single EV value.
I started cropping from the top right keeping the frames visible, but some friends online suggested to crop more. I think they're right. It would be nicer to hide the frame. My main thought thread when I did this was to make the frame as a frame of the image itself in that corner. I also noticed that the lower left corner needed some cropping, but I didn't notice this till I uploaded the image.

Usually I crop keeping the aspect ratio of the image. Unless I'm doing a panorama (more specifically, small planet projection), I like to keep the aspect ratio of the image because in case of prints are to be made out later, or some email of pictures I'd like to send over to someone, the images would fit within each other like bricks; same height and same width, with almost equal visibility.
After reading further in George Barr's book, Take Your Photography to the Next Level: From Inspiration to Image, it kind of pushed me to break the "taboo" as he calls it. Well, I don't think this kind of break is or must be done every time I crop, but there is one image that got me into that situation. I have to admit though, I've just discovered that the image was taken wit a wrong tilt, but on the bright side (at least in my own brain that is) it makes some kind of optical illusion...

Over Suir
single RAW.

I really can't remember how I was sitting to take this image but apparently I didn't frame it correctly in the camera's viewfinder. Some edges were swollen already. Anyway, I had to crop the sides and keep the top and bottom untouched (to remove a trash bin!). I can say that going down with a low angle wasn't comfortable at that location!
However, I've been preparing some stuff from Ireland that I, myself, didn't like as well. There are times when cropping or whatever you do won't work out on such an image, but oh well, the image can still be dear to you for some reason (specially when it is from a vacation!)...

Moment of Silence

The only thing I really liked about this image above, is the sun rays coming from the upper right corner. I didn't like the colors much too (prepared from a single RAW) so I changed it to Black and White. Try my best to add such a drama with the contrast, but yet, I don't think I did it quite well. Still, some people liked it in fact, and like George Barr says, you wouldn't know if the picture you hate the most from your work, can be the one that the public admires the most. The image above was taken from behind the gate of St. Dominic abbey in Cashel town. I was going around the ruins trying to find a way to get in and stood there taking these pictures of the graveyard, just before a lady comes out from next door to ask if I want the key! Days... I really need a vacation.

As I've mentioned before, I was going to try to print something noisy and see how would it look, on A4 size. The target image was Companions, and I got the basic shape without filtering the noise, and in fact, I've made sharpening in NIK plugin , under Glossy paper profile.

Companions
filtered here.

The print was acceptable with my HP Photosmart (I think C4783?). I made the print with HP Premium PhotoPaper (not Premium plus), and the result was fine. makes me think really about the realistic attitude for eliminating the noise from the images I take. Noise is my nemesis and seems I'm always losing the fight. Removing the noise would remove the details and so on. But, is it really necessary to be that way? I think I've adapted such approach because of the stock sites that rejected many pictures because of the noise level. The image above was taken with ISO2000 and printed it without filtering the noise, and with sharpening. I don't see it was a really bad print even though I have to say it is a small version, and when used in other publications it might be even smaller in size and the noise level would almost disappear then. I think so, at least.

Left to say, we had a lunar eclipse on Wednesday (yesterday), and it was a chance I didn't want to miss, but as usual, it was not easy to catch. There was dust and wind, and things like that get on your nerves when working with a tele-lens. the slightest movement will shake the image and so on. Although I'm the one who was working on it, but I have to say it was like a nightmare and I'm glad it's over!

Lunar Eclipse
Wednesday, June 15th 2011. Around 10:00 p.m.

This shot was taken at the end of the process in fact. The real thing was a time-lapse photography with my Tamron. However, I had to zoom out a little to automate the process of the shooting the moon phases (every 2 minutes). I was planning to take images all along the span of 3 hours but the movement of the moon, while you zoom in, is so fast to catch up with. One hour is enough to see the moon going from the lower left corner of the frame, to the upper right corner. Well, I could zoom out a bit, but I doubt any further zooming out will give any indication of the eclipse. Add to my troubles, some frames were shaken as well because of the air blow to the set. However, I've managed to do a little time-lapse clip, though I'm not quite satisfied with it.




Well, it's weekend now, almost. The time has come to wash away some of my hard time with some good sleep, if any. Been a slow week... full of discomfort...

Alexander 6, V98, V99.

Here we are, a Monday after a three-day weekend. I'm posting 2 verses for now as I didn't post anything yesterday (despite my plans). The work place seems quiet today after my colleague left in his vacation. YES! I wanna spend the whole time listening to music and reading. Ah well, it's not all like problems-less. Just one hour ago we (the secretary and I) had to sort out some dilemma concerning orders that been made by colleague. Not important, so far.

