Fayoum Desert Trip - Part 1

Reducing the tires pressure, to conquer the soft sand

 
I went to the desert a few weeks ago on a one day do-it-all trip with some of my old friends, and a lot of new friends that I met for the first time. We went to Al Fayoum, and started our trip from there, it's a known and famous place for tourists, but being Egyptians we don't usually regard our country with a tourist's eye, so this time we decided to go and see what was all the fuss about. Full details after the break.

This will be part one of a three parts series, I won't do a lot of talking and will let the pictures (and captions) tell the story, I divided the post to three parts because of the enormous amount of pictures that I want to share.
 
Before we get to the pictures, here's a quick run down of the trip's program:
 

• We were 16 men sans the drivers.
• Gathering at Al Fayoum @ 7 am (we arrived ~ 9 am, lots of people = logistics hassle and delay).
• Riding the 4x4 vehicles waiting for us and moving to our first destination, Wadi Al-Rayan waterfalls.
• Moving to one of the lakes for breakfast and a little relaxing.
• Of course during moving from one point to another, the drivers went through the dunes (soft sand), steep inclines and declines, they showed us real off-roading and the full capabilities of the cars, there were lots of heart-in-the-throat and heart-in-the-stomach moments.
• Climbing uphill to see the whole lake from above and take pictures.
• Going to the "Whales Valley" to see fossils of whales and coral reefs that was once their during the olden times, Al Fayoum desert was once totally covered in water.
• Having a light lunch at the "Whales Valley" and resting until the mid-day sun becomes less brutal.
• Moving to the dunes to try out sand boarding (yeah, sand boarding).
• Finally, moving to a safe camp close to the exit point for barbeque, and our final meal, this started around sunset and we stayed there for almost 3 hours, cooking, eating and having fun.
• Then a quick sprint to the exit point in complete darkness, using only moon light, and GPS like drivers.

 
When I first learned of the program, I didn't think it would fit in one day, but it did, and it was a very fullfilling day, so let's start with our gathering point, we gathered at a place that belonged to a friend of our guide (and one of the drivers as well), we waited there and had some drinks until the 4x4 cars gathered and were ready.
 

The gathering place, see that place on the far right? Check the picture below

A bedouin style seating area, we had our drinks there

One more 200mm headshot, this my other photographer friend, you can see the Canon strap beneath the scarf

 
I just noticed I hadn't told you about the equipment I had with me, for such trips, the most essential lens to carry is the 24-105 (or the 15-85 during my crop sensor days), this is my workhorse lens, it covers a wide 24mm viewing angle for landscapes and scenery, and long enough for portraits or somewhat far away subjects. I took the 5D Mark II, the 24-105 f/4, the 200mm f/2.8 (only for a few portraits, just love the look) and the 50mm f/1.4 for night shooting, it's three stops faster than the 24-105.
 
I also packed one 580EX II speedlite, my favorite Slik Mini Pro table tripod and of course the circular polarizer, all of these items fit inside my newly acquired and brilliant Vanguard Heralder 28 bag (review coming soon).
 

Moataz, my photographer friend, sporting a Canon 550D

 
Meet Moataz, the guy who gathered all 16 of us to this spectacular trip, he's a Canon shooter and he's the lucky person who bought my much appreciated Canon 60mm f/2.8 Macro, he didn't use any other lenses all day, I will share some of his pictures in this post, any pictures where you can see me, he's the guy who took it, he was shooting JPEGs only with a slightly warm white balance, and gave me a hard time processing the files.
 

Warning sign, DON'T JUMP in the waterfalls

 
Wadi Al-Rayan waterfalls was our first destination, I didn't have high hopes for the waterfalls because I knew they were rather short and that the water in these falls was agricultural water, anyway, once we arrived I saw this huge sign, it says "Jumping from the top of the falls is strictly forbidden, there are rocks at the bottom of the water", my thoughts at the moment were "who in their right mind would jump from such a short waterfall", and then I saw this:
 

Locals competing apparently to see who has bigger balls

 
To my astonishment, I found these locals jumping from the the top of the falls, with such a crowd and in order not to be a chicken in front of their pals, people were gathering all nerves to do the jump, you can clearly see how hesitant this gut with the pink top. In order to give you a sense of the gravity of the situation, it is said there are 5 people who die every year because of the rocks at the bottom, check out these pictures:
 

Lunatics

 

But with balls of steel

 

Jumping straight, notice the next picture

 

Damn, do you see how shallow the water is? These people land on their feet, directly on the rocks

 
I tried to capture the whole waterfalls, but it was incredibly crowded, and I didn't have my ND filter to get a long shutter speed, so I had to do with a handheld picture at the lowest ISO and the smallest aperture, not a good picture, but a reminder of the location.
 

