The Twins…

The weather is getting colder and colder (and makes me happy that way despite other things in my personal life)! It is time to prepare for some morning walks if possible, so we'll see to that.
In this quick post, I'm keeping up with the trend of macro shots, but this time, I'm going "extreme" macro, as at this point, I've tried to shoot at 5X, but this time, indoors. I hope the bougainvillea in the yard forgives me picking up one of her blooms!

Twins

Well, for this post, I will start with the "second" experiment and then go to the "first" because the second experiment gives a general outlook at what has been shot in the first experiment; Does that make sense? Hope so.
The story here began with picking another flower from one of the bougainvillea we have in the yard (hope they forgive me for that!) and started to shoot it indoors. This time, though, and unlike the flower in the previous post, the little white blooms of the bougainvillea were wide open, so I thought it is a good target. Since I need stability, I had to pick it and do my work inside.

雙胞胎
(the twins)

As I said, I will show those shot in the second trial before the first. Here, The Twins was shot using extension tubes (36mm) along with 50mm lens (typical). The image here was made soft on purpose (using the Clarity in ACR) and more softness was added later in the post-processing phase in Photoshop. Shooting at slightly different displacements made it also possible to create a 3D anaglyph!

The Twins (3D)

You might notice a horizontal flipping here between the normal and the 3D versions. Well, the 3D version is the original orientation. For some reason, I've felt that flipping the normal one was proper and going smoothly from right-to-left (maybe because this is how I read even though I'm reading English text more than I do with Arabic actually). Anyway, it just felt more normal that way for some reason!

So, at this point, this little experiment finished, but as i said, this is the second one and I will go through the first experiment now. I've actually made some artistic version(s) of this shot but I don't think I'll bother much about them for now.

Extreme

The first experiment, and the one for which I've actually picked this (poor) flower, is to do an extreme macro shoot, using focus stacking methods, to go deep into the flowers. Anyway, I have to say this now, I'm quite disappointed for the final results after all, but since it is a work that I've done and spent quite some time with, I guess it is worth of posting here. 

BouganBloom

Artistically, I don't think it is much to consider. Challenge-wise? Too much to bear with! Despite my initial plans to go at 5X, but I've pulled it back (for details sake and to have it slow this time) and shot the whole thing at 3.2X, and stacking about 211 shots (yes, two hundred and eleven). Despite this, there was still some gaps or artifacts when the stack was merged. I've actually tried many methods for stacking using other programs (e.g. EnfuseGUI) but all my trials failed in having a proper stacking blend. Maybe the best I could do in some of these programs is to align the images. The problem with Photoshop here is the consumption of memory in the process (same thing with panorama stitching). It made me doubt the process of shooting the stack and actually I've decided to get a new rail, which turned out later it's not the best option, but this is a story for another time for now (and I might do a review post and a comparison to my old rail), as I got that rail after all of the fuss done here. So, in a nutshell, I had to go back to the ol' Photoshop to do the stacking and the blending for this stack and you might notice that BouganBloom is cropped out of the 3:2 ratio, as I had to do it that way to keep artifacts or points that didn't blend properly out of the image but the blend is still not quite that good in general. Many of the details in BouganBloom were kind of "extracted" by excessive sharpening. Maybe new editions of Photoshop did fix all of these issues? Maybe it consumes lesser memory than my older version here? I'm really not sure about it, since I've never used one. 

Anyway, at this level, my work was done with this poor bloom, which actually had to be done quickly since the whole bloom withered and "melted" down few hours later and wasn't suitable to be shot further. I'm still planning to shoot some stacking in the future (specially at 5X which was supposed to be done here) but I'm still on the look for some good target to do so. The new rail kind of disappointed me but anyway it was comparatively cheaper and maybe it has other uses; Not all wasted I guess.

