+10…

So, a month now since my official request for retirement and until the moment of typing these words, things aren't over yet. On a positive note, I don't have to go to work daily right now as I'm officially off, but I'm still not completely detached from work because I didn't finish the paperwork related to my "leaving certificate". Thus, the month of November just passed me by without a salary in bank account. To add pepper and salt to the wounds, everyone is just working slowly, barely answering phone calls, and what would take a day to be done or even less, takes up to 2+ days to do, if not a week or weeks.

Anyway, away from my ranting, I've decided for this week's post to talk about 10 of my images that had been marked as "Inspirational" by YouPic. This comes after finally having my 20th image marked as inspirational. I've made a post long time ago about my first 10 images, and so this post will be about my second 10 inspirational image, as noted by YouPic. 

+10

So, here is the list and in the order of picking them up as "inspirational". I'll try to be brief as much as possible in describing each image.

1.

_MG_7671

 The first image in the list as you can see bears no title, because, well, I didn't really care much about it and I didn't think of it as something special. It is one shot from a series, when I shot the fireworks during the "Constitution Day" celebrations back in 2012. I was on the roof of Soug Sharg Mall and the location was not special or anything; It didn't provide any good perspective or foreground. Yet, I kept shooting that night and got an arsenal of fireworks shots.

2.

_MG_7773

 As you can see, #2 is like its predecessor and from the same location but with a different focal length, thus more buildings and lights are included. Again, I didn't think of a title for this shot because, come to think of it, it's a series with loads and loads of firework images! I can barely remember my own passwords at this age now (yes, 41 is old). Just to add some "dynamism" to the image, I've decided to crop it at 16:9 as if it was some wide-screen movie scene. Unlike its predecessor, I didn't work quite much on the blacks here to make it lighter. I think the tones weren't helping anyway.

3.

_MG_7751

Another one (and a favorite) from the series of the fireworks which was also marked as "inspirational" by YouPic. I like this one in particular because of the 3D-ish look that happens to be here. I was able to lighten the pitch black sky a bit and like its predecessor, it was cropped to 16:9. At that time I was experimenting with the cinematic looks, so I used this ratio quite often to mimic a movie scene or something. Well, I still do sometimes. One weird thing about this image is that the recorded f-number is f/36, while I'm sure that the max f-number for all of my lenses is f/32!

4.

Peekaboo Building

Peekaboo Building was just a random shot that I've taken in Dubai in 2013, when I was there for some ceremony I was invited to. I've stayed for 3 days but, literally, didn't find much to shoot there during my stay. This place is just not my thing really. Anyway, this is one of the random shots that I've taken as I was walking aimlessly on the roads not from my hotel. Of course, this shot was cropped and adjusted (specially to make the vertical and horizontal lines as straight and divergent as possible). It was uploaded in the abstract section on YouPic even and not in the architecture section. To me, it looks quite random!

5.

Herr Fengus

Then, we have here my little friend which showed up one morning during COVID-19 lock up in 2020, and then disappeared the next day. Well, in our garden some fungi like this show and disappear regularly (I guess they don't stay because of the water force over them). Anyway, shooting Herr Fengus was quite a challenge, because it was taken handheld and getting low. Even the focus here is not quite pinned correctly and I had to do some compromise with the f-number to let in more light. Originally, it was white-yellowish in color, but with post-processing, things flourished!

6.

Abhainn na gCuimhní Binne
(river of the sweet memories)

The next one came to me as a complete surprise. An old shot from Oughterard, Co. Galway, Ireland, which was shot with my old Canon 350D (my first Canon camera ever), back in 2009, during my first visit to Ireland ever. The scene here is quite random but I tried to make something out of it by color grading and dodging and burning here and there. Seems all that work (which I wasn't quite satisfied with) did pay off with being picked for the "Inspirational" section by YouPic. I remember some of these white spaces (the sky) needed some fixes and I'm guessing I've sorted this out by some patching work.

7.

In The Grace of The Cormac

In The Grace of The Cormac is an old panorama shot in my second visit to Ireland, in 2010, and this panorama was the beginning of a series of re-stitched panoramas done from RAW files without resorting to HDR techniques. Also, in this re-stitch of this panorama, I've included a human factor in the middle which I used to remove in the original (and I was lucky to have this lady photographer at the center). Using only RAW in stitching is not quite easy as I thought! The panorama is shot inside McCormac cathedral which forms a compound with Cashel Rock castle.
[Worth noting that this panorama particularly is available in large size for download and printing as a fine art piece from my MostPhotos profile].

8.

Il-Pixxina
(The Swimming Pool)

The next one in the series of re-stitched panoramas (from RAW) comes from the swimming pool of the place where I stayed in Qala, Malta. This panorama was shot twice back in 2015. My first trial wasn't successful and problematic because the light was changing quickly, so I tried to fix that the next day with another shoot with somewhat proper timing. This re-stitch, however, which is made from RAWs, was made from RAW files of the first trial (which I didn't delete). One element is missing from the original (2nd trial stitch done first) and that is the cat which posed for me in the scene!

9.

بَـهْـجَـةُ الـعـاصـِيْ
(Sinner's Delight)

As for #9, we have another re-stitched panorama from the old days when I was "able" somehow to go out on those cold winter nights to the seaside and do stuff with my camera. Like its original predecessor, the RAW-only re-stitched panorama was a challenge in terms of noise and details, as well as exposure. The title of this panorama can be understood in two ways depending on the perspective of the viewer; Looking at the city, this place can be the delight that the sinner is looking for, or considering the isolation from the city, this place can be the delight of repentance that the sinner is looking for.
[Worth noting that this panorama particularly is available in large size for download and printing as a fine art piece from my MostPhotos profile].

10.