People were only jumping from the top most part of the falls, the lower it gets, the more dangerous it is

 
Before we left we took a couple of environmental portraits, and I have to say something here, after we finished the trip, one of my friends was cross that I didn't take enough pictures of him, in his opinion, the whole idea of taking a camera on a trip is to take photos of yourself in every place you go showing the background as a proof you went there, sorry, but that's not my idea of photography, what is the point of having tens of pictures of the same person standing at the side of the picture smiling while there is a different background each time? Facebook? Screw facebook, I take pictures that I like, pictures that tell a story, not just a proof I went somewhere, oh yes, and he hated pictures that blurred the background! -rant over-.
 

This lake was on the other side of the falls

 

I like spontaneous photos

 
Our next destination was at the side of a huge lake where we had our breakfast.
 

Remember this photo because I will refer to it in my next post

 

Cars parked, notice the tent in the middle

 
With the cars parked, our bedouin drivers stretched a piece of cloth between two cars as a sort of tent to protect us from the sun while we had breakfast, people spread everywhere and started taking photos of each other until the breakfast was ready.
 

Putting the 60 Macro to good use, an amazing portrait lens

 

That guy on the right turned out to be very funny, have a look at some of the faces he made

 

This picture and the one below were taken with the 550D and the 60 macro

 

Evil laughter

 

Sands of time

 

Yours truly, I feel very happy when I find out that someone took pictures of me, so I am posting it celebrate this rare situation

 

Everyone hiding from the harsh sun

 
After breakfast, our drivers told us that the water was nice for a dip, but unfortunately we didn't have swim suits, but this didn't prevent some of us from getting in anyway.
 

The drivers using our breakfast table as a sea recliner

 

Table fun, taken with the 550D

 

Still

 

Wow, I wish I went into the water

 
And I finish this part with this serene picture, I hope you enjoyed this post, in the next part we will see some more action.
 
 
RELATED POSTS
 
Fayoum Desert Trip - Part 2
Fayoum Desert Trip - Part 3
 
 

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Reflection Portrait

This was a self-portrait that I took on a recent trip to Las Vegas.  It was much harder than I expected to get this shot but it was a useful exercise to practice lighting skills.  In this post, I will discuss the steps I took to get the final result.

Step 1: Concept
I had taken a portrait with the Bellagio fountains before (blogged here) and this time I wanted to try something a little different.

I thought of doing a portrait where the focus was ostensibly on the fountain while my reflection is captured as if unintentionally.

Step 2:  Composing the Shot
Here is what the window looked like:

(BTW, the shot above was made possible by the Fuji S5's incredible dynamic range.  The sun was blazing outside, and lighting in our room was very dim in comparison.  Nonetheless, the S5 was able to capture the relatively dark room, dark furniture, and TV screen while also capturing all the detail outside the window, including the sky.)

I positioned the camera on a tripod and framed the shot of the fountain.  For this shot, I used the Nikon D90 and Tokina 11-16 2.8.  For low light, the D90 is way better than the S5 in terms of noise, plus I don't really need the S5's extreme dynamic range for this shot.

Step 3: Ambient exposure
Next, I set the exposure for the ambient light of the fountain.  In this case, I set the shutter to a speed that was slow enough to capture some of the fountain's movement, but not so slow that the fountain would merely look like undefined mushy blur.  I initially narrowed the aperture to f/5.6 to get both deep enough depth of field and better sharpness (usually, lenses are sharper when stopped down from wide open).  At that aperture, ISO for the desired exposure would have been 800 - a little too high, in my opinion, for a setup shot.  So I changed the aperture to f/4.0 and ISO to 400.  That aperture might seem fairly wide for this kind of shot, but I was using a wide angle lens, so the depth of field would still be deep, and the Tokina 11-16 is sharp anyway at all apertures.

