Posts Tagged 'photography'

Photo Restoration and the Sacred Junk Room

Every Mother’s and Father’s Day I have the honour of celebrating 2 sets of parents – my actual parents and my parents best friends, who predate my existence by quite a bit.

©Shireen Nadir 2013

They are a fixture of every family event, where after a few drinks they’ll tell the same stories time and time again. Great stories, accumulated over 40 years of friendship. My aunt (I call them aunt and uncle) is very fond of telling me that my first act in this world was to make my mom vomit all over her.

They have a 3 bedroom condo, divided into an office, a bedroom, and a junk room. When I was a kid the junk room was my haven – stacks of National Geographic back-issues, boxes of mysterious things, from little figurines to marbles, I spent a giant chunk of my childhood in there. When, on occasion, my uncle was supposed to clean the junk room out he’d simply swap it with the office, so ‘my’ junk room would still be there when I came over.

For Mother’s Day this year I restored a childhood photo of my aunt – a photo that is now more than 60 years old.

Before ©Shireen Nadir 2013

After ©Shireen Nadir 2013

I gave it to her on Sunday, so happy with the results!

©Shireen Nadir 2013

 

Lee Filter Big Stopper

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

I took a new toy to the escarpment on the weekend – the Lee Filter Big Stopper. The Big Stopper is a lens filter that drops your exposure by 10 stops, allowing for much longer exposures even in bright sunlight. Long exposures make for some great special effects, and waterfalls were an obvious place to start playing.

Here’s an example where I left all settings the same except for the exposure length. The Big Stopper comes with a handy little card that helps you calculate what the exposure length should be, based on what you metered for without the filter on. You double the exposure length 10 times – so in the example below, 1/60 of a second became 15 seconds.

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

I still felt the results were a bit underexposed, so in the next example I’ve added 5 seconds to their recommended length for a 20 second exposure.

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

After that I started playing with showing as much contrast as I could. In the 2 examples below you can see that exposure length, ISO and aperture have all been altered to show a nice contrast between the short and long shutter shots.

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

I also played with layering my 0.9 graduated neutral density filter on top – to great effect. In the top shot below you can see that the shadow on the right is cutting the shot in half. In the bottom shot I’ve got the big stopper on, plus the graduated filter rotated and moved so it just covers the areas at the right and top. With very little processing you can see the result is a much more balanced exposure.

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

My only 2 concerns are both minor – the first is that, despite the foam lining on the Big Stopper there is still definitely light-bleed. This will be an issue if I ever go for a really long, say 30 minute exposure. Easily solved with a little electric tape. The second concern is that, despite it being a neutral density filter, there is a definite colour cast. Because I shoot exclusively in RAW however, this is easily corrected in lightroom.

Can’t wait to take this to the coast :) Here are some of my favourite long exposure results from the weekend!

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Balls Falls Conservation Area

I’ve got a new toy :) It’s the Lee Filter Big Stopper, and it deserves it’s own post. We took it out to wine country yesterday to test-drive it – it really shines when used with running water and where better to go than the Escarpment, which boasts more waterfalls than anywhere else in the world?

These photos were all taken at the Balls Fall Conservation Area (which also boasts a solid sense of humour, being down the road from a place called ‘Pecker’s Point’). We climbed down and shot both the lower and upper falls. The hike in between is lovely, shady, and filled with boulders and magical green light. New gear, out on the escarpment with Tito, great weather and waterfalls. Only blueberry pie could have made the day better :)

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Balls Falls Conservation Area ©Shireen Nadir 2013

 

 

Icebergs in Newfoundland

It’s finally bright and warm and sunny in Toronto – patio weather, cold drinks, ice in drinks… and I thought about icebergs…. it makes sense.

Or maybe it’s just Atlantic Canada calling my name….

Icebergs in Newfoundland ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Icebergs in Newfoundland ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Icebergs in Newfoundland ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Icebergs in Newfoundland ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Icebergs in Newfoundland ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Icebergs in Newfoundland ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Icebergs in Newfoundland ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Icebergs in Newfoundland ©Shireen Nadir 2013

 

Knotty by Nature Fibre Arts (or, My Socks Grow Funky)

I was admiring my socks (and how they feel in Crocs… oh, the cushiness…) and I was thinking perhaps I had enjoyed them quite enough and they were due for a wash.

This got me thinking ‘what the hell was in that yarn anyway?’ which led sadly to ‘I haven’t a clue’.

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I bought the yarn from a lovely shop in Victoria BC, hand-dyed by the owner themselves. The store was so fun, colourful and full of fibre goodness that I had to share a few pics.

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The owner, winding up the mystery yarn I had just bought. I like how he makes winding yarn look like a cavalier and swashbuckling thing to do.

The socks will be hand washed with my other knitted items to be on the safe side, I can’t bear to lose them now!

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They’re called ‘Knotty by Nature’ and they’re right in downtown Victoria. Definitely look them up if you’re in town, and while you’re at it, ask about my socks ;)

La Libertad

I wanted to share some more of El Salvador – here is an area called La Libertad. Great restaurants, great surf and fantastic views :)

El Salvador ©Shireen Nadir 2013

El Salvador ©Shireen Nadir 2013

El Salvador ©Shireen Nadir 2013

El Salvador ©Shireen Nadir 2013

El Salvador ©Shireen Nadir 2013

El Salvador ©Shireen Nadir 2013

El Salvador ©Shireen Nadir 2013

El Salvador ©Shireen Nadir 2013

El Salvador ©Shireen Nadir 2013

El Salvador ©Shireen Nadir 2013

El Salvador ©Shireen Nadir 2013

El Salvador ©Shireen Nadir 2013

El Salvador ©Shireen Nadir 2013

 

The Pig

Finally – 45 gigs later, the El Salvador trip is complete and processed :) I want to start with a really beautiful place, that happens to also be the most ‘touristy’ place we saw on the trip – El Tunco.

El Tunco (the pig, in their aboriginal language) is so named for the rock formation on this stunning beach.

El Tunco

(Though I think it looks more like the beast-thing from the end of the 2nd Conan movie)

El Tunco

The surf here is legendary – in fact there is a sub culture of surf folks who consider El Salvador to be a hidden gem.With the 4th best beach in the world for surfing, the entire town is filled with archetypal surf bums. Cute cafés and little shops line both the streets and the ocean.

El Tunco

The ocean, which is lovely and unpredictable. If you look closely you can see that I’m about to get utterly schooled by a wave that I was as yet unaware of.  I can only thank my lucky stars that I had just given the camera to our friend Quique to hold on to ;)

El Tunco

When we first got off the plane, I saw a photo of El Tunco. Immediately I wanted to go.

El Tunco

We didn’t think there would be time, but thanks to the wonderful family of the folks we traveled with we were able to get first class tour guides :) Gracias Bertha Alisa y Quique!

El Tunco



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