Alexander 6, V3.

Unfortunately, no pictures for today, although I made one experiment with my censer again. I can't say all the results were fine but I didn't try much to tone-map any. I made 2 versions (as far as I remember) and all saved in EXR, but I didn't go on further to tone-map and other stuff. The bad thing here is that I missed the sparkling effect of the flame, and the censer image was somehow... normal. Anyway, I might add them for tomorrow, as for the time being I'm a bit busy in re-making one of the panoramas for one of our labs, and also busy with... playing some games... YES!
__________
49. his heart was relieved and the smile got back
50. and then he asked the old man about his identity
51. who are they and why they asked him to come
52. the old man began his speech slowly
53. and said: I am the mortal son of immortals
53. I am the ancestor of the tribes
54. I am Náwi bir Nowayi Ayvárí
55. a son and grandson of the Ayvars
56. brought to Earth from the unknown
57. and I grew up with the nomads
58. until the Light brightened my soul and heart
59. then I married from the tribes of Earth
60. thus I am from and into the tribes
61. I am a branch of Eruvians and Huberians
62. and the Capallese and the Qalaqach
63. I am the father of Kharkhaz and Urev
64. and the grandfather of the Dulukh and Noahim
65. I am the son of Ayvars who lost his fathers
66. I lost the count of time and age
67. thus count my age as much as you like
68. and these are the chosen of my sons
69. and the chosen of their grandsons
70. and their chosen of their great grandsons
71. we are the root and the branch
72. from the seed that disappeared long time ago

Alexander 5, V3.

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

 

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

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

  

Sun in heaven still. Photomatix tone-mapping.

 
 

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

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

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

__________

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

Alexander 4, V3.

Quiet day relatively, despite the fact that it is Monday! Well, not quite quiet, since I had to pick up back my sister's laptop from the damn workshop. The filthy technician requested extra 5 K.D. for installing the "right" Windows XP, which he did not do in the beginning. He installed an Arabic version and yet, a non-genuine one and I could not do an update. He was acting like beggar really. He made me angry again after I made a decision to calm myself down, but he is a rude one indeed.

Back to work, I had to prepare some samples of tuna and sardines to put them in the freeze dryer;



Believe me guys, with all due respect, the guy who invented sardines is an idiot! What's wrong with flexible cans? My can opener did not work and I made such a mess (and a horrible smell) all over the lab just to get these samples out into some plastic bag. Sardines ARE rocket science guys!


I spent the last night on doing an experiment in a dark environment with only my censer lit (can burn aromatic oils and candles). Well, it was a chance as well to try my filters out and try some long exposures, however, generally speaking the experiment did not go very well (specially with lot of noise in long exposured images). I tried to take images of the lit censer as well in several shutter speeds and I also got my flash involved (and that was an awkward move). The flash's problem is, I can't work with it solely without being connected to the camera (I can, but the control is cumbersome since it is not designed to work that way). This matter is a problem for me now since I want to give some instant light to the objects I want to take a picture of, but from a different angle other than the camera's direction (specially the sides). I will think about it and see if there are some cables or so. My camera is old and do not have the wireless control over the flash, thus, it must be done by a cable of some sort. Combining the images later on was awkward as well, in Photoshop and in Photomatix. Lot of noise and doubled or tripled EV values. All of this, as I believe, is for the lack of my understanding for EV concept. Anyway, I'm looking forward to make out something from these images already.

For the time being, I've finished reading my HDRI handbook, the one written by Christian Bloch (he is apparently a nice guy please visit his page, and, don't forget the credit as well!).

It is a magnificent book, specially for beginners. Before reading this book, I used to tone-map my HDR images down and I thought this is the core of the event, but now the whole concept had changed in my mind and there are lot of things that I could have fixed in old images that I made (specially those from Ireland) if I was to read this book before this time! However, there is no solution for any blured images!
As for now, and beside working on the translation work for Alexander VI story, I'm starting to read the books that I've already got from Ireland (from a souvenirs shop!). They had been in the dark corner for long now, and I think this is the right time. But, I will still think of some photography books to purchase, specifically from "rocky nook" series. As for the time being, I picked a little book entitled "Irish Ghosts" by John J. Dunne.

 

The cover is different, but the title and the author's name are the same, so I would say they are the same book. By the way, I might be fascinated by ghost stories, but I didn't say I like to meet one, ok?

I've forgot already how many books I've purchased from J.P. Keogh & Sons shop, but I remember I've purchased something about the Irish dancing and something about Irish music with music sheets (or notes) in it.

This one here is a small book, I shouldn't take much time to finish it all! I hope! But the most important thing for me now is, to burn my writing skills back as I did stop for a long time now in favor for photography and experimenting with my camera.

Words got beauty in my heart.

