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Zen and the art of iPad painting

Svetlana and I were walking with our daughter Anna in the Mount Doug Park on a typical Victoria afternoon (light rain interjected with sunshine) when I took a picture of a wall of cedar trees with my iPhone. The bright green leaves were catching the sunlight, and I thought it would be fun to play with layers in the Brushes app on my iPad to try to replicate this effect in a sketch. Transfer of the reference photo to the iPad happens automatically if the Photostream feature of the iCloud is enabled. Later that evening, I made the sketch, by creating separate layers for the inking, the background, the tree trunks, the dark leaves, and the highlights. I tried to complete the entire sketch quickly in order to preserve the spontaneous impression of the scene.

Actually, I find the ability to endlessly adjust a digital painting to be a double-edged sword. One needs to be able to decide when the painting is finished. In fact, the painting needs to be declared finished at a certain point. Otherwise, the perpetual process of refining it would become and infinite source of frustration.

The painting of the sakura was done using a neat app called ArtRage. This app also incorporates layers, similar to the Brushes app, but the distinguishing feature of the ArtRage is its ability to realistically simulate various watercolor and oil painting techniques, from dry strokes to wet-on-wet painting. Realistic rendering of watercolors is particularly challenging in a software, since the algorithm needs to take into account transient drying and wicking effects. The ArtRage simulates various paper textures and also keeps track of the amount of paint applied to a specific area, which allows for some very realistic effects. The downside of this is that the app uses a lot of memory, which sometimes causes it to crash. (Save often!). I was in the middle of a pointillism-inspired painting of the flowers, when the app crashed, and the layer with my beautiful sakura flowers was gone – a symbolic Zen experience, which was appropriate for the subject of the painting, but exceedingly frustrating at the same time. (Save often!!!)

Click on the images to see larger versions or visit my Art gallery.

 

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Spring at the Beacon Hill park

The Spring came to Victoria and we spent a great sunny afternoon at the Beacon Hill park. I really enjoy this park in the downtown Victoria since the first we came here in 2003. The horticultural significance of the gardens is in the way the hill that gives the park its name shelters the plants from the buffeting ocean breeze. This layout makes it possible to cultivate plants from drastically different climate zones, from tropical to alpine, in a single, compact park.

Anna was sleeping in here stroller, while we wondered around the petting zoo and photographed a freshly-painted totem pole that is claimed to be the tallest in the world (127.5 ft = 38.86 m). It was carved by Kwakwaka’wakw artists Mungo Martin, Henry Hunt and David Martin.

See our Victoria gallery.

 

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Cliffs of Moher – photography on the edge

The 100 m high cliffs of Moher are one of the most spectacular and most photographed sights in Ireland. Because they are located on the country’s West coast, choosing the ideal lighting for photography is somewhat challenging. In the morning, the face of the cliffs is in the shadow, and in the evening, the sun is facing the camera (assuming the photographer is standing on top of the cliffs). Still, evening lighting offers plenty of opportunities to photograph the cliffs if one is willing to walk along the edge outside of the official observation zone to create an angle between the camera viewing direction and the setting sun.

It should be mentioned that walking beyond the protected area can be really hazardous, especially in inclement weather. In fact, at the end of the observation area, there is a little memorial for those who lost their lives at the cliffs and an inscription urging people not to wonder around the edge.

The danger of falling off the cliffs is quite real. The path that follows the edge is narrow and slippery. Although it was neither rainy nor foggy on the day of our visit, the cliffs were buffeted by some of the strongest winds I have ever experienced. Once or twice, sudden gusts forced me to stumble a couple of steps towards the cliff’s edge – a very unnerving experience.

The gusty wind also has detrimental effects on the sharpness of photographs, as it causes the camera to shake, even of it is mounted on a tripod. This problem is easily remedied by using slightly shorter exposure times and taking multiple shots, hoping that at least some of them will be sharp.

Please follow the link to see our photographs of Cliffs of Moher.

Keywords: Moher.

 

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Vancouver Island skies – travel photography in your own backyard

Here is an example of an opportunistic photography. When we took our five-months-old daughter to the Butchart Gardens on a Saturday afternoon, we brought the camera with a single lens (24-105 mm) “just in case”. After enjoying a pottery show in Sidney, we drove past some very picturesque field in the Saanich peninsula. The Garry oaks on the background of the intensely bright clouds were impossible to pass by. We stopped at the side of the road and took a few shots. Here is the result.

It is interesting that this would be our usual operating mode while travelling. We’ve taken landscape photos from the side of the road in Malta, Greece, Czech Republic, Ireland. I particularly enjoy this type of photography – it gives me an immediate emotional connection with the view. The photos become souvenirs of the trip. Perhaps, this is why we rarely do it close to home. It really takes a conscious effort to think like a “tourist in your home town”. Incidentally, this is a slogan of a campaign to promote tourism in Victoria during the off-season.

See our Victoria gallery.

 

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February calligraphy: To have no antagonisms is fun

Last month’s calligraphy assignment featured a famous saying: たのしいかないちじなし. The Japanese explanation of the meaning is as follows: 何と楽しいことではないか、手足まといになる事は一もない. The exact translation proves elusive, from “What joy! Nothing troubles me” to “To have no antagonisms is fun”. I like the latter version because of its instructional tone. If you can suggest a more elegant translation, please let me know.

See my calligraphy gallery.

