Strobogenic II…

Things are going so fast that it feels like I didn't post here for a month or so. Because of the nCoV-19 pandemic, people are going crazy here. My workplace decided to give everyone 2 weeks off until things calm down. Thus, more time to work with my camera hopefully, until March 15^th. Probably because of that, it does feel like ages since I've posted here and actually time is kind of passing slowly. However, I'm not complaining; I'm counting my blessings here and thank goodness for the fact that I don't have to drive in that daily mess!
Anyway, I've been working with my camera and doing many things with some old photos trying new editing techniques but I'll save that for later. For this week's post, I just want to focus on my work with the stroboscopic lighting which I've established by my last post (or before?).

Strobogenic II

In continuation for my work with the stroboscopic light, and after doing a number of selfies which I've posted about last time (before my RP post), I've kept on working on a little experiment, with roses this time. Initially, this was not my idea; I was thinking of a real model (I mean, someone posing for me in general not a paid model), but that didn't happen unfortunately (still seeking that goal though!). Nevertheless, it was a good experiment somehow from which I've learned from some mistakes (or "misfortunes" if I can call them so).

Grungy Passion

The idea was simple, throw a rose and record that in a stroboscopic manner. However, I've read online in some texts about the topic that the background should be black. For me, I've neglected this particular point simply because I don't have a black background, but I thought working in a dark room would somehow solve the problem. Also, doing my calculations in relation to the shutter speed, the frequency, and the number of flashes, I've realized practically that I do need a dark room to lengthen the exposure freely; Lengthening the exposure here does not really have to extend in terms of seconds or anything. It can still be parts of a second but still considered "slow" in terms of motion (does that make any sense?). Speaking about something in the order of 1/30 of a second and up to a second and beyond.

Side note: Using a shutter of 1/30s with the maximum frequency of 199Hz on the speedlite yields about 6 strikes of flash, which means the motion can be recorded on the sensor with such shutter speed and frequency on 6 moments during this exposure time. Notice that I'm not talking here about anything related to the power of the speedlite. In fact, at some point and under some settings, the speedlite options would limit the number of strikes that can be set in the configuration menu, and this is in relation to the expected power consumption and some issues related to the protection of the speedlite from overheating. Trust me, the heat is a serious issue even with such small units. For this reason, using multiple speedlites with each dialed to relatively low power is a good choice to overcome these limitations.

Receptive

Thus, with a shutter speed of 1/30s it would be better to work in a dark room as much as possible to avoid unwanted ambient light and leave the speedlites to take control over the whole recording of the scene. Nevertheless, I had my own problems with the white wall here, for obvious reasons! Anyway, in the processing phase, the amount of grain produced was great at times, beyond repair, so I just made it part of the image, as in Grungy Passion. Worth noting here that this image specifically was flipped upside down to make the rose as to be falling down, instead of being thrown up. In fact, the gesture here probably helped a lot. Along that line, in Receptive, the image has been turned for 90^o to mimic that receptive motion as if the rose is falling from above, and I tried to emphasize "the visual reading" from the right side here by flipping the image to let the hand start or initiate from that corner. Generally, most of these images were processed with saturated colors but saturating the Red tones only. Cropping as well was a vital tool here and I went beyond the typical cropping limits of Photoshop (remember, I have an older version which has nothing but the rule of thirds embedded to help in cropping).

Side note: In image design, or let's say it is generally accepted, that a viewer, any viewer, would start reading an image "visually" and try to analyze its elements starting from the "natural" direction for that viewer in terms of writing and reading, usually. Thus, if the viewer comes from a culture that reads and writes in left-to-right manner, then "reading" an image would naturally start off from the left. For this reason, I'm trying to emphasize my vision and my background culture by trying to emphasize the direction of reading on the photos I create, as in Receptive (and in Passionately Reluctant as will be shown), where the reading should probably start from the right side because the hand is anchored towards the lower-right corner. 

Passionately Reluctant

This trend of moving things or flipping things to the right side continued with Passionately Reluctant, which is apparently not in a square format (or 1:1 ratio) but rather in some weird elongated ratio here and the reason for that is I tried to keep the motion of the rose inline and coherent with the rule of the golden spiral. However, I had to change the aspect ratio here a bit to fit the curvy line for the golden spiral with the motion of the rose, which ironically, takes away the "golden2 out of it (in case you didn't know, there are other spirals named after metals and each one of them have a different ratio attached to it). This one though didn't appear as throwing the rose up (though I actually did but holding the tip of the stem only). It appeared as if I'm moving forward and backward with it. It doesn't matter anyway; I like the motion after all. Probably the grain here is not quite pronounced but it is there still. I'm not sure though if I did some noise reduction here or not, but for sure I did emphasize the red tones for the rose.
At this level, I've realized that a single rose is not quite "pronounced," if I can call it so. I had this impression that just one rose was not quite enough, specially that the images that I see and judge are viewed from the LCD of the camera; Those images you see here been subjected to a heavy work of dodge and burn and contrast enhancement along the way. In the original RAW files, the trace of the single rose was barely visible. So, in order to enhance my chances, I've decided to throw the whole bouquet of roses!

