Playgrounds in My Mind...

Just decided to go on and write some words in my blog since I don't seem to be able to concentrate my words into a poem. Words come and words go but I just don't understand anything. I can't type or write anything. I hate this when it happens. Been fluctuating now and then between various songs for Phil Collins that hit to the core of the heart, and then change to Black Eyes Peas for some breathing away from my melancholy. Yet in all that process, the words don't stick together to allow me to write something, nor my daydreaming stops. In fact, I feel that my daydreaming is blocking the string of words from being complete and hence I'm jammed. However I try to write something, my pulses go passionate, always. I don't want to write another love story, and I'm afraid if I let go of my imagination and write something about my life or world, I would be going wild and violent. Not a pleasant picture if you ask me. Not for me. I'm not a rapper after all!
I think I need someone to aid me on completing the words or the sentences I make. Yet, this is somehow, a far away solution. 

An interesting experience though, that when I worked with my camera for some time now, and work on concentrating on my pictures (processing and so on), I tend somehow to lose myself into it, and forget about all the vivid images or daydreams that I've been into. I know that occupying your mind with something might help already but, till when? I don't work with my camera all the time. I barely took some snaps in the past few days even, and all of them were in a hurry, being afraid of any cops, or security people.
One of these shots were taken beside the shopping center where I usually pick up my breakfast every morning...

The Giant Chessboard.

To tell the truth, this is not the view that I wanted to achieve. However, the light is nice in early morning just like that. That's why I like winter more than summer, well, along with other reasons. I used my 15mm fisheye lens here, but maybe I should have used the 55-200mm instead (which I did the next day). I wanted this to be taken from some elevated point as in a bird's eye view, but unfortunately, this is hard to be done in that location specially with all security people being around the place and you just don't know when they might catch you in. I left the lamp post o nte right side as it is, just not to make the sky all plain an dull. To take this image I was turning on the camera (and it goes into sleep-mode automatically after one minute or two) and left it in the car as I went inside getting my breakfast, and once I'm in front of this I had to park and get down and snap in a hurry. My first trial was blurry, thus I changed to AutoFocus to do my work faster. All this fuss, for this snap. Yeah, how easier can it be?

My next snap was the next day directly, in the parking lot in my work place. I noticed that the light lamps in this place were awesome in the morning, when they are still on. The thing is, I thought these lamps work by solar inductance or whatever it is called, i.e. they are turned off whenever enough light hits the main switch or, again, whatever. I discovered then they are switched on and off manually. The moment I went there with my camera into the parking lot and just when I parked, the lights started to go off one by one so I had to take some snaps in a hurry. The result then, when I got back home, I didn't realize how lucky I was despite all the anger that was inside me for that incident...

Alone...

As you can see, I called it "Alone." The thing that happened here is that I snapped it before the other lights at the back turn off as well, resulting in one light post being off while the others are on, like if this post is isolated from the others. I think this is somehow a lesson to me that I should wait on bad things and bad happenings, and see what or how I can change, do or deal with such things. Valuable lesson, let's hope I have the nerves to apply it to my daily life...

On the other hand, there seem to be some panorama that I won't waste my time on processing it. It was the one taken from Salmiyah park last week. The place was really empty except of some trees and even a HDR processing didn't do much to attract the eye, so I had to do just anything. So, I went on with the "ant's view" again or maybe I should call it "tunneling effect". Later on I used the name "tunneling effect" for another image.

I didn't bother to give a name even...

The image here was processed in HDR, then since the saturation was high in general (and lowering it down was not attractive as well), I converted the whole thing into B&W with some touches of slight yellowish hue and adding more contrast to give a touch of drama to the whole thing. That's all I could think of, and as for the straight flat panorama of the same scene, I don't think I will bother with it. I might have worked a bit with it if the trees were more and dense a bit though.

Following now on the same trend, I did the same effect for more "interesting" scene. The one I took last Wednesday in Bayan park while I was there with my friend. I made 3 different projections of the same panorama. The time was in the morning so, the sunlight was interesting and gave nice contrast and hues already.

Flat

Little Planet

Tunneling

The last one of those maybe gained most of the popularity on Mostphotos.com. Despite the fact that this panorama was taken completely on a monopod (with 3 mini-legs), this is one of the panoramas that I didn't have much problems with broken lines in it. Notice that I'm talking about a HDR panorama, with 3 exposures on each angle. It was shaky as usual but everything went smooth that day (despite the breeze as well). Taking a panorama from a monopod, although it might be shaky, it is much easier than taking a panorama with my old tripod, mainly because the legs problem (they show in the lower angle slides, along with the body of the VR-head too) and because the monopod head is equipped with a screw that can fit the VR-head and can be flipped to fit a camera. I'm currently in the process of ordering a separate head (just a cheap one) for this monopod. The problem though remains: stability. The end of the story is, of course, a QTVR.

There are some times when you do process an image and then you find yourself being into melancholy because of it. I don't know how it happens but, it just happens!

Once Upon A Time...

