Cropping Away...

Week of delays and troubles, yet I'm still alive. Trying to forget some aspects of my own world and life by trying to work more behind the camera. Some ideas come and go, but seems like I'm running out of time...

Friday, on a sleepless morning, I've decided to break out the vacation from my camera and do something. It was morning time, and not in mood to drive, so I just decided to take pictures from my home. My first goal was to catch something from inside the house with some scene made by sun rays striking the stairs. Unfortunately, the maid was working in the hall and I didn't want to give her a hard time (or should I say the opposite?). Anyway, seeing this I've headed outside just roaming the vicinity.

My home's yard

The picture above is for my house's yard before some adjustment that appeared later on. I have to say that I'm not happy about the changes that were made later on by my brother, when he added some small bathroom outside for guests (although we have one inside). Anyway, just for fun, I've decided to do some experiment with this structure (even though I hate looking at it).
First of all, it was some trial for some abstract art I would say. Nothing special about this little bathroom from the outside except when it's cropped, or so I'd say.

Cabin Cut

A friend once told me that one of the tricks of illusions is to remove the edges and let your vision swim freely into the object not knowing where it starts and where it ends. I was trying to do this here when I removed the top and the bottom of this cabin or bathroom. I think it would appear more flat if only these screws on the right side were removed, and the vent fan would be removed as well. I didn't want to crop more than this or to clone out. The shot was taken from the side, centering the corner of the bathroom. Cropping here beats the depth I guess.

The original cabin before cropping.

After "snapping" this shot, I went around and fixed my Tamron with my Vivitar teleconverter and went on trying to catch something, aiming at the little cat (veeeery annoying one) that lives in the yard. With a manual focusing and handheld camera, it wasn't easy for sure, but I got something after all, which made me think of a particular theme!

Beast

Instinct

Wild

The images got a colored version but I don't like them as much as I like the black and white version (with the last one being selectively colored). I have to say that I didn't get much out of the collection, but I might work out something other than the ones above. I've found myself, having an image of animal in my mind, that I'm naming them with some basic elements of behaviors (animal or human). I didn't plan for such a theme for the 3 images, but it just came out, and that makes me think of doing more around this, either now or in the future. Maybe...

Cropping, cropping, cropping. This is all what I'm doing recently with some of the old images that I've forgot about; mainly those taken from Ireland in 2010. One of the pictures that I've totally forgot about (intentionally) because I didn't find any much interest in it, is re-visited. Well, it was there in one of my albums for Co. Tipperary, but this time, with cropping, lot of people (specially on MostPhotos) appreciated it...

Raining

As a background, the image was taken in one rainy day in the lounge of the Thornbrook House. I think it was taken on October 2nd, 2010. In the beginning, I was going to work with a single RAW, but decided to go with HDR to pronounce the greens more and brighten the white frames, and also pronounce the rain drops on the glass, as a single RAW would show some and hide some for a single EV value.
I started cropping from the top right keeping the frames visible, but some friends online suggested to crop more. I think they're right. It would be nicer to hide the frame. My main thought thread when I did this was to make the frame as a frame of the image itself in that corner. I also noticed that the lower left corner needed some cropping, but I didn't notice this till I uploaded the image.

Usually I crop keeping the aspect ratio of the image. Unless I'm doing a panorama (more specifically, small planet projection), I like to keep the aspect ratio of the image because in case of prints are to be made out later, or some email of pictures I'd like to send over to someone, the images would fit within each other like bricks; same height and same width, with almost equal visibility.
After reading further in George Barr's book, Take Your Photography to the Next Level: From Inspiration to Image, it kind of pushed me to break the "taboo" as he calls it. Well, I don't think this kind of break is or must be done every time I crop, but there is one image that got me into that situation. I have to admit though, I've just discovered that the image was taken wit a wrong tilt, but on the bright side (at least in my own brain that is) it makes some kind of optical illusion...

Over Suir
single RAW.

I really can't remember how I was sitting to take this image but apparently I didn't frame it correctly in the camera's viewfinder. Some edges were swollen already. Anyway, I had to crop the sides and keep the top and bottom untouched (to remove a trash bin!). I can say that going down with a low angle wasn't comfortable at that location!
However, I've been preparing some stuff from Ireland that I, myself, didn't like as well. There are times when cropping or whatever you do won't work out on such an image, but oh well, the image can still be dear to you for some reason (specially when it is from a vacation!)...