يَـحْـمـورْ
(Redness)

The last one, came about as a surprise to me for various reasons. First, it had been a really long time since any of my images was marked as "inspirational" on YouPic. Secondly, the image is actually some neglected test shot done in the summer of 2012. I don't find anything special in this image, and here was the challenge in fact (for me) to create some interest by color-grading and other editing techniques. I'm still thinking, how come I didn't point my camera to the city on the left and take a shot there showing the reflection on water? To add more "strength" to the image (so to say) I've cropped it into a square and made sure that the horizon line is around the center of the image. 

Finale

Now, this is the post for this week. I'm not sure if I will post in 2 weeks time, but I do have some ideas cooking in my head which I hope that they would produce something to post about then.

One of the ideas that cook in my head is to pay tribute to the great Arab tenor whose songs I'm in love with: Sabah Fakhri صباح فخري. This great iconic marvel passed away from our mundane world on November 2nd; An event that poured melancholy into my life further, but c'est la vie. I've did few images back in 2016 probably trying to get some inspiration from the classical he sang on various occasions, but I think those weren't enough. More work need to be done in this aspect and I hope that my willpower is up to it.

By the time this is posted, I'm praying that my status with my workplace is finalized. I've spent the whole month of November without a salary because of that and I'm praying that it won't be another month without it. A question keeps popping up in my head now and then: What now after retirement, TJ? However, I'm trying to suppress my thoughts for the time being and just focus on the rubbish on my full plate with all these stuff related to the workplace and the papers here and there. But if I'm to be honest with myself, I really don't know what is my next step after retirement, except that I need to enjoy my life just a bit. Just a bit…
 

 

Na Deich…

This is a special blog post for this week. Some days ago, YouPic picked up my 10^th Inspirational image. And for this occasion, I've decided to make a story of some sort and post it on YouPic. I did that a week or two ago (as YouPic allows to post Stories, some sort of blog posts, for specific users only).
So, I've created a post with these 10 images and a short story for each one of them. Even though some more inspirational images were also picked by YouPic before I even make such a post on YouPic itself, but I didn't include these images that were added to the inspirational list after the 10^th image. In the following lines (next section) you will be reading the post that I've created for YouPic, and in addition to that, you can click each image title to head to YouPic website for that specific image.
So, I hope you are all safe (and home) and I hope this posts adds something to the boring time spent indoors (but it's a must after all!). Hopefully 2 weeks from now I'll be able to make a post about some of the images that I've worked on, and been working on. I leave you now with Na Deich (the ten).

Na Deich

Well, as I received or gained my first 10 inspirational images, as picked by the editors or admins, I thought of doing this "story" here talking about these 10 images and some background story behind them. I'll try to keep it as short as possible (fingers crossed!). Notice that after marking my 10th inspirational image, two or more images were marked as inspirational as well, but these won't be included in this list, as it is only dedicated to the first 10. Since I don't remember the order of picking as "inspirational," I've decided to go here with an alphabetical order based on the image title. So, I hope you like this post.

1. Cinematic Lady Nature 

Cinematic Lady Nature

This is one image in a series of shots that I've been training myself with to create a "cinematic" look, or what is commonly known as "cinematic photography". This is an old image in fact, shot back in 2010, in the garden of "Thornbrook House B&B" where I stayed in Cashel, Co. Tipperary, Ireland, when I visited Ireland for the second time. There were many beautiful settings in this garden and it was a subject for some panoramas as well. I was a beginner back then and even at that time I had more focus on panorama-making rather than single shots (and people know me mostly for my panorama work rather than single shots). Anyway, old shots (even those neglected before) are some good targets to work, for learning new techniques in editing, like this one. I've processed this image in various ways before and called it "Lady Nature," thus I've just "cinematic" to the title here. In processing the image (which involved a lot of work with colors), I've decided to sharpen the statue only and leave the rest with a dreamy look in hope to add some depth and dimension to it.

2. Enlightenment

Enlightenment

This is a full panorama (or equirectangular panorama), encompassing 360 degrees horizontally and 180 degrees (almost) vertically. This panorama was shot inside the Chinese temple in the Scholars Garden of Staten Island, NY. I was visiting the state to meet some online friends back in 2012. Two major things that gave me a headache here: The strong highlight (meaning wider dynamic range) and centering the tripod. Despite the fact that I shoot most of my panoramas by bracketing and then merge the images into a single HDR panorama, yet, the dynamic range here was problematic as I didn't set up the range of the bracketing correctly. Good thing that some details can be observed still through the door, in the outside, but the sky should have been blue in fact. Centering the tripod for panoramas is quite essential if the place bears some symmetry like this one; And of course, I always screw that up. Few centimeters off, and you will be spending hours in Photoshop trying to balance and restore the symmetry of the place. Which I did here, though I'm not sure it is perfect still.

3. Good Morning Kuwait VIII

Good Morning Kuwait VIII

This image dates back to the time when I was more "capable" of going out alone in winter nights and shoot. The shot was taken right after I've finished working on a panorama at that spot; A spot that I've been checking for 3 months to plan for the shoot. This spot specifically was down at the beach and the only way to it was to get down some rocky slope (artificial) and to do that in the dark, with Retinitis Pigmentosa, is a great risk. Also, I had to wait for a proper time since this spot gets covered with water at high tide time, and because of that as well, I had to work as fast as I could working on the panorama to avoid the next high tide time, and the sunrise. I've finished the panorama just in time and the sun started to rise few minutes after I've finished. So, I hated to leave the place without shooting a "memorial shot" here. This shot was also printed and sent as a gift to a friend in the US. As for the title, this is the 8th image in a series of images I've taken in the morning here in Kuwait over a span of some years, and this just happened to be the 8th.

