Huaweific IV…

I'm typing this post in a short notice of time. I was really going to skip this blog post and call it off to have my "own" vacation, but then I re-considered. Maybe I will give myself a longer vacation from blogging for my birthday, on August 17^th. For now, I wanted to post some of the things that I've taken just in time and like one or two days before the deadline of Huawei's contest which happened to be on July 31^st and not the 29^th. That was some sort of good news to me actually and I did have the time to consider some ideas. Luckily, I did a punch of ideas just in time, even though they were not what I had in mind, but they sprang out of my mind at the spur of the moment.
I've been taking some random shots around me in hope to make some good abstracts, like this one for wafer sticks (my favorite!) but at the time of the upload, it did sound a bit normal and nothing much about it. Still, my eyes were open for any chance out there. The bathroom never failed me...

Where To

However, this shot from the bathroom, Where To, was a bit problematic to do because of my phone's lens limitations. Might have done it with considerable ease in framing the scene with my DSLR. Anyway, the idea was to make a B&W image so I've picked the Monochrome option on my phone camera. With some special arrangement with my monopod, I've managed to stabilize the phone on the monopod and hold it by hand around my shoulder's level to shoot the sandals on the bathroom's floor. Working in the dark though was not my cuppa tea! However, this was not the real catch yet.

Anxiety (remake)

The real catch was getting my brother to model for me once more (as usual) and I was lucky also to have some nephews visiting to help me out. I had some various ideas in fact but the ones that were suitable to be done at that moment was the idea of a re-make for a shot that I've made with my DSLR some months back, Anxiety. However, the situation is different here as I'm limited in editing options as well as the lighting options. Again, I had to work in a dark room here but with 3 nephews to help me out with my brother, and instead of using collage to cover the face with hands, I used the hands of my nephews (and brother himself) to cover the face. The not-so-good point here though is that my brother was like if he was looking away from the camera and did not direct his eye to the correct angle. For lighting here, I've used a hand-held LED torch or panel (small panel) which probably should have been diffused using some paper but all work was done in a haste and didn't have the time to think about such solutions. Unlike Where To, the remake of Anxiety was converted to B&W in the phone while editing and not while shooting.

At Night

I did have another idea which I still wanted to do with my brother before releasing him from my clutches and that was to have a half-lit selfie with a somewhat devilish smile. Things turned out unexpectedly wrong and funny, and horrific, all in the same time! You can see that clearly in At Night. What happened here is that I've set the phone on Light Painting mode (something similar to long exposure technique) and I was going, indeed, to paint my brother's face with the LED torch. But because of the shake in the monopod as well as my brother's movements a bit things turned awry. Instead of re-doing it, I've actually quite loved it that way and I did upload it already to Huawei's contest!
In fact, this is one of the things that I like about shooting with the phone (specifically my Huawei, don't know about other brands) despite the limitations in many things. The long exposure technique. There are various modes under this category in the phone's camera and each one of them does provide a specific look to the motion and the image in general (thanks to AI I would say). Moreover, you are able to see the results forming in front of you as you are shooting (as it happened with At Night). The negative side is, again though, the limitations; Such as not controlling the time (like when working with the intervalometer on DSLRs) but the user has to press a button or tab the screen to turn start and finish the shoot. There might be some special apps to help with that but it would have been better if they were on the phone by default as well.

Sweeping Time

Just before leaving the dark room, after shooting the two shots of  my brother above, I've noticed the new wall clock which was shining in the dark. It was a clear call to shoot! And, of course, I couldn't refuse. I think at this shot, Sweeping Time, the power of AI revealed itself. Because I do not think that my phone does indeed have an image stabilizer like DSLRs or Mirrorless cameras do, or like some expensive lenses do (does it?). During the 10 minutes (or close to that) shoot, the monopod was literally jumping up and down like a spring because of the air current from the AC above, or because my steps even though I tried my best to stay away from it and walk slowly on the floor. Yet, the image was usable and stable beyond my understanding. It was dark indeed, but I could see the monopod shaking up and down! In the post-processing phase for this image, there were some annoyances reflected off the glass facade of the clock (ahem, mine) so I had to use the mediocre capabilities of Pixlr on my mobile to edit those and eliminate as much as I can. Still not satisfied about it though. To reduce the confusion, so to say, I've applied a splash filter or more technically selective coloring on the image keeping only the green tones and eliminating some of the other colors (though in tiny amounts) reflecting off the glass. I'm really happy with this experience!

Now, these are the major photos that I've uploaded lately to the contest, beside some others done before (posted in the previous posts here). There had been some shots that I would consider just simple and not special actually, so I'd leave them out for now. Now this stress is over, let's bring another stress and think of something to do with my DSLR, and my time in general!

Finale

Well, I'm glad I was able to do it in time. I was really rushed in time. I think though that I will be taking a vacation from blogging for the next 2 (or 3?) weeks to come, specifically for my upcoming birthday. We'll see. In hope that I might produce and make something with either my DSLR or phone. My time currently have been occupied pretty much with Duolingo, beside some chores at home. Since Duolingo started the Arabic language course, I've been hooked to it to correct and help learners. Probably I should be a language teacher one day as a second profession (though I don't bear any certificates for that!). I really got some words of praise for my work with explaining and posting some long articles detailing words and some tips on grammar (all about Standard Arabic or MSA). Some users also are more eager to connect directly outside Duolingo through some of the social media platforms but I'm not sure I do have the time for this right now as I'm occupied already with many things. I do want to help out, yet I feel awkward and cuffed. All I can do for the time being is post some articles and helping tips, as well as helping others who are wondering about some sentences in the course (and many of them do bear some mistakes from Duolingo's system itself in fact). On the other hand, Duolingo does not offer a proper social media platform to connect people, but barely a public forum. I hope the moderator or admins do consider upgrading such capabilities (unless they are available only for paid members, this is something I don't know about actually). This made me think really whether I would be a good language teacher or not, giving my short fuse and losing the handle often. Anyway, it is just some ideas and an imagination for the time being. The real question for me now is, whether can I make it this year and travel, or not.