RP 2022…

Well well well! Been 3 weeks I guess since I've posted something here? Things were a bit fussy. Busy a bit, tired a bit, and even sick a bit.
I've talked about making a post for my Arabic blog in my previous post, and I did that. But afterward, I fell sick a bit and I've been fasting for few days afterward which made me sleep most of the day and awake most of the night. No time to make much except to enjoy a bit of the silence of the night.
However, just in the past week I've managed to work a bit on some shots for the RP season, since it's February already; Retinitis Pigmentosa Awareness Month.

RP 2022

In the beginning, I wasn't quite sure what to shoot here. I've spent a considerable time making ideas and brainstorming. i got out with some good ideas (I guess?) but anyway, when thinking about the next steps on how to make these ideas happen, everything seemed clogged. I would either need some help, which I don't have, or need some special tools or props, and the like. For this reason, I had to play it down and be as simple as possible. 

RP Dilemma

So, the first idea that I came about to conclude is a shot that describes the dilemma that we, people with Retinitis Pigmentosa, face in various light and dark conditions and how there is no one solution that fits all situations. To shoot RP Dilemma, I've made use of the sun (using speedlites was an idea as well but I don't want to add complexity to the equation as it is already). Under the sun, I've placed an ND8 (3 stops) filter half-way on the lens and thus making the image half dark and half light. Honestly, working under the sun was such a pain and I couldn't figure out what I was shooting. I deemed all my photos useless and was going to delete them all, but until I went inside and viewed them clearly on LCD, I've realized that I've shot some usable images there. Well, one in fact out of don't-know-how-much. the final image needed some work of course in balancing the dark and light (dodge and burn) and few other things related to saturation and cropping. One thing I'm not satisfied with here though is the look and the direction of the eye which was supposed (as I was planning) to be direct and straight. 

Color My Life

Then I was up to another simple idea, and this time it did require few edits in Photoshop and not all done in-camera. The challenge, thought, with Color My Life is the framing of the image. In the shooting, I admit, I was working hastily as I wanted to finish with this shot as soon as possible and head to something else. I've done it after midnight when everyone was asleep.
Since I'm shooting in infrared, I needed an infrared source, and here comes my old arsenal of tungsten light bulbs (150W) which can be hard to find nowadays! I keep those for emergencies like this, even though I might use a speedlite as well but speedlites got its own problems (to name one: Focusing properly with infrared filter on lens).
The filter in use here was Neewer's IR720, which means the threshold here is 720nm. I could've also use my B+W 650nm infrared filter but I thought it might leak colors more than it should, as the aim here with shooting in infrared is to reflect the idea of low saturation. Higher threshold values would render the infrared image closer to a monochrome or B&W, while low threshold value would allow some color in. Thus, 720nm seemed a safe bet.
As stated already, the real challenge was framing. I had to test many crops till I landed on one that I deemed acceptable. The other challenge was merging the two images; The colored and the infrared. The challenge here was to select only the colored pencils and mask the rest. With my old version of Photoshop, such selecting tools are not the best out there and I had to spend a considerable time trying to do my best with the "marching ants". Yet, it's not perfect of course.
At the final stage, I've added extra sharpening to hands only to add more to the dramatic sense of the image, beside some bits of adjusting the lights in the image. 

The Caneman

However, probably the one in this series was the hardest. I was going to abandon the whole idea but I pushed myself to do it, despite the fact that I didn't quite like the place. I was aiming for some place with a black or dark background, and I don't have such a place anywhere at home, unfortunately.
The idea is, apparently as can be seen in The Caneman, a bit comical with a reflection on the hurdles of being a person with RP (the cane, the shades). Took me a while to adjust the power of the speedlite (and using the oval globe diffuser on the speedlite). But after all, I didn't like the shadow cast from my body (and it would make problems for me when merging the other shots later on) so I decided to take a shot for the scene without me to blend as a background.This bit, though, is not quite to my liking and I feel it popping out as "too unrealistic" even for a comical shot like this, but all in all, this is better than not doing anything at all. The rest of the work is, of course, some editing tricks in Photoshop (if I can call them so) and using the Radial Blur specifically to mimic the movements of the cane and the hand. As for the big head, it is taken from a separate shot of course, up close to the camera. Unlike the previous two shots where I used my favorite Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens, for The Caneman I've used the Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5. 

