Little Announcie…

Well, I didn't want to leave this week without a post (because I don't have much to post really) but I thought I might make a little announcement here:

So, around Tuesday, I've actually submitted the last thing that would attach me to my workplace: My work ID card. Things, as I've been told, are done electronically now and I wouldn't have to move around with a bunch of papers to get signatures and be officially retired. My main problem was the long custody list which was under my name and had to transfer (or drop) such custody. Finally, transferred that to my boss and it took a while to get things done in that perspective, but finally, it's done.

Honestly, I was going to ask about taking a panorama in one of the buildings in my workplace; A building I really liked, but I was lazy and not in mood to chitchat after submitting the last item in my hold.

I've spent all of November without a salary, and because how things work here, probably December would pass as well without a salary. I'm just glad such a heavy burden is removed off my back right now.

Now, I'm not sure what's coming next or what I want to do next, but one thing for sure: Rest. Such rest is not complete though as I have my own daily chores around the house here (specially with my mother) but at least I'm back to some of the routine that I've developed during the long holiday of COVID-19 beginnings, like reading a book in early morning. Hopefully, step by step I'll be able to organize my time around. 

I'm trying hard not to think about the future and live each day on its own, yet things are kind of hard to just keep it that way. Not in my life. Anyway, it is time also to look after some of those tiny stuff and projects that I've started and couldn't complete yet, in hope that I will get the strength to complete them now that I don't have to drive to and from my workplace. 

A new day has come…

i dTús (In the beginning)…

Well, I'll try to wrap up this quick. This is my first blog post after coming back from Ireland and so much to be done still to get back to my normal rhythm. I still have problems with sleeping pattern - well, I always do, but this time it is far more an upset pattern. I have some chores planned which must be done in the morning time, and because of that I'm kind of paralyzed and unable to do them; because I prefer to sleep.

In the meantime, I've been working with a slow pace through some of the images and panoramas. For the time being, I'm doing just flat versions of those panoramas, and later I will twist them around and make QTVRs out of them too. I'm now living a dilemma too, as I've downloaded some games that I need to play as soon as possible, before heading back to work in November! On the other hand, I do need to work on the photos I've taken in Ireland. Many things to do to spend the rest of the vacation with, but unfortunately my body is not helping.

Work Arbeit Obair

I'm preparing now to send a group of images from my trip already through email, as I usually do. However, these images were done during my stay in Ireland and most of them were posted here in this blog, in posts I've written during my stay. Most of them are in B&W as well. I do need some time now to organize the email and send it over.
Meanwhile, I've been working randomly somewhat with the new photos, and depending solely on strikes of inspiration. Taking a photo on location, even in a place like the Irish countryside, is not the epitome of inspiration still. For me at least. A lot of inspiration and work is to be done later in processing.

Áit an Leipreacháin (Place of the Leprechaun) - IR
Canon EF 15mm fisheye, f/8, 3.3min, ISO400.

Cosán na Síoga
(The Fairies' Path)
Canon EF 15mm, f/8,
6min, ISO500.

Here we have an example in the image above. Áit an Leipreacháin is an infrared shot taken in the gardens of Ashford castle in Cong, Co. Mayo. What was really inspirational to me is the composition and the geometry of the path, but it takes another dimension in processing, specially that it is an infrared shot, which makes the image float; i.e. no right or wrong about how colors are perceived. This fact, encouraged me to add my own touch further outside the environment of the RAW file, by adding some glamor and motion blur to have the image resemble what I presume as "mystical". With this, I can state that inspiration is not just one instance. One thing can attract you on location, but the completion of the story is when you edit it yourself (i.e. develop the negative). Yes, I know this approach might be quite a contradiction to the purists' views, but this is how my mind work; it is a split mind.

Sunken
Canon EF 50mm, f/9,
25^-1sec. ISO200.

In the case of infrared shots things might be afloat because of the nature of the shot itself, as infrared is no "real color" after all and sometimes you get the freedom of twisting the tones to your liking. In regular shots, on the other hand, the attack would be even fiercer and the opposition is stronger with any editing you might have to do (by purists that is). In images like Sunken, thanks to be given first to the polarizer here which made it possible to eliminate the top two tires (tyres). This image was shot in brackets to merge as HDR. However, one single exposure was enough to get most of the details out of it (remember to work in ProPhoto to get the maximal limits from the histogram). With this, there was something missing. Contrast. But I've increased contrast already, and nothing was interesting about the image still. What I admired on location was the composition (talk about abstract and contemplative approach), but this is not helping here with a dull image and apparently converting to B&W was not a choice. The way to do this was to increase the saturation instead and create a contrast of colors and not tones. The colors were there, they just needed a push in saturation. The result was a contrast between two complimentary colors: blue and yellow.
There are a lot of images done so far, and each one has a story of that sort. That's why my progress is slow for the time being; because I do talk to myself when processing each image.

As for panoramas, I've done a number of them and all in flat format so far. Later, I'd be doing the rest of the tricks on them and the QTVRs. The nadir point for some of these panoramas were easy to fix, but I did prefer cutting them out along with the tripod head in order to fix my own label later when I do the QTVRs. This would be better to show information about the scene for the viewer, I believe.

One of the best so far, in my opinion that is, is the panorama taken from the front of Kylemore Abbey (on October 8^th). It had some problems, but the centralization of the configuration on location paid well. And despite the fact that people were filling the place, I didn't have much problems in aligning the images, fixing vertical lines (by adjusting the pitch value in PTGui), and keeping the panorama tidy without any trace for any humanoids!

Mainistir na Coille Móire (Kylmore Abbey)

There was a minor fix to be done though, which is my shadow in the panorama. It was a simple cloning process and could have been done in the origin slide before stitching; but I was so much excited about this panorama specifically that I've decided to stitch first! I think a planet projection for this panorama specifically would be a great render!

