Day 260 - Tandoori Chicken

I have to admit I wasn't quite in the photography zone this evening.   However, I still had to do a shot of this dish as it's going to be on the cooking class menu for this weekend.  The chicken tasted great, but I have no idea why I couldn't really get a single shot to work out.   I'm just very disappointed!

Day 259 - Relearning the Alphabet: The Letter "U"

"U" for Unfocussed

An unfocussed, impressionistic shot of the sunset.  I was out in the freezing cold for close to 2 hours and just as I started to realize that I couldn't feel my toes or my nose (the rhyming was intentional, but it's also a fact), the sun decided to peak out from behind the clouds.  My eyes were tearing with the cold, and things were going out of focus, when I suddenly realized that this would be "it" - "U" for unfocussed!

Day 258 - I'm Back!

I had an intense three days starting with a project deadline, prepping for the cooking class, and then the cooking class itself.  The class went off really well, and one of the ladies is going to return for a second one!  That's a 33% success rate, since I had 3 students in the class this time.

Anyway, despite being dead beat, I knew I had to pick up the camera and feel it in my hands again.... Sheesh!  Did I just say that aloud?   Ok, never mind, I did - but that's the truth.  I feel that I'm missing something when I don't do my shot of the day, despite all the challenges I have of actually doing it.  It's like I'm cheating myself out of some great pleasure.  And often, it's a narrow hit-or-miss, thanks to my low energy levels.

'Nuff said about that.  This shot is part of a "Red" series that I want to do for a contest.  I'm not sure whether this would be appropriate since it does have a lot of yellow as well.  Let me know what you think. Would love to hear your take on "Red".

And I haven't forgotten to complete learning my alphabet.  I still have to do "K"  and "U".  I don't want to resort to anything obvious - I've been doing that a lot lately (out of sheer laziness).  Will have to scratch my head a little, and would welcome your ideas as well (although I can't promise to deliver :=P).

This shot has minimal post-processing.  The only thing I've done is increased the sharpness a couple of notches.  The flash was powered down to 1/64 at 50 mm, pointed directly at the candle from right of frame.

Day 257 - Food for the Hungry Soul

The word "Soul" here has two intended meanings - soul as in a person (like when we call someone a "poor soul") and soul as in the Spirit - the essence of a person. 

Food feeds the soul, but when that soul is my son, it has to be good food!  But for me, food feeds my imagination, after it has nourished my body, of course.  

This dish, the Chicken Biryani, is a favourite with most Indians, and likewise a favourite with my son and me.  And although it could become a little elaborate, over time I have learned to simplify the process so I can whip it up quickly and on demand.  

The Biryani, a rice dish with add-ins, can be made with most anything - beef, lamb, chicken, shrimp, eggs and even vegetables!  I love making this really hot and spicy and colourful.  However, having run out of the orange food colouring, I had to use red, which in my opinion turned out pretty cheesy.  But as I don't usually like to judge a book by its cover, digging into the biryani sent my taste buds spinning on a deliciously pleasurable journey (although I say so myself)!  

Reminds me of a line from a commercial for Maggi Instant Noodles from when I was growing up in India - Fast to cook, good to eat! 

The best light for food photography would be - you guessed it - ambient daylight.  However, since I don't have the luxury of cooking dinner in the middle of the afternoon, I have to make do with the flash.  I set up the external flash at 28 mm, 1/4 power level, to bounce off of the ceiling, placed to the right of the subject.  

Both these shots are almost straight out of the camera - the exposure was fixed marginally in the first one.  The second one is SOOC.

The shots were taken with the 18 - 55 mm lens.  The reason is simple - I find it really helpful to either shoot with this one or the macro lens as they allow me to be flexible with the focussing distance and angles.  I chose a very shallow depth of field (f/4 and f/4.5) and a fairly fast shutter at 1/180s.

And just a little note to those who have referred to my tutorials page before - I have removed that page and added a new How-To Blog.  Please feel free to check it out.  I hope to upload more findings from my various experiments in the future.

Day 256 - Relearning the Alphabet: The Letter "V"

"V" for "V" in the Corner of the Serving Dish

The thought of "V" only kept bringing "vase" in my mind.  My friend suggested "Va-va-vrroomm" and that would mean a bike.  Where would I find a bike in this freezing cold?  My "vocabulary" seemed limited, so I decided to focus on the concept of vocabulary.  However, I was doing the image for my beef curry recipe when I decided to use one stone to kill two birds.

I don't think I will be able to put much effort into my photography in the next few weeks, because I'm now bracing myself for my cooking classes starting this weekend and continuing over the next few.  I'm wishing myself luck - they tend to be very, very intense.

I can't say I'm pleased with this shot at all, but unfortunately I have too many things to focus on right now - the cooking class being the top priority over the next few weeks.

Day 255 - Relearning the Alphabet: The Letter "Z"

"Z" for Zoom Blur

This was my second time trying this - the first time was during Fall, when I tried it on a coloured leaf, but the shot was handheld, and therefore not worthy of your attention.  This way of creating an image is also known as Intentional Camera Movement (ICM).

It's absolutely imperative that a tripod be used for this. Click here for detailed instructions on how I did this.

And I need to mention that all these shots are SOOC, except for this one, which I cropped only.

Day 254 - Human Bounce Board

I wanted to write a quick post about a little experiment I did, after my shot went to nought.

I was trying to photograph these little Turkish Delights (if you have an acutely sweet tooth, try them; else just avoid them).  I didn't get what I was after, so I tried to use my hand as a bounce board, since the only negative about the LP160 right now is that it comes without one.  I would have really expected it to have one since it's comparable in every other aspect to the Nikon SB 700 (or is it 800?) and the Canon 580 Ex II.  I am clueless as to why they couldn't include a small piece of plastic when they could include a diffuser!

Anyhow, I took one shot with and one without my hand acting as a bounce board.  My flash was set to 28mm, full power, and bounced off the ceiling.  Both these shots are SOOC - no post-processing at all, so you can see the difference in the spilled light that bounced off my hand onto the subject, as opposed to the one that spilled out.

This one was without my hand placed behind the flash; lots of darker areas.  

This one had my hand placed right behind the flash to prevent the light from spilling.  Since it was set on 28 mm, there would be quite a bit of spill, as opposed to being set on 85 or 105 mm.  The idea was to experiment with the effect.  My hand redirected the spilled light onto the subject and filled light into the shadow areas.  What I didn't wait to do was decrease the power level and try again, so the whites wouldn't get blown out.  But the "bounced" effect is clearly evident!