Westward…

It seems that I will always be pressed with time to do posts on here, however earlier I try to start. Anyway, this post is a continuation for my strolls outside during the last winter (as if it was last year!). Actually, first, I was planning to talk about 2 strolls done on the February 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ, all in one post, because they are somehow connected. However, I thought then it would be such a long post (and probably won't have the time to finish it all in time), thus it would be better to take things by chunks. I'm not sure even if this one will be a long post or not!

West We Go

Before I head out to this stroll, it came to my attention that there is some corner that I didn't visit before in my previous strolls to that direction of the neighborhood. The spot is actually a narrow alley between 2 houses, and on the map, it showed some kind of strange building at the outlet of this alley. Usually, I would skip this alley (which leads north actually) and head further west (on different paths) but this time I've decided to "investigate" this alley.

سَحَرْ
(morning twilight)

This stroll was done, again, using my Sigma 12-24mm lens and also with that flare filter fitted on top (stuck it into the lens hood from the inside). Also, I was aiming at working with HDR here as well. As usual, my first shots were trial shots to gauge the exposure a bit (to add or subtract EVs as I was shooting in Av mode). The first shot in this stroll was (ironically) pointing southward into some road that I've visited a lot before (where the haunted house in ruins lie). To stabilize the camera, I've placed the camera on the asphalt directly and put my finger on the top just to let it stand still while shooting using the 2-second timer. Actually this was the final shot, Morning Twilight, but many shots were made before this one and many of them were shaky, and this is why I've decided that I should placed the camera literally on the asphalt for stabilization. The atmosphere was not quite as dark as it appears in Morning Twilight, but the mode was created when tone-mapping the HDR, and with the help of using Fluorescent WB in-camera when shooting; My favorite WB in blue-hour times. I remember posting Morning Twilight on Instagram as well and used the available filters there to increase the blue tones and make it more fluorescent like. It can look too dark, but on a large scale there are still some details to be seen in the shadows.

My World

That day was my lucky day somehow, because some rains poured down the night before and it was a chance to shoot some reflections for sure. However, as I entered the alley, things were muddy and busy, with some construction workers at work already since the very early morning hours (even before sunrise time). I had to tread carefully here as the ground was really muddy and I was not wearing any protective footwear or anything (so chances of slipping were high) and I've put the strap around my neck just in case. I came about some reflection upon a big pond of water that formed in the middle of the narrow alley and it was inevitable to step somewhat in the water, but before I step in, I had to take my chances to shoot something. In the horizon, there was a building and a lamp post (or a street lamp) and I thought this would be a good chance to put the flare filter to some good use, beside taking a picture of a reflection. After many failed trials and getting so down and close to the water, I've managed to shoot something out of the mess (and I had to endure some thigh pains here after squatting for a long time). I think My World was not processed in HDR (because the shots in the bracket were shaky most of the time so I had to pick whatever stable image I could work with). In the process, I've reversed the image just for fun and thus made the reflection on top instead of below.

The Portal 2

At this point, I've reached that building that I was wondering about and it turned to be some housing for an electric generator for the area AND it had some graffiti too. At this point, I didn't take any pictures of it, but this is a subject for the next post hopefully. I'm not sure why I didn't shoot anything here at that moment but probably because I wanted to discover the area more than just shoot the building at that point of time. Anyway, I've continued moving northward at this point and then I had to move eastward as if I was going back home but passing in front of the houses that are at the back of my house (if that makes sense). The smell that morning was fresh and reminded me of my morning walks in the Irish countryside when I traveled there 3 times before. I've seen some nice things (home facades) but as usual, I was afraid to shoot something and been called for privacy violation or something of that sort. Some simple homes and structures were really interesting with the trees growing around such houses or on their fronts. Anyway, I've reached around the end of that back road where I encountered a pond of water again.

The Portal 3

At that pond, I've decided to take my chances with some speed shooting, but not in the conventional way like using speedlites set to HSS of course, but rather trying to just capture a specific moment here as I throw a stone into the puddle. The shutter speed was in the range of 125⁻¹s to 160⁻¹s (I was on AV mode still) with ISO160. It sounded fair, I just needed to try my luck and hope for the best. However, what makes the task harder here is the fact that I'm not using any tripod or a remote, but simply my rwo hands to hold the camera and throw a stone. Of course focusing here was a hurdle so things were fixed with the hyperfocus principle (or hyperfocal distance) at f/8 and switching the camera to burst mode to take successive shots. Despite the cumbersome, I've got somewhat good shots here as seen in The Portal 2 and The Portal 3 (the titles are in reference to a shot of the same name taken back in January and posted in my previous post). I call myself lucky here to have such clouds. Of course, in the post-process, I had to do all sort of things to create some interest in the image as much as possible, specially with The Portal 2, where the splash occurs somewhat closer to the corner rather than around the center and cropping was somewhat hard to be done while keeping essential elements.

A Stranger Like Me 2

Keeping on the track (and now I'm walking southward trying to reach my neighborhood and back to home), I've encountered one of my favorite subjects on such wet grounds; A single leaf. I've always expressed how much I like single leafs. In fact, I've posted my thoughts about it on Instagram (A Stranger Like 2 and A Stranger Like Me 3, but the title was changed into Russian there). Anyway, even though I took these shots in brackets for HDR, but the shaky hands didn't allow it, so I processed single RAW files, which, to me, look just fine; Absolutely fine. As for the titles, they are a reference to one shot I've made months ago with my Huawei in the yard for such a falling leaf wandering alone. Thus, just for the similarities here, I've decided to make it like a series. In the future, if I get the chance to shoot something like that, probably I would keep on with the series. It's not a new thing really; I remember shooting something similar in Staten Island back in 2012. 