Moment of Silence

The only thing I really liked about this image above, is the sun rays coming from the upper right corner. I didn't like the colors much too (prepared from a single RAW) so I changed it to Black and White. Try my best to add such a drama with the contrast, but yet, I don't think I did it quite well. Still, some people liked it in fact, and like George Barr says, you wouldn't know if the picture you hate the most from your work, can be the one that the public admires the most. The image above was taken from behind the gate of St. Dominic abbey in Cashel town. I was going around the ruins trying to find a way to get in and stood there taking these pictures of the graveyard, just before a lady comes out from next door to ask if I want the key! Days... I really need a vacation.

As I've mentioned before, I was going to try to print something noisy and see how would it look, on A4 size. The target image was Companions, and I got the basic shape without filtering the noise, and in fact, I've made sharpening in NIK plugin , under Glossy paper profile.

Companions
filtered here.

The print was acceptable with my HP Photosmart (I think C4783?). I made the print with HP Premium PhotoPaper (not Premium plus), and the result was fine. makes me think really about the realistic attitude for eliminating the noise from the images I take. Noise is my nemesis and seems I'm always losing the fight. Removing the noise would remove the details and so on. But, is it really necessary to be that way? I think I've adapted such approach because of the stock sites that rejected many pictures because of the noise level. The image above was taken with ISO2000 and printed it without filtering the noise, and with sharpening. I don't see it was a really bad print even though I have to say it is a small version, and when used in other publications it might be even smaller in size and the noise level would almost disappear then. I think so, at least.

Left to say, we had a lunar eclipse on Wednesday (yesterday), and it was a chance I didn't want to miss, but as usual, it was not easy to catch. There was dust and wind, and things like that get on your nerves when working with a tele-lens. the slightest movement will shake the image and so on. Although I'm the one who was working on it, but I have to say it was like a nightmare and I'm glad it's over!

Lunar Eclipse
Wednesday, June 15th 2011. Around 10:00 p.m.

This shot was taken at the end of the process in fact. The real thing was a time-lapse photography with my Tamron. However, I had to zoom out a little to automate the process of the shooting the moon phases (every 2 minutes). I was planning to take images all along the span of 3 hours but the movement of the moon, while you zoom in, is so fast to catch up with. One hour is enough to see the moon going from the lower left corner of the frame, to the upper right corner. Well, I could zoom out a bit, but I doubt any further zooming out will give any indication of the eclipse. Add to my troubles, some frames were shaken as well because of the air blow to the set. However, I've managed to do a little time-lapse clip, though I'm not quite satisfied with it.




Well, it's weekend now, almost. The time has come to wash away some of my hard time with some good sleep, if any. Been a slow week... full of discomfort...

Alexander 6, V123.

That was amazingly fast. Just when I've submitted some images for approval on Canstockphotos, 30 minutes later you'd see them in your portfolio! I was reluctant about those images though, well, mainly the house, because some times you are asked to get some "property release", which is like impossible in my case here!

It was not a completely idle weekend, yet it was not so active as well. At least, I've tried some stuff with my camera. Unfortunately I didn't upload the image on the net to be used here for now, but if it is accepted you can see it easily in my portfolio on Canstockphoto (and it was also submitted to Bigstock).
The whole story began when I found out that I was simply... idle. The idea sparked when I discovered that I still have a RAMs chip in my backpack (when I was looking for some papers). This chip was taken from my sister's laptop when I changed it for her in some workshop, upgrading her laptop from 500MB RAM up to 2GB RAM. I kept the chip since then and when I found it, I've put it aside to give it to my elder brother. He knows what to do with such stuff. However, after looking at my camera and tools, I realized it might be a chance for one techno-shot. Something I rarely do. I shot that thing with the help of my humble soft box, but I didn't fix any lights around it, except of the room's light. It was merely just to provide a white background. I used my 18-55mm lens, since I don't have a macro lens. This lens is my choice for close-up shots. I think I've fixed it on 55mm (max) and made the shot. I've made the chip standing up with a piece of toy clay, which was then removed from the image by cloning. Not a good solution though, I should've thought of something else. However, a macro lens, I believe, would have delivered a greater result, specially I'm using a shallow depth of field to give some sense of greatness or length to the chip, but well, this sense might come better with a macro lens as well.
I've made several shot under ISO200 and ISO100, but found out that ISO200 are better because the background was brighter and the chip stands out more. All you have to do then is just clean the noise with NeatImage, which I've calibrated to my camera long time ago. The thing I was aiming at (which was not a good option but worth a trial), I was trying to make a focus stack of 2 images, to sharpen the front and the middle areas of the chip and leave the tail blurred. Then comparing the results from focus stacking and the normal frontal image, I thought a single shot was enough to make the effect better, and no need for focus stacking. I was concerned for focus stacking mainly to show some details of the chips in the middle. Yet, turned out not so important I believe.