The Waterfront (IR)

One of the painstaking processes with these panoramas is finding the control point specially in a panorama that combines outdoors, and infrared. Because infrared filters with uncoverted cameras (i.e. adjusted for IR reception) make the exposures pretty long even in a sunny day. The result is a blank sky almost even if it was a cloudy day. For this reason and after days of trying out my luck with The Waterfront (IR) I had to neglect the idea of adding the top and bottom rows of this panorama and get satisfaction with only the basic mid row. Story did not end at this actually, as some stitching errors remained and, later, much work was needed in Photoshop to add contrast with dodge and burn. It would be a shame to leave this panorama without any work; I've spent around one hour or more under the rain working on it on location! However, the weirdest of panoramas is still to come...

An Taobh Istigh an Waterfront
(Inside the Waterfront)

The weirdest of problems occurred with a panorama taken inside the Waterfront. It was apparent from the beginning that I surely need a model for control points (made from JPG files) in order to apply it to the HDR slides and make HDR panorama. However, to my surprise, the JPG panorama itself was a mess and the computer could not stitch it properly. It was one meatloaf of images! After some work on analyzing the mistakes (and using the "mask" option for the first time for me), it appears that the patterned carpet had a great say in this mess, where the computer merged 2 far and unrelated images on the basis of the pattern in the carpet!
Things began to become easier when I used the "crop" tool in PTGui itself to restrict the generation of control points on the mid zone of each image. In the final result there was still some work to be done to correct some broken lines, but this is a daily soup by now!

I'm now in a dilemma and thinking which of these panoramas I must print and send as a gift to my host, Mary Welsh. Probably I shouldn't decide by now until I work on all panoramas from the Waterfront.

Finale

Medieval Etiquette

Now, my sole burden and work in real life is to get back to the humdrum of the daily life in Kuwait, with all its nerves burning. When I go out in a vacation like this and come back, it usually feels lonelier deep inside, and estranged somewhat - like I see the things for the first time; needless to say the mood swings that hit with every encountered problem. Probably that's why I do feel Ireland to be a second home? One thing I do miss from here is the food actually! Not say the food is bad there, but I can't eat meat outside. Anyway for the reasons mentioned before, as soon as I arrived, I did deliberately drive into some jams trying to get my engine greased and ready to work. This is beside my chores.
Probably you've noticed that I'm using Irish to entitle my images this time (which is a practice I've been following for some time). This actually awakened in me the love for the Irish language (Gaeilge) again, after stopping teaching myself for years. Now, things are easier I presume; the language is wide spread and many people know about it and the resources are available. Probably I should give it a try once more.
Wish I can do the same with matters of the heart though…

Dull Times...

Another dull week, with few serious work on any front. Summer just began and I wish it's over already. It does sound sometimes as if all my problems start with summer. Anyway, work is minimum, and by work I mean my camera, not my "job". I don't have much respect for this place right now actually.
On the other hand, I'm slowly starting to figure the headache of the Irish visa (again). Things should be sorted out as soon as possible though, and first of all, I have to set a plan for the dates of traveling and such. Thank God the passport is valid till next year and I don't have to do anything about this. If they keep a record of visitors to the Republic, probably granting my visa would be a piece of cake... ah well.

Macro

It was a day in which I brought my camera to my workplace to take shots of the beautiful garbage containers that were left beside my workplace for months now. After taking these shots, I've decided to check out the garden on the side of the building, which was colorful and blooming just some months ago - when we had some "weather". Even though it's filled with dead blooms and plants now, it could be a good target for some abstract work as well.

لب (Core)
Canon EF 50mm + 30mm ET, f/7.1,
100^-1sec, ISO640.

Because this was not planned initially, I didn't bring a tripod with me, and I guess this is obvious if you check the ISO in the specs of لب (Core). After many disastrous trials, accompanied for handshake AND slight breeze, I decided to go even beyond ISO400. The sun was fine but in such a macro level (with the hep of extension tubes of course) and such a shake, a compromise had to be made. And truth be told, I'm not sure how it became f/7.1 either! It was supposed to be fixed on f/8; seems I've nudged the dial without noticing!
I'm quite satisfied with the details in لب (Core) despite the out of focus regions which might somehow plague the scene a bit. The geometry of the details inside the dead core is to my eyes satisfaction, and the overall resolution is quite good even after cropping, so that even the fine hair on the side were pleasantly sharp at 100% view. Let's call it, a "strike of luck"! Cropping though did take some time to be decided, and yet I'm still not satisfied about it. Probably the law of thirds inside the square was due and the heart of the core should have been placed in one of the "power points".

تلك (That One)
Canon EF 50mm + 12mm ET, f/3.5,
320^-1sec, ISO400.

Seeing how long are the stems carrying these dead blooms, I changed the extension tube from 30mm to 12mm. The next shot I was planning needed some perception of depth, as I was planning to shoot the stem from above. The problem here though, I must use extension tubes to allow for close distance focus (50mm's closest focusing distance is about 45cm, or about 0.18 in.). However, I think that تلك (That One) needed more than just close focusing distance. It needs more angle of view to show some curvature in a clear way (and I'm not going to use the old 18-55mm here). The situation literally left me puzzled. However, with some sharpness to a distance object (thanks to AF!), probably the depth is depicted somehow. What was left was simply squaring and adjusting to the law of thirds.

البركان الناعم (Soft Volcano)
Canon EF 50mm + 30mm ET, f/6.3,
100^-1sec, ISO400.

Back to the 30mm extension tube. This time, my eyes captured a small "volcano" formation inside a dead core, just like the first shot above in fact, but this time, the point was protruding more. In البركان الناعم (Soft Volcano) the aperture was set mainly by "sense" and not by using any rules of thumb that are usually taken in macro photography. It is almost a rule that in macro shots, the aperture should not be any less than f/8. Anyway, as I was trying to make a compromise between the shutter speed and the ISO with the aperture (I was using Av mode, without tripod, without flash), f/6.3 seemed reasonable. The final result is a perplexing combination of out- and in-focus areas which makes it hard to specify exactly where is the plane of focus, as it has rendered the shot somewhat in 3D; to my eyes at least. There were several shots in fact, because I was using the burst mode (which I like to use in times of shake!), but this one seemed the finest. The protruding point from the core was not sharp enough though, unfortunately. Again, it was squared and fitted into one of the "power points" according to the law of thirds.

