Book Fair…

Things had been busy a bit here, particularly for the matter of the Expo which accompanies the annual book fair (Arabic Book fair that is). Things went fast, as the organizers called the group's leader to get some photos ready for the expo, leaving the leader no choice but to "pick" directly instead of the usual sorting out process for the members - members that he chose and picked himself out of all of the around-34 members. They, the organizers, specified the number to be 10 photographers, with 2 photos from each photographer to be displayed, and thus the total would be 20 photos. To our surprise though when the expo started by last Wednesday, our group's position was apparently picked by the organizers in a haste or simply our group was thought of as the last solution for some problem they had! Other groups had the chance to get 30 photographers in, with two photos for each (i.e. 60 photos in total). Moreover to this, our group's photos were not gathered specifically into one booth, but spread over 2 places, with some photos of other groups into the booth containing most of our photos.

Our booth in the expo, with the right wall belonging to another group.
The photos of the leader and 2 other members are displayed on the partition,
and on the other side into the next booth.

Also, apparently other groups knew what was going on and brought stickers to put them on the names of their members. We didn't bring ours till next day. There were no signs showing which belongs to what, but they simply dumped the stock side by side.

Anyway, things are going fine and so far so good - we are considered by now the best contributors to this expo; testified by both: photographers and non-photographers. The distribution of the prints made me a trouble for how to document this event by a panorama. However, I decided to go ahead and do one panorama for the main booth. I did another panorama for a general view of the expo. The panorama for the main booth had to be done in HDR because of the harsh contrast coming from the windows above, and yet I didn't bother doing some metering here, since it was just for documenting after all. As for the general panorama, which I didn't stitch yet, it was a simple 360 panorama of single shots, as I didn't care much about showing fine details or making a dramatic look out of it.

This is all for now and till I get some free time from the expo, I might get back to writing this blog. I do have some ideas that I need to work on (at home and outside) but because of the time consuming expo, I can barely have some rest from work before going to the expo, or even barely having some time for myself. See you later!

Ar An mBóthar…

This post contains QTVR environment and needs QuickTime to be installed. Please give some time to load.

I'm not sure if this is the idea I had in my mind for the term "vacation". Not that I'm bored, but quite the opposite; I'm overwhelmed. I technically can't have a rest and my sleeping pattern is not helping as well. At least I got to play some of the games I wanted to play.
Processing the images is still going on even though in a slower pace, specially that I wanted to play these games which made me stop the process for a while. But more to come about that later. Most important thing right now is, almost all panoramas were stitched, in flat format. Which means I, now, have to work further with other projections! and I've made some QTVRs indeed, so hope you have installed QuickTime already!

Pano

In the field of panoramas, there were some panoramas that I'm reluctant to work with further for various reasons; colors, mood, and even the structure. However, in the next round of panoramas (in other projections other than flat ones), I guess I will re-checking those. Particularly here, the panorama taken from the lounge of the Waterfront B&B. I'm sort of glad though that one of the panoramas, for which I've expected lot of hurdles, turned out to be finely stitched!

An Seomra Folchta
The Bathroom

I was expecting such panorama, An Seomra Folchta, to have problems because of the very narrow space I've taken it in. But it was finely stitched in HDR with the help of a model made out from JPG slides. The detection of the white balance on location with the help of the WB disk paid well here, as the atmosphere inside this small space was mixed, between a bluish tint (hence yellowish WB would be needed) and some hot colors on the ground from the carpets (hence bluish WB would be needed); but all was set just by using the WB disk. The main difficulty in this panorama specifically would be aligning the panorama and making sure that some lines are truly vertical. OK, now to the QTVRs.

QTVRs

Concerning QTVRs, I've been thinking lately if there is another way to represent them instead of the current methodology I'm following. I've had a peek into the matter and seems there are other methods indeed, but probably more rigorous in terms of application; yet they can be useful for viewers of this blog as some of them don't require installing QuickTime. I'm not sure how this would work actually since converting the panorama into a QTVR is already done through PTGui here and the file type would already be a MOV. Need some time for this!



In this QTVR you might notice a mistake. Well, more than one in fact. Anyway, it seems that when I tone-mapped this HDR panorama with Photomatix, I've forgot to tick the "360" option, which ensures that the left and right edges of the panorama are seamless and flow together without a cut. This is one of the problems with tone-mapping in Photoshop; there is no option to make the panorama seamless - not that I'm aware of any anyway! Despite this fact, sometimes I'm forced to use it for tone-mapping specifically as it comes...



This QTVR was made from a panorama which was originally tone-mapped in Photoshop. Fixing the seam here was relatively easy; just some cloning work and I guess it is not easy to notice the seam line when rotating the QTVR. The reason I tone-map with Photoshop sometimes is the fact that I can use curves to establish the tonal values for various luminance levels all around the image, and this is how I worked out the disk of the sun here and made it sparkling instead of having just white bright spot in the sky. Such specific control can't be done in Photomatix, unfortunately. Imagine the power if the two are merged: one application to control the light by curves (beside other methods) AND making sure the panorama is seamless. Awesome!
Left to say I'm kind of surprised for Aughnanure castle's QTVR, because here, I didn't add a nadir point as I was experimenting only about the seam line. However, it was seamless AND PTGui seems to have identified the vertical limitations of the panorama; in old QTVRs, these vertical limits would be black zones if the panorama is not in the format of 2:1 ratio. But here, the viewer would automatically stop before reaching the cut of the nadir point. It was experimental after all thus I left the watermark as is on the image.

Well, there are plenty of other QTVRs but maybe I will keep them for some other time, like Kylemore Abbey's QTVR and the one for the interior of The Waterfront, beside the exterior panorama too. In all of these, and despite the fact that it was easy to clone the nadir image, I've decided to use the classic method of putting a label at the nadir point to identify the panorama and work as a "watermark" of some sort.

Singles

Meanwhile, along with the panoramas, I'm doing more single shots in between. Even though people now started to look at me for panoramas and related fields (here at least), single shots, nevertheless, are equally important. The problem, or should I say the dilemma, I'm in is: am I just good because I do panoramas? Things in the group somehow agree with this statement, specially with the upcoming events.

Uaigneas Lúcháireach
(joyous solitude)
Canon EF 50mm, f/16,
25^-1sec, ISO100.