4. Greenery Lines

Greenery Lines

I remember this shot back in 2012, some weeks after coming back from my vacation in Staten Island, NY. I was then a member in a photography group and we managed to go to some mall (the Sharg Mall, a.k.a. Souk Sharg) after getting a permit. Having a permit here is somewhat hard if you are not a well-known personality or something. So, I didn't want to miss the chance. The first thing I did was to shoot a panorama inside the mall, and then headed outside trying to find some targets. This building was on the other side of the street and just behind the marina. It was under construction back then, and little did I know back then, that this building is the new headquarter for the Central Bank of Kuwait. The original shot underwent a critical work of cropping and perspective fixes to get it in this shape.

5. L-Orizzont

L=Orizzont

This is probably one of my most beloved shots. A short panorama done with a telephoto lens (Sigma 70-300mm) from the roof of Dar ta' Żebbi B&B where I was staying in the town of Qala on Gozo island, Malta. It was my last evening there as I had to leave the next day and the owners allowed me to go to the roof. I have to say it is such a magnificent view full of magnificent details. My aim was to capture the sun setting behind the church or chapel but I was not lucky (such shots need planning). The church is supposedly in the next town, either Xewkija or Nadur, but some followers on Instagram saw other images I've shot from that angle and said it is Xewkija. Originally, this panorama was wider, and colorful after tone-mapping from HDR (it had some blue tints in it as well). However, I've made another version which is seen here. I'm proud to say that I've even printed this panorama and submitted it as a gift myself to the Maltese embassy in Kuwait, and they called back to thank me. Originally, the title was "Nżul ix-xemx fuq Xewkija" (sunset over Xewkija) but I had to change the title in order to submit the photo to some contests.

6. Nox Salmiyah

Nox Salmiyah

Just for the records, Salmiyah (or Salmiya) is a city (or an area as we call it) which is mostly commercial by nature. The city overlooks the sea and probably famous for its corniche or plage road which goes up to the capital passing through the eastern coastal line of the country. At this spot many fast food chains reside and I think in this panorama Burger King shows up. It was my first nocturnal panorama ever, done back in 2012. I still remember that cold winter night. I was wearing 3 layers of clothes and because of my bad calculations and estimations, the water level started to rise as I was working and covered my feet completely. The panorama finished in around 2 hours, and the first thing I've done after finishing was to turn on the heater inside the car and point it downward to warm my feet up. This didn't stop me from doing another one later, though. The shoot was done in ISO 800; quite high for my cropped sensor. Thus, tone-mapping and processing this panorama was somewhat of a hurdle. Some stars did show in the dark night sky despite the city light (I did realize some patterns) but they got mixed with the digital noise in the image. Thus, when I tried to clean the noise, many stars were washed away as they were identified as noise grains.

7. The Multi-Tasker

The Multi-Tasker

I have to admit here that I wished I've named this shot "Houdini." This shot (and some others in the series) were made during a mood swing merged with boredom. I had a rest on my recliner and placed the camera in front of me with the a speedlite on its top (580EXII) and started to test the stroboscopic or multi function. I was trying to find some idea to do and shoot using this particular function in the speedlite, beside studying the relationship between the shutter speed, the number of flashes, and the frequency of flashes. I was continuously making shots moving my hands in front of my face or covering my face in a peek-a-boo movement. When I checked the images on my computer, the movement of the fingers looked mesmerizing, despite not being exactly the shape I wanted (I was aiming for symmetry). However, the background was problematic with details. Luckily, my wall is green, so I converted the whole image (and the rest in the series) to B&W and worked on hiding the details in the background by toning down the green tones and other colors. However, a special treatment for the eyes was required; I had to convert them into B&W separately to keep them glowing as they are in the color version (somewhat), because toning down the Red and Yellow tones turned the skin dark as I wished but it affected my brown eyes as well.

8. Toothache

Toothache

Never, ever, in my dreams, did I imagine such a quick selfie shot with a mobile would gain popularity on YouPic, and on Instagram and Facebook as well. It was a hard time for me when I shot this, as I had some nerves issues in my gum. I've covered my mouth with this scarf and shot a selfie merely to be posted on Facebook. I'm not an addict of selfies but I do like to take self-portraits, and I have to say, the easiness in which a smartphone is used is seductive somewhat. After loading the image onto my computer I spent quite a time to process it and convert it to B&W. The highlights and shadows had to be re-built (if I can say so), and the noise or grain level was quite high (and still). Shot with Huawei Mate 9, which is at the time of shooting this self-portrait, was indeed an "old" mobile.

9. Upper Ways

Upper Ways

This shot was taken at the "360 Mall" here in Kuwait; And I have to say that I really, really, hate this place. I don't find anything interesting about its architecture, but yet here is one that apparently people liked a picture of. I shot this after doing a panorama there in the early morning hours before visitors would come in (and yet some people were already doing their "daily" walking routine there!). After finishing the panorama, I didn't want to just leave. Thus, I've made this shot with my then-new modified camera for full spectrum shooting. I shot this using Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens, which is completely manual and has no pocket for for infrared gels or filters at the back or front. I had to fit the infrared gel filter to its back through some grooves in the lens' back. I've placed the camera on the ground and raised the front of the lens using my mobile or some other object and made the shot. I think it was a bracketed shot but I didn't merge it for HDR and rather used only this single exposure after all.

10. Xemx ta' Qala

Xemx Ta' Qala

Another shot from Qala, in Gozo island, Malta, which I've visited only once, in 2015. Visiting Malta was tricky a bit since I'm used to a certain system in my visit to Ireland (3 times), which involve a lot of walking and taking pictures along the way, but this system was challenging with the terrain and with the ups and downs of the narrow roads of Qala. Thus, I usually don't wander far away from the B&B to take pictures, but it was that day that I've decided to really take the leap and wander off towards the seaside of the town. One thing captured my eyes there is the "fields" of cacti. Cacti is really a crop in Malta and not just some random plant growing here and there. I've took some shots at this location, through some broken brick wall I remember and I've lowered the camera down to the ground level. Made some horizontal shots but I didn't like the feel of it so I took some vertical ones, and I had no plans ahead that the sun would be in that position. Bracketed shots were taken and then HDR work had to be done of course. This image was subjected to some critique when I was a member in a photography group and I was asked to remove the sun to keep the focus on the raising cactus on the ground. However, when submitting this image elsewhere, and on YouPic of course, I didn't want to remove the sun because I always imagined the cacti on the ground making a leading line towards the sun in the sky. However, it might appear that there is a contrast and a distracting attention-seeking between the cacti and the sun. Nevertheless, I'm absolutely happy with this shot (and happy that I didn't get any thorns!)