انْفِراج (relief)

I'm not sure why I named the last shot in the series in Arabic really but I just felt like it. This image as well puts more emphasis (in my opinion) on reading from the right, because if you start reading the image from the left, it would be as if the roses are being caught and not released, in opposition to the title; and again, as I always advocate, the title of the image is part of the image and an essential part of it - NEVER leave your image without a title. Thus, to convey the meaning of releasing and relief, one must start from the right to understand the image properly!
Technical: I didn't go through the technical details in the beginning, but here how was the setup: I've used all my speedlites (7), but one of them was for controlling the other six. So, in action, 6 speedlites were shooting; The seventh remained on-camera to trigger (the in-camera wireless option doesn't work in Multi mode). The speedlites were pointed to a wall in front of me to bounce the light from that wall onto the scene. The room I was in was small so this move did light the wall in the background in these images - for this reason, a black background should be a must in making shots like these. Not saying a white background won't be artistic in any way though, it is definitely a delicate matter and it often gets out of control.

Finale

Now, this is a second patch of the stroboscopic work. At the time of typing these words, I did indeed produce many more images and did other experiments, as I've stated above. During this holiday though I must also invest some time in other important things... like playing games!
With all the fuss and mess going on about the Coronavirus worldwide and the fear spreading over people, I do find myself having some strange feelings deep inside. I don't know what are these feelings, but something makes me calm, and chilling. Some annoyances are there for sure but the general theme here is, quiet. Could it be because of being away from the daily jams? The workplace? The lone nights that I got to spend wandering alone with my thoughts or working with the camera? I don't know. With this tranquility, though, comes a sense of worthlessness for this world. Maybe it is a time period of re-evaluating my life? Memories are visiting me a lot lately, lifting me to some status between soberness and drunkenness; A happy ecstasy and yet a sad one in the same time. Such weird feelings that I'm not able to translate at all for the moment, nor any help could be sought from Google Translate for that as well…I'm just here, waiting for happiness to happen.

Flora…

Well, despite being on vacation (till this very day), I did feel tired most of the time. And the promises I've made to myself for shooting some more and doing some more work with the camera were, well, spent sleeping. Well, on the bright side, I've been sleeping! Moreover, I've been pushing myself to do some chores indoors and outdoors (like tidying a bit in the room). After all, I did put some effort on the camera, though not as much as I hoped, but well, I guess I need to learn how to not be harsh on myself!

Blooming

There was a set of images I've shot 2 weeks ago and I didn't post about in my previous blog post here. They are mainly some sort of a "cliché" since they are about flowers and roses but nevertheless, I did get some results and the images are already offered in the stock. The whole thing started when I noticed a new bouquet or bundle in the living room and the blooms looked fresh!

It was a call for a macro job from the beginning, and since I'm not trying to complicate things further (as it is a job done in a whim, or so I thought) I decided to use my old 100mm macro lens here. In such cliché "situations" I do believe that the major factor in making the shot different is playing with the light and its direction to make things different. However, in the beginning with Unbleak, I've used my Bolt LED Ringlight, which worked well here in defining the little bloom. Worth noting here that the shot(s) were all made using the Ringlight as continuous source of light and not as a flash. Thus, shutter speeds were relatively longer. Anyway, it didn't take me long to move to my lovely speedlite later. Despite the capability of Bolt LED Ringlight of being detached and working separately to change the light direction, but I didn't really bother in experimenting with that.

Now, despite the bulkiness of the speedlite, I did somehow feel free when using it (specially when working with the wireless function), adding to that, it does give more control over power (specially that it is connected to a power-pack). Maybe the downside of this is the bulkiness, beside not shaping the light like a ring (despite the modifiers available already). However, shots like Through Darkness and Morning Delight did surely make use of bouncing the light of the speedlite in various directions, as well as changing the power drastically and keeping the shutter speed fast. I did, however, use some Photoshop here to my advantage to dramatize the scene further with the darkness in somewhat semi-low-key appearance for the bloom.