Beside this simple experiment, I kept on playing around with pictures from Ireland, and been changing some of them into Black and White or Sepia and see if any effects or mood changes occur. It was not until that moment, I realize the beauty of that one house I snapped from the motor boat on my way to Inchagoil island on Lough Corrib. It was something about its simple design that makes you feel peaceful. I don't know what is this house, is it just a resident or some B&B! But its view was simply fascinating! I want a home like that one day...

House on Corrib

The image to this house was added before to my collection but here we have mainly 2 different features about this image: a) it's a close up (and hence I didn't realize the beauty of the house before), b) it is made directly from the RAW file without any HDR enhancement, but only RAW file editing; in other words, no more than one exposure snap.
Realizing how beautiful this house looks, I tried to change its colors and I was surprised by the mood change that it gives me. Well, not really mood, but let's say an "inspiration" or "thought" solely by the change of tones in the image. The first thing was to do is to change this into Black and White with the help of adjustment layers (and not converting to greyscale mode).

House on Corrib (B&W under High contrast red filter)

I tend to use the "black and white" adjustment layer instead of converting into Greyscape mainly because of the options available here, which I can do manually originally from the RAW file itself, but I wouldn't be able to master this yet. Plus, my workflow forces me to use such adjustment layers because in most instances, I do need to save the colored version as well for some purpose before working in B&W. Here, I used the High Contrast Red Filter from the ready-made schemes in the adjustment layer itself. This image gives me a feeling of mystery rather than old or antique. Maybe the high contrast in black and white enforces mystery rather than antiquity. We could be on some theory here! Maybe also that this mood is highly influenced by Jonathan Boakes photography and games! Thinking about that now, this black and white with such house design do really reflect the nature of ghosts and hanuted houses. Maybe I would try to add a bit of bluish hue to the image and see how does it go as well.

The next thing to do, normally, is to add  tone to this image, naturally the sepia tone, which was simply added by Photo Filter adjustment layer.

House on Corrib (Sepia).

Now this image does indeed make me feel it is old, and I think the design of the house helps out with it. Sounds something Victorian. Add some white edges and burn some corners and do some tearing on the sides, and voila! you got an antique! It's hard to say any other thing about the sepia tone except that it turns things old. I rarely felt something different about it. Well, maybe it adds a bit of hot hue in some scenes and give an impression of some hot weather.

In the current time there is another little project I want to do with my camera and my dumbells set, but I'm thinking of the settings that I need to fix before the experiment and how to make the dumbells look like flying into the air. I need some help from another person, which unfortunately, is not something easy to do, not even among my family members in the house I live in. But there must be a trick to do everything by myself, as usual. The final product should be something in Black and White as well, and probably with silverish hue added or maybe bluish, depends on the lighting with the flash, since I'm still not mastering that yet!

Now, to some jokes around this place. One week and my watch is still not fixed. C'mon for God's sake!!!

__________

2929. it was then some moments later after the meal is over
2930. Alexander noticed that the old man was in deep thought
2931. thus he said: what is wrong O great grandfather?
2932. your mind seems quite busy as it seems, is not it?
2933. and Agdalán replied: yes, my dear, it is indeed busy,
2934. I am thinking of your ways after you leave this place,
2935. and I think the time has come to give you something
2936. and Alexander asked: and what is that O father?
2937. Agdalán raised up and went to some old wooden chest
2938. and he opened the chest with some large old key
2939. the sound of the metals in the chest were out loud
2940. testifying for the age of this old chest and its history
2941. Agdalán picked something from the chest and closed it
2942. he approached Alexander and opened his palm in his face
2943. the palm of the old man had some weird metals in it
2944. small pieces were they but shiny like the diamonds
2945. Alexander looked with surprise and said: what is it?
2946. Agdalán replied: these are what we call Kalfúd Sámith,
2947. it is the remains of an old stone that came down from Heaven,
2948. they are more precious than gold itself or silver,
2949. this is the inheritance of my fathers, it is for you now,
2950. take it and make a living by them for now for you need them,
2951. since you have no source of living in this world by now,
2952. and I do not want to see you wander as a nomad

Alexander 5, V3.