This one is taken from the same place; Bayan park. Just like the panorama from Salmiyah park, I really didn't find something interesting about it except that it is a general view for the playground in that park. I tried hard to make it somehow interesting when I processed the HDR slide, but no use. Thus, after the tone-mapping was done, I decided to just turn everything into a dramatic black and white with a touch of golden hue. By the way my usual "golden" color is #FCC200. There are other hues for "Gold" that can be found in Wikipedia. When I stare at this image, I try hard to remember did I ever play in those? I sure did but, when? Frankly, I don't remember much at all.

For the time being, I'm thinking of a new project and this time, no cops or anything or any security involved. I want to do a panorama from the inside of my car. I don't know how yet, but I have to try this practically myself, and of course I have to be in a spacious area and not in front of this house, where you can barely jump into your car. Probably I would have to switch to the tripod here since a monopod is hard to be stable inside such a situation. I've been roaming some places now looking for some kind of a converter that makes a small screw head fit into the large screw hole of the VR-head, but no luck so far.

Now as I type these words and trying hard to squeeze my mind for some words I'm writing, let's hope I finish this. Work is dull, but I have to not complain, because it has been worse in the past few weeks. I'm trying here to seriously control my love for coffee in some way, specially after getting myself a 3-in-1 coffee package  and put it at work. This, can really screw things up. I've taken my camera with me this morning trying to snap the "chessboard" scene again but this time with a 55-200mm lens, but that didn't really solve anything. It won't do much unless I can snap that scene with a bird's eye view. However, I might shoot a scene like this again, from my work place...

Ad Coelem (to heaven).

which was shot originally by a fisheye. After tone-mapping this and cropping a bit (and still it is off the center a bit), I realized this better be in black and white because the colors were, dramatic, but to saturated and desaturating them, again, will leave it dull. But I think if I'm going to try my 55-200mm lens here,  I have to try some different angles. I tried it already on some junk around the place the other day but it wasn't a trial I worked hard for. Just for fun...

Government

Named it "Government" for obvious reasons, I guess. I tried to achieve some blur here but I think the distance in between the fore- and background didn't help. I wonder if a stronger lens like a macro lens would do the job. Mentioning that, I'm on fire, waiting for my first macro lens to arrive. It's a tamron 70-300mm. Although it is well-known that to get a sharper image it is better to take a picture with a stable lens with a fixed focal length, but I don't that now. Let me find my way with the macro, then I might decide about it. The most important fact now is my fisheye got a fixed focal length and this is way too important for doing panoramas with this lens.

Now, it's time for me to rest, from the whole world a bit...

Alexander 6, V118.

Well well well. Finally, finished the book list at hand and now it's time to move to others, or maybe just chill and work with someone else? Anyhow, I think I will edit my review about Alain Briot's book to add more details, if possible. The last time I wrote my review, the reading was not over yet.
Calm day work-wise. Ramadhan is coming soon though, and more hard time is on the way I think. I've had the chance to leave work today and look after some glossy paper A4 size, and I found some brand (not HP) and it was cheaper than HP however. I picked this one specifically because it says "Made in England" rather than the other one which was Chinese made and, reputation-wise, might make me problems! Anyway, I'm still not sure if what I got now will work perfectly, I need to try it. Beside this, I dropped my watch for repair for the second time. Although I had the urge to buy a new one but I'm trying to control my impulses here and decided to go for a repair instead. This is the second time that the dial knob falls down!

On another note, I've been working on a little panorama in the past few days with no apparent success in blending the layers correctly. Not because of parallax errors this time, but mainly because of my bulky movements. I went to the beach on Friday morning with a monopod and a tripod as a spare in the car, and I've fixed the VR-head on the monopod. With the sand there (and the short neck of the monopod) the work was somehow manageable, but my movements were bulky and slow, so much that caused variations in light level caused by the fast rising sun. Spent the past few days combining into HDR and manipulating as much as possible, but no use. Photomatix got me a headache as well because of its malfunctioning and its weird noise on the whole window making me unable to read or see anything. It has gone erratic! I think now, the last remedy is to crop around 1/3 of the image just to unify the light conditions as much as possible, but for now I do still have some plans out of my sleeves to do with this, but it's going to take some time. I'm getting busy trying out my new glossy papers as well.

Nightmares now have been frequent visitors. I don't know why, but one thing for sure. I can't sleep properly, in a life style that made me sleepless already in the first place...

__________

2809. Alexander walked around the place slowly and gazed
2810. he saw many pillars of books and papers in every corner
2811. and with the smell of history in his nose, he remembered the time
2812. thus he asked: tell me O good old man, if you know everything,
2813. how long then I have been in this world since I left Daynur?
2814. Agdalán answered: verily I know how long did it take until now,
2815. for you it was a matter of some days to go around this world,
2816. but now over the lands of Daynur, one hundred winters passed
2817. the bones of Alexander were shaken for such time passing
2818. even though his shape did not change and did not get old
2819. but he asked Agdalán: how come?! this is impossible to be!
2820. Agdalán calmed down Alexander and said: yes, it is possible,
2821. do not count the time you go by on Daynur as it is here dear,
2822. your time belongs to you and here we have our own time,
2823. life goes so slow in this world my son, not as fast as you have up there
2824. then Alexander was saddened for this fact and knelt down
2825. and with a flash of memory into his mind he remembered all
2826. he remembered the old days and the wars and the glory
2827. then Agdalán torn off the silence and said: come my son and see
2828. Alexander approached Agdalán slowly to see something
2829. and there was this mirror that stood in the darkness
2830. its luster catches the eye amid the darkness of the books
2831. and Agdalán said: you will see now how life evolves,
2832. thus, be brave my son and do not be desperate for now

Alexander 6, V113.