I'm not sure why I did name these shots specifically in Arabic in the first place, but to some sense, it did sound more "plausible". The squaring of all of these shots sounded "natural" to me since there are lot of unwanted details and the area of interest is pretty small compared to the whole frame; a whole rectangle wouldn't look "elegant" so to say, besides, it would have added more space than planned to the shot. It is also a better choice, as it seems, to rounded objects like these dead cores!

Kill It!

With minimum photographic activity, I'm still going on with Black and White exploration with old photos. Nothing special for this week in fact, except for an interesting encounter with an old panorama taken from the Arab Organization Headquarter (February, 2013), namely the Tiempos Andaluzas.

Tiempos Andaluzas

In this panorama, as you can see, there were lot of reflections because of the polished floor and, naturally, the glass facades everywhere. To me it was one major point in the weakness of the whole panorama; if these reflections were combined with symmetry, the situation might have been different at least. However, when converting to B&W (and adding a red tint), some of these reflections were simply "killed;" in the sense of being camouflaged with the surroundings. This helped a bit here and puts forward a new venture of thought and considerations when processing panoramas. B&W render could be a savior at some point beside being a touch of art!

Comparison between the colored and the B&W versions.
Notice the black arrows on the colored version.
Click to Enlarge

As you can see, not all reflections could be eliminated, naturally, but this was a good start. Moreover, the veins of the marble floor were emphasized further because of the tint. The original tint was pretty red. However, with going on with processing, the general tone changed to (dark) sepia somewhat, but I don't think it's that bad after all. I think some tint does help on pronouncing some details in white areas more than white does at times.

Finale

Well, I was supposed to talk a little about some work with Geltani conlang, and supposedly do a recording, but I'm canceling this for now as I had some technical problems concerning recording these events. I've done a primary check up for translating the UDHR and I have to say, it does sound a jaw twisting venture; not only a tongue twister! However, I'd rather train myself on producing these sounds rather than changing the value assigned. The main work though remains on putting key rules (to myself) for producing the glyphs for words, as well as adding some touches to the grammar and words manipulation. This is important because the conlang is largely based on Arabic, and Arabic script is an abjadic script, which means we might have more than one word with the same letters, but different in vowels. Vowels (short ones that is) are not recorded in Geltani.
I've been doing my homework, and sent some email asking for help with the Arabic phonology which I'm trying to understand. However, no reply as of yet. Seems I'm not good at getting responses anyway! This matter, which I reckoned to be a simple task, swept through a learning curve of phonetics and anatomy of the mouth just to understand how I speak!

After successfully sending and printing two of my photos, I've decided to add them to printing gallery on my website; which is something I didn't update in a while! The two photos are almost of the same size (around A2 with the margin) and would cost around 35K.D. here. Still thinking of easy ways to send these prints for benefit outside but having a strong currency and the lack of means to transfer money easily, makes this project a failure for the time being. PayPal wouldn't let me receive money with my current location and credit card.

Print Screen of two pages from my website after update.

My life is getting busier now and I had to stop fasting for the time being, in hope that it would empower me to do the hanging tasks on my schedule. It's not a language or a camera matter only, but a complete sweep through my life and the capability to organize it. Just to think of all the preparations I have to do just before traveling gives me a shiver in the spine really, but remembering that it is something that I must do, makes me calm down a little. I'm starting to get careless and careless about everything around me, day by day...

Weiß und Schwarz...

OK. I really don't want to talk about this week for now. Summer is not officially here but I can see the consequences already, with 40^oC around 10 o'clock in the morning. On the other hand, I've sent 2 prints as a gift this week to a friend in the US (which I consider as an anniversary gift). As per the moment this was typed, no news about the shipment yet - and this is the eternal problem with EMS mailing here; no tracking system. The only way to track it is when the shipment is handed to UPS in the US. I wouldn't be doing this task with DHL or any other courier services, as their prices are ridiculously high.

The prints before packaging. Sizes around A2 (with the white margin).

With these prints, I've tried a new glossy spray (and also a matte spray by mistake). This glossy spray is specified for acrylic colors. As it's known, acrylic colors are water-based, and I thought this is more likely the case with prints done with large inkjet like the HP DesignJet and the others. I think I was right. The glossy cover worked well with these prints and made the colors even more vibrant.

While printing these, the print shop guy made a mistake and printed the images in black and white. To my surprise, the tones were promising in black and white, if only I did manage to do the toning myself before printing! This event, triggered me to do a full week of converting images to black and white all the way.

Weiß und Schwarz

As mentioned above, the whole thing started with black and white prints by mistake. After returning back home that day, I directly worked on these photos and checked to see what can be done with black and white toning.

Washing Shore (BW)

Good Morning Kuwait (VIII)

These were the beginnings of the trend. One of the big problems with converting to B&W is the fact that it tends, sometimes, to produce more artifacts because of the limited range - such artifacts would show as random spots in some areas, specially when such area is brightened. Anyway, I continued my way with converting such images and my aim was specifically dedicated to those with some dramatic effects and panoramas...

Έδαφος
Rokinon 8mm fisheye, f/11(?), 15^-1, ISO100.

Some images that I didn't think of displaying originally, like Έδαφος (Terrain), are now in the target for conversion. The colored version, despite the clouds formation, was somewhat monotonous specially with the lack of a strong contrast and saturation (to increase those, more artifacts will show up even) and no details that would move the eye across except for the clouds. The feature here (the small wall ruin) isn't large enough to fill the frame too. I think the conversion here made a push on the visual impact as a whole, and I was able to pull a contrast between the sky and the ground by toning both colors; and literally, I've reversed the brightness of both.

Στην Κορυφή (BW/Sepia)

Another shot from Failaka is Στην Κορυφή (On Top) which is converted to B&W and tinted in sepia. The shot was dramatic as it is already in the colored version, and converting made it pop out more in my eyes. But to give an idea about the artifacts that are produced, you can see for yourself on the top left corner of the image to see some spots. One might mistaken those for lens' dirt or sensor's, but they are more pronounced here when toning for black and white.
To reduce the effect of the artifacts, I did some Surface Blur, one of the options available in Photoshop, but I have to say it might work for some noise grain, and not for such hideous spots in general. Such spots need a severer approach, like the Median trick, which I didn't do here.