__________

49. and by arriving there the villagers shouted
50. "Alexander O Master, let us get back
51. the lands is not ours and shall not be!"
52. thus Alexander was surprised and wondered
53. "what is that you are saying O good people?"
54. then a villager named Chidhwárthí advanced
55. and with a weak voice full of fear he did say
56. "O Master of the good, you never heard of Zimúrá,
57. the land of mischief and the heaven of mutants?
58. the forefathers were sinners and so they were after them
59. like animals they live and hunt, and mercy left them out
60. cannot you see how black is their place?
61. cannot you smell how it is full of bad scents?
62. cannot you feel how gloomy this place is?
63. come on O Master, let us not waste the lives
64. there are so much good can be spread elsewhere"
65. then in a humble voice did the hero say
66. "O good man, I was not ordered to retreat,
67. did you not follow me asking for glory
68. did you not forsake the justice to be all over
69. what is the value of your lives amid the fear
70. and what is the value of your deeds for no good
71. who is afraid to come let him be back to his wife
72. and I am not leaving this, until God commands me!"

Alexander 3, V3.

Less activity behind the camera, and more activity on some experiments with photoshop. Despite the fact that my napping time screwed everything in my schedule. However, I'm trying to work more on some images from Ireland. The packet of pictures should include another 30 images, and I'm close to that number.
One interesting experiment I made, was that to spread the image of the dome that I've made previously from stitching 21 shots.


I got this idea of spreading after reading an article on some methods to catch HDR panoramas, and specifically what is called the "Skydomes."
The skydomes are mainly taken with camera tilt for 90 degrees upward and fisheye lens with 180 degrees FoV (Field of View). However, the round shape of the image made me wonder what would happen if I spread the dome that I made before in the same way? The softwares mentioned in the article were not what I used, but I, instead, used Photoshop's Polar Coordinates filter, which plots into and from polar to rectangular (the typical XYZ dimension). The result was strange but funny enough, but not enough I think to be submitted to the stock sites yet. There is a slight wavy curvature in the middle of the image, which seems to be the result of a not-perfect circle in a close-up.



The main purpose of "spreading" or changing the polar coordinates to rectangular one, is mainly to straighten out an image that was taken using a fisheye lens (be it with FoV of 180 or less), but I think it can give nice effect for circular objects like this dome (or others). I might go on testing this concept on some of the 360-panoramas that I've already made.
I leave you know with Alexander 3, V3.
__________

49. after eating with peace
50. the tribes gathered round Alexander
51. though he tried to speak to them in vain
52. they kept talking with no sense
53. Alexander gazed amid his men and asked
54. "whoever can explain the ideas between us?"
55. A man of valour then raised up for the task
56. and the name he had was Patúl
57. from a far away land called Cimcuráyá
58. and this he said, may I try and succeed
59. Alexander permitted him and he advanced
60. with cautious steps toward the unknown
61. and when the tongue he could not understand
62. and they could not understand his gestures
63. on the ground he drew a shape of a man
64. and they all said in one voice, Bulughman!
65. thus Alexander called them the Bulughmans
66. and he who seemed to be the chief of those
67. pointed to the mountains not far from there
68. and in fierce talk he started to express
69. but his words were not understood by any
70. then Alexander ordered a horseman called Carnúg
71. to go to the mountains and overlook the valley
72. and bring the tidings of what had been so fierce

Alexander 2, V3.

Welcome to my world of MONDAYS. In the news today we have many problems:
1. Waking up at 2 AM and going to work in the morning without sleeping.
2. Having to wander around the labs because of stupid sockets and no water in some labs to wash the tools.
3. Visitors that I had no mood for.
4. Going to DHL and getting stuck in the traffic jam and barely finding a parking place later on (I parked in a mid-lane really and not a real parking place).
5. Being screwed from a colleague.
6. Did I tell you that I crushed into a wall a bit yesterday? Well, it wasn't Monday but it was an introduction to Monday.

The good part is, I picked my shipment and I got my 3 filters now with an adapter and a filter holder. Yesterday when I went to the DHL facility, there was nothing but a single "folder" like thingy with some stuff inside. I opened it to see a ND2 (neutral density) filter only lying there! The whole shipment for 99% of the order just arrived today! Anyway, lot of work to do later on to experiment with these new tools. This is supposedly to help me out with long exposures in BULB mode. In such situations, the images tend to be blown out by the exposure, thus you have to limit the light as much as possible (specially in daylight photography).

No activity so far with the pictures from Ireland, as I'm taking some time to play some games, and at work, I get myself busy with some machines and with the transliteration of Alexander's VI story. I was hoping though to take some photos today of some scene around the campus but I was so busy in "work" that I didn't think about it for now. Anyway, it's going to be a picture of some garbage. That's all!
By the way... I hate Mondays...
__________

The army of the hero with twelve generals stood firm
before the walls and the gates of Galatanga the bold
A might city and mighty walls, and mighty men
not countable from the distance, but hard and tough
Alexander sent a messenger before him with a letter
and he approached the army with a raised hand above
He showed them the letter high up, and signed for peace
and asked to meet the king to reveal the tidings before him
The king was there, on a throne carried by six slaves
among his men, and enjoying the view of his kingdom
The king with a point from his finger made all silent
and pointed to the messenger to read his tidings
The messenger went on with no fear to read on
"From Alexander, king of the Caqobians,
To Karnagod, king of the Geltáns,
after the proposal of peace that we came for,
We invite you to worship the One, and the Only,
the Lord of Heavens and Earth and the beyond
And shall you make peace, we are for the peace
yet, mischief would be in your demeanours
Thus, you dug for your people their graves"
and the king went fierce with reddish eyes
With a point of his finger to some guards
the innocent messenger was cut into pieces