A Stranger Like Me 3

In the process of these 2 images, I've tried to sharpen specific details instead of sharpening the whole image and to pronounce the details of the leaves more, with sharpening as well as with colors altogether. Hence, it was a work for layer masks for sure. I liked these 2 images that I've even made several monochrome versions of them as well (and I might check channel swaps later on), as I think monochrome conversion would emphasize the details, specially for the leaves. I've tried to cast some color on these monochromes, but seems the golden color (#FFD700) works best.

A Stranger Like Me: Monochromes

At this stage, the stroll was over and I walked back home with no new "image hunting," but I had to pay a visit the next day to that wall with graffiti, and along the way I did make some shots that are better than wall actually. I'll keep those for the next post, hopefully. However, it seems I will be revisiting these RAW files again and again to see of possible edits still, this is beside re-processing those HDR slides in different styles and tone-mapping; The creative possibilities with HDRs are almost infinite, I'd say! Despite that, I don't want to get in a rut and re-process images from the past and forget about shooting new images. Things should be balanced regarding that perspective.

Finale

Well, it's Ramadhan already, and times fly so fast, as we are already in the middle of it (or passed that at the time of posting this). My sleeping pattern, of course, is more scattered and random than before, but I'm grateful for the fact that I'm retired right now. However, the issues of home are still roaming in my head and just exhaustive. I remember that I used to go out in some mornings of Ramadhan to shoot something in the neighborhood(s), but I don't think I'll be able to do that this time. It would such a waste, since the weather is still somewhat nice in the early hours of the morning and the neighborhood won't be active and alive till about mid-morning, which gives a plenty of time to walk around and shoot (without being harassed by the sun rays into my eyes or the LCD). Yet, talking about it is easier than doing it for this year.
I'm even thinking, at the moment, to put my mirror lens (Rokinon 800mm f/8) to some good use in some way, but of course that won't do itself and don't be possible in the house periphery; I do have to get out and walk around to try it out. What I fear with this lens is the bulky shape which is quite the "attention grabber" that I just don't need in such hunting for pictures around. Adding to that, of course, the weight, which makes me unsure of my capability of shooting handheld (I definitely don't plan to shoot with a tripod!). At the time of writing this blog post, some ideas for some indoor work also occurred to me, so I might try my luck with that before I can even take my mirror lens out. We'll see.

Meanwhile, I'm still thinking of some good topic for my Arabic blog. Yes, my plan for "a post per month" is way beyond ruins. Unlike this blog, I don't talk about my photos much, and I focus on putting new info (and "arabizing" terms when needed). My last post there was indeed about the making of a photo, but I don't want to repeat that topic often. Until I find a topic to write about there, then I guess that blog will be dormant for a while.

Home-wise, things feel like being in the middle of a sea or an ocean; Waves raise up and dip down, splashing over my mental health, and always on the look for any beam of wood to hang on to keep afloat. I don't know how long I'll be afloat, but I'm praying things would enhance a bit after Ramadhan, when things "slightly" get back to the normal schedule. If only I can ditch my whole past behind me without feeling it…

A Beginning…

Well, the weather is getting warmer that now are in March already. I'm not sure if I can do more strolls outside. My last one was on February 2ⁿᵈ when it was rainy and cold; Life kept me occupied then after and I was not able to repeat the experience. In fact, I was already thinking of a panorama in some place, but to do it I'd need to be up early and I'm not sure if it would be safe because it is a place in between some houses. I don't trust my luck when it comes to dealing with people's mentality around here.
Anyway, for the coming few posts, I'd be going through some of these simple strolls that I've did in January and February, so far.

A Beginning

For starters, the strolls for this winter were a bit of a challenge, simply because I'm using different lenses other than what I used before (20mm and 50mm). As a starter, I've decided to use the Sigma 12-24mm, and on my regular or normal camera. Thus, no infrared, no ultraviolet this time.

Sigma 12-24mm DG HSM
the adapter hood is not shown

This lens has a diameter of 82mm and I can't fit any of my filters on it even though I do have step-down adapters. I tried to fit it once onto the front hood (which is an additive to the lens and not part of it) but for some reason, the ring did not click in. It seems that such hoods are made into a slight ellipse and not a full circle to be able to hold onto the body of the lens front, thus it was hard to put a circular ring adapter onto it. I didn't want to try further for fear of breaking something, but i assume that even if I was successful here, there would probably be a big chunk of vignetting which probably won't be fixed in post-processing. However, it is worth another try, some day, some time; Just not now! Anyway, I had one more trick in my sleeve yet.

Cokin flare filter

Vignetting from the tape

Funny thing that I've talked about
vignetting already and how it might cause problems that can't be fixed in post-processing; because, this is exactly what I did in fact, but with a different kind of filters here. This filter was the Cokin flare filter, which I purchased for cheap from a friend. The filter needs adapters to fit onto the lens but I don't have any of that. I've used it before several times just by fitting it onto the lens front and hold it there by improvisation! This time though, the filter fits nicely (sort of) onto the hood of the Sigma 12-24mm lens, but I needed to tape some edges to keep it in place and THAT what caused the vignetting (not the filter itself!).