Finale

Up to the time of writing this text, there are still some ideas the cook at the back of my head and I'm not sure if I will be able to achieve them. February is still ongoing and seems I still have time. Of course, I can do them even after February but it would be nicer if I can finish these ideas related to Retinitis Pigmentosa during this month specifically.
Meanwhile, and looking back at what I would call a "resolution" for my retirement, about managing my time and setting some type of routine for me to do things around, all that seems to be falling apart for the time being, and I'm not sure if I can be up to the task with such turbulent sleeping schedule and tired body.
Now that I don't have to go to work, I'm yearning to go out and do some shooting specially at night, on the beach area, as I used to do in the old days, but driving my car gives me the shivers now. I heard about some people that had been fined for driving while they are registered as being "people with visual disability"; I don't want to be in that place. Yet, no one out there to help me out and tour me around. The national holidays are coming as well and typically it is a good occasion for some night-time shooting for all those decorations and light art. But I have to keep it all to myself for now. There are more pressing matters that I need to deal with and I think I would have some time to think about all of this when I'm over with those. Hopefully…

Awareness Month 2020…

Well, I was going to talk more about some stroboscopic shots, but then I remembered that there is one single and essential image that I should talk about a little for this week. That one which I've created specifically for Retinitis Pigmentosa Awareness Month (which is February). So, this one will be a quickie.
I have to say, though, that I'm not quite fond of the shot but I was critically out of ideas, and thought it is better to do something, anything, about it instead of waiting and probably getting over the month without shooting anything related to the topic. However, the basic idea of the shot was: The pains that hide behind the smile. That smile that everyone takes for granted and knows nothing about the things that lie behind.

In shooting this image I've tried to apply some simple designing elements as per what I've read lately (or rather re-read lately) in Learning to Photograph book. Probably there was not much to be done but I will talk about the image with some details.

Hidden Pains

Probably one of the things that I regret (well, kind of) in this image is not working on the black lines under the eyes properly. These were supposed to resemble tears. Anyway, I don't have any make-up artist to help with that so probably I'm pardoned here. As you can see, the image undergone quite some work, and I mean editing work, in Photoshop. So, probably this shifts the image a bit from being a photograph and rather be more like a (graphic) design. The edit involved (beside the usual with any photo) cloning out the eyes. To make things a bit organized, I'll try to summarize the ideas in shooting in this way in points:

• From the beginning I knew I needed some space, so the lens of choice here was Voigtländer 20mm (set to f/10).
• Needed some dramatic look and contrast, so I was inclined to shoot in infrared, using B+W 092 filter. The image was converted to B&W then.
• The camera was placed slightly below the face level and slightly pointing up. This perspective kind of adds exaggeration or gratification to the subject. Not meaning to brag here! It's just a design element at work, in opposition to have the camera look down at the subject which is somewhat delivers a sense of belittling.
• Single speedlite was used on camera (more on that below) with honeycomb grids to focus the light more on the face and the surrounding area, making for a more drastic and dramatic look.
• The hand gesture is added to put some emotion with the way the hand is shaped and also to add some elements in the lower space instead of leaving it blank. But probably I should've used my right hand to go along the face direction, but I'm a leftie and it comes naturally to me to use my left hand!
• The black lines (formed by face-coloring crayon and sprinkled with water) symbolize the dry tears. The hidden tears that is.