Nothing like having some fresh air on the roof of your house. Try it out! It was a bit tiresome just go be there, but it's fun. Of course this is nothing for people who climb mountains just for fun, isn't it?
The idea occured to me at the last minute and like 45 minutes before the actual sunset and that gave not much time to do much and it was a blind shot. Hopefully I can take some more images today (if I have the strength to climb up again with my fear of heights!).
However, the photos were taken every like 5 minutes or less, and I was aiming to get it all later on stacked. Later on I find out that this idea is not a good one and not a good substitute for a good long-exposure practice; which I'm thinking of performing today. I bought some black hard papers (maybe A2 size) in order to do some stuff with each one of them. Mainly, I think I'm going to make a black box which I can use to cover the lens sometimes in cases of long exposures.
Back to the photos taken, I've set the white balance mainly to Tungsten to give some coolish effect on the hot colors in the sky. I took bracketed exposures (3/2), i.e. 3 shots between -2 and +2. Most of the images are best by themselves. However, I tried and merged "some" images (in EXR) and blended them as a stack in Photoshop. The result was kind of nice but unfortunately, I could not fix the banding in the image;

 

Combined of several Photos, the banding around the sun was hard to remove.

You might ask why do I want to combine several images together here. Well, after some time in working in the process of the sunset, the street lights went on automatically (as they work with photo- or light-sensors). When the lights turned on the sun was already gone, and I thought it would be somehow a nice effect to make them on, while making the sun still in heaven. Anyway, I think 2 images for this are enough or maximum 3 images stacked and blended are enough, rather than the 5 or 6 images blended here, which increases the banding.

  

Sun in heaven still. Photomatix tone-mapping.

 
 

Sun almost below horizon and lights still not ON! Photomatix tone-mapping.

The last image was actually tone-mapped and been processed in many adjustment layers to add or remove some hues and colors. I missed the old days when I used to do this to my normal JPG images (specially before I get my tripod and being able to shoot for HDR with a stable camera in RAW!).

I had some pretty load of work today in the labs, with FISHes. I guess you can imagine how stinking it was. I was gridning a complete mass of frozen sardines and putting powdered samples in bottles and sealing the bottles with some special wraps and tapes, and with all of this and that, I'm certain now that I've been watched already. I don't like this at all, but let's see where it leads...

__________

49. the gate opened as it was by itself without anyone
50. and no one showed up behind the gate but only dust
51. Alexander and his one hundred men got in slowly
52. and wandered around between old houses without doors
53. so old they were like if time forgot about them long ago
54. until they reached a hill where a plain extended behind it
55. and from above the hill and they looked upon the plain
56. they saw lot of people work in their green fields
57. men and women with ancient clothes were working together
58. all of them were old, as old as the village they live in it
59. then Alexander decided to go down to them and talk to them
60. and so all men and women stopped working in the field
61. and they stared at him with his men in a strange way
62. then one old man with red garments approached to them
63. and after greeting them with peace, he asked them a question
64. about their identity and their origins and their story
65. Alexander agreed to tell him everything if he tell their story
66. and the old man started to tell about his people and the village
67. and he said: we are the branches of goodness of ancient times
68. we lived here for hundreds and hundreds of years before
69. we are the followers of a prophet whose people sinned
70. and we were protected by the walls of this ancient village
71. while the remaining of our people were turned into mutants
72. and we banished them there to a land called Zimúrá

The Charnagút

The Charnagút

Here you find a scan for my own sketch of the Charnagut. I did not plan for this shape in the beginning but it was my hand that works separated from my imagination and mind. The scan looks weird with grey blocks as you can see, because the scan was done on 2 parts then combined together. The sketching book was so large for the scanner to take it all.
The sword looks small so I had to lengthen it a bit after the scan.
The work is going on now on vectorizing parts of the sword, and then each part of it shall be rasterized and be as an image by itself. I'm pushing far behind my abilities, this is what I think. I'm not an artist after all.

I can barely think clearly these days.... work... home..... everything is stressing me out. Sometimes I do think really of leaving work and do something else related to art... something that keeps me free instead of being like a slave or a prisoner to the stupid working conditions and laws in this state.

I got myself a little notebook lately, with a special green pen specifically for this note. It is to record any ideas I might encounter suddenly or any words of poetry that I might use later on. You don't know when are you going to use such things one day.

Today, Friday, I hope I would have a brainstorm to write something in Alexnader's story... I've passed the 2000 limit already (or to be so soon). I finished recording all the voice clips for all the previous parts (1-5), and now the part for the sound effects comes. After that I have to figure out a way to pin it down on the web.