开始
(the beginning)

For the beginning, I've headed westward from home and I've set the White Balance to "Fluorescent"; My favorite one at times of dawn or dusk (so mainly around the blue hours). Made some test shots just to gauge the exposure a bit (working in "Av" mode). The Beginning was processed from RAW, but later on, I've switched to bracketed shots and the whole work (almost) in these series to come was done in HDR. I didn't work in HDR for quite some time, and I felt the urge to do something crazy. Just to note, I used HDR (and still) for panoramas and other shots but typically I'd tone-map the image to make it close to reality, but this time I needed to do something "unreal".

藍色的背後
(behind the blue)

Moving along that neighborhood (facing south now) I've arrived at the playground just at the local grocery shop. It's such a suitable place for geometrical abstracts, but I've never thought of stopping by and taking some pictures here. Anyway, it was a nice opportunity to inspect the place and do some HDR spree. I had some clicks around the fence and I tried to stabilize my hands as much as possible (and I was shooting at waist level). The real struggle though came about afterward when processing such images, like behind the blue, as I was trying to "perfect" the geometry and make sure everything is parallel and straight; A theme that I will be struggling with a lot in the coming shots and later days as well.

Candy Gates

As I'm typing these words now, I''m trying hard to memorize the sequence of events as much as possible (it had been 2 months already). Ironically, as I'm doing this and going through the files, I've discovered some files that I didn't process at all for some reasons that I can't remember. Anyway, finishing from the fence, I've headed inside the playground (which lies on quite a small area) and the place was colorful indeed despite the harsh treatment from the sun all over the past summers. Honestly, I liked the place so much that I really wanted to go into these tunnels and structures (no wonder kids like them, it gives a sense of secrecy!) but alas, my body size wouldn't fit there, and no need for further embarrassment here (cleaning workers were around). The colors in this place reminded me of candies, hence the title of the image(s): Candy Gates; and I say images because things developed naturally into a series of such "gates".

Candy Gates 2

However, "colorful" doesn't necessarily mean "joyful" or "merry" - does it? This is one of the strong points for shooting HDR (or to be precise, shooting bracketed images to merge them into HDR later); it would allow you to control the mood of the image more than just editing the RAW file itself, but with some expansion with the capabilities to shape the light itself in the image. Thus, images like Candy Gates 2 would normally (maybe) look merry and colorful with all the tones of red and blue in this corner, but darken the image as if it was a Halloween scene and you have a reflection on some abandoned place that was once "alive". Not far from reality though.

Candy Gates 3

One thing, I might say, is common among all these candy gates shot, and that is that they would have done better if I had focused a bit and spent some time centralizing the camera to make the perfect symmetry. Maybe I was just a bit lucky in Candy Gates 3 and 4 (just a bit) but focusing too much in shooting such abstract scenes would defy the whole purpose of this stroll and this shooting session altogether; wouldn't it? Therefore, I was literally reckless when it comes to precision here. Also, pointing with precision here would really require a tripod in my case; These coffee-addicted hands are no good when it comes to stability AND precision together. One of them is allowed only!

Candy Gates 4

They Shall Pass

I arrived then on a bridge-like structure between two "towers" I think (or something similar). What I liked here is how the morning light seeped through. I have to admit here that much of the blueness in that scene, They Shall Pass, was majorly done in post-processing phase, but the play of light and shadow was still beautiful to my eyes in reality, as it is in the post-processed version. It was a struggle to shoot this vertically as I was holding the camera with one hand and pointing downward, while keeping the camera strip away from the scene with the other hand, and all of that had to be stable for 3 successive shots. I was lucky, actually, to find a suitable set from all these shots to work the HDR out and tone-map it. I had to do some cropping of course and some perspective fix.

Broken

Of course, it wasn't all sweet with such playgrounds; you'd definitely find something broken (well, things were broken). I have to say, though, that such a broken swing did initiate my juices for 3D anaglyph making (which I did). Beside bracketing for HDR, I've shot in fact a dozen or so of single shots in burst (continuous) mode while moving gently from side to side. This was in order to pick 2 shots for making an anaglyph later. However, as I'm typing these words, another idea came to my mind but no need to put it here just yet as I'm not sure if it will work or not (and I don't know even if I will work on it soon enough!).

Три Арки
(three arches)

Having enough from the playground, I've moved out to check on the rest of the neighborhood, which is not something new really, but what makes it "new" here is the element of using a different lens; A lens that I didn't use before in such strolls outside.
Just outside the playground, few steps away, stands a house with arches. Now, I like architecture photography but such an activity has its own allergies when it comes to places like where I live for privacy issues. People like their privacy and a stranger, who can be barely seen outside his home and don't have friends in the neighborhood, is always a suspicious sighting. Anyway, since I was in a haste and I didn't want to stay for a long time in front of the house, I've taken a shot for these arches on the house's facade. I thought to myself "I'll try to fix this at home." Fixing here was mainly in terms of the perspective. I sort of done this, somehow, as seen in Three Arches, but the final result was somewhat catastrophic, and I've spent a LONG time trying to fix the perspective. Perspective issues, specifically, are always better to be fixed on-location if possible. In this shot, there were two perspective problems: sideways and vertical perspective. As for the vertical one, this is natural because I'm shooting on the ground and not using a tilt-shift lens. As for the sideways, I was supposed to be standing directly in front of the arches, but alas, that didn't happen, and I had to do both corrections in Photoshop, and thus the resolution of the image did suffer so much. Originally, the image had more than 3 arches and more space on the sides and top, but all was gone in the process.