Denkmal für Freiheit

Some images were enhanced as well with better separation, and better visual impact than in the original color version; or should I say, the color version didn't say it as it should be or as I wished it to be. Only now in fact I've thought of converting some of these images to B&W, like Denkmal für Freiheit. It looks though as if I used a flash here to light the monument against a dark sky. Here though, there is another artifacts problem with the toning (on the right side of the image). The reflection is even enhanced without the colors, with some needed dodge and burn as well.

Ikaros Loop (BW)

Now to the fun part. Panoramas. Considerations for a dramatic impact with panoramas are a bit twisted and not directly viewable or recognizable as it is the situation with regular shots. This is mainly because it is a picture of a space (of course we are talking about full panoramas here) and not a single simple object. The dramatic impact in the world of panorama making should be pre-calculated, so to speak, in location. Meaning, the architecture of the place should be considered and under what circumstances or projections it would be dramatic and eye catching. In panoramas like Ikaros Loop, the drama was foretold in the lines the cross each other on the ground and in the patterns of colors already in the colored version - here though in the black and white version, we remove the colors and emphasize the contrast and sharpness.

Heaven is Watching (BW)

Many panoramas went under inspection, and still, trying to find those that best fit the black and white conversion, but probably the one that caught my eyes after conversion the most is Heaven is Watching which was taken on top of a roundabout near my workplace. To convert this piece, I've used the template already available in Black and White adjustment layer: Infrared. After that some modifications were added to add contrast. Finally, a bluish tint was added. The sky here is of course the first source of visual impact. The infrared template here shortened the working time significantly when it, simply, darkened the bright sky and brightened the dark ground.
At the moment of writing this, the search is still going on for more images to convert to B&W, specially that my photographic activity is dramatically dormant in such a season; unless I guess an idea for some macro work when possible.

Finale

I'm not sure what's going on with my life here, but my breath is becoming heavier by day here. I'm planning seriously to go back to Ireland, to the same place I visited in 2009 and this time in hope for much more photography work to do. Probably a friend will follow me. My only drug and condolences that keep my mind away from my own troubles, specifically at work (which I disrespect by day) is writing these blog articles you see. The Arabic blog specifically gives me a feel and sense of accomplishment as I'm trying to teach and in the same time arabize the technical terms in photography, in hope that such work will prepare the way for even more advanced acknowledgement in the future.
I know, I've been blabbering a lot about my projects with Geltani and re-defining Arabic IPA, but seems my problem is always time. Time, time, time. If I'm going to keep two blogs postings in time, then time is something consumed pretty much easily that way. I have to re-think my strategy in sharing my time at WORK between my projects. Otherwise, nothing will be done that way.
... Morocco seems a nice place to be... isn't it?

Inert...

Another week is passing here with a dormant activity on almost all levels of my life. I'm not sure what is it really, it is just that deep feeling of tiring mind and body. Despite my trial to do some photography but I failed with an honorary degree. Maybe I will talk about that later.
My niece is out of the hospital now. According to the doctors, it seems that she was inflicted with the herpes virus, and probably her teeth are suspected for such low immunity (adding the effects of thalassemia) to the virus and enabling the virus to the reach the circulatory system that easily and up to the brain. Thank God she is fine by now, even though with a dozen of medicines and antibiotics. Just to imagine such a little girl is suffering all of that at such an age makes me hate my life already.

Well, let's see what I've done in the past 2 weeks, if there is anything that I could have done better anyway...

Astro

After getting my Rokinon mirror lens, I didn't have much chances in the past weeks to try it well, but I did enough to see its effect on lunar and solar photography. The solar part, in particular, was a cumbersome experiment which I will talk about in a while.

100% Crop
Rokinon mirror lens (800mm) + 2 x2 teleconverters, f/32, 100^-1sec, ISO800.

The first real trial for the lens was directed to the moon. since I got the lens, the moon persisted on not showing up in the sky; if it is there then it's cloudy, or simply the setting time is prior to sunset itself. Anyway, let's not blabber about the "good" luck I've been experimenting this lately. I've finally captured the moon here and it's shaky as you can see above because of the great focal length (3200mm in total), and the wind was persisting that night. The crop above is a portion of the image which is not resized.

Sonne IX
Rokinon mirror lens (800mm) + 2 x2 teleconverters, f/32, 8000^-1sec, ISO100.

The next test was aimed, of course, towards the sun. In fact, the sun was the main inspiration to get such a lens after all! However, you might have noticed that the ISO was relatively high in the moon's shot and it is low in the sun's shot, naturally because of the light level difference between the two. Ironically though, the sun's shot, to me, was harder to achieve for a number of reasons:

• Sun's position in the sky which forced me almost to raise the camera at 90^o.
• Facing the sun and not being able to cover the camera with

LensCoat as I did with previous shots. The LensCoat is useful to cover my head as well while working with the camera's LCD, giving me shelter against the harsh sunlight. The diameter of the mirror lens and the fact that the camera was placed on Manfrotto telephoto lens support made it impossible to cover the system with LensCoat.

Cokin's adapter ring (105mm) is bent (!) and could loosely attach to the front of the mirror lens.

Focusing with the green welding glass proved cumbersome (it doesn't give a sharp focus after all) thus I had to try placing ND gel filters sheets in front of the lens (as Cokin's square ND filters are smaller than the diameter of the lens). This highly affected the quality of the light and increased the cumbersomeness of the movement of the camera and lens (specially with some wind blowing).

Despite the stack of ND gel filters, I still had to use the fastest shutter speed (8000^-1sec)  for my camera and still it would be somehow a bright image.