Lovely weather indeed... NOT. Humidity is back again here and this time with a strange sky hovering around that I can't tell still is it just cloudy or another haze of dust on the way. I had plan to wash my car today, but changed my mind, luckily!
Nothing new for today though, except that I've conducted an experiment in the yard yesterday and it didn't work out at all. The experiment was to make a panorama with a monopod extended up high. The total height of the camera (monopod+VR-head) might have been around 2 meters from the ground. The breeze and the shaky mini-tripod legs were killing factors for me. I tried to balance or stabilize the monopod as much as possible with my barehands and I even tried my nose! Yes, my nose. I simply stood beside the monopod and extended my nose to support the monopod's beam, since my hand was shaking (for the excessive consumption of coffee).
This said now, my mind took the verge of two different ways of thinking, or let's say new methods of some sorts. I would either try to "think" of something to stabilize the monopod when expanded to such height with a VR-head, or I would consider now going on and work with what I like to call "dwarf's view" photography and make a panorama with the monopod folded into its minimum position (around 50cm in length). When unfolded of course, the monopod becomes more stable with little shake that can be managed. The thing is though, how to really stabilize the monopod? The only way I can think of is some support, of some sort, stabilizing the monopod depending on the ground, and even that might not sound feasible because the monopod's body is cylindircal and smooth. I have to resort to meditation as it seems!

The rest of my time is almost idle, except of some photo processing for various images mostly those from Ireland taken last year. To tell the truth, I don't feel them. I just did it. It feels a bit like a sinner, but I couldn't think of anything to pass my time with. After that experiment failed, I even became more "hollow" from ideas and couldn't find much to do, except of of processing my images even though I didn't have much vision for what they would be like in the beginning...

 On the other hand, some memories started to flow (along with visions or imaginations if you like), that kept me listening to old songs all the time. It is a weird feeling of idleness. Maybe I should call it "Idle with emotions". However, I hope this week brings on some more energetic ventures to try out some projects concerning Ayvarith and photography. I don't feel the urge even to play games like before...
I shall leave you now with one of the most beloved songs to my heart. It's old, yet it feels new every time I listen to it. It has a great history and story behind it, if you like to dig more about it...

i

__________

2689. Alexander put his hand on the floor to keep his body up
2690. then the old man said with a smile: this is not everything dear
2691. and Alexander raised his heavy head up and gazed up
2692. he was waiting for more of the shocking news from the Hermit
2693. thus he did ask: and what else is there to be told O old man?
2694. the old man was so calm and with a gentle smile on his face
2695. and this he did say to Alexander: I am Agdalán
2696. the news were so tough for Alexander and he fainted
2697. time passed before he can open his eyes again
2698. he looked left and right and he saw the old man again
2699. and he could not hold his tears in his eyes anymore
2700. thus the tears gushed out and he shouted out loud
2701. he went hysterical and could not comprehend anymore
2702. then the old man approached him with a cup of a drink
2703. Alexander was looking at the old man with thoughtless eyes
2704. he did not know what is going on around him anymore
2705. thus the old man helped him to hold the cup and drink
2706. it was few minutes until he could gather his powers back
2707. then he said to the old man: what is going in this world?
2708. how come you are what you are for me? impossible!
2709. the old man then calmed Alexander down with a pat
2710. and this he said: calm down O son, and listen to me,
2711. by now, you should not be surprised by the miracles in life,
2712. my story is long and ancient, as old as time itself is

Alexander 6, V98, V99.

Here we are, a Monday after a three-day weekend. I'm posting 2 verses for now as I didn't post anything yesterday (despite my plans). The work place seems quiet today after my colleague left in his vacation. YES! I wanna spend the whole time listening to music and reading. Ah well, it's not all like problems-less. Just one hour ago we (the secretary and I) had to sort out some dilemma concerning orders that been made by colleague. Not important, so far.

I've started reading my other book now and seems it is the variety of books I've been looking for. It discusses philosophical matters beside technicality of photography. I'm still in the beginning though and it's a long long read in front of me. Around 18 chapters in it, and I must try my best to digest whatever in it, either concepts, or technical procedures. It is a book about photography as an Art, rather than a camera.

 

In another venture, I've tried, finally, to capture a panorama with my new monopod, just to try out its capabilities, and seems it will be quite well although I'm still reluctant about taking it alone in my travel to Ireland. I think I will include my old tripod as well just in case. The panorama is not new to me, with only the time difference to the previous time, our own yard.

The circumstances in this panorama were challenging but still it went well I suppose. The time was early hour of the morning, and maybe you can see the sun is raising in the horizon still. The weather was awfully humid and I had to rub clean my fisheye lens while shooting. There was also this cat that kept on rubbing against me legs begging for food! However, despite all of that, it went sort of well except of some errors that I didn't care to fix here actually for a purpose.