I'm trying not to put all the egg in one basket as they say; whenever there is a sorting out for the group, I do pick up some old files along with the new ones from Ireland. However, chances are still low. I can't deny that there are some fatal mistakes in some images after all. Mistakes that just don't appear for the regular viewer (who enjoys colors and setting more than composition and clarity). However, there are images that did somewhat gain popularity (on the internet at least) but yet they were rejected, like Áilleacht Dhorcha which I've posted about last week.
 On the other hand there were images that I was glad to work with but then it turned out it's all a mistake. Well, I did like the color at least! Uaigneas Lúcháireach here is an example, but maybe I do have my excuse here at least. The boat was moving fast and I had to snap the picture fast before it's gone out of sight! The main problem here is the "guide line" which literally extends from the middle of the frame below to the extreme left side; such a wrong position. In addition to that, the leader said there are some distracting elements which makes it out-of-harmony. Well, my confidence is not shaken yet for this! At least I'm glad I didn't use polarizer here to clear the water which provided some reflection, and the whole atmosphere was mainly achieved by changing the White Balance without sorting to HDR technique. Maybe another version of the scene was better (despite the emptiness)...

Maidin Ghorma Aon (one blue morning)
Canon EF 50mm, f/16, 125^-1sec, ISO100

Probably not better here with Maidin Ghorma Aom, but the annoying "wrong" guide line here is removed (this shot is taken before they reach that point). Lot of work here was involved (mainly dodge and burn) to control light and shadows, and specifically approach the image to a silhouette style.

Amharc Éagsúil
(different view)
Canon EF 50mm, f/8,
20sec, ISO400.

On the other hand there were desperate trials to create something out of... desperate shots, to say the least. Images like Amharc Éagsúil for example, were simply test shots in the dark (dusk time), but since the quantity of shots taken this year (single shots that is) is at low, I had to gamble a bit with shots that were intended as tests, like this one. It would have been some nice shot if only there was a full or partial reflection on water, but all I got is clouds and the tip of the house. Thus, to make things interesting a bit, I flipped the image upside down just to make out some interest! Controlling the tones later was just as desperate trial of creating vividness without oversaturating the image. I'm really not against rejecting this image at all. But there was something strange too...

Roimh an Dorchadas (before the dark)
Rokinon 8mm fisheye, f/8, 12m, ISO100.

Roimh an Dorchadas, an image which was on the list for sorting out for future events. There were comments about over saturating the colors but I believe there had been a problem with color calibration in that laptop (wasn't color-calibrated). However, what I consider the strangest comment was "you have better than this already". I'm not sure what was meant by that or what picture in particular was meant here. Maybe Through My Window? But if this was the case, I do consider Roimh an Dorchadas better-looking...

Through My Window
Rokinon 8mm fisheye, f/8, 7m, ISO100.

Yes, the clouds line is apparently better in Through My Window, yet Roimh an Dorchadas has probably more interesting elements in the image itself. The problem with Roimh an Dorchadas is that the air was almost static and hence the clouds didn't move much.

Finale

The coffee table book cover

It is finally here! My own copy of Coffee Table book of the luxury edition (2014) of Trierenberg Circuit contest, which contains my own panorama, Ludendorffs Wirklichkeit. The process of retrieving this book was something out of one of those adventure games: tasks, questions, investigations. Still, the case is not over yet with the (bad) post services here, as there are copies of the catalogs that did not reach us yet (supposedly sent back in June). There is a probability that they were sent back to Austria, but no news from Austria still. Many issues were here as why this has happened, like not providing a track number for receivers to see where the parcel stopped, and no phone numbers provided on the parcel so at least we would expect a call from the post service, and yet the post service here, of course, wouldn't do a thing (probably even with a phone number provided).

Ludendorffs Wirklichkeit as
printed in the book,
in a small corner.

I didn't go through the book yet but I do believe there is a lot to learn from other contestants' photos in the field of architecture and landscape photography. Yet, I can't hold my disappointment here. Let aside the fact that my "large" panorama was printed in a small corner (and the colors aren't as vivid as on monitor), the book itself is a demonstration of clear bias for specific "items". I'm not saying photos aren't great, but a quick look through the book made it clear that if you are a portrait photographer, and specifically into nude photography, your chances are dim. Sorry, but it somewhat feels like, and sorry for the wording here - like checking a brothel's catalog. I know what I will get for such a comment (retard, old-fashioned, know-nothing-about-art, ...etc). But seriously, I can't help it. Doesn't seem that you make a woman just a toy of cosmetics in such field of photography? Well, to me it does. On the other hand, other fields deserve some attention more than it is already.

Anyway, far from the book, I'm trying to cope with the busy schedule I'm getting with my group, as we have some activities going on. Majorly Al-Thani contest is a major concern, and despite the ideas for sending prints, but seems it is not a plausible idea by now. The contest ends on November 17^th (my brother's birthday as well!), and we barely have time to submit the images online. On the other hand there is even a more urgent matter, concerning some expo here for which the group was personally asked to join in. I'm not sure what kind of expo is this, but the leader is also relying on my panoramas, and gave my number to one of the organizers to discuss the matter (still waiting for that call). Also, months from now, there will be some preparations for Mawahb expo (in which the group will be enrolled for a 4^th time). I might get into it if I don't get the burden of organizing the booth or the prints; my time right now doesn't really allow for that!

In the meantime, I'm keeping my thoughts busy as much as possible, but this is not a good thing either. When my thought is active, my consumption (specifically for coffee) is also active. Despite all this activity, there remains something empty deep within. I can't deny the fact that I do feel like being lost; someone who doesn't belong to where he was planted. But I'm keeping on going, in a tunnel that I just can't realize where does it lead, or ends...

Bóthar na Scáthanna
(road of the shadows)

Ikaros 2014 II

QTVRs ahead, please give some time to load. This post won't be viewed properly on iPhone or Android systems. A proper QuickTime plug-in must be installed to Quick Time Virtual Reality (QTVR) scenes. QuickTime plug-in for your browser shall be installed automatically when you install the free QuickTime player. 

Now, this post is supposedly the second part for last week's post with the rest or some of what's left so far from my photo shoot on Failaka island, and specifically on the second day of my stay there, and just before leaving the island.

First things first they say, but I will discuss what I've done secondly on that day, since the first thing done back then is the complicated and the lengthy part of this post! But as a hint, it includes a panorama.

Στην Κορυφή
Rokinon 8mm fisheye, f/?, HDR, ISO100.