That's it for now folks! I hope these stories added something useful or at least been amusing to read, specially under the current situation and circumstances of self-quarantine and home-stay. I'd love to give my appreciation and gratitude to all of you who appreciated my art, either by liking, sharing, commenting or starring. Thank you.

Full of Selfies…

With all that craze about COVID19 already, things are being idle here, like most of the world I guess. However, it is just such a good time for an introvert like me! What was supposed to be a short holiday of 5 days for the Independence and Liberation Day, stretched over now and to be a month and some days more.
Meanwhile, I'm here working with my camera at ease and trying to find new ideas, inside the house of course, as I would do usually. On the other hand, sleeping as much as possible. The progress is slow though but who cares? I don't have to wake up in the morning to do the damn fingerprint attendance anymore now. I miss doing panoramas though.
On another occasion, I've been working on some "projects" which I've started before the current crisis, and I consider these projects like an "open" projects; Meaning, there is no final goal to them or anything but I would think about shooting these ideas now and then.
This week and in this post, I'm going to talk about one of these projects which probably I didn't mention anything about before in this blog, and that is Shooting specular. What I mean by that is, using specular (unmodified) light from the speedlites to shoot, and of course the target is myself; i.e. a selfie.

Specularis

It is strange that the word Specular is not identified by many dictionaries as a valid word! It feels kind of annoying to type this blog post and finding the word marked with a red line as if there is a spelling mistake!
Anyway, as I've explained above, a specular light is a light that does not undergo any changes or modifications (diffusing specially) to enhance its qualities and take a better control of it. It is common and typical to use diffused light to shoot almost anything, from product to portraits or even scenes outdoors. However, I was inspired by a photographer which I've encountered online (unfortunately, the name escapes me but I think her last name was Adler). This photographer did some amazing portraiture shots using specular lights. Thus, I though, why not try out to do some myself as a form of challenge. Of course, the only portrait I can take is of myself here, and maybe if he got some time, it would be of my brother; My typical model.

Void

First try of these "specular" selfies, was done with one speedlite. Because I don't have the means to suspend the speedlite right on the top of me, the speedlite was a pointing to my face with some angle, but I tried to make it pointing downward as much as possible. The idea was to light the protruding parts of the face and keep the hollow spaces, like the eyes and the open mouth, dark. After some trials, I realize that at the current situation this might not be possible without using Photoshop after all, which I did. The areas that needed the "surgery" here are mainly the eyes and the mouth, with some burning to keep them black or dark as much as possible. The image after all was also cropped to focus on the face only, and converted to B&W with a gentle tint. I think I can call it luck that while shooting Void some dust or maybe some flare from the speedlite itself caused some sparkles which I didn't notice until I started to process the image. I'm not completely satisfied with Void to be honest but it was one try from a somewhat long running project.

A Specular Selfie

Then, I had another try and it was a simple one but with a twist. Or, well, two twists let's say. It is the typical on-camera selfie shot with produces these bright selfies with dark background like beginners or amateurs portrait shots using on-camera flash, but the speedlite on the camera was fit with a honeycomb grid to concentrate the beam on the face, plus 2 speedlites were put at the back bouncing them off the white wall and thus removing any shadows at the back. I love taking selfies with hoodies; I'm not sure why but I just do! However, there was still some Photoshop work needed with this A Specular Selfie. Cropping, adding more fill to the shades or dark areas of the image to get some details out of the hair. However, this was not the end for this selfie, as more interesting stuff had to be done!

The Gothic Selfie

Typically, when I see bright eyes in an image (of me or of others), I'd think of converting the shot to B&W to give it a dramatic twist, specially if the bright shining eyes were combined with a darker tone for the skin. To my surprise though, when I did that to this selfie, The Gothic Selfie just happened to appear! Well, maybe with some adjustments here and there but the general look was pointing to something "gothic" - or least this is what I think; I don't know much about these look-styles. And wait for it, please. There is more to come out of this selfie too!

Luminosity

This one is the last in this mini-series; I promise. The 3^rd selfie, Luminosity, is a combination of the Gothic and the original, blending them together using the, you guessed it, Luminosity blending mood in Photoshop. The look is quite intriguing I guess that I might consider such option in the future when I work with other photos. It is like adding drama using B&W method but then adding colors to it to make it a dramatic colored image. I did try this method indeed in the next shot as we shall see.
The next idea was a fun one to do, and a quick one (despite the many, many, test shots). What I mean by quick here is the fact that I didn't need any special setting or preparations for the speedlites or the camera. Well, just the camera on a tripod.

Abducted

Honestly, I was not really sure what I was doing here. But the scene appeared as if I was being abducted by some aliens, so I went on that title. In this setup, I've simply held two 430EXII speedlites in my hands on the sides near my face (on low power).Never underestimate the power of low power! There is a lot of drama that can be extracted in portraits by using low power in speedlites or strobes. The white orbs around my head here are the ceiling's fixtures with LED lights and I had to clone one spot here to make the pattern symmetrical. In fact, this pattern is what inspired me to name the image Abducted. As for the facial expression, I was not really sure what to do with my face but I just did it and things kind of complimented each other. Now, without jumping to the B&W version of this image, which looks ordinary to me in fact, I've applied the Luminosity method here and the result was appealing to me as well.

