مَـنْـبـوذْ (outcast)
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Now, the technical talk. So far, this is probably one of the hardest shots to create in this project, because of combining ambient light (the fire on the match sticks) and flash (to create the shadows). This image undergone a lengthy "doctoring" to be fixed!
The shoot was done with f/1.6 to create a shallow depth of field centered around the bent match while keeping the other burning matches slightly out of focus (slightly because the distance isn't much between the two); it is just something to serve directing the focus onto the bent match. Because of this, and using a slow shutter speed, I had to use the variable ND filter here to control the light in general (ambient and flash). Otherwise, it would have been blown out. I've planned to overlap two images, one with lit matches and one with normal matches, but in the process this proved to be almost useless. However, one of the most serious issues here is the burn in the foam (the background in which the matches are pinned) because I used a little torch to light the matches all at once, and the heat was great that it affected the foam underneath. This burn mark got me some time to fix in editing. I've planned originally to let this be a regular white background like the rest in this series, but the fire here wouldn't allow for this, so I left it as is, but lot of work was done in adjusting and fixing the light levels in the scene, and colors as well.
So, this is it for now. I'll see if I can post another one from this session by next Friday. Meanwhile, I need to find a new idea to shoot! (Original full post in the link in the comments below)

#castaway #outcast #match #matchstick #burn #fire #displaced #project #stilllife #still_life #goodmorning

Ex-Love (version 1.0);

As I typically do with every shot I post here on Friday, I would post an early version of the shot that I didn't like (say, a test shot), just for comparison. I've envisioned this shot to be a minimal one, and with simple (hard) shadows with everything being white for simplicity. This, of course, would take out the depth in the image. Like version 2.0, or the one I've posted last week, this one was also made of layers of different shots to merge the lights from different angles (and even here, I couldn't make the shadows in different directions in the same shot, probably needed a snoot).
Anyway, after re-doing the whole thing, and adding a dark side and shadows as in the one posted earlier last week, I think I do prefer version 2 over this one. Maybe I've broken the "minimal look" somehow, but I guess the emotional approach in that one is more appropriate and more impactful than in this one here.

#stilllife #still_life #matches #matchstick #shadows #love #ex #exlove #impression #impressionism #impressionist #goodmorning

حُـبٌّ سـابِـقٌ (ex-love);

Interrupting my macro posts, to post one from my "side project". I had quite a (technical) struggle with this one. As the title suggests, it is a reflection on the several break-ups I had earlier in my life (and probably for the best of my interest when I look back). Some people noted or thought that the matchstick is "wearing a jacket"! Actually (if it is not clear yet), it is a band-aid for little wounds, which I had to even cut in half to use it on the broken matchstick (deliberately broken as a mimic to a broken heart). Strangely, the matchstick, after applying the band, doesn't look to be broken at all! I just hope the visuals are clear here, or I might have to do this for a 3rd time (this one here is a 2nd trial).

Initially, the idea was to light the whole setting in two different directions to yield out two shadows in two different directions. However, technically speaking, it was almost impossible. The direction of the shadows is a mimic of the outlook towards life, where the one with broken heart looks forward to that missing love, while those who broke up with them and departed put things behind their backs and already being with someone else. Anyway, to overcome the problem, I've tried to shoot several shots and combine them together but even that failed. In the end, I had to settle with a half lit set (just to show the main shadow) while merging the bright matchsticks from a distance from another image. I guess the band should have been smaller!
My first trials were to shoot with 50mm with an upper level a bit, but quickly changed to 100mm macro to emphasize the size of the closer matchstick better. Things didn't work as I wish, so I lowered the level further to the one here. The rest, of course, is a history of editing and contrast enhancements.

#stilllife #still-life #love #ex #exlove #match #matchstick #macro #macrophotography #mimic #life #relationships #relations #goodmorning

اسْـتِـئْـسـاد / اسْـتِـسْـبـاع (bullying);

This is my 3rd shot in the series of matches, which is supposed to be a "side project" (but honestly, it's like it is the main project at the moment). In this shot, I depict the concept of bullying and what it would do to the person, mentally and on the level of self-esteem; well, at least how I imagine it. As with the other two before this shot, and for the rest to come, it stems from personal experiences. Maybe the common image of bullies are focused on certain age range, but of course who experience or witnessed such acts can well identify the expansion of such age range outside the typical early age of adolescence. As I grew up, I've been bullied in school (of course), on all levels, and then in college I was also bullied, but somehow in a different way, as I was a subject of mockery for girls (for various reasons, one of them was that I had better grades than them in one of the classes, no kidding). Bullying, also, is not limited to the outside world, but it includes (and even started) with my "interior" world, till this very day.
Anyway, putting history behind and moving to the technical and aesthetic stuff. I had to think of a way to bend the matchstick here, so I soaked it in water for a day or so (actually I was planning for few hours only but totally forgot about it with the mess I have at home!). Luckily the match burned well (after drying it in front of a fan!).


#bully #bullying #match #matchstick #stick #minimal #minimalism #minimalistic #impression #impressionism #impressionist #shadows #goodmorning