I've started reading my other book now and seems it is the variety of books I've been looking for. It discusses philosophical matters beside technicality of photography. I'm still in the beginning though and it's a long long read in front of me. Around 18 chapters in it, and I must try my best to digest whatever in it, either concepts, or technical procedures. It is a book about photography as an Art, rather than a camera.

 

In another venture, I've tried, finally, to capture a panorama with my new monopod, just to try out its capabilities, and seems it will be quite well although I'm still reluctant about taking it alone in my travel to Ireland. I think I will include my old tripod as well just in case. The panorama is not new to me, with only the time difference to the previous time, our own yard.

The circumstances in this panorama were challenging but still it went well I suppose. The time was early hour of the morning, and maybe you can see the sun is raising in the horizon still. The weather was awfully humid and I had to rub clean my fisheye lens while shooting. There was also this cat that kept on rubbing against me legs begging for food! However, despite all of that, it went sort of well except of some errors that I didn't care to fix here actually for a purpose.

While shooting, I had to keep my fingers gently on the monopod to keep the vibrations as low as possible. The shoot was conducted in Av mode (Aperture-Value priority) and not in M(anual) mode as I usually do. I realized that in fact what I usually do in Manual mode is the same as the Av mode; set the aperture and change the shutter speed to match the -2,0,+2 bracketing, and this is exactly the Av mode! It is also helpful to not touch the camera much in these conditions with a shaky monopod. Despite the tri-legs but it is not so stable to depend on my free movements away from it. I had to keep my hand all the time. One angle in particular was bad and maybe not so obvious in this small version of the panorama, and that was the angle of the left-side door (the door to the guest room); at this angle, the monopod was vibrating so much and made it worse with my hand grip over it. The image from that angle was typically shaky and blurred.

The zenith, was taken normally but for some reason it was darker than the rest of the image. I could've raised the exposure a bit before stitching it with the others, but I left it like that just to see the errors I have here. I don't think it is a mistake related to the monopod itself anyway. The zenith as well created a problem AFTER stitching, where the guest room door appeared with broken lines suddenly (and it was just fine before the stitch!). Now I'm trying to figure out a way to use the monopod in helping me to capture a more easy-going nadir (bottom) image. I didn't care much to stitch the nadir in the panorama above, because it's just an example so far. It would be important, however, if I was planning for a complete QTVR. I guess my experiment with the monopod turned out like 4 out of 5 stars.

 

Among all these experiments and reading that I have to do, I'm trying to sort out some tiny time for my webpage project. I've made some effects for today but I didn't put my mind really into it yet. I'm bad...

__________
2329. then Birbuár asked Alexander about his news
2330. and he went on telling him everything about the village
2331. until he arrived here in this place to help the farmers
2332. Birbuár then said: you are going for the Hermit?
2333. I heard he is a weird man indeed, but a wise one!
2334. I heard also that his age extends back in time,
2335. so ancient he is that you cannot tell,
2336. yet, his looks are young like time stopped
2337. and what are you going to do there O hero?
2338. Alexander replied: Aramramátáníth told me,
2339. that he might have the answers I need,
2340. he might know what I am doing here,
2341. and how to get back to my lands and the beloved
2342. then Birbuár said: I see you have conquered a Cadid!
2343. how brave are you to capture your own Cadid!
2344. then Alexander replied: believe me my friend,
2345. I did not know what is this until I met Biryári!
2346. fighting him was easy to me, and I wonder for the people!
2347. why they are so afraid of such creatures?
2348. why they cannot just defeat their Cadids by themselves?
2349. then Birbuár said in a calm voice: O good king of Caqobia,
2350. there is so much for you to learn about our world,
2351. your soul is everything for you in here,
2352. and if it is a dark one, then no hope with a Cadid

2353. the two talked for a while and forgot about time
2354. until it was just before the darkness to fall upon them
2355. Birbuár raised and said: it is getting darker O hero,
2356. it is time for me to dwell back to Khaznútím
2357. Alexander asked: where to O brave friend?
2358. Birbuár replied: I must go back before dark,
2359. I promised Khaznútím to get back to him,
2360. I must head to the Big Brother Mountain,
2361. and from there he shall take me to his place
2362. and Alexander asked: and where is his place?
2363. Birbuár answered in a low voice: Ah my friend,
2364. you do not really want to ask all these questions,
2365. I myself do not know where his place is in fact,
2366. it is like something not part of this world by any way,
2367. one time you are here, then suddenly you are in his,
2368. where everything is made of fire, but nothing hurts,
2369. unless you do a mistake or make him angry,
2370. then bear with him whatever it might have to take
2371. Alexander then had a farewell with his friend Birbuár
2372. and the two hugged each other like they will never meet
2373. then it was but a matter of eye blinks from Alexander
2374. and Birbuár was not standing in front of him anymore
2375. he flew away just like a Shágí would always do
2376. free of the physical world and free of bounds