Abducted (lum)

One of the issues that I was not sure of when processing Abducted, is the matter of the skin tone as I couldn't really decide whether it is normal to be so, or it is too bright. I did put the tones down a bit for the skin but with the Luminosity method, things went down drastically when it comes to the skin; Looks like I've had a tan already! Combing this with bright shining eyes and you have a dramatic, contrasty, version of the image; Even more dramatic than the original.

Now, these selfies were kind of successive (sort of) and one idea followed the other. Sometimes I just get lazy and work few days later but the idea is there. But things got a turn here as I was thinking of changing the "modus operandi" for how I work with the speedlite. In the previous selfies, the speedlite was on top, front, and on the sides. So, it was time to put it under. I usually avoid this position under normal conditions because it is a mark for some horror look or movies. Well, I just got the idea for that!

Coronal Attitude

Despite Sickness
Shot with Huawei Mate 9
Edited with PS.

In Coronal Attitude, I was not sure what I'm doing here but all I wanted is to keep the speedlite down there. Despite its simplicity, this shot took a lot of time in processing. I was fluctuating in editing between what I usually or conventionally do, and editing trying to achieve that cinematic look. One point that I really, really, hated here is the highlight on the nose tip which looks like banding. I tried to fix this in various ways but nothing seems to work! Guess it's how my nose works! Another point here is the color of the face mask in my hand, which I was reluctant about; Should I keep it saturated or desaturate it? I chose to desaturate it a little (originally it was saturated more than the image shows here). I would be lying if I said that I don't like shooting with a mask on my face really. Not sure why, but I think they add some kind of mystery to the whole image and character. In fact, I did take a lot of selfies with the mask even back in January with my mobile. Back then I was sick actually with the usual cold and to protect Mom and others, I would be walking around with the mask; That was even before the outbreak and the spread of the COVID-19 worldwide and reaching here already (which happened around the last week of February). I just loved that morning light through the balcony.

They Are Gone

And along the way with the craze and the fuss about the virus, things got sad even further at home actually with the departure of one of my uncles. Even though I didn't bound much with him but I felt very bad inside specially that he suffered in his last years from various issues that doctors simply couldn't diagnose or realize. He was simply unconscious to what is happening around him until one morning, we got the news of his departure in the hospital. He is relieved now from this mundane world and its pains and silly people. Combining these sad feelings inside me and the stressful news about that virus made me shoot They Are Gone, which is in some way an appreciation message to those who work day and night taking care of things; Patients, tests, keeping things going in essential positions in the state and so on. Some of these people are at the risk of losing their lives doing their jobs to keep OUR lives going. If you are reading this, please show them some appreciation.
Now, back to the technical part about They Are Gone, you might ask what this shot has to do with specular light; Apparently it is taken with natural light (which is in a sense specular by the way, but we are speaking about flash specular light here). The fact is, I did use the on-camera flash here to lighten the shadows a bit on the lower part of the body. Not the big speedlite I mean, but that tiny almost-useless flash on-camera. For such situations, it does nice job I guess and I didn't want to complicate the shot more than that; Just a camera, a tripod and the cable remote. The hassle with it though was in the angle and the distance which looking at it now actually still makes me uncomfortable a bit. Despite the lighting being good somewhat it still needed some extra work in post-processing because in that phase changing one factor would change something else and the whole thing reacts like a chain-reaction and thus the quality of the light has to be adjusted again and again. The main work was to soften the image and (ironically) diffuse the light from the window digitally giving a dreamy look or a glamor look.

The Cane

And just before finishing this post, this is one last shot which I thought of just before the departure of February, the Retinitis Pigmentosa Awareness Month. Specular light was in use here as well and directed from the side of the face. I was lucky that the cane, despite its thickness, did a great job on blocking the light from the other side of the face just as I planned. I think also placing the speedlite a bit backward relative to the side of the face helped greatly with this and made the image split into 2; Light, and Dark. However, the main plan was to make a B&W image (thought I added slight tones to it) but the thing is, the red patch of the cane is not supposed to be visible anyway (and it isn't really in the original colored version). The major work in post-processing here though was on the eye, mainly with the dodge and burn tool (or something similar to that in fact).

Now, there are some plans or ideas cooking at the back of my head but there is one critical question that I'm still trying to find an answer for and that is: Would putting obstacles (not diffusers) in the light direction count as "modifying" a specular light? Logically it isn't but would be merely re-directing the light. Yet, I can't get over-obsessed with the idea and that sense of challenge when talking about specular lights as something to take it as it is and not touch it. But I'm there; Hopefully I'll get over that idea with some light "modifiers" that do not diffuse. Meanwhile, I'm working on some modifiers that diffuse the light too but we'll see. Been ages since I completed that project anyway!

Finale

Well, I hope everyone is OK and taking good care of themselves under these circumstances. For this blog, there had been numerous visits from Italy according to what I see in the statistics related to this blog, and that is before the crisis and lockdown. I hope, and I pray, that things will ease down soon specially with some good news arriving daily at the moment of typing this blog.
For someone as introvert as me, the situation didn't change much as I'm staying home most of the time, but the big stress here is caring for the health of those around me, specially my mother with her health issues which makes me close to having OCD over the health issues and cleanness.
On the artistic plane, there had been much work going on old and new images and hopefully I'll have the time to make a post about these in time, and as I'm typing this, the idea of making a new Arabic post for my other blog tickles my mind already, as I didn't make a post for that blog in some long time now. Also, on this plane, just one or two hours before finalizing this post, I've received a notification about one of my newly-added images on YouPic website which was marked as Inspirational by the admins of the website. That means more publicity for this particular image and apparently it has some interesting elements to it. This further even gives me an idea of creating a separate post about the 10 images been marked so far on YouPic and some story about them. We'll see about that.
Now, under these circumstances, the ideas are coming to me even stronger than before about trying to do something at home; Working at home, even though till this very moment of typing this, I couldn't reach a conclusion of how to do this or what to do even. But I have to say that under such circumstances I am blessed to be where am I already.