Jailing Shadows

There, at the same house, some shadows made a play on the outside walls (and I was lucky to have no car parking there!). The irony about the shadow (or shadows) is that it was formed by a small metallic piece in the corner of the cars shade, but the shadows were naturally magnified on the wall (just like how the projector works). The post-processing was in HDR first, of course, and I tried to tone-map the image to show or get a more dramatic impact. However, this was not enough and I had to do more to the contrast and sharpening in Photoshop (specifically to get that texture on the upper portion of the image). This one, too, had undergone some perspective (and distortion) fixes, as I was trying to make the verticals as straight as possible. The distortion caused by the lens itself is mainly due to the edges rather than the center, and thus with cropping the image to focus on the center subject, it wouldn't really matter much to fix the distortion for such images, and for such a lens, the Sigma 12-24mm DG HSM. However, I have to say that I don't quite trust the installed lenses profiles in my old PS, and from time to time I'd be looking forward for other reliant methods to rectify the distortion caused by my lenses. It can be done at home if only I have the proper chart and proper space to work within!

Colorful Past

Afterward, just after that house, I've arrived at the (in)famous house which, if you've been around this blog for a while, you probably have seen already shot in different styles with different lenses and filters. This time though there are a number of different factors, beside the falling metallic roof on the front door here, as seen in Colorful Past. The difference here is that I'm shooting it with a new lens, and no filter, and using HDR technique.
In processing this shot (from HDR), I've focused on the element of "livelihood" - that is to show how vivid the place is despite the apparent of the status; Maybe we can call it a "contrast in concepts", aided by that contrast in colors between the blues and the yellows/reds tones (as complimentary colors on the colors wheel). This image also was subjected to perspective adjustments and cropping accordingly. Here, though, the tilted lines (vertical or horizontal) could have been already there in the scene regardless of the camera tilt or distortion, but I still worked on making the vertical and horizontal lines as parallel as possible. HDR is not the end of the story of course, and I still had to do a lot of things in post-processing (beside the perspective fix that is), like adjusting the contrast and adding some blur or haze, as I deemed sharpening in such situation wouldn't add to the feel that I'm aiming for.

After The Rain

Then after the "haunted house", I came across, again, a previously-featured a corridor/alley/lane (whatever it's called) which passes in between two houses. I've shot this before in various lenses and filters as well, and this time it was the time for HDR testing. I have to say though that with such lens and without any filters, this scene doesn't seem quite interesting as before (adding to that, some objects and features had changed, like the wasted tire that was dragged further away!). Probably the only interesting thing here was the damp floor after the rain that fell the day before. However, HDR technique did help a lot in showing the details of the clouds (which would have been faint otherwise). Again, perspective fixes were needed and some work was put on highlighting the greens, specially on the tree in the background. 

Media Center

However, there is just that door before the entrance to that alley, which really caused a great deal of frustration for me. It was shot before (of course!) and in various lenses and filters, but in all cases, fixing the perspective for this door was/is/will be something troublesome, always. I'm not sure what's the secret about this door but I do think there are some issues in the architecture itself that I didn't pay attention to on-location, which makes rectifying the image is such a hard task to keep the verticals and horizontals as parallel as possible. The name, Media Center, comes from all these newspaper boxes on the wall. I really thought that this house was abandoned like some in the area (like the one I shot above) but turned out it is inhabited. These newspaper boxes actually were a deciding factor for me when I wanted to rectify the image, as I really wanted them in the image to add some element to the story, and because of them I had to change the whole perspective and cropping process to include as much as possible of them. Probably you can tell that I had to sacrifice one (or maybe two) boxes on the far right side. I tried to rectify the door and make its sides as parallel as possible, but yet there seems to be a bulge on the upper side or shade just above the door. Call me a perfectionist or some OCD'er, but I can't keep my eyes off such "discrepancies"; My eyes just go there automatically.

Media Center 2

After finishing from that door, it was time to go back. Usually, I'd take that alley and go out from the other side and walk back home (this is what I did in previous strolls in this area) but this time I just headed back on the same path that got me there already. The clouds were interesting, so just not to miss them I've shot something that I'm not completely proud of or something, but something for fun, as in Media Center 2. No rectification was required here as I didn't have a real goal or anything in this shot, but I was focusing mainly on the clouds and tried to highlight them as much as possible with HDR tone-mapping. In the post-processing (after tone-mapping that is) I've tried to add a tint of magenta as is usually seen when shooting using the Fluorescent WB (as this shot wasn't shot with it).

Восьмиугольники
(octagons)

At this point, my wandering was almost over and I'm already heading back home, but I still had some itch in my pocket (or my camera) and I passed the local mosque (just at the back of Media Center 2), where I shot Octagons. This time, the fence was high but still somewhat reachable, so I raised the camera with one hand to have a better perspective (better, not perfect!). Again, shot for HDR, but I didn't go super-crazy with tone-mapping, as I didn't like to have halos around the edges in this one. There was still some perspective fixing to be done as well as cropping to centralize the image (i.e. cropping in such a way to let the center of the image be a specific point or subject). In such situations, using a high f-number is a must (kind of) since I was shooting without looking and depending solely on the concept of hyperfocus (which better be done with higher f-numbers, f/8 and above).