Finale

In the past few days I've spent a considerable time preparing for a special post about the Arabic Language day (December 18ᵗʰ), and actually ended up 9 of them so far, but I don't think I will be posting them here. They are, however, available on Instagram. The link leads to the English post, but it is available in other languages as well (Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Irish, Turkish, Farsi, and Greek), and I've tried my best to get over the randomness or faulty translations provided by Google Translate. Anyway, maybe I didn't succeed much with that, but I've tried!
The thing is that, in creating this post, I've thought quickly about doing light painting in some dark room (which I could barely make or use in the house). This actually made me think seriously about doing more light painting in the future. I had some humble trials in the past but never took it seriously. On another note, my phone does have a "light painting" mode which various options (using AI) which I've used before and it can create some interesting images indeed, but it lacks the flexibility in other things (mainly focusing and shooting in RAW for this purpose), yet it can come in handy at some point too, but my focus for now is using the DSLR to do the work. Not sure where I'm going with this though and I don't have quite have a specific target but we'll see if creativity kicks in (or something kicks me in).

On the mental plane, every day seems to be an occasion to hit a new low. In the past few days I've come into almost complete isolation (even online). I had the urge to talk, but there was none to talk to, literally. Gone are the days of those chatting programs that offer random people to chat with. I miss these old days, they definitely filled such a gap in my social life (which barely exists). Having a random chat like now on social media would sound more like stalking.  Nevertheless, I have to keep this isolation for the time being because I need to sustain some mental peace and health away from the family. They say to surround yourself with good vibes and positive people, and I just can't stop wondering how this is possible at all? I can't find it, I can't reach it, and I don't even know where it lies. All I know is that I just wish I had my own place, somewhere far, far away…

Sisters…

I'm posting this late, I know. But things were forced upon me actually. I've tried to finish it for Thursday but I was struck with some ailment (stomach bug probably) that kept me awry and exhausted (more than before) most of the time. Luckily though it all happened after I've already finished my post for my Arabic blog (phew!). Anyway, as I've mentioned in the previous posts, I've been working on some macro trials lately and I've already posted some pictures previously, so this one is actually a continuation of this trend.

Sisters

After trying to shoot some macro outside in the open, and without a speedlite even, I've decided to take a step further and actually do it indoors. One of the reasons that I don't like doing macro indoors, specifically with plants, is that I would most likely need to chop or pick something to work with indoors. These pots are quite heavy and dirty so picking them inside is not an option at all! However, for art's sake, I've decided to break "some" of my principles this time…

粉红手指
(the pink finger)

So, for starters, the first question to answer was: How am I going to let he flower stand. The bougainvillea flower is quite small and the inner parts are, of course, even smaller. The solution came about in the end with (drums): … a can of PRINGLES! Yes.
Unfortunately, I didn't shoot the setting as i would do usually (with phone) as i work in a hurry a bit because with such flowers, I guess things would go pale quickly and I have to do whatever I can, racing time. I've just pierced a hole into the plastic cover of the can and let the stem of the flower go through it and that's it! 

Details Oriented

In this trial, as far as i remember, my trials to shoot at 5X ratio (or 5:1), using reversed Voitgländer 20mm lens and some extension tubes, all failed. Naturally, since I wasn't using a rail yet at this point. So, the rest of the shoot proceeded with extension tubes and my trusted Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens. Since the shooting is indoors (which actually is still slightly shaky because of the AC breeze!) but I was a bit free to shoot in HDR, without a speedlite of course. Both, The Pink Finger and Details Oriented are shot in HDR, but each has a different story, since each was shot in a different extension tube. Shooting objects or scenes in HDR gives a wide variety of choices for creativity that might follow up at a later time even. Here, The Pink Finger was shot using 36mm extension tube and when tone-mapped from HDR, I've tried to make it as normal as possible with a catch of rim light. Meanwhile, Details Oriented was actually a test shot and I didn't quite intend to put it up because it was shot with 20mm extension tube and contained a lot of background elements that were distracting. Later on (weeks after the fact) I've decided to do the HDR for this shot, and crop it tight, and work on suppressing the background as much as possible. I was able to make it pitch black but then I've realized that it might not quite normal that way so I've put down the opacity a bit. When tone-mapped, I've tried to add details via tone-mapping as much as possible (hence the title). Sharpening in the post-processing phase added even more structure to the whole image here. I'm still considering visiting these images now and then and see if I can do more HDR tone-mapping work differently to have different results.