Cinematic Lady Nature
10^th Image to be marked as "Inspirational" on YouPic.

Mowaššaħiration!

Woah! What a relief! After passing more than half of Ramadhan going to work everyday, I am now relieved as I did start my little vacation for the last 10 days of the month of Ramadhan, which will be followed of course by Eid Al-Fitr (i.e. the feast). So we have here some good 2 weeks or a bit more even which I'm trying to fill it with everything I can grab; Sleeping, camera work, sleeping, gaming, sleeping, and of course typing something for this blog - Too bad I can't find any room for my conlanging activities though. Yet, I'm still posting weekly on my Ayvarith's Instagram page (every Friday), but honestly, I do miss working with the rest of the conlangs and scripts that I've used to create. I think though that it is a good thing to focus on one conlang for some time to develop it further. Anyway, as the time goes by, I'm slowly setting up my camera and working with the sky (no results so far) as well as doing some of the projects that I've been planning to do for a long time now.

Mowaššaħ-ired

Well, a fancy subtitle, parallel to "inspired." If the reader is not familiar with what "Mowaššaħ" is, well it is just a form of singing that developed and made popular in Andalusia during the Islamic/Arabian rule over the Iberian peninsula. I'm a fan of this folk art in general, specially when such songs are performed by Sabah Fakhri [صباح فخري].
One of these songs (or Mowaššaħát) sparked in me the idea of some photo that I wanted to perform for some time now (months in fact), and it took me a while to get that mood to work with it and even to decide about the look that I wanted. To be honest, I didn't decide about the look that I wanted UNTIL I've started setting up the lights and camera! But first, let me get you into the mood with me in this, with the Mowaššaħ itself:



I hope the recording is good enough though. Most of these recordings date back to the 90s and before. I think it is also proper to put the lyrics down so it would reflect on the image later on as I go through its details:

I Yearn with eagerness to some lands - Where in I've seen the beauty of Salma

I've drank therein intoxicated water - From the hand of the cold drink bearer

The inspiration here comes from the first verse of the first line only. Even though, personally, listening to this music time after time gets me somewhat in an intoxicated mood. As I've mentioned before, I didn't really realize how would go about preparing or shooting this one, but I had 2 major images in my head: a globe, and a face (my face of course since I have no one to help and because it reflects something in me).

أحن شوقاً
Yearn with Eagerness

As I started putting the gear in another room to try and figure out what to do, I realized then that I would be sitting looking at this globe miniature. However, I wanted movement, and that yields that I must use a slow shutter, and a slow shutter yields the fact that I drag the shutter (or use the 2nd-curtain sync mode). Ridiculously, this option cannot be activated with my speedlites UNLESS the speedlite is connected to the camera AND no wireless option is turned on. Unlike the HSS mode (i.e. high-speed mode), where I can connect a speedlite to the camera and control another speedlite via wireless to shoot in HSS, this is not the case with 2nd-curtain sync. For those who do not really know what is 2nd-curtain sync: If you take a regular shot using a speedlite for a moving object with a relatively slow shutter speed, the movement would appear backward, and hence the 2nd-curtain option would be required to trigger the flash JUST before closing the shutter at the end of the exposure (of course we are talking here in terms of milli- and microseconds). Why would I need it for the globe? Well, I was turning this by hand and if the speedlite was triggered at the beginning of the exposure, my hand could be there obscuring the view (because the speedlite light would freeze the motion at the moment it strikes the body while the shutter is open). However, trying hard to make it all in a single shot, my trials were in vain. The globe itself didn't even budge with an air blower! I could move it by hand, but it was hard to move it with air, however strong it was (almost flipped the miniature itself but the globe itself didn't move!). So, it was time to break it down to chunks, and collect them together in post-processing.

The first chunk was to record the globe as it rotates separately, and then shoot myself for another chunk and merge the two. That also didn't work because the motion blur of the globe was not so obvious; I was using the ambient and flash light together here (and even used ND filter but then removed it) to fix the situation, but probably the shutter speed should have been a bit faster? slower? I really couldn't say. So, I ended up shooting several shots for the globe on various positions and then simply blending them together in post-process, in hope that that would give out a motion sense! Looking at it now, I don't think it is so though, except, maybe, for some apparent shake on the edges of the sphere (in the full size image) which mark some motion is there. This shake, I believe, is not a real motion shake, but merely an artifact from overlapping various frames; I believe.

100% Crop for one side of the globe in the original image.
Click to enlarge.

Left to say, I've tried to add some "dreamy" look to the whole image in post-processing (using specific techniques in editing). I would be using the Clarity slider if it was one image only, but with such a blend, it would be hard kind of balance all together across the frames. I did in fact use the Clarity slider for one frame, and that's the one including me, to reduce the rigidness of my face! After finishing the whole blend, I've added a golden tint to the whole image; Something which I've tried to introduce using the white balance in-camera but it didn't work quite well (the effect was hard to notice so to say).

Finale

Here we go; One project down and some few others left! And I need to work around them ASAP before my vacation is over and be back to the daily routine the fatigue. In fact, I wanted to talk about another image which I've created this week in this blog post, but I've preferred to keep it for another post (otherwise this thing would be way too long here!).
Meanwhile, I'm trying to have the time with myself, isolating myself from the rest of the world because apparently I'm not on the same page as the world is. It's hard to explain or maybe it is hard for ME to explain but it is like the feeling how you feel when you think about something being a complete waste of time and effort, and no use in trying to fix it. This is close to what I feel in the current days. The thought of resigning and just get some time for myself is a frequent visitor to my mind, but yet I do realize the serious consequences of such decision. And this is what keeps me walking; Just walking…
Well, for the time being, let me just get rid of those ideas that I'm bound to work with my camera for the time being, and let's hope I do catch something interesting in the sky other than the simple stars that I usually catch now... now that would be such a great breakthrough!