In the past two weeks and during my vacation the clouds were persisting only in the morning time, thus I didn't want to miss the chance of shooting some dramatic views that morning from the island, as I once did almost 5 or 6 years ago! The problem was, I didn't have a clear vision of what I really wanted to shoot that morning (after finishing the panorama first in the court of Ikaros hotel). I just started the engine and drove a little; everything was quiet, such a beautiful breeze and weather that literally made me hate the idea of going back to the mainland (except for the fact that there is no wireless service at all in that place unless you have your own!). Anyway, I've just noticed the first place I wanted to shoot here, which is the same spot that I've been doing long exposure the night before, but this time, getting even closer since I'm using my Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens to include as much scenery from the sky as possible. I've changed my position several times and got many shots, and not until sorting out the images back home I've decided that the angle of Στην Κορυφή is the best for my intentions.

Processing-wise, there had been many hassles with Στην Κορυφή. Generally speaking, the issues were related to noise, color cast, sharpness and softness of some details, saturation and vibrancy; but the most persistent problem I had to cope up with, surprisingly, was the crop. Cropping had to be done elegantly and carefully – because as I was trying to keep the perspective of the image (3:2), I had to remove some undesired details or parts that may get attached to the corners or the edge of the frame. The problem rose when I couldn't match the two requirements, thus I had to do one on the expense of the other, hence you can see a small green bush or grass on the lower edge. As for the noise cleaning, there was no way I would do it without losing a great amount of details thus I had to get to the layer masks, not only for cleaning the noise, but also to sharpen some details in the image. Generally speaking, the noise filtration was done to the skies (and sea), while sharpening was done to the landscape features, including the wall of course.

Φοβία (Phobia)

I have to say that my later strolling on the island was somehow in vain trying to look for inspiration, but as I've stated before, my strolling was more like exploring. One of the spots that I really wanted to catch (again) was a spot where I did shoot some images before, of some calcified rocks in low tide time; like Φοβία (Phobia). Unfortunately, I didn't find that specific spot, besides the fact that the tide was high apparently. Anyway, I kept on shooting but this time, I had an idea of trying some scenes for 3D anaglyphs (and lot of that will come when we talk about panoramas in a while).

3D Ruins

3D Trash

Usually, it would be one of the hardest tasks to do a 3D anaglyph with images taken with fisheye lenses, mainly because of the great distortion. There were, however, some successful attempts in the past. This time, I got the idea that we as humans do see the difference in displacements in closer distances to our eyes, and as the distance gets further away from our eyes, the lines would converge to some point in the horizon; technically this is what they call the vanishing point, and it is one of the basics for artists. Thus, in some of these shots taken with Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens, like 3D Ruins, I've decided to align the further away features (the desk). To my eyes, the effect is handsome and truly 3D - though I regret now that I didn't do a panorama in that small space (don't trust a fisheye in judging the space!). On the other hand, 3D Trash which is taken just few meters away from the first location, has most of the features almost in the same image plane, for this, I kind of had the freedom to align any feature in this anaglyph, which in here, was the heap at the center almost. 

10
Canon EF 50mm, f/1.4,
640^-1, ISO100

After going back to the hotel and sorting the images out (and packing some stuff) I just noticed the simplicity of my room's door - and I just couldn't neglect it. Despite the shot being bracketed, I've chose only one shot and worked it out in RAW editor (ACR). There were some branches of some plant beside the door, but they were relatively easy to close out. The main obstacle in 10 was to show that the board with the number "10" is not part of the white wall! This is a mistake from my side with the exposure (and I didn't want to open another image of this door and do the whole adjustments again). A good exposure is a must, and a photographer should not rely on Photoshop to fix his images. Bad exposure, is equal to a wasted shot.

For the time being, I would stop at this - there are other shots that are still under investigation (from this day and the night before even), but I'll stop here to move to the major even that day - a panorama in Ikaros Hotel.

Panorama Ikaros

I have to admit that when I asked the receptionist about taking photos inside the lobby, he said that I do need a permission. Anyway, the panorama here was done in the court (which probably required a permission too!) but since I'm not doing any commercial benefits from this, I think it would be OK. It might be even a free advertisement through my blog! 
Anyway, to organize this matter now, I think I will start with the regular stuff: regular panorama(s).

Regular

That morning, and since the place was relatively quiet, I decided to work out a double panorama (so later I would try, again, doing a panaglyph). Here in the regular part, most of the panoramas that you will see ahead are the right portion, because this was the first panorama to be taken anyway. 

Ikaros Hotel (flat)

The right panorama, or the first one to be taken is special because of the light quality. Both panoramas, anyway, were taken with fluorescent WB; but I guess the magical atmosphere is more apparent in the right panorama rather than the left (second) panorama simply because of the light level and the position of the sun (which was still rising then). To tell the truth, the flat version of the panorama was NOT the first panorama I did stitch, but quite the opposite - it was one of the last ones done. Yet, it is just the "protocol" I guess. The first one to be stitched was in fact a tunnel projection panorama...

Ikaros Loop (tunnel)

The reason that made me jump directly to this projection is, the checkered ground; besides the fact that the nadir (as usual) was something hard to eliminate here. Where there are crossed lines (squares and the like), a flat perspective is not artistic enough!
I was reluctant to work on other projection of this panorama because of the nadir point and the hardships that I already knew will happen to eliminate the parts of the tripod showing in the panorama (something normal in panoramas really). However, I had nothing to lose in fact (except of time on expense of other images), thus I decided to work out a wide view panorama this time (planet projection looked boring!).

Doors and Windows (wide view)

The beauty in Doors and Windows here lies in the vanishing point tendency and the repetitive patterns on left and right; well, the helix stairway disturbed the symmetry a bit but the extension of lines going to the horizon straight are a stronghold. Probably the colors, specially the blue tones, are the magic in this image after all. If the sky was to be obvious in this scene with details in the clouds, I would have probably thought of doing a black and white version of this scene - yet it is something to be tried still!
The hassle in removing in the tripod parts by patching parts of the flooring was, to some extent, successful, despite the apparent disturbance in the ground if you have noticed that already. To patch this part, I had to lasso-select (selecting using Lasso tool in Photoshop) the tripod parts (which formed a semi-trapezoid) and then stretch this selection to make it larger with the same ratio of dimensions. After that, the selection was moved to the area under that space and the tiles were copied from that space and then dropped and minimized according to what's needed. The lines didn't match up exactly (and probably more work was needed with distortion tools at this point) but after all, I have to say this result is far better than previously done. It is always easier to take panoramas on a seamless ground which has patterns that can be cloned out easily prior to the stitch even, but such grounds rarely do make an interesting artistic look! Well, unless, of course, the roof is the one we're talking about.

Panaglyphs

Typically, the issue with panaglyphs, or panorama anaglyphs were not an easy task with this type of panorama, specially that it's not only a 360^o panorama, but a full spherical panorama. This means the arousal of one specific issue: vertical misalignment.