三姐妹 (一)
(three sisters 1)

Then comes the part where I stopped using HDR bracketing and started to work with the speedlite to have more of a dramatic look. At this level I've returned back to using the 36mm extension tube and tried to get around the flower to find a special angle of some sort. The result was a series of 3 shots, of the same scene, but with change in the light directions. I've called it the Three Sisters after the three stems (or stamens) at the center.

三姐妹 (二)
(three sisters 2)

三姐妹 (三)
(three sisters 3)

Interestingly, out of these three, the first and the last had greater number of likes (specially the first) than the second. I'm guessing because there is some element of darkness and contrast in them more than the bright second version in the series. Worth noting here also that shots were taken at f/22 (maximum) and yet the petal in at the center in the background is slightly out of focus (as I've set the focus on the front stamen mainly). In the macro world, this is normal, and this is why focus stacking is used even with large f-numbers such as f/11 or f/16. These two values are advisable usually rather than using the max of f/22 because most lenses got their "sweet spot" for the sharpest image and least diffraction or chromatic aberration around these values, and as it can be seen, the depth of field is considerably shallow even at f/22. At this point, I didn't care about these elements at the back but my main interest was the stamen at the front, but if I was to take everything into focus, then I'd definitely need to do focus stacking (which I've tried later but that's for another post to come, hopefully).

At this point, I've finished the "experiment" but there had been other trials with this set, like shooting at 3.2X or even 5X but I'd call them a fail really, so no need to post them now. On the other hand, I think I will still check this folder to re-check the images (specially test shots) to see if they have some potential, and also to re-work the HDR brackets I've shot already and tone-map them in different ways, if possible.

Finale

At this level, I'm trying hard to push my creative juices forward a bit. Ironically, though I want to focus on using my DSLR, I often find myself switching to my phone because it is in my hand most of the time right now (starting with this habit around the time of doing my retirement procedures). I've also remembered a project or two that I was supposed to do and finish in 2021 and totally forgot about them. Let's see if I can just put my mind (and mood) into these things and finish them for good! Meanwhile, I also need to think of something to do for the Arabic Language Day on December 18ᵗʰ.

My physical health is recovering a bit right now after rounds of bloating and diarrhea, topping that with a tearing mental stress caused mainly by the people in this house. I think it is time for me to give up hope in fixing things here and talk about things are go wrong in this house; It's fruitless, and putting more stress on my back and unnecessarily causing more mental ailments, more than what I do have to deal with already. I guess this calls for more isolation in my room and to learn how to not give a damn, even when this house collapses altogether. Not sure where I'm heading to, but I do need a long rest, for sure… and a "home".

Kika X…

How silly was it for me to make a post without an introduction the last time! I guess I was in a bit of a hurry to finish whatever I can in time. Anyway, I don't think there is any important stuff to spill out in the introduction, but I really wanted to make another little announcement. But well, I guess I don't need a special section for this little one, so here we go.
I've lately uploaded my bubbles collection to my Canstockphoto (which you find by clicking the signature at the end of the post) and now I've posted "some" of these images (and some few more outside the series) into my 123RF profile. I say "some" here because some images from this series were not accepted for one reason or another. Thus, the full series is actually available (so far) ONLY on Canstockphoto. I don't know much about the pricing of each website but just in case you want to compare, go ahead. Some people have one account in one and not the other anyway. As for Dreamstime, I never received any email concerning this type of upload or series or any single response, thus I have not uploaded there at all. 