At this shot, the stroll was over and I was already on my way back home. Processing the shots took me a while (of course) and I remember there was some delay because of some health issues back then. It was clear though that the Cokin filter (which was on the lens all that time) didn't do much for the shots, as I didn't have points of light in the images. Still though, the filter would accompany me later in the next stroll with somewhat good results I'd say.

Finale

So, the weather is getting warmer and warmer here, which is kind of sad (for me, I know lot of people hate winter). I've been already idle with my camera at the time of typing these words and I'm not sure what to shoot next. Going outside to shoot is something that I'd need to do in very early hours, and with the situation at home (and Mom), this sounds somewhat impossible at the moment.
For the current situation on the home-front, it feels as if something inside me has been dead. Maybe dead beyond resurrection. I don't know how I am moving or doing things around here, but all I know is that I'm alive, supposedly. fatigue and the turbulent sleeping pattern is the main theme for the current times of my life. I'm even typing this blog and finishing it after midnight. I consider myself lucky to finish this blog in time by the way, as I was running late and I couldn't force myself to type it down. It needed a great deal of power, and coffee.
I'm not sure what to expect or what to work for for the next few days or weeks, or even months, but the question that keeps ringing in my head all the time is: Could it really be that bad all the time from now on? Just to think about "Yes" as an answer to this, is quite terrifying…

Camera Doodles…

Well, I think it had been one hell of a "vacation" from blogging, to blog. Did I stay away from this blog for 3 or 4 weeks? I can't recall really. All I remember is that in a week's time, I had so much going on in my life that I could barely sit in front of the PC and do anything except of checking the so-called "social media" (which I pretend that I have). I had some allergy attacks, and a slip on the stairs ending me with a twisted foot and a pain in the tail (or rather the muscles around that tail bone). Meanwhile, I was already engaged in typing a blog post for my Arabic blog, which made me stop everything at that point. On a positive point, I did work on a tiny experiment with high speed, but probably I shall post about that later on as I'm following some chronological order in this blog and I'm supposed to post something related to the infrared shot I've made before and talked about in the previous post.
Meanwhile, I think I'll be busy as well doing an "inventory check" for images from 2022 and 2021 (and maybe even 2020) to see what I can prepare of them to be uploaded to the stocks. This is a tedious task specially when ti comes to the keywording process. I've tried to find a tool to help me out with keywording time and again, but failed to find a suitable one. Anyway, for this reason, I might be away from this blog for another 2 weeks or so (providing that I don't slip on the stairs again!).

Camera Doodles

This sit of images is quite quick, and thus this whole blog post might be short actually. This set of images was taken the day after the shots in my previous post were taken. Not much was done in these images except of fixing an infrared filter on the lens (I think it was Neewer's IR720) and moving the camera around (indoors where not much IR sources exist). Ironically, my aim was to test something outside and check if there are "hidden" clouds in the sky, but nothing interesting was there, so I came back inside and started to shoot randomly at light sources.

شُـهُـبْ
(meteors)

Generally speaking, the images were red (of course) but I added some twist to it to make it purple and interesting. Indoors, most of the lighting in fixtures comes from LED lights; Not a significant IR source but apparently IR720 do let in some of the spectrum from these lights. Anyway, I've tried various movements between shots, and some images like Meteors have been rotated to make it interesting somehow. Even though it is an abstract in general but seems to me that the direction of the "tails" in such images is important; I could've also made the tails going from the top and downward and probably would still be representative of meteors falling down. Anyway, abstracts are abstracts and those coming up won't have a direction most of the time as we'll see.

Camera Doodles 1

As for the next 2 abstract shots I can't quite remember what orientation were they when they were taken, but apparently I wasn't pointing the camera towards some light source like the fixtures in Meteors. Looking at it, it might be suitable for some background but I'm not quite confident that the stock websites would be accept such images, as it looks quite random. Camera Doodles 2 looks even more random than Camera Doodles 1. 

Camera Doodles 2

My guess or let's say I hope that such images would be accepted for their colors rather than their "composition" (if such word applies here). When I come to think of it, I think the hardest part is to assign keywords to such images right now, as they are completely random! Even though some websites state that something around 20 to 30 words are just about enough, I got into the habit of not feeling satisfied in less than 40 words (probably affected by that time when I had an Alamy account some years ago). One thing though about Camera Doodles 2, and that is that I think I've applied some inverse somewhere in the process but not sure how or when!

Moving Door

The last in this series (and I've skipped one here which I will post at the end) and probably my most valuable shot here is Moving Door where I've set the camera on a table and manually rotated it as the exposure was to be taken (about 6 seconds). It did require some trials to do it right though despite its simplicity; Just the right angle and the right spinning speed. The door here leads to guest room and then to the outside so I'm guessing some bits of infrared are seeping through. Worth noting that the place was busy with people and good thing none (I guess?) appeared here. I think Moving Door has this sense of horror movies despite the floral design on the door. Surely will be keyworded for upload to the stocks.

Finale

So this is a short and quick post for some quick abstract shots done with an infrared filter on 50mm lens. I think my plan for the next few days from now is to work on some images and prepare them for the stocks. This will take some time so I'm not sure if I have the time to post here but we'll see. Meanwhile, I'm also trying to dedicate some time and effort to shoot something (anything) and probably I should also think of a proper topic for my Arabic blog for August. I've already skipped June!
On the other hand there had been some problems on Instagram as I've been trying to upload a video of my latest shots (which I will hopefully talk about here in the coming weeks). I've been trying to upload the video daily, and for more than one week, and kept getting some error message which doesn't explain a thing. I've issued a ticket but I didn't get a reply, yet the problem was resolved few days afterward, so I'm thinking that they did respond to the ticket. Too bad though I didn't take a picture of the set when I did this high-speed photo shoot but I might reenact it, though it's not a big deal I guess.