Morning Delight, now, has a bit of story behind it. I've forgot to say here that I was shooting all these bloom-stuff with my converted camera (not sure why I did so), and to keep things as close to normal as possible, I did place my Kenko hot mirror on the lens to block the infrared and keep the visible light coming. Things worked fine, as can be seen in Through Darkness, with maybe a bit of twitching for the white balance while processing the RAW file. However, with Morning Delight, the image clearly off. I remember I had to even reduce the yellow/red tint off the image (but did not fix the white balance completely). This tint is usually produced when using the converted camera normally without any filter placed! Yet, I had the filter placed on the lens but still it happened! How? I don't know what I'm missing here. The white balance was always on auto. Worth noting also that both, Through Darkness and Morning Delight were rotated as I felt it composes the meaning better than leaving them horizontal (which is the original position in fact) like Unbleak.

Not long though when I got that itch to get back to my old macro habits, with a 50mm lens and some extension tubes (or reversing rings and all that). So, I got my 50mm and the three tubes and started to experiment with the roses in the bouquet this time (which were surrounded by the small tiny blooms). Among the many shots I've made with the speedlite (and changing its direction several times) two main shots that attracted me, namely which I've called later Twirling Beauty and Rosa Chiaroscura.

As for Twirling Beauty, I liked the sense of high-key, but that didn't stop me from enhancing the effect further in Photoshop and adding more softness to it. And as for Rosa Chiaroscura, I guess the look talks about itself. I'm not sure how the light stroke the rose but I'm thinking from top and a bit behind the petals. This is not the first time I shoot such a thing actually but this time it is more warm and soft (well, softness, as usual, was enhanced in Photoshop later on as well). The term Chiaroscura here is supposed the feminine form of Chiaroscuro in Italian (but pardon me, I don't speak Italian myself!). It is a term to note a play of contrast between highlights and shadows in one image or artwork.

Mother's Heart (2013)

This was the bulk of my work with some tiny blooms and roses, and despite being a quickie (in shooting that is), yet the results somehow brought me delight and beauty, even though I do still think they are a cliché. For this, I might as well advice the reader here (if s/he is a photographer): Do not hesitate in shooting any cliché and do not overthink it. Just shoot. Sometimes, the delight and relief comes from the work with the camera itself and not from the results after all. It is like a stress relief.

Finale

OK. I was going to make it longer by talking about other photos but I think this is enough for now, as I'm still having a poem to represent here. I talked in my last post here that I was trying to gather some words and organize them for a poem. I think I did it, but I'm not quite sure that it is a strong one. I did post it in some contest threads on Writing.com but yet the results would need weeks to be announced. Again, I'm not optimistic about it. I've called the new poem: For Kings.

For Kings

Silently, wipe away these drops,
down the hazel eyes, calmly,
for kings not to be seen weeping.
In weakness, a strength is blazing,
alike the shaking barley,
and time passes with its healing.

Lunatic, thy mind may it be,
no wonder, in solitude,
for kings, on the tops their seating.
In the meadows, what daisies fear?
but rains send their gratitude,
while their golden heart gone beating.

In heart, a world of passion sets,
even though the gloom abounds,
for kings, by hopes, are learning.
My child, none in you believes,
their loss, and my win astounds,
and pray that fates keep turning.

Theater is that we all to play,
and such are our velvet dreams,
for kings, in their dreams, believing.
Patience upon patience galore,
as thy heart gets tired of screams,
while the hazel beauties grieving.

Wipe away, my child, the damn drops,
those tears scream aloud in me,
for kings never to be seen crying.
Over, all should be and they must,
and that smile bounds back in glee,
to me, I, and my own sighing.

For kings, run the fortunes high,
and for kings, the highs and lows,
for kings are kings by their making.
A king you are despite the tears,
despite the winds, and their blows,

For kings, O child, must be shaking.

 

It's kind of hard to really spot what sparked these emotions while writing these lines, but probably they are condolences to my own self for my failures in life; Something which I think still going on. Anyway… on the technical side, the poem follows ABC-DBC rhyme with syllables count as 8,7,8-8,7,8. I was really thinking of separating each stanza of 6 lines into 3-3 lines but I changed my mind and kept it as it is. I think that would break, somehow, the general connection of ideas in a single stanza. After writing (typing) this poem, I did a little search online for such a rhyme scheme and I did find it mentioned in some websites but no specific name was given (one of the pages was talking about Black-related modern poetry I think). Anyhow, I think it somewhat brings me satisfaction that I didn't think of such weird rhyming scheme alone!

Now, my vacation is over and I'll be back to work by next Sunday. Back to the rush and the fuss on the roads (and the road rages too). All what I'm hoping for for now, is to keep working with the camera despite my mood swings and despite my tiresome body. I'm typing these words as I pray for a drop down in temperatures in the coming weeks. The humidity had been horrible; Almost drinking water from thin air. Meanwhile, I need to prepare to make a new post for my Arabic blog and I think I've found the proper topic for my next post. Thus, I need to get busy (or busier than before) as I'm going to need to work in my workplace with this and probably making new fresh shots at home for that specific post. And who knows, they might be useful to be posted here as well! Till then…