Ikaros Hotel Panaglyph (I)

Notice here in Ikaros Hotel Panglyph (I) how the blue shades (which are supposedly viewed by the right eye with red-cyan glasses) go below the main object; and of course this displacement increase as the distance from the main center of interest (the focal point of the panaglyph) increases. In the beginning I lost hope and thought it can't be done. However, it simply ticked in my mind that the alignment is actually centered around the focal point (at the center of the image) - the plant pot here. This means, I can divide the image into two halves: left and right, and work on solving this problem. After all, it's only a problem of displacement or shifting of perspective; and the Skew transformation was the right tool for this task.

Skewing method around the center of the image.

Ikaros Hotel (Corrected)

The corrected version of the panorama proved somewhat promising with reduced ghosting effect and more reasonable depth just by pulling the "wings" of the panorama up a bit to match their corresponding features. This, however, won't be perfect for all the features in the scene and I do believe that this is natural, even in regular anaglyphs. The important point after all is, to reduce the vertical misalignment as much as possible; and it happened!

Ikaros Loop Panaglyph

The situation was repeated then for the tunnel view panorama, and the same correction was applied even though the situation is a bit tricky here since it is a polar panorama and not a flat, spherical one. Thus, technically, I can't really state that the misalignment was on the vertical axis, but nevertheless, the method worked just fine, to some extent. However, the wide-view projection (Doors and Windows) was the most persistent and despite applying the same method, yet the ghosting effect was not enhanced further as in the ones mentioned here. Probably another type of distortion was due; more investigations are due.

QTVR

At this occasion I had several trials of QTVRs done, since we are talking about panorama, and panaglyph. As you may know probably, QTVRs are done only with flat panoramas, thus there is no more talk about other projections - but there is a further talk about anaglyph QTVR. 



This QTVR was done smoothly with not much hassle, and the nadir of course (if you can see it) is an added simple logo to the panorama.
At this point, and after doing the first panaglyph (without correction), I got encouraged somehow to do another QTVR and see what will come out. I was sure though that it won't be aesthetic!



As you can see if you rotate for 180^o from the starting point (towards the door behind the pillars, opposite the plant pot), you will see that the cut is obvious, as this is the two ends of the original panorama, and the shift between the Red and Cyan made it worse. No surprise here. But then I've worked out around the shifting problem as I've mentioned above (by skewing the panorama) and tried to do the QTVR. I'll put it here for comparison as well...



I'd say the seam line is almost hard to notice with normal view, but it gets obvious when viewed with 3D glasses (red-cyan) - and yet, this is the best it could get I believe. Much better than the previous version at least. 
You might have noticed how the original QTVR is dark a bit with vibrant colors while the other two are light in color. This is normal since the second panorama (for the left eye that is) was taken with a change in light level from the first one, and the court yard was getting much brighter during the second take.
I don't know what to consider an anaglyph QTVR; is it really a 3D environment? or would I call it a 4D environment (supposedly that a QTVR is originally a semi-3D representation of space)? Anyhow, the name is not that important right now nor the philosophy behind it - the experiment just adds a new dimension to my experience...

Finale

Click to Enlarge

This week we got the news that our group, BPF, won one of the gold medals in Austria's international photo contest, or the so called Trierenberg Circuit. We have to wait now for July to come to receive our copies of the catalogs, and a ceremony is supposedly to come in October. I'm not sure how the awards are distributed but it's like there are many subcategories and fine details for which gold medals are rewarded. I'm proud to say as well that a number of Kuwaitis (other groups and individuals) did win various gold medals as well in other categories. The full list can be checked out in here. 
In the meantime, as I'm typing this, my shipment is ready for pick-up; I've ordered some books and items that I might post about here but it's just not the time for this. I do have a plenty of photos that I do need to work out and talk about in the future. I've been pretty busy writing this blog (which I'm trying to finish as early as possible) and my other Arabic Blog which is dedicated to beginners. Despite the fact it's in Arabic, the word flow is not a match for my flow in English when typing this blog post! Anyway, the fact is I'm trying to "arabize" as much as possible to enable those who see foreign languages hard to read (because of many reasons) would be able, as much as possible, to learn. I do have higher level topics like HDR in my mind, but the time for this isn't up yet. Been days now I'm taking 2 laptops (old and new) with me to work just to work on the text for both blogs. Don't know how long this will take, but it is surely better than sitting bored and sick of the maltreatment in this work place...

Mawahb 3

Finally it's over. What a stress and what a scramble and entangle of times and schedules it was. This year, however, I didn't have the mood to go around and take photos of various booths around the expo, even though there were some nice people and some nice talents. I was just too tired to do all of this now.
I did take photos after all from various locations around the expo just for trials and not as documenting. But because of the ongoing event I didn't have enough time to work on these photos once I've taken them - add to that, a panorama of the booth took over my little available time between my work and the expo.
The location of the expo this year was changed and I have to say it was a miserable location for parking places were shared between students, participants and visitors (and later I've been told that the expo location itself was on a parking lot making huge harassment for students there!).

We'll come to the panorama and the QTVR later in its own section, but for now I guess I'll just list some of the images that I've processed so far, and maybe a little story behind some of them!

The Sax
Tamron 70-300mm @209mm,
f/5, 200^-1sec, ISO1600

In the beginning there was the stage which I thought of snapping at for several times on several days (the expo was for 5 days). It is a good target because of the lights and the atmosphere - a real test for the camera and the lenses, but a bad atmosphere for my ears!
The situation was good for all sort of light tricks but it needs concentration and a good lens, and apparently Tamron 70-300mm is not that good but it did some nice job. I say it's not that good, but I'm not saying it's bad! The lowest f-stop could be achieved is f/4.5 and it increases to f/5 with increasing focal length. Moreover, the zooming ring can get jammed a bit and hard to move (this can be good and bad in the same time). Probably the cold weather and air at night does affect this lens but I'm not sure of that. With lowest f-stop being f/5 in zooming situation, it was essential to raise the ISO severely in lot of shots taken with this lens, as is the case with The Sax, which was done with a fast metering for the highlight areas on the stage and stopping down the shutter speed (make it faster) to make a slight touch of light on the bodies. Notice how the shutter speed is barely 200^-1sec while focal length is 209mm, and all at ISO1600.

Happy Drummer
Canon EF 10mm macro, f/2.8, 250^-1sec, ISO800

Just to give an impression how it is to work with such f-stop as f/5 in the darkness, it is enough to look at the other image taken with Canon EF 100mm macro lens at f/2.8 (smallest for this lens). At ISO800 it was barely light enough to catch the drummer's happy moment. Probably the red lights made it worse for the noise-cleaning process. The ISO value was cut to one half.