Step 4:  Adding flash
I setup the flash below the window sill, to simulate the light coming from the fountain.  The window sill would also block the reflection of the flash in the window.  I wanted to soften the light but I couldn't use the full umbrella (the reflection of which would be so large that it couldn't be blocked by the low window sill), so I tried a partially collapsed umbrella.

Even collapsed, the umbrella was still showing up in the reflection.  More importantly, it was spreading light everywhere, thus illuminating more of the furniture and floor around me, which were showing up as reflections.

I changed to a bare flash.  I also had to readjust the flash intensity.  I found that with bare flash, even 1/128 was too powerful, so I switched to TTL -3.0 FEC to minimize the flash intensity.  (On some flashes such as the SB-800, TTL can decrease the flash intensity to a lower threshold than manual.)

The flash and umbrella were now gone from the reflection, but the floor, furniture, and tripod's reflection were still quite visible.  The hard light of the flash from a low angle also created a horror-movie look.

To solve the horror-movie issue, I moved the flash off to the side.  It would still look plausibly from the fountain's light.  At the same time, since it was no longer directly under me, it looked less scary.

Step 5: Remove unwanted reflections.

I next wanted to work on minimizing unwanted reflections -- in this case, the furniture and tripod.  Windows are similar to specular surfaces like mirrors and shiny metals.  If you want a reflection to show up, light the object you want to be reflected (not the specular surface itself).  Conversely, if you don't want a reflection to show up, the unwanted object should be in shadow.

Here, I wanted the light from the flash to hit only me.  I didn't have a snoot or grid, so I just used a combination of the curtain and my camera bag to block the flash from illuminating the floor and furniture.  I also turned down the desk lamp at the back.  I also experimented with a higher shutter speed to reduce ambient to see whether any of the unwanted reflections were due to the room's light (as opposed to the flash).

The tripod's reflection was still showing up, so I did a little more experimentation on the flash's positioning and narrowing its beam so that it would illuminate only me.

Step 6: Taking the Shot

When I was satisfied with the reflections, I got ready for the shot.  After some trial and error, I got a decent shot.

This one had some reflections in the upper part of the frame.  The reflections were from the TV (my wife was still watching).  Fortunately, because the reflections were in a relatively uncluttered area of the frame, I knew it would be easy to clone them out.

BTW in the final shot, I also adjusted the exposure for ambient, changing to a faster shutter speed (1/6) to get more definition from the fountain.  I increased the ISO to 640 to compensate.

Step 7:  Post-processing.

In Lightroom, I did the usual adjustments to the tone curve and such.  I also brightened my reflection and warmed it up to make it look more similar to the color temperature of the fountain light.

Finally, I took the image to Photoshop Elements to clone out the the reflections from the TV.  Voila.  Here is the final result again.

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Update

Hi all. Sorry for the absence of posts this past week.  I caught a fever but now I'm ok.  Anyway, here are some of the upcoming posts

1. A lighting-based BTS post.

2. YongNuo RF603 radio trigger review.

3. The danger of shooting at the Golden Hour.

4. FlashRight Pro at lower price = Spinlight 360 substitute?

You might know about Peter Gregg's new modifier called the FlashRight Pro.  It was initially priced at $100 but is now available for a far lower price. Here is a link to get the FlashRight Pro for $25.99 + shipping/handling

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=4YHE2MEHBMMTN

I'm not sure how long this offer will last nor do I know how good this modifier actually is.  I ordered one more than a week ago in order to test it as a substitute for the awesome but expensive Spinlight 360.  Hopefully I can get the order soon so I can post about the results.

6/28/12 update: you can use the discount code 74PLEASE to get Flashright at the reduced price at colorright.com.  I'm supposed to receive my order by today, so I will be reviewing this soon.

