A Learning Curve

One night as I was about to retire to bed, my daughter called and wanted to discuss a bread recipe that we had baked together and was blogged about. While suggesting to her to halve the recipe and talking about it, we both opened the blog on our respective machines and laughed out so loud looking at the picture of the bread - some odd angles, no “set up” so to speak and one loaf where the crust had torn off a bit. The recipe was from a well received blogger, so I am sure the bread must have turned out well and I confidently wrote a blog. Ah, if only the picture did justice!

 

For the next twenty minutes, we kept opening a few of my earlier posts and were commenting on the photographs and content. By God, what ever was I thinking! When I was aware that some people out there were taking great pictures even with their mobile devices, I had a good camera and just did not know how to handle it? I have been shooting in auto mode and still poorly focused photographs, over correction with picasa are all so evident. 

My daughter once set me benchmarks saying that she will accept and credit me if ever I show the quality as few other bloggers. She has not given her verdict yet and it is over three years. That is indication enough where I stand.

I had, without qualms, attached badly focused photos like this one.

Some wrong angles thinking it looked cool. In this picture all you see is a chunky slice of potato and not the bread. How would anyone make out if the bread had turned out soft as I had claimed?

The food is your hero in the picture, but there was nothing but the dish in many.

  In some pictures, the food looks like a small prop, and the furniture and the windows more important?

Speaking of props... oh dear, they were simply arranged to cover the frame. I did not realise that they were so distracting. 
Too much food in one frame, and a crammed post at that. Whoever would patiently read so many recipes?

I also realise, things do improve with patience and practice. If my picture is not to my satisfaction I thrash them, the recipe does not make its appearance until it has a picture worthy to share. I take help from those numerous photographs that appear on Pintest, Flickr and such sites. They help me look at my dish with someone else's perspective. I mentally tally my idea with what I see in those and then work. Attending the food photography workshop that Aparna conducted was a good idea. I see areas I need to improve. Last year's Indian Food Bloggers Meet in August had two sessions on photography. They taught me how to compose, what to focus, what to mute and more.

Looking back at these old pictures, my learning curve is quite evident to us. I still need improving and lack perfection, yet I keep clicking, discarding or sharing. Now, I am more aware of the quality of my photos, keeping a keener eye on tasteful framing, composition, light etc.

It takes just a little learning to get to near good pictures if not truly amazing. I learn a little bit every day with each blog post I read, and each set of photographs I look at. Looking back at old work was eye opening, to say the least and provided a good laugh for the day!

This is not a recipe post, but I needed to ramble off a bit and have a hearty laugh along with you.

Teas again for Black and white Wednesdays 158

Time and again I profess my tea addiction. I stock up on varieties of teas. While I like, black, green and white teas all the same, my husband likes his black with milk added, flavoured with ginger or the typical Indian masala chai.
This box of three blends of Orange Pekoe teas was brought by a friend who travels from Europe to Togo, on business, often enough to keep my supplies refreshed.

This picture of my special teas is to be sent to Black and White Wednesdays 158, this fortnight being hosted by Shri @ Tiffin Carrier Antic/ques. The idea of  Black and White Wednesdays for food related photographs was initially conceived by Susan @ The Well Seasoned Cook and is now continued and presently being administered at Cinzia's Cindystar blog.

Most times I prefer black tea with a hint of lemon in it, though I do not add sugar, honey sometimes gives my tea the best taste.

Flower tea for Black and White Wednesday

A friend gifted me a pack of Flower tea, bursting with flavours from the ingredients therein. Here's the picture of the tea being infused.

Cindystar currently hosting Susan's Black and White Wednesday event, hosts this 150th week special edition. This picture is being sent for the same.

What I am leaving behind - Black and White Wednesdays

This is the last week for us in Lagos. Just saw the last of my packages loaded on to the movers' truck for stuffing and shipping last weekend. It is a back breaking task I do once every few years, that now my friends think I am a pro at it.
The home that was, is back to a shell of a house, but my small pots are blooming with their plants. Some sprouts are also showing promises of lush, only I will leave them with hopes of someone would care.
There will be a new home to set up and newer plants will bloom in the garden, yet it is not easy letting go and allow them to die.

 

Aparna is hosting this 78th week's Black and White Wednesdays, a culinary and food related photo event.
The event is the brainchild of Susan of The Well seasoned Cook and is currently being put together by Cinzia of Cindystar
My entry to the week is titled "The street vendor". There is this man who brings on his push cart his wares ranging from plastic trash bins to aluminium cooking utensils and some small stainless steel stuff in my home town.

 

Fifty 2 weeks of 2013 Week 9 Colour of the Week

Given that we, my husband and me, have few friends and limited social activities, my days go by without much to mention. The usual mundane tasks carried out day in and day out, mine- cooking cleaning, pressing clothes, keeping house and such. His – Work, work and more work. To say the least, we lead a very boring life. I find ways to kill ennui and try to plan a few tasks that interest me.