Source: B&H

I've used around 11-stop of ND filters in my sun shot. Surprisingly, the shot became desaturated. The blue color of Sonne IX might be typical for images processed from IR shots done before (by swapping channels) but in this instance all I had to do is increase the vibrance (and no channel swapping is involved). In the first instance the image was almost greyscale in appearance. I was thinking for some time about using the gel filters for general long exposure shots with other lenses instead of the Cokin square ND filters because staking Cokin's would yield a magenta tint to the image, and here with gel filters it did give an unexpected result. However, desaturation is way better than a magenta tint, from my perspective at least.
The cumbersome situation with the filters made me rethink about the so-called Rear Filters which are supposedly fitting for T-mount lenses like this mirror lens. On the other hand, there is some hope in developing some way to fit gel filters easily into such a system by placing the filters on the rear end of the teleconverters instead of the rear of the mirror lens. However, this needs some revision as the structure of the teleconverter's rear is tricky a bit. Also one of the things that I need to work with is to innovate some way to focus this lens without touching intimately to reduce the shape as much as possible. For the time being, I might be using some rubber bands and clips!

100% Crop of the sunspot.

Now back to Sonne IX which surprised me with the existence of two sunspots (each spot is composed in a pair of poles in fact, meaning they appear as 4 dots). On the smaller version, the focus sounded fine, but of course as we approach in to view the 100% or the real size of the image we can see that the focus is not sharp enough. That's good enough though. Previously, using my Sigma and two x2 teleconverters (yielding 1200mm), the sun would appear as one big disk in the frame. Now, however, using a mirror lens with the same teleconverters, a quarter of the sun fills the frame, giving a good zooming in for the sunspots at hand. The crop you see here is for the sunspot at 5 o'clock in Sonne IX above.

Nox

I've been trying hard in the past 2 weeks to push it further with my night photography. However, the exhaustion and the lack of interest in most of the locations available made me almost idle. Now, in the coming few days, I have to work as much as possible and as fast as possible because winter is vanishing, though slowly. After all, I've somehow succeeded in only one shot which took me some time around 45 minutes to do.

Ad Borea
Rokinon 8mm fisheye, f/8, ISO100.

The location is an old one in fact. I've previously took a shot in this location, with the same lens, and also in one winter night. The difference here is the shot was taken under the roof of the structure (gazebo?) rather than away from it. Also, Ad Borea is in fact a tone-mapped image from a HDR slide. The sequence of the shots was started at 16 minutes exposure and ending at 30 seconds, which one stop difference between successive shots.
One of the embarrassing moments is to discover, after returning back home and uploading the images to the PC, that there was some trash on the left side that the darkness made it hard to see back then. I had to spend some significant time trying to manipulate the image (after tone-mapping) just to remove the trash from the scene. At the end, the only plausible solution I had in mind is to copy the table from the right side and fit it on the left!
Now this location can be inspiring for some panorama work but I need to check my options first in that location.

Failure

I had some ideas sketched down on pieces of paper. Unfortunately for me, all of them do involve some portraiture work. Since I don't have a model, I have to try it all on myself. Of course, this is not an easy task, to be a model and a photographer for yourself in the same time (in fact it is never advised to be so). My room is in clutter; with all the gear splashing in the place. I've tried for several days to catch a decent portrait, but my trials were to no avail on both fronts; posing and lighting. Guess my face is simply not photogenic and doesn't encourage on more creativity with the light! I've decided for the time being to just abandon these ideas and keep on going with something else. Portraiture is a nightmare.

Finale

With the lack of books in the current time, I'm trying to spend time (specifically at work) reading off Wikipedia, which is not a good source of information but it would do the job for general knowledge I'd say.
On the group's front, we are now in the phase of sorting out images to enroll in Austria's international photography contest and I've been given the responsibilities of uploading the photos as in the last year. Not sure how much I will get involved with the group for the time being, but surely I have to be careful in this field. Otherwise, I would slip into a twirl of responsibilities loads beside caring for Mom and the house, and my own projects with my camera and other things (Geltani specifically). Sometimes, I do think that I don't need a vacation from home and work only, but even away from my own camera.

My work is passing through some upheaval in the current time; we don't really know what is going on with the administrative body of the college. Things seem to be in chaos, and more suffering for us, the scientific staff in this place. Day by day, I feel the screws are getting loose on my nerves and I might explode at any moment, with any one. My worries are even extending further on the home front, with some family members being into some hard times (other than my niece).

I have to say that I'm literally losing my faith in everyone around me. I firmly believe that no one out there would really help me with anything, however simple may it be; I have to take things on my own and with my own hands; always. "Don't I deserve some love?" had become a stabilized bell-ringing question in my head at all times.

Turbulent...

I'm not sure how to describe this week, but one thing for sure: I'm getting sicker and sicker from work. One of the graceful "gifts" from the "palace" of my work place is that they have given me some days when my fingerprint scanning (to check the attendance) is canceled. Thus, I kind of had the chance to get back home early without checking out, specially in the days when Mom has dialysis.Things will be back to the old rhythm starting from next Sunday anyway. This time even with further stress as college students would be back probably, hence the traffic jam will be optimum as usual. All that pushes me for a real vacation. And by real, I mean out of this place, away from those people.
On the other hand, some ideas for a panorama inside the car had to wait a bit because of the rains and the foggy days in the past 2 weeks, and yet I have to find a proper place to work. I've stated before in my previous post that the parking lot in my work place is a good spot, but because of the many headaches I've been involved in at work, I just became so sick of the idea.

Old is (not) Gold

As I was going through my archives one day I've figured that there was once a project, a small one, that I didn't yet complete back in 2011! This small project wasn't completely a photography project but more like a photo manipulation which, naturally, includes doing some photography of myself. The idea was to mimic or to express a feeling about Asperger's syndrome.

Asperger's

The final look wasn't what I exactly envisioned but since I totally lost the vision about this old project, I've decided to do some final touches and finish it. The image is supposed to show the tear of mind and soul, and how a person is stretched back in pain with every step advancing forward; this in my vision, how an Aspie (a person suffering Asperger's) would be feeling.
The merging of the two images (face and hand) isn't quite plausible. I had this idea back in a time when I had some doubts about my mental processes and my actions; as I thought I do indeed have Asperger's or something in that spectrum already. Anyway, even after assuring me that I can't have such a condition by some friends (in the know), I still kept on going and thinking about this shot. After working for some time with it I've suddenly left it as it is without completion and went on to do something else (ADHD now?). Anyway, it should have been worked out further than this but it's old and I think it is the time to just finish it without asking about the final result!
This though inspires me to do more self-projects in the near future, if possible.