While shooting, I had to keep my fingers gently on the monopod to keep the vibrations as low as possible. The shoot was conducted in Av mode (Aperture-Value priority) and not in M(anual) mode as I usually do. I realized that in fact what I usually do in Manual mode is the same as the Av mode; set the aperture and change the shutter speed to match the -2,0,+2 bracketing, and this is exactly the Av mode! It is also helpful to not touch the camera much in these conditions with a shaky monopod. Despite the tri-legs but it is not so stable to depend on my free movements away from it. I had to keep my hand all the time. One angle in particular was bad and maybe not so obvious in this small version of the panorama, and that was the angle of the left-side door (the door to the guest room); at this angle, the monopod was vibrating so much and made it worse with my hand grip over it. The image from that angle was typically shaky and blurred.

The zenith, was taken normally but for some reason it was darker than the rest of the image. I could've raised the exposure a bit before stitching it with the others, but I left it like that just to see the errors I have here. I don't think it is a mistake related to the monopod itself anyway. The zenith as well created a problem AFTER stitching, where the guest room door appeared with broken lines suddenly (and it was just fine before the stitch!). Now I'm trying to figure out a way to use the monopod in helping me to capture a more easy-going nadir (bottom) image. I didn't care much to stitch the nadir in the panorama above, because it's just an example so far. It would be important, however, if I was planning for a complete QTVR. I guess my experiment with the monopod turned out like 4 out of 5 stars.

 

Among all these experiments and reading that I have to do, I'm trying to sort out some tiny time for my webpage project. I've made some effects for today but I didn't put my mind really into it yet. I'm bad...

__________
2329. then Birbuár asked Alexander about his news
2330. and he went on telling him everything about the village
2331. until he arrived here in this place to help the farmers
2332. Birbuár then said: you are going for the Hermit?
2333. I heard he is a weird man indeed, but a wise one!
2334. I heard also that his age extends back in time,
2335. so ancient he is that you cannot tell,
2336. yet, his looks are young like time stopped
2337. and what are you going to do there O hero?
2338. Alexander replied: Aramramátáníth told me,
2339. that he might have the answers I need,
2340. he might know what I am doing here,
2341. and how to get back to my lands and the beloved
2342. then Birbuár said: I see you have conquered a Cadid!
2343. how brave are you to capture your own Cadid!
2344. then Alexander replied: believe me my friend,
2345. I did not know what is this until I met Biryári!
2346. fighting him was easy to me, and I wonder for the people!
2347. why they are so afraid of such creatures?
2348. why they cannot just defeat their Cadids by themselves?
2349. then Birbuár said in a calm voice: O good king of Caqobia,
2350. there is so much for you to learn about our world,
2351. your soul is everything for you in here,
2352. and if it is a dark one, then no hope with a Cadid

2353. the two talked for a while and forgot about time
2354. until it was just before the darkness to fall upon them
2355. Birbuár raised and said: it is getting darker O hero,
2356. it is time for me to dwell back to Khaznútím
2357. Alexander asked: where to O brave friend?
2358. Birbuár replied: I must go back before dark,
2359. I promised Khaznútím to get back to him,
2360. I must head to the Big Brother Mountain,
2361. and from there he shall take me to his place
2362. and Alexander asked: and where is his place?
2363. Birbuár answered in a low voice: Ah my friend,
2364. you do not really want to ask all these questions,
2365. I myself do not know where his place is in fact,
2366. it is like something not part of this world by any way,
2367. one time you are here, then suddenly you are in his,
2368. where everything is made of fire, but nothing hurts,
2369. unless you do a mistake or make him angry,
2370. then bear with him whatever it might have to take
2371. Alexander then had a farewell with his friend Birbuár
2372. and the two hugged each other like they will never meet
2373. then it was but a matter of eye blinks from Alexander
2374. and Birbuár was not standing in front of him anymore
2375. he flew away just like a Shágí would always do
2376. free of the physical world and free of bounds

Alexander 6, V97.

Being struck with diarrhea made my day almost idle. Thank God I was able to read the whole day in the office. There are many things in this book that I've encountered before, so it is kind of a revision to me, but nevertheless, I'm keeping on reading even the things that I've known already by experimenting before, just in case I would capture some details that I didn't know of before. It is a good book for a beginner I would say, and probably I should review it as it is like that.

 

I've found a little glitch in the text though about Photoshop and the photomerge tool, where it says it doesn't support merging HDR images, while the fact is it does and I've tried it many times before I move on with PTGui. Probably the talk was about CS3 version, and to me, I actually jumped from CS2 to CS4 directly, so this could be true for CS3 only.

Anyway, I'm formulating some ideas to experiment with, with my camera, as I'm reading the book. Hope to progress on those soon. We have a holiday here on next Sunday (The Ascension Day), so despite the sickness inside me, I'm trying to feel cheerful for one day off in the next week.

Tried my monopod briefly without shooting any images, with the heavy VR head on top and the camera attached to it. It shook a bit of course but remained standing still. There was some slight slanting to the right side because of the "L" shape of the VR head, which makes the center of mass shift in that direction slightly and bend the monopod a bit. Still the experiment is not finished yet, because I have to do a serious panorama out of it. Thinking about it now, I think there is no other way to avoid taking the usual bulky tripod with me when I travel to Ireland. Extra weight is on the way!