The Lonely Sax
Tamron 70-300mm @176mm, f/5,
60^-1sec, ISO1600.

Cropping images is a prevalent feature in such images taken from the stage and I think it is a must. It's hard to control such a chaos on the stage but you have to keep your eyes open for specific expressions and/or specific light patterns on the performers' bodies and faces. I wasn't a fan of such type of photography but I think it did change my mood a bit by trying something out of my comfort zone (with architecture and landscape). Amazingly, as well, images like The Lonely Sax did give me some sad feelings and touch, most probably because of the light and red lights and the dark atmosphere, while on the stage, the musical play was a happy Latin tune.

Old laptop and monitors users careful here as the colors might appear smudged and/or banded.

Now, this picture really sparked some thoughts in my head about the possibilities I do have out there, spiritually and mentally that is. What are the possibilities of changing the emotions of the scene intentionally? Is it really easy to change a happy scene into a sad one? Or maybe it is easy to change a sad scene into a happy one? Of course the light plays a major role here in the formation of the feelings surrounding the image, but I'm pretty sure it is not the only factor. I'm already aware of color-to-B&W conversion and its power in conveying emotions through an image, specially those that are intended to invoke mystery or melancholy. Yet, I feel there is a general formula for all this turmoil. Probably my scientific-based mind is largely getting involved here; where it doesn't belong?

The Player of The Sun
Tamron 70-300mm @176mm, f/5, 400^-1sec, ISO1600.

Doing silhouettes is another possibility for objects on the stage with so many lights rolling around, but behold, it's not that easy as well - since stage lights were circling around. I think The Player of The Sun was just a hit of luck for me when all lights on my side went off at the moment and only those on the far side kept on - a must for silhouettes. There had been other silhouettes other than this but I think the one above is the best of them all. The spot light on the far end did help the look I guess to make it something outdoors-like rather than indoors-like and on stage.

Stephanie McGeehee
Canon EF 50mm, f/1.4, 80^-1sec, ISO800.

Our booth was visited frequently and sometimes by some celebrities. One of the major characters to me, however, was Stephanie McGeehee. Stephanie is the owner of METALfusion - a shop for printing on aluminum and one of our major sponsors for this expo. The shop itself can be a target for a panorama and I've thought seriously about sending an email to her suggesting the idea with reduced prices in exchange of a self-advertising by adding my own logo and website to the panorama. Not sure how it would turn out, but I didn't advertise for myself seriously since I decided to start a website of my own back in 2012.

Planeta Columnium

 She was amazed with my panorama Planeta Columnium and was wondering why did I crop it. When I've told her that we have our own critics in the group who decide what to put on the expo and contests and what to crop or not she replied that that this panorama is better be symmetrical as it is intended to and the crop did really take a lot out of the panorama.
Maybe you did notice the shutter speed and the ISO just to make a sense of the lighting conditions there! Yet, the images I've taken of her were mostly out of focus - the darn f/1.4 is so shallow that a slight move can take the whole scene out of focus!

Happy Birthday!

By the last day of the expo I was surprised to know that it was my teacher's birthday! Out of sudden the Birthday chants started and everyone was gathering around the cake singing and wishing. I didn't have time to react here but I just grabbed my camera and started to shoot in Manual mode. Naturally, lot of these shots was out of focus mainly because of the crowds in front of me who interfered with the focusing points and the camera focused on them instead!

Glowing Bahaa!
Canon EF 50mm, f/1.4, 640^-1sec, ISO400.

Magic and Magician
Canon EF 50mm, f/1.4,
1000^-1sec, ISO400.

Just to note, these images were processed accordingly with my calibrated monitor of my PC, hence the luminance level (and so the visual impact on the viewer) can be different that what I intended!

In a fast rhythm, I've started to do some metering in a hurry and change the shutter speed accordingly. I was trying to work as fast as possible before the fireworks go off. I didn't even pay attention to the ISO (which proved to be hard to clean later)!
In Glowing Bahaa I had to emphasize the luminance on the face manually and then work out more with dodge and burn. I have to say here that this image look better in small size rather than large size, yet I'm not sure how the print would go on with this one. On the other hand, Magic and Magician was completely done by luck. As I've mentioned above, objects interfering with the focusing points dragged my focus sometimes away from Bahaa himself and this is exactly the situation here; except that I got a lucky effect. Notice that in this event the lights were on and it wasn't dark in the expo! Well, probably someone turned off the lights of the booth itself but generally speaking, the light conditions were normal. It is all a play of the shutter speed (and no flash).

Booth and Panorama with QTVR

The panorama for our booth was taken around the third day of the expo and to do it I had to leave my work place earlier and head to the expo location. Despite the fact that the campus was stuffed with cars, but I've been told that in such time visitors to the booth are almost none - and it was so! I needed the least disturbance I could have to complete this work.

BPF Booth - Mawahb 3
Version 1

What I didn't get from disturbing people in this panorama I got it from other sources. As I got into the location the AC was turned on and the roof of the big tent started to wave; giving me a clear warning of a hardship to come. This would be exactly the same situation when I've shoot a panorama in the main court of Ikaros hotel on Failaka island last year.

It took me some time to settle down with my tools and to check to what elevation level I should raise my tripod and the VR-head. The main issue here was the reflections from the TV and the rest of the aluminum prints. As for the TV it was turned on so I can relax a bit about it - not much reflections going to come from that direction. As for the prints, I've decided to lower my stuff and myself down to avoid direct reflection (angle of incidence equals angle of reflection).

After settling with the level it was time to decide on my exposure. With my simple light meter I've taken (incident) readings from various angle and distances from the camera and the values varied between 4^2/3EV and 5EV; and of course I've put my favorite f-stop to work in such situation: f/8. The result was an exposure of 2 seconds and working with brackets of -/+2 made the exposure as: 2 seconds (0EV), 0.5 second (-2EV), 8 seconds (+2EV).