5. A comparison between the Nikon 70-200 VR and the Sigma 50-150 non-OS.

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How to Bend SpaceTime (Tokina 10-17 Review)

The lighthouse bends as the distant building looms overhead, like a scene from Inception

In this post, we discuss fisheyes in general and we review the Tokina 10-17 fisheye lens. First, I'll show comparisons between rectilinear ultrawide images and fisheye images. Second, we'll talk about fisheyes.  Third, I'll provide some samples of how fisheyes can be used (aside from 'funny' shots).  Finally, I'll discuss the Tokina 10-17.

I.  FISHEYE VS. RECTILINEAR COMPARISONS

If you like your rectilinear ultrawide, you know how its extreme perspective can make your other lenses look boring.  Well, a fisheye's crazy distortion can make your rectilinear UWA look like just another boring lens.  Here are some comparisons:

With a UWA, it's like a party going on...

With a fisheye, the other buildings are getting up to join the party

Your "wild" rectilinear makes the building look like it's tipping over...

...while a fisheye makes that building look like it's about to eat that other building

A UWA invites you to explore the topsy-turvy architecture...

...while a fisheye invites you to defy gravity

With a UWA, the flowers look ready to start a Broadway song-and-dance number

With a fisheye, they look ready to start a protest rally

By now the fisheye shots probably have you either annoyed or intrigued.  That's how fisheyes are.  If you're still around, then read on...

II.  ABOUT FISHEYES
A. Distortion
We know there are two major types of ultrawide lenses: rectilinear (aka rectangular) and fisheye.  With rectilinear ultrawides, straight lines look straight, in every direction.  However, objects outside the middle of the frame will seem stretched toward the edge of the frame.  Here's a sample:

Rectilinear UWA sample - The car appears to stretch toward the edge of the frame

You can see more samples of rectilinears in our recent review of two rectilinear UWAs, the Sigma 10-20 f/4-5.6 and the Tokina 11-16 f/2.8.
A fisheye lens looks like it has very strong barrel distortion, with the middle of the frame appearing to bulge out, and straight lines will look curved unless they pass through the exact middle of the frame.  Although objects will appear curved, they won't appear too stretched. 

Fisheye lens - straight lines are curved but the car has more-or-less normal proportions

In most fisheyes, objects that are closer to the edge of the frame and that are closer will appear more curved than objects near the middle of the frame and are farther (in a few fisheyes such as the Samyang 8mm, the amount distortion is even across the frame).

Compare the far column near the middle of the shot, which has no distortion, versus the column on the left side of the shot

B. Field of view
The maximum field of view of a rectilinear lens is about 120 degrees. On the other hand, a fisheye lens field of view is typically 180 degrees measured diagonally (Nikon made a 6mm fisheye with a field of view of 220 degrees, allowing it to see "behind" itself).

C. Circular vs. Full-Frame Fisheye
There are two kinds of fisheye lenses.  One kind of fisheye lens will produce a circular image.  This kind of fisheye lens will have the same field of view in all directions (vertically, horizontally, diagonally).  Outside of the image, it will appear black.  The other kind of fisheye lens, so-called a full-frame fisheye (aka rectangular fisheye), fills the entire frame with the image.  With this latter kind of fisheye, the diagonal field of view may be 180 degrees, but the horizontal and vertical fields of view will be less.   In between the two main types of fisheyes, there are also some fisheyes that produce a partial circle.

D. Focal Length
There are many lenses that are described as fisheyes with different focal lengths, but they all have the same 180-degree field of view.  So what's the difference between the Samyang 8mm fisheye and the Nikon 10.5mm fisheye for example? 

First, some fisheye lenses may offer a more complete circle than others.  For example, the Sigma 8mm is a true circular fisheye lens and has a 180-degree field of view at all angles, whereas the Nikon 10.5mm is 180 degrees only when measured diagonally (unless used on a full frame camera as a partial circular fisheye lens, in which case it is also 180 degrees horizontally, but not vertically). That difference in actual coverage can account for the different focal length. 