 

Kika X

And up with the 10^th week of Kika's photo-challenge. At this time, I got occupied pretty much with many things, specially helping my brother with his studied. Thus, my mind was not "that" free for much inspirational work. Mind was all over the place. This,in fact, would be the situation till the end of the series of Kika's photo-challenge.
The theme for Week 10 was "light." As usual, since I didn't have the proper time to take new photos, I've searched my arsenal and I couldn't find any better than one particular shot that had a special kind of light…

Boihéamach
(bohemian)

I love this selfie because of the light in use here. It was lit with a single candle (and posted about it back in 2019 and started a project then to portraits with one candle only). Beside the quality of the light here, it was shot in infrared (hence the blue tint and eye). I was lucky here to pinpoint the focus on the eye on my own; It was a lengthy process of trial and error! However, just so I won't be re-posting a photo just like that without any edit or any effort for the theme, I've decided to do a minor adjustment. So minor but with a huge impact: Contrast.

Boihéamach (2)

The difference is drastic and made me wonder: Why didn't I do this in the first place when I first processed this image? Probably, then, I was way too dependent on the histogram and feared going out of the gamut. The contrast here was fixed simply by using the black dropper in the Curve adjustment layer box and using it to set the black point of the image as a whole from a spot near the face (or the eye's pupil).
The image became more dramatic and more drastic and I'd say more Rambrandt-ish after this fix of the contrast, with apparently uplifting the blue tint from the whole image.
I think I really need to detach myself from perfection with histogram. A lesson to be learned in my future work; If my memory and habits serve me right. So, this far is my only contribution for Kika's Week 10 challenge: Light. 

 

Back-on-Villea

So at this time, of March still, I went back to the yard trying to catch some more "extreme" macro shots, and this time for the Bougainvillea. Or should I say, Bougainvillea's blooms. This plant really proved to be hard to work with because of its stiff branch (and thorns!) and a lot of the things that I wanted to try before did fail because of the breeze, wind, or the hard-to-reach pose. 

Hyperstigma

The stigma or central part of the bougainvillea bloom is quite interesting with its cinquefoil-like shape. However, unfortunately, the magnification I was using (4.2X) was way greater than what it should be and there was no time to change and experiment (again!) so I went on and tried to shoot whatever I could. Hyperstigmata here was shot from the top and directly onto the stigma but generally speaking, it is not quite clear and blurry. Probably good for a small size representation but definitely not a large size one. Seems even with a speedlite at hand and at 1/250 of a second, motion blur outside is yet to be conquered.

Stigma Profile

Stigma Profile II

Ironically, despite not being able to shoot the stigma right on, I was able to shoot a "profile" from the side (or behind). In Stigma Profile I and II, the effect of the direction of the light is obvious. It helped on creating an isolation of the foreground without much effort; Just by tilting the speedlite at hand just a little bit!

Stamen Head

Pinkoid

Same thing goes on with the stamen part of the flower, where changing the direction of the light did change the looks drastically (and the feel as well). I kind of find it comical that the masculine part of the flower comes out in such dominant pink, in Pinkoid; A color usually assigned to the feminine nature. Anyway, the bloom itself is pinkish/magenta in color, with all its inner parts. I was amazed to know that there are indeed bougainvillea varieties with white (and probably blue?) flowers! Would be nice to have them side by side with these pink/magenta ones. The plant though is quite random and needs special treatment to let it grow in some organized manner. Needless to say, we plant them in small pots right now, so, they wouldn't grow much like the one we planted long ago when we first settled in this then-new home. Nevertheless, the branches and the blooms do just fine as they are. 

Stigma Furnace

Back to the stigma and with changing lighting conditions again, seems I got something acceptable in Stigma Furnace. However, this result was not possible without editing; A heavy one as well. This said, there are still a number of images that I didn't touch or check thoroughly. A quick look at some of these didn't yield much impression on me but probably another visit to those again, with some cropping and "surreal" editing techniques, I might get out with something out of them.