Another boring "deep sky" shot (stack of shots in fact) with lot of artifacts.
Shot on May 28^th, using Hα filter (converted to B&W).

I Progetti…

Weather getting colder here, with some rains; A time to rejoice. The only thing I'm hating about this is the traffic jams. They are there all the time in this place of course, but with a tiny spit of rain and the whole scene turns like if it is a snowstorm in Siberia. I quite realize the need to drive safely but no need to create a "soap opera" about it. Such conditions, specially at night, tend to put more pressure on my vision as it seems. Let's see if we are able to go out and shoot at late nights as in the old days during this winter. Though, thinking about it, I really can't think of a proper place that would deserve my attention right now. Most of my projects and inspirations are done indoors, and specifically my home, and with my body being split between work, traffic jams, and home, I really started to hate the idea of driving just to do a shoot. Unless it's for money of course. Meanwhile, I'll keep trying to do my thing with my own head and my own ideas with little projects…

Let's Play

I've done a session about 2 or 3 weeks ago with my brother doing the preacher gesture. Out of 8 or 9 shots, I've settled with 2 shots mainly that were relatively good. I've discussed these in the previous post anyway if you like to read about it. However, I've decided to take this one step further with a little edit.

Due del Predicatore

Due del Predicatore (Two of Preacher) is formed by one of these shots done previously, with duplicating the image and rotating it. Some delicate masking work was involved here as well. It was an experiment just to see how it would look like, but this experiment did trigger something else. An idea.
This idea is still waiting to be completed, but I've managed to put a plan or a general view for it by writing them down, and all I need now is some props, and a model. As usual, I might need the services of my poor brother again!
The idea is about creating a set of Scopa game cards, but in images; Real ones. Thus, I will need some disks or coins for real, swords or knives, for real, and many other things that I'm still not sure how I will be getting those.

Notes and plans for the next project.

In a nutshell, I'm supposed to end up with 40 images, one for each type of cards in the Scopa game. Sounds too much work, and I think it is indeed, but I think simplifying things further would help on quickening the process. For example, I'm set on using a single speedlite for all images and probably I would be using the globe diffuser on it for most of the shots. I've decided also that all shots should be with my modified camera and using the infrared filter (B+W 092), but later on, the images would be converted to B&W completely, and maybe with some reduced contrast like in the case of Due del Predicatore. I think the lighting should be dramatic, but with some sense of mystery, and I believe nothing mimics the feeling of mystery better than the gray tones. In Scopa, the "faces" cards, or cards with human figures are three: Donna, Cavallo, and Re (queen, horse, and king respectively). I'm planning to keep the shooting for these cards to the end since they require a full body shot, and it would be nice to have various figures instead of working, again, with my brother alone. Thus, for the time being, I might get on working with the "normal" cards. There is a problem with the Donna though, as I don't think I will be able to get a female figure to help me here (not ready to pay for a model, pardon me), so a little research here revealed that in some Italian versions of the game, the Donna is called "Fante" instead; soldier, or foot soldier, and sometimes this would be translated into English as "The Knave." So, there are other routes around this problem I guess; we'll see.
Lens-wise, there will not be a single lens to work as I might range my shots from macro to normal, but I believe the work won't be out of 3 main lenses I have: 20mm Voigtländer, 50mm Canon, and 100mm Macro Canon. The last one though seems to be acting weird lately so I might use extension tubes if I have to with my 50mm lens. For a beginning, I'm already planning on setting the aperture to f/11, always. Talk about more flash power! There is some thought ahead about how to represent this set (and how to upload it to stock if it is feasible to be sold like that) but such thoughts are kept for later in the meantime, and it's important to get it done first. Till the time to complete this comes, I need to get busy with another simple project that I've decided to do and might post about it later!

An Taobh Níos Dorcha

"The Darker Side," this is what the title is about. However, to be honest, this idea was not the core of this shooting session with myself, but rather the idea was completely stemming from a technical aspect, and a desire to create something that would be suitable with the Swipe property on Instagram. In other words, an image made specifically for Instagram in the first place. There was nothing to think of, naturally, except of my face. Beside the fact that selfies on Instagram seldom appear as slides to swipe through; it's either regular shots in a slideshow or a panorama (which I post regularly on Instagram). Thus, a selfie sounded the perfect idea!

The set (and mess) for this little project.

The idea of "the darker side" of the personality sounded cliché to me. I think the idea had been used since early sci-fi times, but thinking about it, I really couldn't think of anything better to put to proper use with this shoot. However, I was already planning to do this using some Photoshop editing, since I can't make myself look like a wolf or something on location, specially with such sensitive shooting!
As can be seen here with the set, I've placed 2 white paper boards or sheets of cardboard behind the camera with one speedlite pointing to one of them. The idea was to give an effect of two speedlites with the power of one higher than the other, all that using just a single speedlite (which kind of worked here after a struggle with the settings, and the power supply!). The shoot is pretty sensitive because I have to stay still in front of the lens without moving a muscle, except of changing my facial expressions from angelic, to demonic! Of course, my old portable monitor had been put to some good use here. Since I wanted some "dramatic" look and unusual ones, it was natural to think of shooting infrared again. I didn't want to deprive the image of colors this time, since I believe colors here, the slight addition of them, makes greater impact on the viewer. I'll save the B&W when it comes to absolute facial expressions and skin wrinkles!