 

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Triggering AlienBees studio flash with Canon ST-E2 transmitter

During a recent studio shoot of our four-month-old daughter Anna, Svetlana and I used a Canon ST-E2 transmitter to simultaneously trigger a Canon Speedlite 580EX II flash and a pair of AlienBees B800 studio flashes.

The ST-E2 is specifically designed to trigger Canon’s Speedlites and to utilize ETTL (Evaluative Through The Lens) metering. In the ETTL mode, the Speedlite emits a brief pre-flash, during which the camera determines the exposure. The pre-flash is followed by the main flash.

A B800 studio flash can be triggered wirelessly by the optical slave cell, which is built in the back of the unit’s control panel. When the slave cell detects an external flash, it immediately fires the unit.

The potential problem with using the Speedlite to trigger the B800s is that the studio flash units are designed be used in the manual metering mode. The ETTL pre-flash causes the B800s to fire too early, which results in a dark image. If the output of the B800 is set to a low power, the unit can recharge and fire again during the main flash of the Speedlite, in which case the image will be exposed correctly. Thus, the dark images appear to occur intermittently, which make this problem very annoying and difficult to troubleshoot.

Here are potential solutions that do not involve wired triggering or purchasing radio transmitters/receivers (such as CyberSync or PocketWizard):

  1. Not using an ST-E2, but mounting the 580EX II Speedlight directly to the camera and switching it to manual mode.
  2. Covering the contacts on the ST-E2 with a piece of tape or paper so that only the central pin makes contact with the camera’s hot shoe. This simple modification will disable the ETTL pre-flash.

Please share your own solution if you have used a similar lighting setup.

See more photos of Anna.

 

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Cahir: Day 2 – Irish haiku

The next morning we explored the Cahir castle. While walking around the castle walls, covered in the morning fog, we witnessed an almost surreal scene. The frosty silence of the February morning was suddenly split by a sound of chainsaw. We then saw two burly men cutting down a palm tree in the backyard of a house. Frankly, the palm did seem a little out of place in the Irish winter landscape dominated by a medieval castle. Nevertheless, the whole episode was unexpected and I thought that it deserved a haiku:

Cold Irish morning.

Man sees a palm tree:

A screech of chainsaw.

Unlike most other Irish castles, which either lay in ruins or had been converted to luxury residences in 17 – 19 centuries and thus lost their original defensive character, the Cahir castle has been carefully restored to its original state. It offers great photo opportunities. The best time to photograph it is early in the morning, before large groups of tourists arrive.

Another attraction of Cahir is the so-called Swiss Cottage that is located just outside the town. It was built by one of the members of the Butler family, who also used to be the owners of the Cahir castle. Apparently, building a new cottage in the continental style of architecture was more fashionable and practical than restoring the old ruined castle. Unfortunately, the cottage was closed on the day we were there, but we managed to grab a few shots from behind the fence. Luckily, the facade was nicely lit by the bright winter sun.

Please follow the link to see our photographs of Cahir.

Keywords: Cahir.

 

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Cahir: Day 1 – food and shelter

We arrived at Cahir after dark, having spent several hours photographing the Rock of Cashel. The town is very small and appeared deserted in the tourist offseason. We parked our Hundai i30 at the central square, which was lined with pubs.

The Cahir Castle stood only few hundred meters down the street and was illuminated by bright floodlights. It was bitter cold, but we still took a few long-exposure shots from across the water, where river Suir splits into two branches to envelop the castle.

Back at the main square, there was no problem finding a room in a B&B that had a barber’s shop on the ground floor. There was also a branch of the Bank of Ireland on the corner of the square, which we were going to use the next day to withdraw cash – none of the B&B’s accepted credit cards.

With our shelter secured, we attended to the need for food. A middle-aged lady, who was watching TV behind the counter in one of the pubs told us that the only place that served food at that hour (it was around 9 o’clock) was “the Italians” – a restaurant in the corner of the square.

“The Italians” turned out to be a pizza place owned by an Iranian man and ran by Turkish and Ukrainian staff. We had a nice chat with the Ukrainian waitress, who was our age and was happy to have a chance to speak Russian. It was interesting to learn that Cahir had a large meat-processing plant that employed many foreign workers and engineers.

Please follow the link to see our photographs of Cahir.

Keywords: Cahir.

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Image manipulations using Snapspeed

Here are two image manipulations done in Snapspeed on iPad. I tend to go for an antique look in an image when I use Snapspeed. I have a rough idea of the finished image in my mind, but an important part of the process, and the most fun part for me, is the surprise of discovering unexpected effects. This aspect is inherently present in analog painting, but the ability to combine filters in software begins to approximate it in the digital realm.

Of course, there are many ways of creating an aged photo look in Photoshop, etc. using existing filters and plugins. One way of avoiding a “cookie-cutter” look in a processed image is to stack multiple filters. This creates a unique effect, or at least increases the probability of achieving one.

The photos are taken in Holland in the summer of 2011. These windmills are located in a very picturesque town called Zaanse Schans, just a few minutes from Amsterdam by train. The windmills are operational: tourists can visit a wind-powered saw mill, a peanut oil mill and  a chalk mill.

The image of the bicycles on the bridge is taken from a tour boat in Amsterdam. A boat tour of the canals is a great way to survey the city for photo opportunities and to grab a few shots. The low viewpoint provides variety to the usual photos taken from the street level.