You might be asking why it is called Version 1. Well, the problems that rose when doing this panorama made me stitch for 3 times! Yes,  t h r e e. Maybe I should sort this out in form of points:

• In the beginning, the HDR stitch was hard to be done because (it seems) the slides were too dark to establish control points in between them. I had to tone-map all the slides, and align them then save the panorama as a model to stitch the original HDR panorama.
• When tone-mapping the original HDR panorama after the stitch, the usual weird color spots appeared and it was hard to fix this time. This time, however, instead of getting the usual blue spots, they were accompanies by highly saturated red patches on the wooden surfaces around the booth, and some harsh blue reflections out of the aluminum prints.
• After looking at this problem with the original HDR, I decide to stitch the model that I've made out before from the tone-mapped slides - and this was Version 1. Since I've tone-mapped them on the basis of showing details to the stitcher to create control points, the effect is surreal somehow and I thought other group members won't like it, hence I thought of creating a normal one.
• To create the normal panorama I had to convert the RAW files of the 0EV exposure (i.e. 2 seconds exposure) to TIFF files (since my old PTGui doesn't read EOS 7D RAW files) and start from there with the stitching process (which was relatively easy). 

BPF Booth - Mawahb 3
Version 2

Of course in all cases there were the broken lines that I had to deal with by cloning out. I have to say I was lazy here to work with Blending Priority in PTGui to cover up for such broken lines, but it seems that the shake in the roof of the tent which was caused by turning on the AC could have probably affected other slides and caused broken lines elsewhere. Usually in such situations I would check if I can emphasize the Blending Priority of the middle band of the panorama (i.e. the first row of images in the panorama) so these slides would overlap the upper and/or lower portions of the panorama to cover up for such broken lines.

Despite the easiness of cloning for the ground here (because it's all unique in texture and almost unique in light level), but I've decided to use my logo as a nadir point. Later, however, group members asked to have the group's logo as well as this QTVR and panorama could be used officially. Hence, I had to work around this situation by combining both logos and put them as nadir point. Generally, two QTVRs were made for both versions of the panorama.

  Version 1


Version 2


However, in Version 2, the seam line could not be matched while it came naturally as is in Version 1. Also, the TV in Version 2 was a bit off and I didn't fix that, while in Version 1 I did some work to darken the TV a bit. All of that seems to make Version 1 better and superior to Version 2 when it comes to QTVRs, while it's vice versa in the case of flat panoramas.
This said, there is much more to be done with these panoramas, but I need to process some files and some work to be done first before having fun with projections in panoramas!

Going Crazy

From time to time, I do like to get some venting out from the conventional photography and aesthetics topics and just do what my fingers exert. Literally, going crazy with a style that is not my usual style. During Mawahb 3 expo I think I've found my typical target - Cars.

Cars are a typical target for HDR madness. I say madness here meaning the abnormal tone-mapping and the grunge style (which is mistakenly named HDR). 

Going Crazy 1

Going Crazy 2

Maybe I've taken a lot of HDR shots (i.e. bracketed exposures) but I've chosen to work with 3 of them only so far. Probably more to come later. The sole purpose for working in such mode (and mood) is a sort of a stress release, if I can call it so.

Amazingly though, even though I don't like cars and I've picked them specifically for this task (to work as crazy as possible!) - there are still people who do like such colors and hues and shades. This proves my point about the rationality of style and photography. I'd rather sell an art piece to someone than having a critic trying to adjust my style with the assumption of making my skills and work better in the future. I don't mean to be materialistic here, but rather I like to be realistic. The main point here is, do your best and there will be always people who like your work - and there will be always people who hate your work (critics are included on both sides).

Going Crazy 3

I think what critics should do is to help photographers do a better job and not really criticize their work. Yes, there are technical issues that a critic might alert the photographer for, but trying to change the style and the sole purpose and chain of thoughts of a photographer? This is like self-projection and shadowing over the photographer's thoughts and philosophy in photography. This is exactly what happened with my Planeta Columnium panorama which was cropped just to please the critics. Many people were amazed to know that such panorama was cropped while the main idea of it was keeping symmetry. If my idea was to resemble a rising sun, I would have done it already, but simply, this is not what I was thinking of!

Finale

BPF Group

It was a stress time that flew away for now. I'm just hoping that we learn from this experience and from the many mistakes that happened in the preparations phase. Most importantly, I'm just hoping that group members look forward and be careful with the technical aspects of photography (like shooting in RAW format!). On the other hand, I just wish of critics to be more realistic in their expectations (and stop projecting their own style and fashion on their judgements). One of the critical information that I'd like to apply in the future how to tie the viewing distance with the print size (which in return has an impact on the resolution). Such information is available online and can easily be implied, but at the time of the preparations we barely thought about it!

Now, I'm trying to get back to my normal phase since my camera became cold because of the work with this expo and I'm trying to find new ideas yet and new exciting stuff to do with my camera. On the side as well, my thoughts are still going through my archive of Ayvarith and Geltani, while keeping some space of thought for other conlangs that I've created a script for but no concrete language still; like Betenic. Amazingly, I've discovered that some of the words that I've implemented already are already real words in Akkadian and Sumerian - some of them with the same meaning even! Example for this is shá which means "which" or "that" in Ayvarith (for masculine) and also in Akkadian; but in Akkadian it is probably not related to a gender.

I'm writing these words now as I've booked a ticket and a hotel in Dubai. I've always told people that I won't be going to there since it's a city; one big city. Not the atmosphere I want to spend a vacation in! However, the situation here is different not really a vacation by itself. But I've received an invitation to attend a ceremony by HIPA. I've, with some group members, enrolled in their photography contest back in December 2012, and totally forgot about it! However, I've received an email from the committee inviting me to attend the ceremony, and when I checked with other members of the group they stated that they didn't receive anything. I'm not sure what does that mean but maybe I can take some fresh air for one week (and go to Failaka?). I just hope things go smoothly in such big city.  For this reason, I'm not sure there will be a post by next week, but we'll see!

Maschinen Auf...

What a busy week. It is good to be busy sometimes; it makes you forget stuff you don't want to remember, mostly. The trend of such busy week is still going on and might go on for the next week as well because some group members are going to Dubai in the coming weekend and some responsibilities are flung at me. It would be my first time to organize and be responsible for a field trip to some distant area.
It seems as if this week is spreading seeds of reputation and a renowned name. I'm getting personal invitations and simple requests for occasions related to photography. I wouldn't say I'm on the road of being famous, but it does give a portion of confidence that I needed for some time. Say, would I be reading my horoscopes daily if I do have some support on my back? I wonder...

Blooming Me!
As Mawahb-3 expo is approaching closer and closer, the management of the group realizes that not many fine photos are available, if there is any, for a large number of members in the group. For this reason, my teacher and the leader of the group thought of giving a workshop (workshopS in fact, see Andaluz below) concentrating on geometrical shapes in flowers and their beauty. Personally, I'm not a flowers person but since the topic bears some resemblance and sense of an abstract work, I've decided to join in.

Silhouette in The Heart's Rose
Canon EF 100mm macro, f/16, 500^-1sec, ISO 200.