The Joker Side of The TJ

The work is to take 2 shots, as stable as possible, in the same position as much as possible. Thus, it requires high shutter speed, but indoors, however, the sync speed (1/250s) is just enough to dim the surrounding. You can see or imagine part of the mess that my room is if you checked the set above, thus it was important to dim my surroundings, or in other words, kill the ambient light. I mentioned above that I used a single speedlite reflecting it off 2 boards in V-shape to mimic the effect of 2 speedlites, one more powerful than the other. After mingling with some settings I've created the effect needed but it appeared in reverse order: left of the picture is darker. I have to admit though, the monitor kind of tricked me into believing that the test shots were properly lit (I didn't check the histogram) and when it was the time to process the RAW files, I had to pump the Exposure drastically. There was a trial also to use a second speedlite (430EX II) to add light to the hair somehow, but I've neglected the idea and I'm glad I did so!
Because of the way that Instagram slides work (swiping to the left) and I want to show the "angelic" side first, I had to reverse the image and go on with my work. The rest was some Liquify tool job with some masks to complete the demonic figure on the right. There is some tiny work that had to be done to the size of the image as well since I need to divide it to two equal parts, and hence The Joker Side of The TJ appears in somewhat panoramic ratio.

A post shared by TJ.Photography (@tj_q8) on Nov 13, 2017 at 6:17pm PST

On Instagram, it seems that many people liked the idea and considered it something new. This is encouraging to think of something similar, to be going around the various options that Instagram offers like the Swipe option here. It is an open door to surrealism. Nevertheless, I do wish if Instagram enables or do something about 360 images which might make my life a bit easier. However, this swipe display on Instagram does indeed spark for me some ideas about displaying the images in a special way physically, when the time allows for that. Anyway, the idea is still not concrete and I'm trying to focus on other projects right now.

Saved By PS

I've talked before about doingsome product photo shoot for my nephew and his Rubik cubes (though cubes is not a precise term for that anymore). Since I do not own a dedicated product photography gear (e.g. a tent or light cube), I usually try to improvise, and discover as well.

On two occasions, I've used a white themed set, something close to high-key environment to shoot such products, specially that most of them are contained in white. In all these occasions though, the plastic or acrylic piece underneath was the main problem. It did provide some reflections nicely, but it showed a seam line behind the products. Though I used this seam to fix the horizon tilt, but that doesn't work all the time and not necessarily correct. Quite a considerable time was spent to eliminate and do a surgery to remove this line in Photoshop. What came after, made this a child's play.

On the third occasion, I tried to change my approach and headed to use black themed set; Not close to low-key though as I'm supposed to use more than one speedlite here in various directions. I tried to keep it simple as well, but that didn't work out unfortunately, and I had to go for the plastic sheet for reflections again, as the look was flat and quite simple (in looks that is). Despite moving the speedlite off-center and away from the camera but it did make the image look flat (and I used a bit of on-camera flash to fill the front). Generally speaking, something was missing and I was working in a haste. Anyway, I had other things to finish, so I uploaded these images and showed them to my nephew who was pleased about them but he is no artist - I told him that I was in a haste as I didn't want to keep him waiting for more than week but he said it's fine to wait. Thus, I went through another trial and this time using the plastic sheet underneath for some reflections, but again, problems happened!

To begin with, I had to change the viewing angle (or camera angle that is) and lower it further. I think that way is more interesting to look at than a typical view from the top. After shooting few trials, it was obvious that speedlites are not doing any good for me here in this situation with much flare and unwanted stray lights and even shadows. Thus, I've decided to go ambient and it proved to be quicker in terms of the workflow, and reliable. I think I fell a victim to what Syl Arena described in one of his books as: the eagerness to create light and forgetting the available possibilities. Meaning, the ambient light can be good enough, but still you might try hard (and waste time) to create an interesting light thinking that a good look is only achievable by external lighting, or modified lighting that is. This is wrong, and probably I should have considered the ambient light from the very beginning of the whole thing.
Another problem prevailed though, and it is a lesson for me to learn: Black is quite sensitive to dirt. While shooting on white, dust particles can get overwhelmed by light and eventually disappear from the scene, or almost. However, with black set, the situation was drastic (specially that I didn't wipe the plastic sheet before the work) and that pushed me to work my fingers around with Photoshop again to save the situation and this time using Lens Blur for the lower part of the set, i.e. the reflections. This created a diffused reflection, almost close to reality as if some "matte" material was been used for reflections, and eliminating the dust particles that were spread all over the place. It was then a work for Layer Masks with a delicate brush to specify the areas where it should prevail and where it should be hidden. Gaussian Blur on the other hand would have made quite a mess, so it is better to avoid it in such situations.

I was lucky though with some shots that the dust was not quite spread over the place so a tiny work of cloning or spot healing was just enough to clean the image. However, since the whole process here was shot using my 100mm macro lens (from a distance), I did notice some weird softness in the images despite using high f-number (f/16 here). I'm not quite sure here, is it something has to do with the nature of the lens or indeed my lens is malfunctioning. If it is malfunctioning, then why? Is it fixable? I'm not sure. But sure thing that I have to think of my 100mm lens as my last resort when it comes to normal shooting that is. As for the images, the softness do not have a great impact since they will be used on Instagram in a small size after all, and that will suffice anyway. Now, is it the time to get proper product photography gear? Maybe... specially with this acrylic or plastic piece causing a problematic seam sometimes. I need to finish some stuff first…

Finale

Well, at the moment my mind is racing through to go through some of these projects I've described above and I'm already tired of looking for props. I've at least shot a single shot for the "Scopa" project at the time of typing this. However, I need to be faster, and I must get some proper props ASAP!
On the other hand, I was hoping of getting one image done at least from another project in my mind, inspired by another (folk) Arabic song of Sabah Fakhri [صباح فخري] which involves a globe miniature. All I need to do is shoot just a single picture, but it requires some work with the lighting I presume which would make the process long. Anyhow, I didn't find the proper place I need to shoot it so the whole thing is postponed till I can think of something or some place to do it. That's why I switched to the Scopa project instead and done at least one image from whatever prop I have available at hand.
Meanwhile, I'll keep dreaming about being outside enjoying my time away from the fuss in this mess of a country. I'm getting to the point of being cold, senseless, and careless; careless to the point of not judging my actions or what I say sometimes. We have a bit longer weekend coming by next week, let's see if I can put that to some good use... doubt it.