Meanwhile, I've been also thinking about participating in photography contests (from which my inbox is flooded with), specially after the closure of Trierenberg Circuit lat year (or was it this year?). Anyway, I'm not sure what I would be aiming for in such contests; Like, I'm OK with the money but not sure if it is worth it much. On the other hand, would I get some recognition? Again, what for. Anyway, the idea is still flipping in my head, left and right, and couldn't reach  decision about it, but I might as well participate in few of these contests. We'll see…

In relation to the so-called social media as well it felt being so isolated in the past 2 weeks. Despite the fact that I spend most of my time alone, but I had that urge to talk to someone, anyone, just talk... but there was none. Neither on this social media, nor in reality (from which I'm escaping I guess). It felt as if there was something broken inside my head, staring aimlessly and just doing nothing, and having a nap after another, with total fatigue. Funny how this social media which is supposed to help you grow your circle or do something about the stupidity of the social norm, in fact locks you down further in wait for anyone to reply to your comments or look at your posts and nothing happens for hours and hours. Just the ridiculous life I'm leading…

Tunneling

Stroll V (2022)…

Well well, Ramadhan is about to end, and I'll be back to my coffee routines, and my sleep... will keep being disturbed as usual. Nothing new. I have some plans already that I'm delaying for after Ramadhan; Nothing serious, but few errands to purchase some items for home and the thing is, the opening and closure times in Ramadhan are changed and with my sleeping pattern it's a total mess. And yes, I'll be driving (and maybe through some rush).
Meanwhile, the weather of April hasn't been harsh as I thought, except for some dust waves (and rains!) but up to the moment of typing this, the weather has been nice, specially in the morning, which allowed for some strolling, though limited because of my "lack of ideas" mode or simply, my mood (which I've been fighting with ferociously lately).

Stroll V

So, after doing a stroll with my 50mm lens and UV-pass filter, I've decided it's time to go back to the old stuff, and do a stroll with my Hα filter (which is not an infrared filter but I like to call it a "weak IR filter" figuratively) and 50mm lens. In fact, I think this filter is my favorite from my collection when it comes to infrared and UV, even though it is not a real infrared filter, and it is even designed for deep sky astrophotography! Yet, the colors and looks it provides are just surreal, and I've even made a post in my Arabic blog about this filter specifically. The closest an infrared filter from my collection that comes closer to the looks created by Hα is the B+W 092, which has a threshold of about 680nm (Hα's is about 656nm); Thus, images taken with B+W 092 can be a bit desaturated and needs some boost.

Traces

The stroll took place on March 21ˢᵗ, and I remember it was a nice morning with a nice breeze, and the sun wasn't high up (or it was even an overcast), and for this stroll I've headed East from where I live. Because Hα is light in terms of opacity and not like how a true infrared filter would be, the exposures could will be quite fast (and in fact I've raised the ISO a little bit here), thus I've switched the drive mode to burst (or fast continuous), which proved beneficial when shooting the first thing I've seen in front of me: Traces. Actually it was merely some test shots from various angles trying to make sense of what to expect from this filter and shutter speed, and because I was holding the camera and shooting without looking much into the LCD (and at f/1.4) I've shot various images of the same scene with a shift in the focal point. I used a number of these images then to create Traces as a focus stack. In fact, on inspection later on, I wished I've shot this at least at f/2, but nevertheless, I'm happy with the results. 

Спрятанный
(hidden)

Heading east, for me, was like getting into some uncharted territory. Heading there in my previous stroll with UV-pass filter was my first time and now with Hα it is my second time. I've passed here, just across the street after shooting Traces, to the same house where I shot ΟΔΟ in my previous post (if you like to check it out). This time though, there was a different mess outside this particular house; Some palm leaves and other trash items (thought was like: Treasure!). In the midst of all this mess, I've found out this star which I don't really know what it should be used as, but probably as a glow-in-the-dark item or something (I think I've seen something similar in the family). Anyway, it was hiding there and I couldn't resist the sense of abstract. In my style of shooting, in such instances of abstracts and sudden moments of findings, I don't like to move any object and shoot the scene as is, as much as possible. Anyway, I've shot the star from various angles and tried to include as much as possible of it. Ironically though, I've cropped the image in post-processing to remove some remnants of the pavements and some strings from these palm leaves. As I was experimenting with the colors, the image popped at me when I swapped the Red and Blue channels, as if it was screaming Soviet! Hence the Russian name for this image. Well, I'm frequently naming some of my images in Russian nowadays as I've been learning Russian for more than a year on Duolingo (in fact I think since 2019, long before being a retiree) so naming images in Russian helps me to push my vocabulary forward a bit.

Out of Dimensions

On the same path, in the same neighborhood, I've faced a tractor and I've quickly started taking shots for it as it passed through. I was actually afraid that the guy driving it would make an issue but all went well. I was hoping though that I would make a 3D anaglyph out of it but unfortunately, the motion direction didn't help. So, I've combined the series and merged them by channels (each layer has a separate color). It strikes me though how much Hα filter retains most of the original colors with striking differences when it comes to vegetation and few other things. To be honest though, this shot is probably one of my least favorite shots in this stroll (if not in general). I think it's completely aimless!