Thursday, finally here. I don't feel like eating lunch even for today, but I really need my bed, even though I slept from 7:00 p.m. and woke up today at around 4:00 a.m.; that is a total of around 9 hours, yet, I do still feel like sick and drained...

If only these damn 20 minutes pass so quickly now... 

__________
2305. "Birbuár! what a surprise is that!" Alexander said
2306. Birbuár laughed out loud and this he said to Alexander
2307. "yes hero! your news are reaching the horizons!
2308. I finished the tasks of Khaznútím and came to you!"
2309. Alexander asked then: he let you go? just like that?
2310. and Birbuár answered: yes, he realized I am a good man now,
2311. and when he knew I wanted to help you out,
2312. he figured out that it is a noble reason indeed,
2313. thus he allowed me to come here and help,
2314. how shall I forget Alexander the hero of Caqobia?
2315. or how shall I forget the friend who helped me?
2316. then Alexander asked: but you are still a Shágí?
2317. Birbuár said: it is about time for this to change anyway,
2318. I think Khaznútím is considering to let me go as a soul,
2319. thus, no torture shall I have to see anymore!
2320. Alexander then wondered about the change in Birbuár
2321. "you look different Birbuár! your face is not the ugly one,
2322. and your shadow is not that blackish as before!
2323. you changed a lot" Alexander said to Birbuár
2324. Birbuár laughed again and said to Alexander
2325. "yes indeed, this is what happens when you help out,
2326. I discovered nothing is like helping people!
2327. thus, my halo changed slowly into this,
2328. and this is why Khaznútím changed his mind!"

Alexander 6, V96

One busy day. All what I was doing in the office is reading, reading and reading. I started reading my new books since yesterday (of course!) and I've already finished around half of the first book. There are some comments I would like to put them in my review of this book. Generally, there is one new thing to me so far, and that would be the technique of "Super-Resolution" which I've never encountered. There are plenty of softwares mentioned in the context with heavy details, but I would say only one that got my attention, and that would be the PhotoAcute software, which is used to achieve the super-resolution image. Other techniques that I'm passing through right now are actually old for me, or let's say tried them out myself before reading this book; like enlarging an object using a small panorama or focus stacking where you achieve greater depth of field from several ones with shallow depths. The softwares mentioned are different but I did already try Exposure Fusion method and the regular Photoshop to achieve greater depth of field from several images. There is a chapter about HDR imaging, and I can't wait to read more about it.
The 3rd chapter in the book was so heavy and dense with lot of technicality regarding the file types and differences between them. I have to admit that I've skipped large portions of the text.

On the other hand I've been experimenting with my new monopod lightly just to test its load capability, and it did carry my VR head handsomely, despite the spring-like shake with its mini-tripod legs expanded. The thing that I've really liked is that it has an adapter for the different holes sizes, which means I can fix my VR head on top without connecting the usual nut that I've been using for my old tripod. Nevertheless, it needs to be tried for real. The total length was greatly larger than my own height! But this is good! You won't know when you going to need such height.

Meanwhile, I will try not to stop all my activities for reading this book. In fact I was exchanging my reading today between my reading book and my geological facts book. Otherwise, I've done nothing in my Ayvarith project, nor with my camera.

By the way, by mistake, yesterday I've mentioned that my poem "Queen" was given an honorable mention, but the truth is my poem, the Clutching Ghetto, is the one that got it.

Now it's time to pack my stuff and get away from this place, away from this dirty janitor...

__________
2281. yet Alexander could not believe his eyes
2282. it was really his old friend Birbuár fighting
2283. Birbuár greeted Alexander with a sign from his hand
2284. and the smile was on his face like it never had been
2285. the three kept on fighting the beasts fiercely
2286. the view of Birbuár pushed Alexander forward
2287. he felt such a comfort now to see his old friend
2288. and his courage was elevated to the extreme
2289. then the men behind him shouted at him
2290. "get out now! we are closing the wall forever!"
2291. thus the three were running in a hurry
2292. while the beasts followed them as well
2293. until they passed the gate of the wall
2294. then the farmers closed the gate firmly
2295. and started to build on it as well to close it
2296. so the beasts will not be able to work on it
2297. while Alexander and his Cadid with Birbuár
2298. helped on sealing the gate with the bricks
2299. while Birbuár climbed up on some tower
2300. and started to throw the stones on the beasts
2301. they were roaring with anger trying to knock the gate
2302. but now it is sealed forever by the help of Alexander
2303. thus the three fighters took some time to rest
2304. while Alexander asked Birbuár about his news

Alexander 6, V95.

This will be one busy day!! I got my babies from the DHL, and just right after 12:00 p.m. . I believe the temperature out there was something exceeding 50C (~122F maybe). I'm pretty sure of that. I wanted to get these stuff and get back to my work place as fast as I can. I virtually did eat the books when I got into my office. I was flipping the pages gazing into the pictures in a fast rhythm. Not only that, but even one of the books got a chapter on HDR imaging, which is something I didn't know of!