Boiler

The boiler room on the top of the house has been a subject for some thoughts for some time. In fact, I was waiting for winter just to do some shooting inside. In summer the temperature in the vicinity would not be bearable. I, in fact, had the chance to work with this room at the time of doing my first sun shots 2 or 3 weeks ago, but never posted them here.

The Boiler Room

The panorama part was hard to be done. I had a dream of, by some means, keeping the VR-head hanging in the air somehow to do the panorama from the top of the machinery in the middle of the small room. Yet, looking at the situation, my wits weren't enough to find a solution for this, thus I've decided to go to the corner (directly in front of the door) and do a "small" panorama there for around 3/4 a circle, or ~270 degrees.
Looking at the final results, I've known that it's not something to upload, specially with the skewed bottom in the image. Even though I did take a lower portion (lower set of images at -45^o), but still more images and work was needed to keep things straight in such a small space. With such circumstances, I've realized that I won't be uploading this image to stock sites, and hence, I've decided to play around with tone-mapping to make it unreal a bit. I think the slightly opened door helped here to add some ghostly atmosphere to the scene. The organization of the objects in the scene still leaves a lot to be desired, but these are stable objects and I don't think I could do anything better than that, for the time being.

Boiler

Then after finishing the small panorama I still had the urge to give another try, this time though with my Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens. I've placed the camera on the gorilla pod (which I call spiderpod as well) in the same corner I stood in and with some help with the light meter, I've gone with bracketed shots from -2EV to 2EV. I've taken several shots, and every time the angle of the camera would be changed slightly and I think Boiler, above, was the best from all, in terms of the angle and the luminance.
Unfortunately, here too, the lines in the whole image aren't quite what I desired. I feel they are random. Probably, the only feature that captures my own eyes in this shot is the set of faucets on the right side. The gap between the faucets and boiler machinery somehow breaks the homogeneity or harmony. I think we are here, somehow, working with a concept that works against the typical minimalism. In other words, stacking features and lines to complicate the image, but with a condition of finding some harmony and balance between these lines and shapes, in such a way to form a continuum for the eyes to follow when viewing the scene. I've heard about the concept of maximalism (as an opposition to minimalism) but I'm not sure if I should define the concept that I've just stated as something that goes under the umbrella of maximalism. Probably, I will just call it Anti-Minimalism.

Getting Wet

As I've stated above, because of the rains and the foggy days in the passing 2 weeks, I had to delay the idea of a panorama inside my new car. However, some drops of rain on the body of the car inspired me for some abstractive shots.

Perlen der Natur
Canon EF 50mm + 20mm ET, f/22,
HDR, ISO400.

That day, I've placed my new Manfrotto macro rail on my monopod (which does sound like a crazy idea) and headed outside while it was raining. I was in a hurry that I've just forgot to cover the camera and the lens with my new LensCoat. Working with a monopod was indeed a hard job and it was barely stable but I had to because my car, back then, was parked in front of the house and surrounded by other cars, and working with a tripod here isn't feasible.
With a high f-number as f/22 and an extension tube, I had to raise the ISO just to shorten the time of the shots and get a proper bracket into HDR later. Many people commented on Perlen der Natur, saying that the lower right portion is distracting, and that's true indeed, but to crop this portion out, I would literally diminish the image down to the size that it can't be used as a stock or a print even, and would be barely suitable for online galleries!

Liquid Gold
Canon EF 50mm + 20mm ET, f/22,
HDR, ISO400.

After doing the major work with Perlen der Natur, which included not only a crop of some portions, but also a rotation of the frame itself, I've decided to test some work-out which is usually and typically used for infrared shots: swapping channels. The Reds and Blues channels that is. The rotation of the frame, from my own point of view, was essential. The original orientation of this image was 90^o clockwise of what you see here.
I think the main issue has to do with the inclination, or the diagonals, which are made by the water droplets and the light reflections on the body. I'm not quite sure what are my feelings toward the original orientation but it just felt not right and needs to be rotated. Probably, just a theory, the droplets of water on the body in this new orientation are directed upward while in the original is going downward (naturally!); and that is a symbolical expression for hope and challenge in my unconsciousness? In any case, originally such shot would benefit a lot from focus stacking specially with me now using the Manfrotto rail, but with a monopod, my chances were slim for a successful stack.

Durch Dunkelheit

Last week specifically, with some clear atmosphere and lesser chances for rains (but more rains might visit in the coming days from now). Thus, I've decided to head out at night as usual and look for a new location that I didn't work with before (or not much at least). In previous nights I've totally forgot about one location which was a place where I created one of the most puzzling panoramas that people in here talked about!

Planeta Columnae

In fact my visit to this location again, would be a source for another vision for this panorama specifically but I will head to that later in the coming days. However, this panorama was taken after dusk hours and people were roaming the place (and I'm sure many of them were looking at me as if I was a loco). This time, I'm heading there for complete darkness after midnight with as few people as possible.

Skylander
Rokinon 8mm fisheye, f/8, 40sec, ISO100.

One of the killing mistakes that I've committed there is to go out and forgetting my LED lights or any other light sources to see my way. Thus, I had to use my intuition bit and a bit of my memory (which can be worse than that of a goldfish!). Because of this, it was a shaky situation because I was standing with legs open above a water channel from the main fountain (you can see it in the panorama Planeta Columnae above). I've used my memory to set the f-number or aperture without looking at the numbers at f/8. Focusing though is another story and as a result, most of the shots taken that night had some soft focusing problem. Anyway, the problem is more apparent when viewed at 50-100% in the original file.
Despite the fact that I've taken several exposures in order to do a HDR merging later, Skylander, which took only 40 seconds, was chosen for some RAW editing instead of the other long exposures, which some took like 2 minutes. This is because the histogram of this particular shot was suitable and adequate for RAW editing more than the darker frames lesser than 40 seconds, and those very bright frames taking 1 minute and above. At the end, I did a channel swap again to show the tiny traces of trace in the sky more, as the blue is so dark and almost hid the features of the clouds as well as some trails. I think the surreal look at the end with a red sky is something, rewarding!

