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.

Light Me!

It has been a quick holiday, and I really need some more of it; to sleep, and to work with my camera a bit. Nonetheless, I managed to work a bit with my camera and specifically fixing an image that I've posted in my previous post, after getting some notes from my brother about it. As for the rest of the time, I've been either dozing off or working with selfies and filters, but with a twist!

Re-Make

As I've mentioned, I had to try out and fix an image that I've posted here previously since I got some notes about it. Without going into details, but the main aspect of change in the shoot is to change the light source, using the candle alone instead of speedlites as was previously done.

وفوق كل ذي علم عليم (1)
"and over every lord of knowledge He is knowing" (12:76)
Done with speedlites in HSS.

وفوق كل ذي علم عليم (2)
"and over every lord of knowledge He is knowing" (12:76) - II
Change in perspective and using candle light alone.

I have to say that I really like the second version; Not only for its dramatic appearance and the play of light, but the perspective (as per my brother's suggestion) did add to the difference, which I think is quite interesting. In fact, in my chase after landscapes and architecture I've realized the importance of shooting with non-ordinary angles of view to keep the image being interesting (somewhat excluding panoramas since it doesn't work all the time with this art). However, it seems I've totally forgot about this concept when it came down to still life images like this. I'll try to remember that next time (and I'll try to remember to remember next time); go figure! Being satisfied about this shot did not stop me from doing some other experiments with the same set as well.

وفوق كل ذي علم عليم (3)
"and over every lord of knowledge He is knowing" (12:76) - III
B+W 403 UV filter with hot mirror.

Since I didn't use the Ultraviolet 403 filter in a long time now, I've decided to put it in action here despite the fact that, after checking the typical spectra for candles, it seems that candles do not issue much of UV radiation (if any at all), but anyway, I've decided to try. To add some charisma here, I've decided to do some HDR bracketing which required me to raise the ISO a bit (to 400). Focusing the set was a tricky business since the filter was opaque. Anyway, I've managed to make the third shot above by bracketing 3 shots and merging them into HDR. The flare was quite hideous and even controlling the parameters in tone-mapping the HDR couldn't help in suppressing these artifacts. However, there are these blue lines which emerge from the candle (not really emerging here), and that is an artifact I've noticed its presence when using UV or H-Alpha filters, with or without hot mirror, when working in LiveView mode specifically. They disappear when I work in a regular way. Not sure what is the mechanism that works behind such artifact but in this instance it was quite desirable to add a bit of magic to the scene. The high ISO played a great role in increasing the noise which was hard to clean (but reduced a bit).

وفوق كل ذي علم عليم (4)
"and over every lord of knowledge He is knowing" (12:76) - IV.
B+W 403 UV filter with hot mirror.

In the third shot, the white balance was not calibrated in-camera but was left on Auto. In the fourth shot, however, I've managed to calibrate the white balance with such hard filter (even though I'm working with a fully converted camera here), and also put down the ISO back to 100. To eliminate those lines emerging above the candle, I had to work in a regular way without LiveView. With that sprung the idea of doing HDR bracketing but using long exposures like I used to do some years back during my regular visit to the seaside through winter nights. So I did, and started at around 8 minutes and halving the value with each exposure until reaching 30 seconds. The more exposures, the merrier, since that will provide a smoother "histogram" of data for the light levels. The result in the 4^th seems more pleasing than the 3^rd with the absence of these distraction lines above the candle, but nevertheless, I still had to crop a big portion out to remove the flare. The matter of flares was there in all attempts, but having a filter and a hot mirror on top of it increased the internal reflection which made the matter worse. Let's hope I would not have to shoot directly at a light source again!

Candle Selfies

It all started with testing the H-Alpha filter, and the easiest subject to think of when testing is, actually, my face. Things, however, evolved later on.

Hl-Alpha filter + hot mirror.
430EX II speedlite on camera left with oval diffuser.
Voigtländer 20mm.

Ovel (Globe) diffuser from Impact.
Source: B&H

My first experiment with the speedlite was fruitful if I can call it so, because it provided some insight into this simple light modifier, the oval diffuser from Impact. Anyway, this is not the core of this text right now, but shooting a selfie with speedlite is surely an easy task, because I got to speed up the shutter speed and kill the ambient light significantly (and hide the messy background effectively!). I think I just needed a reflector to the left of my face to bounce back some light and light the shadows a bit, but well, this is dramatic enough as it is and nicely sharp (later, while processing, I've sharpened the front eye specifically in Photoshop). But since I was going on with ِAugust project about books (which for I've taken the shots posted above), I've decided here to try and use the candle light only to light my face and check the general outlook. I have to say, I'm quite impressed despite the simplicity and the technical limitations for such light.