After some advices and a short lecture by my teacher, the work started. He prepared a rose under a monolight with some gobo, but I picked my own rose or flower (which according to my teacher was the most expensive of them) and started  to work on it on my own. What attracted me to this flower specifically is the stems in the middle (sorry, don't know the scientific name for those!). Frankly, I don't know why or how did I forget the ISO on 200, but anyway it worked just fine with the pulses of the speedlite.

Harmonie
Canon EF 100mm macro,
f/16, 800^-1sec, ISO 200.

My 580EX II speedlite was connected with TTL cord to the camera and attached with honeycomb grid giving 16^o range. One of the hardest parts of all was to fix the flower on some stable ground and up high close to the camera's level, and the only way to do this was to put the flower into the handle of the small bag which carries my speedlites and filters! After that, I was free to move the speedlite around the flower and testing the results. Even though my teacher doesn't recommend using the LiveView feature to do the metering and focusing, I do find this way is really useful and I can almost never imagine myself without it now. With LiveView you can move a cursor to the desired location to do the focusing, and this is much more easier than depending on zones or points in the viewfinder. Metering, however, can be a bit tricky with the rectangular cursor across the display and also the possibility of leaking light rays from the viewfinder that can put the exposure reading off track, but still it can be useful to take readings from various areas in the scene without moving or tilting the camera - that is for comparing the differences in stops and so on.

Die Glänzende Finger
Canon EF 100mm macro, f/4, 400^-1sec, ISO 200.

As I've mentioned before that I was moving the speedlite (and changing the depth as well) which yielded some interesting results. It did feel like working in a studio full of diffusers and reflectors but in a macro level! Images like Silhouette in The Heart's Rose for example was achieved by using the petals as reflectors for the speedlite pulse and hence creating a silhouette out of the stems in the middle of the bloom. On the other hand, Harmonie was achieved by using the petals behind the stems as diffusers which also painted the stems in red giving something in between ethereal and a romantic look. Well, some people pointed out it is scary as well! Just worth a mention here that Harmonie is originally in landscape orientation but I felt it's more appealing to make it in portrait position.
Even though we were supposed to exchange flowers and work on each for some time, but the time was limited, and personally after shooting Harmonie I thought I did achieve my purpose for this session already.

Award:

Award to BPF
Canon EF 50mm, f/4,
1600^-1sec, ISO 200.

Just one image but it has to be mentioned here for it did take some deal of experimenting with speedlites. Last week I've received an award dedicated to BPF group (the group I'm member of) since I was the representative of the group and the middle man between the group and Kuwait University's Cultural Festival last January.
What I really loved here is the wooden texture and its touch (yes, its touch). I wanted to show an image focusing on the group's name (upper white line) while showing fine details for the rest of the shield. After experimenting which consumed a great deal of time, I've held my 580EX II speedlite with a snoot on top of the shield pointing downward, while controlling via wireless a 430EX II speedlite in front of the shield but pointing away from the shield with  reflector in front of it to spread some light on the shield. I guess I achieved the desired look little bit though I wished it to be brighter over the logo and the group's name.

Christmas in Ahmadi!
With the beginning of the last weekend, a friend in the group suggested that we head out to Ahmadi, a town or city down south with around 30 minutes of driving from my place. Ahmadi is known to be a home for many foreigners and citizens who are related to the oil industry. I dare say even that it is a town created and established by oil companies alone!

Stern von Licht
Canon EF 50mm, f/1.4, 125^-1sec, ISO 100.

It Snows in Ahmadi!
Canon EF 50mm, f/1.4,
125^-1sec, ISO 100.

We don't really celebrate Christmas in here (not officially), but Ahmadi was lighted up with decorations made of light patterns in shape of miniatures for the celebrations of the national day (mainly February 25^th and 26^th). It was one heck of a night and an absolutely fantastic spot for night photography. If only I could head there on my own I might have tried my luck often there. We had our share though from the annoying people and hooligans but around 1 p.m. it became relatively quiet.
We spent around 2 hours taking shots and experimenting on only one road, and we were leaving the place we noticed prettier scenes even but it was time to leave specially after getting a pin penetrating my shoe and sticking to my foot! This incident was the end of our journey that night and we had to leave. I didn't go to the doctor to get any injection (tetanus?) but my foot feels just fine right now and as I'm typing these words, the pain is almost gone and I don't limp as I used to when I first got the injury. Well... just in case you care anyway!

Star Spangled Kuwait
Canon EF 50mm, f/1.4, 25^-1sec, ISO100.

Candy Clock
Rokinon 8mm, f/3.5, ISO 100.
HDR

One of the significant features in Ahmadi's general design is the light miniatures in every roundabout you go around. I think it works so good as a land mark! Other areas in Kuwait would resemble just one big maze for their roundabouts within the area.
One of these roundabouts did fascinate me the most though; it was one with a small clock tower which carried lighting tubes and lights were going on and off like a running fluid. A long exposure for this clock tower didn't give much beauty for the lighting conditions there, thus I've decided to go on to the roundabout itself and do some HDR shooting right in front of it. There was a total of 6 images taken in a range of -6EV up to +2EV. Despite the usage of a tripod that was flattened almost to the ground level (and I had to clone out a portion of the leg out of the image), yet the image on 100% zoom seems to be shaken and because of the long exposures taken here, the merged HDR had lot of noise specially after tone-mapping, and some portions looked shaky as if the camera was shaken. I don't remember any staggering wind that night despite the cold weather! The final result is, after all, an image that looks like a sweet candy in small size, but not suitable for printing as I believe.
Too bad I won't be able to go out there this weekend because my friend is going to Dubai with the rest and I have yet also to process some images from that night that I haven't touched because of the events that followed after that night!

Andaluz:
It was place that I could spend my week taking photos inside without being bored. The ideas in that place are just, simply, abundant and there is a chance in every moment, in every corner. That place was called The Arab Organizations Headquarter (AOH).

A La Luz
Rokinon 8mm, f/8, 10^-1sec, ISO 100.

As part of the efforts by our leader to increase the amount of publishable works from members of the group, as I've stated before, more activities are on the run, including a trip to Dubai this weekend. For him, it was easy to gain access to the AOH, as he said. "I just needed to do a phone call," he stated! This is the good thing about our group - not only we're trying to do the best we can, but also we are under the leadership of a renowned photographer that got access to many places I wouldn't even dream of.
As soon as I heard about the plans, I've prepared my VR-head and made it ready for panoramas. As soon as I got into the place, my mind was completely boggled for all the fine crafts and the handmade wooden decorations along side with the Andalusian style of architecture. It was indeed a dream! However, because of the time limit and the practicality needed (along side with cautions and precautions for walking around such a paradise!) I couldn't just walk and do panoramas wherever I settled with my tripod. Thus I've just wandered off to take some shots from various locations.