 

And of course let's not forget the beloved monopod that might, just might, solve lot of my problems!

 

I do really need to settle down at home and work with all of these stuff for a really long time. I still remember the first time I got my book about Architectural Photography. I finished reading it in something around 5 days. I always had a problem keeping on reading something for a long time, and this is a problem I had all my life, but with these books, the only thing that makes me drop it is a tiresome eyes and falling asleep!

 

In my office today I made one serious trial to put a layout for my coming webpage, and I was surfing the net for some tips about adding a sound into a webpage without using the usual Flash, but seems after all I have to use some kind of scripting, and this time with Java. I'm not sure how it is all done, but things will come slowly I guess.

The basic layout so far...

I wanted to add a translation for each word of those into Ayvarith, but I'm reluctant to do so, and possibly, I won't add a sound along with these. The idea I had in my mind was to put a "MouseOver" action to each word, and a sound would be played with the Ayvarith writing showing beside it or underneath each word of those accordingly. Realizing my weaknesses in the field of HTML and my desire to leave out the Flash composition, I have to lower down my ambitions!

An item of good news came in today, when I got a message on my www.writing.com account, saying that I gained an honorable mention (with some extra gift points as a reward). The reward went for my poem, Queen, which was submitted for one of the contests in the website. An honorable mention is just like being placed on the 4th place or so, right after the three main winners. However, from the comments I've seen, people seem to like it!

Now, it is time to put this down and go on reading some books until it is time for me to get the hell outta here!

__________
2257. but amid the work on the wall some beasts approached
2258. they realized with their low minds that it is not good
2259. thus they desired to attack Alexander and his men
2260. and the noise had been made all over the valley
2261. thus, other beasts were warned and came to help
2262. and Alexander had no choice but to release the Cadid
2263. thus the Cadid attacked them like a fierce dog
2264. but the beasts kept on coming to Alexander
2265. yet he found no escape from drawing his sword
2266. and started to slash it through them fiercely
2267. then, amid the battle and the blood flushing over
2268. Alexander noticed a rapid moving object beside him
2269. and then he looked upon heads of beasts flying away
2270. he did not know what was going on in the battle field
2271. he thought it was one of the farmers fighting with him
2272. but he forgot this idea since farmers are not good with it
2273. he took a look to the back and saw the men working
2274. so fast they were doing the job and so afraid of the beasts
2275. thus he forgot the idea of a farmer being a warrior
2276. with this thread of thoughts in his mind going on
2277. he kept on watching something amid the beasts
2278. a warrior was walking with him and with his Cadid
2279. it was but moments when Alexander saw the shadow
2280. and with a surprise he shouted: Birbuár?!!!

Alexander 6, V93.

I need some an expert to explain to me what just happened today. I have a pain in my wrist, and I get an injection in the butt. Well, I think I won't be good as a doctor ever.
I was planning to fast today after some hard time with my appetit and... the bathroom. Unfortunately, after going to the clinic today, I've been given an injection and I have to take some pills 3 times a day, and that won't work with my fasting. So, I have to delay this for some time now.

My stuff reached Kuwait by now and well, I have to wait for the damn clearance to finish, like if I ordered porno magazines and toys. I'm boiling to try the monpod with the VR head. An experiment that won't prove successful maybe, but I have to try it out first. Also, feels like I will eat the books when they arrive. I already wish to order the other set of books that are on my mind so far, but no, I have to take control over myself, and my budget.

The proof-reading is reaching its end and hopefully I didn't skip anything or forgot any corrections due. Things, the time, and my life seem to go too slow for me, and I don't know if this is good or bad. People always kept saying to me to slow down the pace a bit from time to time, but now it feels weird that I can't push myself to do things. It could be I'm lazy, but I know how does it feel to be a lazy bum. This time, it's not like that at all...

I'm taking moments to think of some new ventures to do with my camera so far and for new places to try to catch my panorama with. In the same time, burning to drop by Ireland...

__________

2209. a group of people with farming tools stood before Alexander

2210. then one man said: who is that stranger? he does not look like us!

2211. another man said: wait let us see the matter with him,

2212. remember that the Mother called us to gather here

2213. and a heavy silence hovered over the crowds suddenly

2214. while Alexander gazed with his eyes over the farmers

2215. he realized that they are not like the army he had before

2216. so he wondered how useful they can be for the task

2217. then he started to ask: did Aramramá... tell you about me?

2218. one man said: yes, she said you will help us O stranger

2219. Alexander replied: yes, I will try to, with your help,

2220. does anyone here know how to mine for minerals?

2221. one man shouted: we are farmers O stranger, not miners!

2222. and the matter sounded complicated for Alexander

2223. he has to drop the plan and think of a new one

2224. then he asked the farmers: what are you good at?

2225. beside farming and seeding your lands O good people?

2226. then one man said: some of us make clay instruments,

2227. and some of us work with iron and copper

2228. then Alexander wondered: how you get iron and copper?

2229. you just said you do not mine the land for metals!

2230. and the man replied: yes we do not mine at all,

2231. we search in the waters of the rivers near and far,

2232. this is how we make our tools for harvest

 

Alexander 6, V89.