Candle Selfie 1
H-Alpha filter + Hot mirror.

Through out these selfies, I've always used Voigtländer 20mm lens, which is my favorite right now for many tasks, be it macro (on reverse) or other styles, even selfies. Despite being a wide-angle lens and, usually, such lenses are not used for proper portraiture shots. But the fact that I was so close to the settings and its capability of focusing at minimum distance of 20cm made it a plausible option; adding to that the fact that my camera is a cropped-frame camera and it eliminates much of the periphery (20mm on 1.6x cropped frame is equivalent to 32mm). However, my first trial was with the Night Sky filter, H-Alpha, and a hot mirror (Tiffen's) placed on top.
Using an external LCD monitor connected via the HD input of the camera, I was able to manage the focusing issue pretty easily with this filter. Needless to say, I had to do a white balance calibration before shooting the selfie (and it should be calibrated with a candle in front of the lens because this is the variety of light I will be using to shoot). The result? Mesmerizing. I really loved the looks. The candle light, despite being simple and kind of hard to deal with somehow (I had to work in completely dark room and find my way through the mess), but the light itself is not "pointed," that is, it is not concentrated into a beam as it is the case with speedlites, thus it can be considered as a diffused light on its own, even though it is a weak source. Placing the candle typically under my chin level produced the so-called "horror light" but in some diffused manner which it made it, let's say, less horrific.

Candle Selfie 2
B+W 092 infrared filter.

One observation about the usage of H-Alpha filter with a hot mirror is that images are slightly like infrared when processed but with darker tones and I've found out later, from checking various transmission charts for such filter, that using a hot mirror on top of it is actually not a good practice because this filter operates around the range of Reds and above (in sense of wavelengths) which extends to the infrared range. Anyway, The first shot inspired me to use the infrared filter, namely the B+W 092 infrared filter.
I picked this filter specifically because it has a low threshold (at around 650nm) which gives some colorful results at times, unlike the Kodak infrared filter which has a high threshold (about 1000nm); The higher the threshold, the closer the image to B&W it would look. In Candle Selfie 2, I had to get even closer to the lens and with some cropping I was able to hide the flame. Probably this selfie is the best, but this was not the end of the story.

Top Row: H-Alpha + hot mirror.
Low Row: B+W 092 infrared.
Left column: originals.
Right column: Red-Blue channel swaps.

I couldn't pass the chance of all this work with these filters without trying at least one swap; the most common being Red-Blue channel swap. That produced some interesting results as well as seen above. All images here (and those before) were processed to reduce some of the flare. As I've stated before, flares are quite common and natural when the light source is in front of the lens, and that's why my beard specifically in the infrared shot looks colored; this actually had been caused by a light spot which I've tried to reduce its presence in the process (it was more saturated and lighter). I've tried to take some selfies using the B+W 403 Ultraviolet filter plus hot mirror but this is another story, maybe for another post.
Conclusion: despite its weakness as a light source, candle light is a pretty interesting and a dramatic source of light. It provides a somewhat diffused light look, but not necessarily light shadows as it is with properly diffused light (from flash or others). I'm definitely going to consider candles in other projects when I get the chance to. One set back though, it would mostly need a dark room (unless the photo idea is not about using the candle light and its dramatic look).

Finale

My experiments are going on still and there is a lot going on at the back of my head. I'm keeping some material for the next posts in the weeks to come as I don't want to put all eggs in one basket here.
I think old age is creeping to me indeed as my body is not what it used to be and I'm getting tired easily; The light time I can find to work with my camera would be a hard time resisting a nap! Is it a lack of motivation or it is indeed my body which is hitting a low. Anyway, I'll have some quiet to myself in the next 3 days with the family going out to some resort, and hopefully I can manage to work more with my camera.
All this work with my camera, which is really some experimenting after all and not a trial to make a fine art, seems to be my way to escape my anxiety and my panic attacks. It doesn't work all the time but it is after all some productive. Things at work, despite being quiet at the moment, it is yet loathsome and sometimes I get a darkened vision about the future of this place, and again I try to get my mind back to the tracks and avoid believing in things that did not happen yet. I'm clinging more, as days pass by, to the past and the sweet memories of the old times. The present, and future, are quite repulsive to me right now. Many people I like and love are disappearing or simply leaving and I can't do much about it, except to watch it. It is the law of life, I know, but these things were, and are, the only lovely things as I remember.  I miss me, so much…