ShutterBlog

Bohri cookbook: Haleem

Part of the photographs for the Bohra traditional cookbook.

I know I know, this is what happens when you post a photo on an empty stomach :)

Bohra traditions: Lota

The Lota (watering can) is used to wash hands before the meal. The white sheet below is called a Safra (Safro in Gujrati).

Bohra traditions: Salt

Bohra traditions,
originally uploaded by imfaraz.

I took a series of photographs for a Bohri cookbook. This particular photo was taken with the intention of putting it on the book's cover.

The food is served in a big metal plate called a thaal, and this little thing is for holding salt. According to Bohra tradition, a meal starts with a pinch of salt, hence the idea of using this photograph for the cover.

I need a woman

I discovered a message etched on one of the wooden pillars inside our Engineering lab at work. It was etched before we rented the building many years ago.

The funny thing is, the message still applies. All of the current engineering staff is single and in the typical Silicon valley startup spirit, we spend countless frustrating hours in the lab :-P

Gohar

Portrait using the Rembrandt Lighting technique.
I used a 10" garage light fixture with an ECA bulb as the main light and a 2x3 ft white posterboard reflector to control the light ratio between the highlights and shadows. For digital cameras, this difference between highlights and shadows should not exceed 1 and half stop.

No Joke :)

Is it a good idea to have refreshments served with Contraceptive Exhibits? :P

Hyatt Regency at Embarcadero, San Francisco

Dear friends,

I have not been posting any new photographs on this blog lately, part of the reason is that I have had another surgery on the 7th of March and I was on bed rest for a week but mostly the reason is that I am still trying to return to my 'normal' routine and take care of my pending professional commitments (you have to make a living too).

I appreciate your patience with my slacking in the past and I would really appreciate it if you could just give me a little more time right now.

Best regards,
Faraz :)

Earrings

I tried photographing jewelry for the first time.

Update: What I learnt from this experiment:

Auto-focus: The sparkle from the jewelry throws off the focusing system in your camera, so you have to be really careful that you get everything focused and try to shoot for F8-F11 aperture

Lighting: One light source with two white reflectors on the side is not enough (setup used for this shot), you need atleast three focused light sources to make the jewelry twinkle

Metering: I went for spot metering because it makes the jewelry glow infront of a dark backdrop

Michaels: The arts and crafts store sells $0.20 cloth pieces that you can use for backdrop or the base

Tripod: It comes in very handy when your camera's autofocus starts misbehaving due to the sparkling jewelry

Very Important: Try not to borrow jewelry from someone else, so you wont keep them waiting impatiently while you tweak your setup :)

Boys & their Toys

A sign painted on a building near China town, San Francisco.

More sightings: Embarcadero BART station, and Powell Station

Roses are red

Elizabeth, a colleague got flowers from her parents on Valentines day. She asked me to take some photos so that she can show her parents how beautiful they were.

(Click here to see it on black background)

The Store with Beautiful things

Side wall of The Store with Beautiful things in China town, San Francisco :)

(Click on the thumbnail to see the complete photograph)

Ahmed Arsalan

Trying out the new tubelight setup I made over the weekend

(Click on the thumbnail to see the complete photograph)

Couch Potatoe

With the American football season and the Indo-Pak cricket season at hand, this is every man's fantasy :)

(Click on the thumbnail to see the complete photograph)

Beauty Center

(No, this is not a spelling mistake) ;-)

Ahhhhh-chooo!!!

The weather is so cold that even birds have started sneezing now :)

Click on the thumbnail to see the complete photograph

Snow White

This bird is called Snowy Egret, I was lucky enough to get close to it without scaring it away. I like the calm reflection on water in this photo :)

Click on the thumbnail to see the full photograph

Update

I'm still under the weather (~~flu~~, ~~heavy cough~~, bad-cold), but shall start shooting again soon.

I ordered a couple of umbrella light stands, a background stand and muslin arctic white backdrop for work and I am really excited about it. I was getting so sick of taking product shots with a poster stand and conference room lighting. Can't wait to try out the new setup once I receive it :)