The speedlite, though, caused some hurdle and I had to give up on one thing I was trying to do, and that is flashing my back. It was one of these instances that I wished I had a radio-system like the new speedlites do (or with a set of transmitter/receiver). And with my flash cord not working, it was quite hard to trigger the flash behind me without moving it a bit on the side which is not quite the effect I was looking for (even though it does add some good rim lighting). Reflecting the beam off some surface at my back was also out of question since there was much clutter (in my room) and that would show clearly (using a snoot to focus the beam won't do much even). In a nutshell, I had to satisfy myself with only one speedlite on camera.
The rest is then a work for Photoshop, cloning out the eyes, for obvious reasons. Even though the image originally is in B&W, I've found myself adding a bit of tint when uploading the image, once cold tone and once a warm tone but a slight touch that might not be noticeable without a comparison to another version next to it.
Meanwhile, as I was doing many test shots and trying out many poses and angles and adjusting the camera level... etc, I was left with a number of test shots that I refused to delete, and I kept checking them now and then. In fact, some of them did show a glance of a chance for 3D anaglyph work but it didn't work out, but nevertheless, a new idea emerged which is not far from the idea of the original shot; Retinitis Pigmentosa.

Migraine

 As seen in Migraine, the play of Photoshop is in again. Strangely too, the colors look natural despite the shots being taken with B+W 092 infrared filter (usually when fixing the WB the image would look bluish). Migraine was such a play with images really and not a real "project" idea; that sort of thing that you would do in a whim or just for play. Worth noting here that the original image is the reverse of this one. After finishing my edit, I flipped the image just to connect it to reality a bit because most of migraines come to my right side. You can see a trace here for the back flash which created a nice rim light on the right side. However, this was not my aim as I wanted the flash to strike behind my head approximately and not on the side to create a rim light. Some sort of a halo so to say. Nevertheless, I'm having fun on editing these shots whenever I get the time to, specially that I'm doing some experiments on the "cinematic" look that everyone seems to talk about nowadays. So, such test shots are quite useful and one forgotten shot might just happen to be a great one under some effects and circumstances!

Finale

Well, this is about it, with all the RP work, which I don't think it is much of a work here, but the best I could think of then. I'm keeping the work on other projects as well. Hopefully I'll posting about some of these in the coming weeks. On the other hand, I'm also keeping myself busy with editing old shots as I've mentioned above, trying to achieve some of these "cinematic" looks. However, I think there is a change in how I see things when it comes to photography or more precisely when I deal with photo editing. I think for a long time I was held back by the "conditions" of most of photo contest which limits the editing of a photo down to some basic elements. It was something in the subconscious, to edit the photo in such a way that the core is not touched. Right now, thought, I'm willing to step on this limitation and I don't find it "critical" or "unprofessional" to edit a photo to change its nature for the sake of expressing and delivering the desired effect to the viewer, away from the desires of these photography contests. I'm pretty sure that the photos above, Hidden Pains and Migraine won't be accepted as regular photos but as mere edits or creative edits (some contests do have this category along the regular typical ones). Of course I'm not going to over do it, and I shouldn't; Because the basic line here is the idea that needs to be delivered with the photo. I didn't realize how bad the effect is,  for being a member in a photography group which put so much emphasis on contests to get ahead, until this moment. I think I'm glad now that I'm over it and out already.
Among all this work-to-be, my mood swings had been severe at some point. They say, usually, meditating would solve much of these unbalances. But the point is when such swings come along, it's like a Blitzkireg in the brain. The body is virtually paralyzed and nothing can be done or to be focused upon, neither the appetite to do anything (beside eating that is). In the meantime, I'm going around myself and exhausting my brain by thinking of ways to increase the income or find a totally different job, which probably I need to do at some point in my life, sooner or later. My thoughts are even beyond this scheme, for something beyond this place. Changing scenery, AND people as well. That is, to simply reside and start a life in a different place completely. Though it might be simple for some, it is not that easy on my side, as the issues are complex enough to hold me back from a simple vacation outside the country for the time being. The "time being" is a term encompassing 5 years so far. And more to come…

Retina…

Exhaustive week and actually I could barely find the time to type this blog down. Many activities (and mishaps) are going on and to add to the load, some photos need to be re-done. Anyway, I will try to go through this quickly if I can (and maybe have nap? well...). I was busy before this week with the writing for an Arabic articlefor my Arabic blog, for beginners with some lighting methods and names (specially to Arabize some technical terms). For this reason, I was not able to post any thing here.