It's here! Woho! My visa to visit Ireland was issued, in like 2 weeks! I remember it took more than one month last year. I remember as well that last year, when the visa was issued for me, it was issued for a certain number of days that matched exactly the time period of my stay, but now, I've been given 3 months in advance, from September 12th until December 11th. I don't remember such a thing happened that way last year!

I'm passing through a time of quietness if I should say, camera-wise. I've finished the panoramas that I was working on for some time before and after getting my VR head, so, I decided to go on shooting randomly outside and I picked the cat in the house as my target. This time, no HDR shoot or anything, but simply me, myself, and the camera and the flash head which I didn't use in a long time!
I can't say they are great as I couldn't really master the lighting conditions yet nor I can say I did master the flash adjustments and probing, however, I'm not planning to give out these to any stock site, since I know they are full of such pictures!

Some images for his highness, Tiger.

I like specifically his "snowy" look and his hair that's not too short nor long. He's a loner as well. The shots here were all done in tungsten white-balance by mistake, but luckily all was in RAW format so I've adjusted this error later and the picture turned as you can see here after being filled with a blue hue. Still, the real atmosphere was actually at the end of the day and before the final sunset with relatively enough light, but with a flash striking the object (without using the diffuser in the flash head itself) made the light concentrated on the object and turned the atmosphere into almost a night time.

After finishing from this I got inside and took some shots for my niece inside the house, and all were blue as well, but those I didn't work with so far. Hopefully doing to do this today.

On the list also there is one task I'm planning to do. I'm going to try my luck with the images refused from Canstockphoto website, and put them in Bigstockphoto. I didn't put anything there for a long time now and actually I'm not so optimistic that they would be accepted, but I won't lose anything (except of some time duh). For some time, Bigstockphoto website was my favorite location for panoramas, as it accepts apparently single files larger than 15MB, as far as I remember. Of course, I've completely dropped Fotolia from my list here...

I've been reading, or flipping should I say, through Harald Woeste's book about panoramic photography and trying to take mental notes as much as possible about the work flow and the tools used, and specially those related to the final product output. Would be nice if you can handle the panorama on a large print-out instead of staring at it on the monitor all the time! I have a weakness when it comes to the press and the printed media, as I'm completely lost in the technicality and the requirements of such field.

 

I've been notified now that the monopod had been shipped already to my US mailbox. I wished for a combined shipment with the books but unfortunately, seems I have to go and pick my stuff from the DHL twice! Anyway, it is good enough to try it out now, although I was not in a hurry originally, but now I am!

finally, the proof-reading of Alexander 6 is going smoothly and it is about to finish. I've reached like #2257 so far, and won't be days until I reach #3000, the end. Reading is so easy, but writing it down and typing it was a really tideous job. Maybe after finishing this, I would have some time to look upon designing a website for Ayvarith in a more serious manner! Hope so.

__________

2113. then with a smooth voice the Guardian asked
2114. "continue O hero, any more questions?"
2115. but the hero felt embarrassed and said to her
2116. "yes, one more question from me is left,
2117. where to go now? and what I am doing in this land?"
2118. Aramramátáníth said: your destiny is not in my hand,
2119. but to the Hermit, I believe, you must go from here,
2120. my wind shall carry you there easily, O hero,
2121. and under your command it shall move,
2122. the Hermit has all the answers you need,
2123. this is what I am ordered to do for now
2124. then Alexander agreed and decided to move
2125. and he greeted Kaliván and hugged each other
2126. despite the small size of the small creature
2127. but he carried him by the palm of his hand
2128. then Alexander desired to let his Cadid with Kaliván
2129. to help him with the lands of the valley and the trees
2130. but the Cadid refused to go except with his master
2131. and the wind started to gather under the feet of Alexander
2132. and slowly in the air he was raised with his Cadid
2133. then Aramramátáníth announced the beginning
2134. and the invisible wind moved Alexander and his Cadid
2135. to the east they were going now where the Hermit is
2136. where the hopes of Alexander lied for an end

Alexander 6, V88.

I would say it is fair enough to say, it was an awesome weekend. Not for any gift or present or any good events happening in it, but merely because I slept for 12 hours! Yes! Twelve hours! I rarely do such a thing but it is true and it is indeed there! I could do it!

Anyway, back to business. Despite this 12 hours of sleep kind of wasted my time that I've planned to spend in front of my PC working on some issues, but anyway it was a nice venture. During this weekend I worked on the 2 panoramas that left for me; the office, and the gamma lab.
The first to be mangled with was the office panorama. The main challenge here was that I've shot myself in several positions (with the help of the timer in the camera of course), and my aim was to make a QTVR out of it. Unfortunately, I had to give up this dream for many issues that I've encountered while stitching and I've discovered that I made many mistakes in the location itself!

Me, Myself and I

The mistakes I've done here were sort of many, but in brief, I was not careful when I moved in the scene and caused some chairs to move here and there, which later on proved fatal for the stitching process. Also, I discovered that in my middle picture on the sofa, the original shot did not include my right feet on the ground! Hence it was impossible to recover this at all, and I was not in mood for Photoshop tricks really. For this and that, I've decided to put down the idea of a spherical panorama with this trial, for the time being. I don't know if there will be a second time. The theme and colors of the tone-mapped image here is to give some drama or action to the boring lighting conditions in the office. Some people told me it looks nice, so I hope.