Das Licht Der Dunkelheit
Rokinon 8mm fisheye, f/8, HDR, ISO100.

Later, I headed to the outer walkway around the center of the place or monument. My aim in the beginning was to centralize the monument but the problem was a pillar standing in my way and covering much of the monument when I stand close by. Thus, I've decided to create a twisting line from the curved walkway roof. My thoughts were going in the field of "guiding line". I've taken several exposures, from 4 minutes down to 3 seconds even and merged the whole set into HDR. But processing this image to reflect the mystery in it was trickier than I thought!
I've made several versions of Das Licht Der Dunkelheit, either by tone-mapping the HDR slide or by editing a single RAW file. Editing the RAW file was promising in fact, with bright blue/magenta sky and yellow lights, but the problem is that this wasn't what I aimed for. It's not the soft feeling I wanted for this scene. Tone-mapping, however, proved to be even more baffling because of the many possibilities and many feelings that can be triggered by different settings when tone-mapping.
Generally speaking, I do have some regret for this angle specifically because I feel that the light sparkles (even after the slight crop from top and left) is somehow corrupting the view. I've settled my mind now on visiting this place again as soon as possible to adjust and check other angles if possible. I'm somehow satisfied with the final version here, with these directional shadows and lights, but something more could have been done, I believe.

Finale

Source: B&H

Source: B&H

Source: B&H

Source: B&H

Things are drawing near now. I can't have more patience to get more tool in order to enhance my astrophotography experience. I'm not sure when to put an order for Rokinon's 800mm mirror lens, but it is (along with other accessories in the list) are already in the cart and I might click the Check-Out button at any moment! Probably I would place such an order directly after receiving my salary payment in the 20s of this month. naturally, to order this lens I have to place an order for a T-Mount adapter (second image) in order to connect this lens to EOS systems. Then comes the Cokin 105mm adapter ring. This ring is specified for X-Pro series, (Canon lenses for EOS systems usually run under Z-Pro series) but anyway with my strong paper clips to hold the filters on the adapter I believe it won't be a problem. I've been checking the dimensions for the welding glass specifically and I think it will cover the whole opening of the mirror lens if it arrives here. This is quite essential to shoot at the sun. The only drawback here is the fact that I can't fit the IR filter in any way (not even with a step-down ring). To my experience, IR shots are more interesting than welding glass shots to some point. Finally, there is the Manfrotto 293 Telephoto Lens Support with Quick Release which will help me to give some support for the set of lenses either in astrophotography, or in macro shots, or extra macro shots (with lens coupling) instead of having the body of the camera attached to the tripod. The reviews for this device sound great!
Now with a simple calculations, what I'm expecting is a working focal length of 800x2x2, that is 3200mm! Meanwhile, most of the astro-shots for the moon and the sun are at 1200mm maximum. This is something around x2.6 more zoom power.

My future hopes and projects are what make me alive right now. The thought of leaving my current work place and just act as a freelancer is haunting me day and night. I don't know how to bear this and for how long. A vacation in this time is a must. A real necessity. Day by day, I'm getting so fed up with the disrespect in this useless work place.
Looking at the people around me I do sometimes thank God that I'm not married, specially under such conditions where everything is rocketing high up and no one is holding the greedy people back from chewing this country's people and economy. Makes me have dreams of what I would do, if I was a president of some country. The situation with my sister seems desperate somehow and I would wish to help her out somehow with her kids, but I guess my hands are cuffed in this matter. Needless to say, the more I live and grow, the more I despise the parliament and its people. I wish if I can set this place, and those people on fire.

As much as I try to ease out my life in any other way, seems everything I face is, simply, denying me this pleasure. A work place that I despise, and a home that I don't feel for. I'll wait then for some signal to see where to head next... this, with exhaustive thinking, is all I can do...

Rokinonian...

Such a weird week. Not so weird if I can compare it to my luck with things anyway. By the beginning of this week almost, I've spent some time roaming over places of car dealers to find a brand new car and this time I would prefer it to be an elevated car to give me a better view of the road (and help me carry things around in the future). Ironically, that same day, the garage phoned me to tell me that my (beloved) Seat is finished with and I can take it now. All in all, it's going to cost me a hole in my pocket. Even though I like driving my small car, but I have to give it away in any way possible because of the problems with the spare parts that are hard to find for this car!
Anyhow, I'm starting some sort of a program to try and go out and do some night photography every weekend if possible. Night photography in winter is synonymous to long exposures of course but that doesn't mean it would be a single exposure of course.

Guten Mitternacht

After the initial trial last week for some night photography on the dock of Soog Sharg, I've pushed myself (despite my tired body) to go again and do some shots after some planning for some angles, and luckily, there were clouds this time!

Sessiz
Rokinon 8mm fisheye, f/5.6, ISO100.

In the beginning I've placed the camera with my Rokinon fisheye lens in some corner and pointed it toward the sea in order to capture some curvy image. The exposure was long (around 4 minutes), but it was too long that the lines of the clouds movement were so blurred and almost featureless. Add to that, some fishermen were moving here and there in front of the light source which made things worse. Still considering working around these problems though.
Next, however, I've placed the camera almost in the middle of the roofed end of the dock and pointed it west toward the sky and a portion of the city. After some tests with ISO12800 to check my location and measure the required exposure later with ISO100, I've realized that capturing a single exposure with all the details is impossible in this area. It would be either a blown out city and light wooden beams, or black beams and suitable city lights. Thus, I've decided to go with a little adventure in a sequence of long exposures, starting from 4 minutes exposures and then going down 1 stop each time until reaching 3 seconds: 4m, 2m, 1m, 30s, 15s, 7s, and 3s. A total of 7 exposures that were later combined together into HDR to produce Sessiz.  I was afraid that the movement of the clouds here would vanish so I made sure that when merging into HDR with Photomatix, I've turned the option of Ghost Removal off. The White Balance here was set to Fluorescent but I did make some tests before merging just to check the general appearance of the sky, because usually in such situation I would prefer the Tungsten WB, yet in this instance like in Sessiz I've decided to have a soft appearance and Fluorescent WB helped very well. Adding to that some processing that had to be done to fix and reduce some issues like the saturation of the Reds tones and increasing the tones of the Greens.