Anti Gravitatis
Canon EF 50mm, f/1.4, 320^-1sec, ISO 400.

One of the first locations to be visited was the reading hall or library. Once I got in there, my teacher told me to be careful for the high contrast around the elliptical stairway because there is a light fixture on top (in shape of a chandelier). I was looking for such structure because I was thinking of some sort of a shot for some long time now - an abstract shot with an 8mm fisheye lens from the ground level of the stairs. First, I've used the tripod but it was not so flat and the framing was not appealing much, thus I had to use my hand and lay completely on my back and take few shots, most of them are shaky. I was planning for HDR merging because of the high contrast but A La Luz was made from a single shot while the others were shaken and unclear. This experiment sparked some ideas for improvising something or making something already to handle such low-level shots.
When I wandered into other rooms, I've found a fountain with some faucets that were somehow a good target for a long exposure. However, I've found out that however stops I add to the shutter speed (with the help of ND filters), the water's outlook does not change drastically despite the speed of the water, thus I've concluded that the turbulence in the water waves or currents (including changing directions) is essential to long exposures done for the water to show some dynamic attitude for the image. Otherwise, The long exposure image would look just like Anti Gravitatis which was taken as a test shot from the very beginning. And by the way, when Anti Gravitatis was taken and then viewed on monitor back home, the image was not in portrait position as it was taken originally (this is because I turned the rotation option in my Canon EOS 7D). However, I liked its look and how the water is like flying in the air!

That One
Canon EF 50mm + 12mm tube, f/1.4,
25^-1sec, ISO 400.

Enlightened Curves
Canon EF 50mm, f/1.4,
100^-1sec, ISO 400.

After settling in a place above the reading hall (seems to be a cafeteria or a reception area) and doing a panorama there (see below), and after having a break with a cup of coffee and a chitchat with my teacher, I've resumed shooting at some details of the miniatures and the fine wooden work like That One and Enlightened Curves. These two images specifically were supervised by my teacher. In That One, I've decided to use the 12mm extension tube along with 50mm lens to reduce the minimum focusing distance and I was surprised for the magnificent isolation of that piece of the rail. I can almost say that even in regular circumstances and under f/1.4 this would be hard to achieve in such a way. Anyway, the image was good as my teacher said but it does not have that touch of light that makes it special, and he's right. So, he guided me to my second shot, the Enlightened Curves. In a hurry there were some long exposures for a fountain outside as night befell us already, but the framing was done in such a haste and apparently, the final results could not be adjusted properly. They might be a subject for some work later on though!

Panorama and QTVR

The day I've received the news about going to AOH, I've realized it is a significant chance for a panorama, and the first thing I would grab was my VR-head. Even though I didn't see the place before but my friends who had been there before assured me that it is an architectural gem and a good spot for panoramas.
When I got there, I started to wander around and in fact I've found 2 suitable places for panoramas just at the reception place inside! But if I was to start to work on panoramas in every location I'd get to see, I would not give a chance for single shots. Thus, I continued to wander around taking photos until I arrived at a place just above the library (and can be reached from different entries) which was, as I believe, the cafeteria. Such a vast place with Andalusian designs in marble and wood; it was an architectural heaven!

Tiempos Andaluzas

The wooden decorations were intriguing indeed. I still need to test my lenses against these structures but unfortunately, I had to leave, naturally!
When I started to settle down in this spot, I've started to take general readings from my lightmeter in incident mode. I was going in a circle around the tripod and camera set and pointing the lightmeter towards the camera as I was circling the tripod and measuring the light at different angles. It is the first time I apply this, since I usually prefer shooting my panoramas in Av (aperture priority) mode, which specifies the shutter speed automatically for me. Now, I'm working in a completely (M)anual mode, and I need a starting point for bracketing my exposures for the HDR technique. After completing a full circle around the tripod, the average reading was around 6_1/3EV, corresponding to something around 1 second at f/8. By the way, f/8 is one of my own personal favorite f-numbers when doing panoramas because I can easily gauge the depth manually on the focusing ring of the Canon EF 15mm fisheye lens, and next comes f/16. Thus, bracketing the shutter speed for HDR in the range of -2EV to +2EV would be something like: 4^-1, 1, 4 seconds respectively.
In this panorama, the zenith (topmost) shot was not hard; the ceiling had enough details to be stitched easily within the rest of the slides. The nadir, as usual, was a big problem.
I didn't bring extra tools with me to take the nadir (and I was standing on some tiles with decorations) thus I had to improvise something. I've tilted the set a bit (and almost fell to the ground!) but back at home when stitching, this method proved problematic and not suitable enough; probably my shot was far away from being flat. However, I had to render the QTVR putting my logo after all, after a long fight with the stitcher!


for a larger version, you can download it here

The Hanging Andalusian

One of mistakes that I've done while doing this panorama is picking such a location between two distinctive features, making the flat version of the panorama having two focal points, or two points of interest for the viewer: the fountain, and the wooden decor. However, I was afraid that if I situated myself behind the fountain I would lose some details from the decoration itself. Hence, I've decided to work on a vertical panorama in which both features are aligned vertically. It still might be competing for interest that way, but usually in vertical images the eyes would scan the view from top to bottom!
Yet there is more to work on with this panorama, and more points of view that might be intriguing still. All of that, beside working with other images taken from Ahmadi last week, and from AOH as well. All of that and more to come probably after Saturday's trip to a reservation down south. I'm not the kind of person who shoots for wild life but it is something I have to take care for with other members.

Finale:
Here I am again, busy all over again with projects and barely have the time to think of my personal life. Can be good and bad in the same time. The heart is swinging in the current time; it says something, and the mind says something else - isn't it always like that?
I've been thinking a bit about Geltani and trying to complete some aspects about it but with such a fuss of projects and the pressure with the group I couldn't really collect my thoughts about some aspects. And still the problem of ambiguity in between words of similar letters and different meanings persists. I've collected my leaflets on which I usually write down my thoughts about the Geltani conlang, and brought them all back home with me so I would stay, hopefully, calm and meditate into them and think of something. On the other hand, the chart of sounds for Geltani is still not complete, and the syllabary system for writing foreign words is not thought of yet. I'm surely lagging behind with my ideas and achievements - it does sound like a time for a vacation to work more, rather than a vacation to rest...