The second panorama to deal with then was the Gamma Lab. In fact it was already finished with some days ago but I didn't work on fixing the image an removing the unwanted bottom (tripod legs) till yesterday. There are some noisy part of the image which were not related to the noise of the camera itself, but because these slides were dark, and I think it was a mistake from my side, when I was not careful to track down the exposure reading. Finally, I fixed it and made into a QTVR, which I hope it makes everyone happy to look at!

The Gamma Lab, at CRER, Kuniv.

However, the resolution of the QTVR was put down to 80% to reduce the size as usual. They usually say 80% quality is good enough, specially for such a small window.

Now after all this work with several panoramas, it is time to take a look a bit at what I got earlier that day (after shooting these panoramas). They were several single shots that I need to examine closely and decide whether to upload them into stock sites or not. The snaps are taken from the front space of my working place, for some pile of bricks that they dumped there (and causing some annoyances for me when I park my car!).

Good news arrived today. The DHL called and told me that my passport had arrived. It is due delivery at 3 p.m., but I know these guys will deliver it earlier when I'm not at home, as usual. I've just forgot what's my application number so I can check online about the status of my visa request. I just hope it got accepted and everything is right.

I've decided today to place an order as well. This time an order on Amazon. I thought it is better to get everything at once instead of placing everything separately. This time I had to some research of my own about what kind of monopod do I need. I just figured that a monopod is more practical than a tripod, but the real challenge is, is it possible to do a panorama with it?
After many look-ups and checking, I've decided that I might need this specific one:

 

Benro MA-96M8

There were many good monopods out there, with several specifications that can fit any purpose almost. But I picked this one specifically for several reasons:

1. It has suppostive legs to turn it into a mini-tripod.
2. The maximum height is around 173 cm, around mine.
3. The maximum load it can take is around 20kg, and this is exactly what I need. Why? Because I'm planning to try it out with my VR head.
4. Relatively, cheaper.

There were even some monopods made by Manfrotto, same brand as my VR head, but they were sometimes almost double the price of this one. Now, I'm quite sure that I will have problems when I decide to try this out with my VR head (weighs 2kg), but I'm up to it and will see if I can overcome this problem by some trick. The problem here is that, no real reviews for this monopod were available, not in Amazon nor in BH websites. Thus, I had to rely heavily on reviews made by customers for another, somehow similar, tripod.

Benro MA-91M8

This tripod is almost the same, but different in weight, and height and the maximum load it can take (18kg). The height is 163 cm and that's shorter than my built, so I preferred to go to the longest one. I was hesitant first because when it is folded, it might not fit in my backpack whenever I want to move here or there, but anyway, it is an easy stick to carry on. The real challenge is to make it work with the VR head. The reviewers, however, decided that it is a great tool, but with shaky base when it comes to a tripod, and here you go with your expected problems!

The work with VR head and a monopod would be awesome indeed. I had many hard time erasing and fixing the images with Photoshop after taking my panoramas with a tripod. The three legs and the panning handle gave me a great deal of hard work in Photoshop to remove, and not completely in a good way. A monopod would ease the problems, considerably!

Finally, I do need a tripod for easy snapping without the need for my usual heavy tripod wherever I go!

Along with the tripod I placed as well 2 books in the same order, and decided to let the other books wait for the time being now!

 

Now, it had been some days that I didn't write anything in my notes, and it makes me a bit annoyed. I don't want to stop writing ever. I must get myself busy, either behind the camera, or on a piece of paper, or of course gaming around! I've changed my working time starting from today, for I found out it is really useless to stay here till 2:30 p.m.. That's way too much for such a place I would say. Thus, my time has changed from 7:30 to 2:30, to 7:00 up to 2:00. That's why I have to plan to write my blog earlier than I used to before, maybe. I'm sort of used to blog while at work more than at home!

Now, it's time to wait for the events to come along...

__________

2089. Alexander sat down on the grass and was tired
2090. and asked Aramramátáníth: am I allowed to ask?
2091. Aramramátáníth replied: go ahead O warrior of goodness
2092. and Alexander asked his first question
2093. "who are you?"
2094. and the mother of nature replied: I am Aramramátáníth,
2095. I am whom God made to guard the health of the land,
2096. I am the guardian of farms and valleys, meadows and hills
2097. then Alexander asked his second question
2098. "what are you?"
2099. and she replied: I am the Light beyond the sight,
2100. I am the voice of conscious inside everyone's heart,
2101. I am the breeze, I am the wind, I am the storm
2102. then Alexander asked his third question
2103. "what is Mikanazzar?"
2104. and she replied: my fierce enemy on Uhir Daynur,
2105. the bringer of sickness where it goes and comes,
2106. he is the damned one, who seeks not the Mercy
2107. then Alexander asked his fourth question
2108. "why you did not heal the tree yourself?"
2109. and she replied: I was not commanded to do so,
2110. and to heal it, we needed a brave heart,
2111. and to fight Mikanazzar in it, that is dangerous,
2112. thus we were ordered to wait for you, and teach Kaliván