Second, given the same or similar field of view, fisheye lenses with a shorter focal length have less distortion.  See comparisons between the Sigma 8mm, Samyang 8mm, Tokina 10-17 and Nikon 10.5 (press the cursor keys left or right to advance the slideshow).  Credit: Michel Thoby.
http://michel.thoby.free.fr/SAMYANG/1110andCo.swf
http://michel.thoby.free.fr/SAMYANG/1111andCo.swf

E.  Rotation and Tilting
Fisheyes are very sensitive to rotation and tilting.  Tilting the camera can produce very different images.  In the example below, the same building can look very different, merely because of a change in camera angle and slight change in camera position.

F.  Exaggerated Distances
As with rectilinear ultrawides, a fisheye can make distances appear exaggerated.  Close objects appear even closer.  Far objects appear even farther.  One practical consequence of this characteristic is that you have a lot of control over the foreground.  In the shots below, the buildings look almost identical but the foreground appears very different.  All I did was to take a few steps closer to the flowers.

 

Note: the shots above were de-fished in Lightroom 4.1.
III.  WHAT ARE SOME USES FOR A FISHEYE?
Everyone has seen fisheye portraits with exaggerated facial features for humor.  I'm not into that.  I'm interested in uses for a fisheye that are striking and aesthetically pleasing.  Here are some of them:

1. Curves.
When the scene is dominated by curves and circles, I find that using a fisheye often complements the scene and a nonphotographer might not even know it was taken with a fisheye.

Caesar's Palace lobby

A similar example is a scene with zero-point perspective (a scene where there are no parallel lines), such as underwater scenes and nature scenes.  Without parallel lines, the use of a fisheye is not at all obvious, much less intrusive.  Here are some examples that I like:

Masahiro Miyasaka's landscapes, such as this (taken with a Sigma 15mm fisheye):

Underwater photography such as this one by Ryan Pearson (taken with a Tokina 10-17 fisheye)

2. Fun
In places where we are expected to suspend our disbelief, a fisheye visually conveys the sense of fantasy.

Chocolate fountain at Bellagio

Bellagio conservatory

3. Impossibly wide rectilinear.  A fisheye can be de-fished partially or completely (with Lightroom, PTLens, ImageAlign or other sofware) to provide a rectilinear view that is wider than many rectilinear lenses, even ultrawides.

original uncorrected fisheye image

same shot, with correction in Lightroom

4. People
Believe it or not, people can look more "normal" with a fisheye lens than with a rectilinear UWA.  With a rectilinear lens, people outside the middle of the frame will be stretched toward the edges.  With a fisheye lens, people aren't stretched, and their faces look more "normal" across a larger portion of the frame.  Example:

Tokina 11-16 @ 11mm.  The people at the middle look normal, but people at the edges look stretched wider

Tokina 10-17 Fisheye @10mm. Lines are curved but faces look more normal across a larger portion of the frame

In addition, there are plugins that can reduce fisheye distortion carefully so as to produce more flattering images of people.  E.g. Fisheye Hemi.

5. Impossible views
A fisheye captures an extremely wide field of view.  Normally, the objects within that field of view would not be visible within the same frame using a more typical lens unless the lens is distant.  In some cases, those distances are impossible, therefore a fisheye can provide views that seem impossible and thus unusual and more memorable.  For example, you can take a shot from inside small spaces (ovens, refrigerators, washing machines, mailboxes).

Example by Keep the Funk Alive

6. Seeing opposite sides
Because of the extremely wide field of view of a fisheye lens, it is often possible to have subjects that are almost 180 degrees apart appear in the same frame.  This can be useful for practical purposes or dramatic shots.  For example, with a fisheye we can capture both an object and the facial expression of the subjects looking at the object. 

Watch out - this giant Tinker Toy squirts water!

Sometimes, it is also possible to capture both what is in front of and behind the camera plane, which can look dramatic.

7. Abstract photography
A fisheye can be a useful tool for making an object look much less recognizable and instead presented purely as shapes, lines and/or colors.

8. Architecture
"Mic, you've got to be kidding, right? People spend good money on lenses that avoid distortion when taking architecture photos." That's true of course. But when a lens represents reality too closely, I feel like I'm merely echoing what the architect has done. In my opinion such a photo has little intrinsic artistic value. A fisheye OTOH allows a photographer reimagine a structure to make an artistic statement that is distinct from (though partially dependent upon) the architect's.