 

Finale

As I'm typing this blog post, and specially the introduction up there, I've realized that there are a number of promises that I've made and which seems like that I've "ditched". Like the one time that I wanted to do more of the old panoramas in a new suit and upload them to Mostphotos. However, lately, my psyche had a great toll on me. Maybe some, who would read these lines, would consider it such an exaggeration to talk about the mental status in the finale of every post, but all I can say is, I really don't wish to see you in such a place, in your minds. The exhaustion of fighting off such mental issues is quite physical. Sprinkle that with back pains, and you would get such a lovely combination of stalemate.
I am in a phase of life at the moment that I really don't know what I want, where to go, or where am I going. Yes, I have few wishes, but under the current circumstances they are kind of far fetched. In fact, even those wishes I'm wishing and hoping for, probably won't make me any more dedicated or goal-oriented, nor grant me happiness. Something within is very tired.

Through and Through…

Here we are, time passed quickly and we are past mid-Ramadhan even. I'm trying to enjoy my leave from work but in the same time I keep in my mind that I must work with my camera a bit or anything else I have in my mind before I get to work again. Easy said than done anyway, because my sleeping pattern is greatly skewed and screwed during this month, and I'm almost putting behind my back everything related to morning chores or tasks (except for little shopping maybe). For the time being, I've been amusing myself with little work on the macro level; Or should I say, extreme macro level.

Microfy

After working for a while with my old microscope and achieving somewhat extreme magnifications (exceeding 1280X sometimes), I did realize at that point that sometimes, going extreme is not the solution nor does it show the details properly. I did indeed at some point reach a magnification of 2640X but the images were blurred and hard to figure out any details (add to that the shaky set I'm working with). Moreover, I think I do need to learn a bit more about sample preparation for microscopes and how to make thin slices. I hope I can find some suitable procedures over the net; We'll see.
Meanwhile, with the help of my Vello's Macrofier, I've flipped my Voigtländer 20mm and started to work with "extreme macro" and I couldn't find anything better to work with except of my old collection of shells. In fact, I'm thinking now, as I'm typing these lines, of documenting these shells for good.

Twirl
6.6x Magnification.

In the beginning, I thought that having a bigger magnification means a more powerful and more interesting shot. Of course, I was wrong. However, it was up to trial and error still, like in Twirl, which is a shot for the tip of a small seashell that is approximately 1cm long or even less. I shot this one without any flash just a LED desk lamp. Flipping a 20mm lens with Vello Macrofier would achieve, typically and according to calculations, a 3.2x magnification. To achieve a greater magnification, I attached all my extension tubes between the camera and the reversed lens (total: 68mm). According to calculations, this would give out a 6.6x magnification.

6x Shell

As usual, shooting with such magnification was not (and still not) an easy task. Mainly because of the limitations in the gear and other props available for me (and my eternal torture: a proper table). However, I tried after all. The topmost problem that happened to be here, though, was the light and how to deliver the light properly to the surface of the shell being photographed. On many trials, the flare was the main problem, causing a general reduction in contrast and the center being bright and detail-less. Tried to add a speedlite and changing its direction, and even a continuous light source (LED), no proper solution was found. Images like 6x Shell, which was shot using 68mm of extension tubes and a reversed Voigtländer 20mm, was done in fact using ambient light with 15s exposure at f/20. No focus stacking. To add, the image looks better in a small size as in this blog, but viewing at a larger scale a bit shows some ugly noise and somewhat blurry features (probably some movements occur during the exposure? Not sure). Anyway, in time, I've realized the real problem.

The set used to shoot extreme macro after the "little" fix.

The problem, as it seems, was the white foam on which I was placing my samples. The light reflected off this surface fooled me as to be of help, or so I thought, but once I put a black card on that, the images became clear. There was a slight problem still because the light would not reach a specific part of the shell, but the general view was better, and contrast was enhanced further when processing these final images (after merging the full stack together).

Bandaí (Bands)
(Left) 3.2x shot made by focus stacking.
(Right) The original shell, around 2cm long.