The name Sessiz means "Silent" or "Without sound" in Turkish. This name is a reflection of my feelings at that moment (but I don't know why I picked Turkish specifically, probably just for the sound of it!). Despite the harsh wind blowing and the coldness, and the fishermen around, that moment specifically was majestic. Silent, and quiet, giving me a tranquil (and a chilling) feeling deep inside. Exactly why I like winter and night photography combined.

Solitude
Rokinon 8mm fisheye, f/5.6, ISO100.

Then after Sessiz I thought of creating a symmetrical shot of some sort by pointing (and moving the camera) to face the bridge or the dock itself with all the light sources on it. This time though, there was no escape shooting the fishermen, and again with multiple exposures. Like in the previous trial, 7 exposures were taken by some problems with the white point and the flare of the lights that made me merge only 3 exposures instead of all of the seven. Here though I consider myself lucky somehow because one fisherman was closer to me and the rest were far away and that somehow gave out a reflection and a sense of Solitude, from the rest of the fishermen and from the city itself with all its colors and light. Maybe a still image would have served me better for the meaning of this shot but of course I couldn't ask the man to stop still to do 7 exposures! Anyway, probably one can argue that the movement of this fisherman specifically adds some dynamic element to the image instead of being static.

Sessiz (B&W)

I couldn't resist the urge to convert some of those night images into Black and White because, typically, night images into Black and White add to the element of mystery; either for the unknown, or for fear of something. Converting Sessiz to Black and White also helped me with some noise and hot pixels (random red dots) in the scene, and some noise in the shadows because of merging into HDR; such stuff are a normal occurrence in both, HDR slides and night shots. The results of that night really pushed my enthusiasm forward for more activity and, hopefully, more complicated shots in terms of composition at least, if not technique. But maybe in the near future I have to change my location and do long exposures elsewhere if possible.

Exposure

The exposure I mean here is not the typical photographic term, but exposure to the public. I've received an email last week stating that one or more of my pictures that I've submitted before for some contest (and didn't qualify to the finals) were all exhibited in a street art project organized by the contest's organizers themselves: Al Nowair Group.

Collage

I've visited the place in the weekend one morning so that not much people would be around. The exhibition was divided into two parts around the Marina Crescent mall. One part was made by the word "FOCUS" and the other one was made into the shape of the word Focus in Arabic, Rakkiz [ركّز]. This is the main title and goal of the group; to focus on the beautiful things in life. I roamed the place taking pictures of my own images (and unfortunately couldn't take a selfie) and probably I won't be exaggerating if I say that my images could be the most repeated ones in the whole exhibition, specially the shot I've named Eigen (but whose name I've changed to Unique upon submission to the contest).

Eigen

In the Collage as well, you can see that I've taken a general shot for the exhibition with my Rokinon fisheye lens and in fact I was planning to do a long exposure as the clouds were awesome, but unfortunately for me, the wind was blowing and placing the ND gels into the backside of the Rokinon was a risky task and I simply got frustrated and left the place! Probably it is time to look for another solution for this problem other than putting gels at the back of such lens.

This event made me think again about contest. It was a nice exposure somehow (even though my name was not mentioned on the images) even though I didn't qualify. If there would be contests in that manner probably I would join in because the end result isn't important after all!

Nadirography

Source: B&H

 Probably I should coin this term? I do like it in fact... Nadir-o-graphy. Taking pictures pointing downward. Now, after receiving my last shipment from B&H, I've tried to try out the new equipments, and specifically here the Pedco Ultra Clamp Assembly with 1/4"-20 Screw for such nadir shots. The situation is scary, I have to admit. Hanging your camera into some ceiling that is more than 2 meters (~6.6ft) above the ground is not something easy to do, or to look at even, but I've tried 2 successful shots so far.

At work, busy with no work...
Rokinon 8mm fisheye, f/11, 30^-1sec, ISO400.

The first trial was set in the office (all shots in fact were taken few hours before writing this blog!). I've brought my camera to work and just one hour before my working hours are over, I've decided to bring it and hang it with the Pedco clamp onto the A/C opening. The table surface here was GRACEFUL to carry my body weight without breaking! Also, it is much easier to move on top of it than moving on a ladder as I later did in my own room.

My room = My mind
PS. This IS my room. Nothing was deliberately changed.
Rokinon 8mm fisheye, f/11, 0.4sec, ISO400.

In my room I had to use a heavy ladder to reach the ceiling (and remove one of the CFL lights to put the clamp in its place). The good thing about Pedco here is that it has several joints and several degrees of freedom making mounting the camera and pointing and screwing the clamp at any body relatively an easier matter; quite the opposite to Delkin mount clamp which was so simple, and weakly built.
In both of the shots above I had to use the lightmeter, and also 3 bracketed shots were taken with 1-stop difference just to make sure that a proper exposure is achieved - but at the end no HDR was made, and only a RAW file was edited. Here also, I tried to make use of the hyperfocal distance concept but I'd say I'm still training myself on this and the real test would be using that concept at night photography with my Rokinon.

Finale

Before writing my finale for this week, I was about to post bits about the new light modifiers that I've purchased lately, but anyway, probably this post is long enough as it is. I think I will do more testing till next week's post.
Now, with my ERG examination been scheduled to January 23^rd, 2014, I think I have to forget about it little bit for now and try to do as much as possible with my camera and other projects. On hold as well, is the Geltani project, which I've sacrificed its time for the sake of the new books, and the camera.
Talking about emotions had been a hard task lately, even to myself alone. The mind is floating in an endless sea of thoughts and the only way to revive it is to have few moments of ecstasy with daydreaming and practical thinking. I try to amuse myself with mathematics from time to time, or simply thinking of those who already suffer from vision loss like my brother and how to help them (and try to push myself more into studying lenses in that direction). There are always moments when the heart jumps out for something special, but my intuition taught me to always keep a low profile when it comes to happiness. Such a pessimistic look, and to change it, I'm trying to swim against an oceanic tide. The least I could do probably is to try and surround myself with beauty in any form; after all, it is one of Leonardo's advices. But where is beauty.... ?

Natasha