Awareness Month

February of every year is named as Awareness Month for Retinitis Pigmentosa, a genetic disease that I suffer from already (beside an older brother and an older sister). I did one shot last year which took a lot of time from me but the result were not to the level I hoped for, but well, it was something done with gratitude.

Despite
February, 2016.

This year, I've remembered the fact by coincidence (via @rp_hub on Instagram), and decided to do something quickly because I had my load of work to be done already. Since the most significant feature about Retinitis Pigmentosa is the tunnel vision and the loss of peripheral field of vision (slowly to complete blindness in extreme cases), thus I've decided to depict that.
I've used here a small snoot (by impact) made specifically for speedlites. I had to unscrew the back of the snoot and fit my lens there. It was a matter of time to balance the camera, but as the problem prevails here, it was hard to center my eye (working alone as usual). In the beginning I was working with Voigtländer 20mm lens, but it occurred to me that since the lens will inside the snoot already, why not go big with a real fisheye: Rokinon 8mm; which it was.

Peripheral Damage
Rokinon 8mm fisheye, f/16, 100^-1sec, ISO100.

Despite the hard conditions here (everything is dark and light hard to reach inside) but I had to work with f/16. I've used all my speedlites here (3 of them), putting 2 close to my face and one at the back in hope it slips some light inside the snoot. Did many shots and probably this was the best, and I've discovered that the dramatic impact can be improved (and also eliminating some color problems) by simply switching to B&W. At the final stages of processing, I've sharpened the central circle only. The leader of our group liked the idea but he preferred the eye to be at the center, and that's why I need to re-do it!

Rotundum

In a moment of boredom, inspiration seemed to strike me out of nowhere. Now I'm wondering how come I didn't think of it long ago!? The whole thing started with a cup of Turkish coffee on weekend. I've always wanted to take pictures for the inside of the cup, since I've been hooked to this type of coffee. The purpose? Well, cup reading. My silly thoughts lead me even to do a panorama in some way from inside the cup in some way, but with time, the idea died out in my mind. However, with my new mobile phone and its camera, I was ready to play around and got some good results!

Turkish Coffee

I have to say that I didn't expect such result from playing around with Photoshop. Probably, however, that the object (or cup) should be curvy and does not form a perfect cylinder from the outside to have some sufficient details as in Turkish Coffee. Anyway, the method was simply that of changing the the coordinates from polar to rectangular, and that way a circular object would be flattened. Yet, I had to experiment with other circular cross-sections.
This method, now, sparked me mind for more ideas as I'm looking around for circular objects to be shot from the top (and in fact this is not the first time for me to be fascinated by the Circle). On the list I have mugs of various liquids as well as ordinary objects, like a pack of coloring pencils!

Pencilorama

I'm not stopping at this limit though. I've been trying already to see if any QTVRs are possible or could produce some interesting results. The view was surreal...

Peripheral Damage in QTVR.

Source: Amazon

This technique is not something new in fact; it is indeed one of the earliest methods to establish panoramas and fake-planets (fake-planets as in a planet formed from a single image instead of a real stitched panorama). The thing here is about reversing the technique and converting the circle into a rectangular. The original technique involves shooting a mirror ball from various angles to form several images of the place and then converting these circular shots to rectangles. Such technique was discussed with some detail in Christian Bloch's The HDRI Handbook; I have an earlier edition but there had been updates to the book! Even though such technique for panoramas seems to be obsolete by now (not sure) but still such things and techniques are worth learning!

Finale

Now I've been busy with the arrival of Austria's International Photography contest (Trierenberg Circuit) and many things on my table, beside the monthly project. I had some ideas to shoot but unfortunately the time slipped out of my hand and I couldn't submit some of these ideas to the specific sorting meeting for images of members for this contest. Ah well... 

I still have things to be done and some images to be re-made in hope that they will pass the second sorting process. Working alone in this gives me many back pains. I can't wait to have some proper sleep. But seems I won't be having that until I travel out for some time…