It can be seen in Bandaí how the light did quite reach the left side of the image (originally the image was horizontal so this dark area was down). This might call for a "real" ring flash but I'm not thinking about this right now. I do have 6 speedlites and it would be a shame if I cannot put these to good use in such stable environment (well, almost stable!) like shooting seashells. The matter that is left is, whether to cover the shell with oil or not. I've painted or covered some shells with oil (well, hair tonic oil actually) but the cotton balls were problematic for this task and some fibers got stuck, and yet it seems oil is not a good contributor. In Bandaí, I've covered the shell with corn syrup (as a substitute to glycerine) and it seems to have yielded some good result, providing some good luster. It's all sticky but it's alright till it dries up! However, sometimes, the shell is so small that I just neglected the idea of dipping it into anything!

الملوية (The Twisted)
(Left) The final image after focus stacking at 3.2x magnification.
(Right) The original shell with a length of 0.8cm (8mm) only hooked to a toothpick.

Would some syrup make The Twisted more lustrous? Not sure, but I think it would; Yet, with such a small size of 8mm I cannot risk it. My working environment around here is completely unstable and I could easily lose it, and with my eye problems, finding such a small piece of "artifact" would be a novel to read!

Sleeper

At some point while working on all of that macro job, I had a slight idea for a long exposure done indoors. It's not the first time I do such experiment in fact, but long exposures in somewhat dark rooms somehow fascinate me always for its unpredictable shapes and its surreal looks.

Laid

An Codlatán
(The Sleeper)

My work with these long exposures were done with 50mm lens (unlike my typical choice of 8mm fisheye lens) and that was for a reason actually. That was to fit my B+W 092 infrared filter on this lens (on a regular camera) and I was really aiming on the head only. Even though I do have a super ND, but I preferred to use this filter (and I would use a filter with higher threshold if I have one to fit this lens) mainly to see the strange strikes of color and/or contrast. The images you see here, Laid and An Codlatán, where not converted to B&W but were processed normally and eventually they reached a level of monochrome (but not completely B&W).

The exposures took about 21 minutes and some seconds, and I literally tried to nap indeed during the exposure. In Laid, though, I was actually checking my tablet, but I was trying to get to that sleeping mode in An Codlatán! The looks were surreal, and ghostly; Specially with Laid, which somehow made my mind spiral and wander into some thoughts, that can be called black or melancholic, yet I think they are legitimate and profound…

It is not a strange idea nor a seldom visitor to my mind. The idea of being dead and what will be happening after my departure is a frequent mind-occupier. This is the image, more or less, which comes to my mind when laid down, people look at me for the last time, before the dust takes what I owe to it. But will there really be anyone willing to give one final gaze? Will there be any visitors in the first place? Will there be mourners? Weepers and keeners? Or maybe cursers and some happy people for where I'm going to end? In essence, nothing of my current life is that different from the scene in this picture; All but a mimic of life, and death. Yet, I cannot grant to myself that my eyelids will be open in every morning that comes. As much as it might be a disturbing image, yet it is the ultimate truth. Nothing is granted; Not even my next breath right after finishing this sentence, and the more I live, and the more loved ones I lose, my belief in the mediocrity of life becomes confirmed day by day…

As I'm writing these words, I'm indeed thinking of doing the same experiment again but using my pinhole, I'm sure the exposure would be drastically long here. The only hassle here is setting up the tripod and the camera near my bed (I can't do this experiment elsewhere around here). I have a plan though, and let's hope it works later. We'll see…

 

Finale

 

By the time of typing this text, My shipment had arrived already in Kuwait, and yet I'm not sure as parcels or as EMS (each has a separate center for sorting, welcome to Kuwait). Would I be able to collect my items before Ramadan ends? We'll see.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get as much as possible done before the vacation is over and being back to the usual routine and exhaustion.

Among the plans: Some ultraviolet, maybe ultraviolet panorama, an infrared panorama (which had been in my head for more than a year), beside the usual work with the microscope and the shells. Working with the shells seems more pleasurable for now, as the rest require some extra work which I'm usually too exhausted to do. One final question remains inside of me and that is: Would I really be able to kill my feelings and the fears inside of me by working myself out to exhaustion? I'm afraid that I don't have the answer for that yet.