With a fisheye, this unassuming parking structure becomes a tribute to Norman Foster

9.  Stereographic projections
The wide field of view of a fisheye lens facilitates the capture of 360-degree panoramas.  These in turn can be converted into stereographic projections.
"Octopussy planet," an example of a little planet stereographic projection by Klaus Friese


"Cais Giddiness," a spectacular stereographic projection by Omar Junior (Pentax fisheye)



IV.  TOKINA AT-X 107 DX (10-17 Fisheye)
The Tokina 10-17 is a full-frame (not circular) fisheye lens for crop-sensor bodies.  It is very similar to the Pentax 10-17 (they are optically identical though mechanically different).  Physically, it is quite small and compact.  Its body is plastic but it feels very solidly built.

The Tokina 10-17 is one of the few fisheye lenses that are zoomable.  I don't use the zoom much and I almost always use it at 10mm.  However, the zoom is useful for allowing the 10-17 to be used on a full frame body (see below).  I may also try a zoom blur type of shot in the future.

The 10-17 is very sharp when stopped down:

f/8

Used wide open, I find it reasonably sharp although I find focusing to be a little inconsistent.  I sometimes find that the camera has focused too far behind the intended subject.  Check out my samples below.  This doesn't happen all the time, so I think it's an issue of shooting technique.

Speaking of focus, note that the Nikon version of the Tokina 10-17 has no built-in autofocus motor.  It will not autofocus on bodies that don't have a focus motor, although you will have focus confirmation, and focusing manually will be a little easier because of the deep depth of field.

One issue that may be of concern to some users is purple fringing.  The Tokina is vulnerable to it.  Fortunately, it can be easily corrected using Lightroom 4's Defringe tool.

De-Fishing the 10-17
Images from the 10-17 can be de-fished to produce a rectilinear image that is wider than some true rectilinear ultrawide lenses.  Fortunately, Lightroom 4.1 includes a lens correction profile for the Tokina 10-17, making it easy to de-fish images, albeit only partially.

Here is a shot at 10mm:

I de-fished the shot above in Lightroom 4.1 by applying the Tokina 10-17 lens correction profile and increasing the correction for distortion to 200%.  Here's the result:

There's still a lot of distortion left, plus the defished corners are blurred.  However, the shot is wider than my Tokina 11-16 at 11mm.  Here's the 11mm for comparison (you can count the number of bricks to compare the width):

Performance on Full Frame Cameras
Although the Tokina 10-17 is designed for crop-sensor cameras, it can also be used in full-frame bodies (not sure about the Canon version -- the mirror may hit the lens).  At 10mm, the lens hood blocks part of the image:

Some users have sawed off their lens hood because of this so that the 10-17 can be used as a partial circular fisheye.  In fact, Tokina also produces a version of this lens (designated "NH") that does not have a hood.

Even with the hood, however, the lens can be used without vignetting when zoomed to around 14.5mm.

As you can see it provides an even wider field of view compared to 10mm on a crop-sensor body.  As with the crop-sensor image, the full-frame image can be partially de-fished in Lightroom.

After correction, the image is still wider than the Tokina 11-16 at 16mm (full-frame):

Tokina 11-16 used on full-frame body at 16mm

V.  ALSO CONSIDER: ROKINON/SAMYANG
Another fisheye lens I was considering is the Samyang 8mm, which is also sold under other brands such as Rokinon, Pro-Optic and Bower.  Besides price, one of the advantages of this lens is that it has more even distortion than other fisheyes.  In fact, it is used for scientific purposes because of that unique characteristic.

The older Samyang has no autofocus, no exposure information, and was basically a totally manual lens.  The newer version of this lens has a chip that allows autofocus confirmation.

VI.  MORE FISHEYE SAMPLES

Even more samples:

http://flickriver.com/search/fisheye/interesting/ - but note: if image has straight lines, it might not be fisheye

"Time Flies" by one of my favorite pros, Ryan Brenizer


The famous stairs of the Galerie Vivienne by Vincent Montibus


Lastly, you absolutely should check out the amazing and often funny (though sometimes macabre) images of Scott MacBride (possessed2fisheye)

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