The Army

After the path I came about to some open space, like the one I have near home on the western side, but this one is bigger and not used to heap dust and tar like the one on the western side. All I found there is a bunch of different machinery vehicles set there made ready to work for asphalt fixing (we have a major road/pipes renovations in my area). Out of fun, I've shot several shots for this row of vehicles and combined them later in post-processing like a panorama (had to do this in fact instead of picking one to have more cropping freedom). The surprise came out though when this image specifically (and for some reasons beyond my understanding) was picked as an "Inspiration" on YouPic!
What I particularly like about this shot (or shots) is the depth of field for such a wide view (the wide view is made up by the panorama and cropping later of course). I had ideas of doing something somewhat similar to that but here I've done it without thinking about it. However, probably the depth in The Army is not quite popping out as "shallow depth of field" even though it was shot at f/1.4, mainly because of the distances between the objects and me (and the background). Anyway, it is something I'm wishing to try one day with better conditions (and distances), and the challenge here is to do everything handheld and with locked focus.
The fact that this image had been marked as "Inspirational" on YouPic, I think, is a proof that however you calculate and think ahead about your upcoming shot, you can never predict the outcome and how people would receive it. Of course, I'm not talking here about the "contest" atmosphere where judges are involved; These environments have their own field of study (and I'm saying this as an ex-member in a photography group that used to chase after medals in such international contests). Contests are somewhat a subject of study to get through or at least to have a good estimation and probability of winning something, but my talk here about the occasional artist or photographer who shoots out of exercise, out of spirit, and out of sensuality, rather than out of calculations.

Palm and Minaret

Seeing the vehicles, I decided to head and take a closer look in order to hunt for some abstracts. However, before heading (and it was a relatively long walk actually), I mused myself in shooting a mosque on the right with its palm tree; This is the same mosque that I've shot the bougainvillea branch from, in UV, in the previous post. I will be visiting the same branch after a while (and in future posts hopefully). I think it is a good target to get innovative as much as possible.

Mechanical Circle

And then I've arrived at my first abstract catch with Mechanical Circle, which was taken from the side of one of these vehicles with big cylinders (I suppose to flatten the surface of the new tar or asphalt). Again, with burst mode on, I've taken several shots here and combined them together. I was shooting at a low level and almost didn't see the LCD, so this was a safety procedure to ensure I get one shot right but then I've decided to combine the shots as in a focus stack. Anyway, despite its relative simplicity, I did have some dilemma cropping this image (as I like to crop keeping the aspect ratio usually). However, probably the thing I regret here is not turning the image into B&W before uploading it online (mainly onto YouPic). I think turning it into B&W would strengthen the focus on the geometrical shapes rather than the colors (even though the colors here are somewhat faint). I was so focused in having a proper crop and forgot about other aspects of the image! Well, I guess it will be revisited some time in the future (hopefully near future!).

مَـصْـفـوفَـة
(matrix)

Not far from Mechanical Circle, and just beside that vehicle, there was another vehicle with many front wheels (I guess it is probably to flatten the tar in some way, not sure), and I got attracted to the continuous row of these circles. Again, the shoot here was at a low level and I had to do it without looking much into the LCD. Anyway, unlike Mechanical Circle, I've picked a single shot here with the focus I wanted (on the front element). Ironically though, the image wasn't converted to B&W, yet it looks like one (almost)! It all depends on the dominant elements in this shot I guess where everything is gray/dark gray, and literally that was it; No more colors except for the ground maybe (which I hated actually but I couldn't remove it or crop it properly). I did crop the image but to eliminate other elements, mainly in the lower right corner.

Стробоскоп
(strobe)

Then again with the vehicles still, some strobe or flash bulb caught my eye. It was standing out separated from the rest of the vehicle (visually) as if it was seeking and begging to shoot it. I know, nothing special about such strobe or light (or whatever) but being isolated and with shallow depth of field, all sounded hyper to me. I've actually shot this from various angles which allowed me to experiment with 3D anaglyph making again and I think it did give some good result but in the same time it made me think that probably images with very shallow depth of field as this one (at f/1.4) might not be as good as images with greater depth of field because of the lack in details in the background which would contribute more to the depth.

Стробоскоп (3D)

Nevertheless, I still think that the 3D anaglyph here is good enough. As for the original shot though, the process was naturally different, as well as the crop. I think I've cropped Strobe into 16:9 (wide screen format) and processed it with much blue tones to give out that cinematic look as much as possible. I didn't follow this path of processing for some time by now, but the Hα filter kind of imposes the blue tones by nature. I could've swapped the channels here and give it a golden/yellowish tint, but that didn't sound (look) right to my eyes, so I kept it as it is and added to it in terms of contrast and tones. 

مَـدْخَـلْ
(entrance)

Away from the vehicles, I've passed through some neighborhoods here and there trying to find some targets, and I've arrived at one of my favorite subjects: A Door!
There are fancy doors around m area where I live, old and new, but I'm always scared to shoot any, mainly to keep myself away from problems with the owners. I have some bad experiences in the past with various sects of people so I really don't want to repeat that experience in the early hours of the morning here. But as I was walking, I've shot this door quickly in burst mode and combined the images to have some freedom to crop (and correct the image). Correcting the image actually was a bit time-consuming as I was doing it manually and didn't think of doing it in DxO which has a proper tool to rectify things. The neat thing about 50mm lens is that it doesn't impose too much distortion on the image and it is "almost" identical to the sight of the human eye.
Now, in the process, I've swapped the channels to make the door more golden in color as I think it adds more "magic" to its design (and in fact this was the actual color somewhat). Yet though, the effect was faint and even with the addition of vibrance to boost the saturation, thus I ended up applying a Solid Color layer with gold tint (#FFD700). Of course with applying some additional steps to make it a tint.

طَـلَـلْ
(remains)

Not far off, in fact just before I walk away from shooting that door, I spotted an old house that was shouting "HAUNTED" to me. It was straight ahead and I kept staring at these windows and that curtain dangling outside. Reminded me of some escaping scenes from one of these movies; A jail, a sanitarium, something of that sort. The style of the house is 1960s/1970s and in ruins. Made me wonder why did people abandon this house? What's the story behind it? I'm sure it looked one fine house and quite spacious as well. Ah well… something nostalgic and sad kicks in every time I look and remember that house.
Anyway, I was on the ground and the windows were high up and there was no way I could raise myself up to the level of those windows of course so I just shot some images from the ground and in fact I've intended for them to be a memorabilia only. However, the story changed when I got back home and started to examine the images.
For the record, I had to crop big chunks of the image to remove all that is not needed, so relatively, the image became quite small in size after all. The next part was to try and adjust the distortion or perspective to let the image appear as if taken face-front. It took me ages to fix the perspective and yet I'm not that happy because of these car shades in the lower right corner which I couldn't crop them out unfortunately. I wasn't using a fisheye lens here so I couldn't just stand in front of the house and shoot  to exclude the shades (and even if I did that, I think the perspective would be beyond repair). I've shot many shots with slight difference in view in order to combine them together because I knew that if I'm going to work with this image and find anything good about it after adjusting the colors, I'm surely going to need to crop big chunks, which I did. The image wasn't converted to B&W but it just happened to be in such tones (there are bits of color in those tiny flags hanging in the shades). Probably it wouldn't be something I would print for an expo or participate with in a contest, yet I feel satisfied (and sad) when I take a look at it.

九重葛的白色
(the white of bougainvillea)

Finally, I've reached the "promised" bougainvillea branch which I've shot with UV in my previous stroll, and still shot it in the coming strolls afterward. In case you are wondering why I named the image in Chinese, well, it simply gave me the impression of Asian art icons which I typically see on china and other such items. Since the shutter speed is high right now with this Hα filter, I gave myself the freedom to shoot this branch in burst mode (I guess you can tell I'm happy about it). Because of that I got the chance to make one or two anaglyphs.
Back to The White of Bougainvillea, here the shot needed some delicate "doctoring", if I can say so.
To begin with, I was really hesitant about the position or the orientation of the image as a whole and it took me a while to decide. The image was originally in landscape but I've rotated it and made it in portrait orientation. Then, it was time to crop and eliminate things and my trials to keep the aspect ratio failed and I had to crop freely here. In addition to that many areas of the image were actually just "blank" with not much details and just white space so I had to fill those and also to mimic the shallow depth of field to the best I can. So, yeah, it is "doctored" as you can see now. I've actually made another version for it specifically for Instagram with 4:5 aspect ratio (cropped the top) and swapped the channels.

金葉
(golden leaves)

As I've mentioned earlier, I did take various shots for this branch at that moment and gave myself freedom to play around with some of them, like Golden Leaves which was originally blue and was going to leave it blue as a friend suggested but then thought I might as well turn it golden in color with Solid Color adjustment layer in Photoshop again like Entrance. Swapping the channels was not "gold-ish" enough actually so I had to do it that way. Big chunks are cropped here to focus on this "framed" part of the image with the intermingled branches. I'm thinking and considering this one (along with others) to be uploaded to the stocks. I didn't upload for quite some time now.

So, this branch was the end of my strolling journey across the "Eastern Realm" from home. I did probably take few shots here and there on my way back home but I don't think they're worth mentioning here anyway. I have to say I liked that zone more than the western one but still surprises might occur at any place between the two, and there are more strolls coming on the way and I'd probably make one specifically to post about in my Arabic blog. I'm hoping to do that in May, but the stroll itself should be done any time now, in the last days of April!

 

Finale

Thus, this was the end of this stroll with one of my favorite filters by now (for artistic usage) and I have to say, April had been nice to me. I still remember some years back when April wasn't that "breezy" like now. It can also be related to the fact that it is Ramadhan and the working hours and traffic jams are delayed so that makes for some quiet time in the early morning between 6-8 a.m. and some nice breeze with no much smog. But I have to say, smells still there. I had to cope with some to get some shots done! There also had been some days with dust hanging in the air which wasn't encouraging to go out and shoot, and some days with fatigue that kept me bedridden.
The question remains though: Would I be able to do more or do something creative or anything that would fill my life after Ramadhan? It's hard to answer that (specially with the weather surely will be getting warmer). I'm keeping my hopes up though, not for anything but to try and switch off my anxiety off a bit and putting my mind into working elsewhere other than pessimism. Traveling is dearly needed right now, but it's hard, if not for my eye condition (which I don't think is that catastrophic anyway) then for the global issues in general. It feels like standing in the midst of an endless desert right now; No direction, no aim, but staring at a blazing sun…