Writing this blog gives me reason to try recipes for putting up here or trying from other blogs to pep my menu with variety. Then there is a new found love for photography keeps me more than engaged. Not that I am a good one at that, but I love to try a few ideas with the camera.
I avidly read many photography pages and blogs, many times wishing that I may be somewhat good bordering in those remotely at the least.

Thus when this week’s theme – photography only, was announced  in our Fifty 2 Weeks of 2013project, the first thought that I thought was I will post a picture of water and caption it "I envision my week to be as colourless but clear as water".
 

Talking of water, it is one of my favourite subjects for photography. Be it the sea and rolling waves, that spray when they hit the rocks, or calmly sitting inside the glass to be consumed or falling as rain and droplets glittering on leaves. These pictures speak for my awe for water.

Then around last week I came across a new concept of capturing oil drops in water and that got me hooked on. So I looked up more videos and write ups on this concept.

Many dealt with simple, inexpensive equipment and some knowledge in handling your camera, though there were many advanced techniques that are beyond my comprehension.

 This is all you need to set up and importantly, your faithful camera. a clear scratch-free glass bowl, something to hold the bowl about a feet high above the surface, few colourful material, paper/ cloth anything, water and few spoons of oil.

That did not deter me from trying and what you see are results of my experiment.

 I added some red food colour to the water :)

 

What has this to do with the theme, you may ask. Like I mentioned in my note for the last week’s theme, life is what you make of it. It can be boring and dull without such small challenges that make it as colourful as these. I fill my week with activities that interest me, sewing, cooking, baking and photography. They make my weeks and life colourful and worth enjoying all of them.
This is how my week has been until now and I hope it will be through the next. So long then.

I hope and wish you all have a week/  many weeks in fact, that are colourful and cheerful.

More pictures can be found in an album I am sharing on my facebook page.

In a quest to find the right Garnet

It all started on the Tuesday morning when Sra announced the theme for Week 2 of the  Fifty-2 Weeks of 2013. I had checked my mails earlier that morning and had made a mental note to check the group's page later for the theme. And guess what happens next. My daughter calls long distance and asks if I had seen the theme. She was pretty excited for it was a photography based theme. I replied in the negative and went on to check. Meanwhile, she was also logged in and we spent the next 20 minutes on facebook chat discussing potential subjects, vetoing few, the excitement growing with each idea
 
The colour Garnet was chosen for the week's photo based theme.
Thinking aloud we put forth whatever object that came close in colour to garnets.

Pomegranates - veto; a dear friend has a very nice picture for her profile!
Mixed fruit jam - possible, but would it not be too pale?
Grenadine syrup, rose syrup - for I had a bottle of each; check 1
Kumkum - veto, we just posted it for a theme in another group
Red roses - no fresh flowers, what next
Jewellery - veto Cannot go to the bank and operate locker / no costume jewellery on hand
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So much thought went in that I even suggested to her to see if my mother had, somewhere, stashed my primary school blazer :)
Colour Garnet sat in my head, gnawing my brain so, that I would send Niki Facebook messages that would read "Qatar's National flag" or "West Indies Cricket uniform".
I even told her to check if, in my mother's cupboard, she had saved a 'Hero' pen, for, they would usually come in a deep maroon or a beautiful chromium green with the golden cap.
And as I walked around my house with this purpose in mind, I was stumped to see 'garnet' which otherwise I have not noticed at all.
How do you choose when, wherever you turn, you find a subject beckoning to you?



For one, my prayer room altar is a vivid burgundy pink; two carpets in my living room have predominantely maroon-brown thread work. On the wall, there is a Chinese shell painting - I vividly recall, the shopkeeper telling me that peacocks bring prosperity. She instructed me to put the art piece on the Southern side as the back ground in the frame is garnet!




My walk in closet has a whole range of shades that grow/pale in accent, but all nearly passable as garnet.

Not withstanding, I have two non stick stew pots, coated at their maroon best. My pantry has red chowri beans and rajma and red chills that are not nearly red, but as brown-red can get; only at this point I was not complaining!

And there lie dozens of sticker bindis that sit safely inside a biscuit tin among safety pins, hairpins and more. My sister had given them to me, so I can give them to a spa assistant, but they somehow never reached her.

I tried to create some activity mood and tried these.

My camera kept clicking whatever I sighted and turned the lens on to. Meanwhile Niki had done her assignment, and I liked hers much, but both of us agreed that we will still give it more thought before we post. Then finally, she just shot her bangles and posted too, while I was still toying with ideas.
I am sharing a few pictures here, but posting another in the group's page. Have a look at that and the many other nice and very fitting-to-the-theme creative shots; it is just a click away from here.
I had brought in two plants whose leaves are beautiful by themselves; when I cannot find flowers in the garden, I cut these leaves for my vase at the work table. I did so today too and there ended my quest for the garnet! I have a picture to share and my vase is holding these beauties that bring a smile every time I pass by.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures that nearly went in as my entry, but stalled for want of a better idea.
Now go check the compilation of Week-2 on Facebook and stay tuned for many more, for our theme-week ends only on Monday.

Adding life to your food photos - an exercise in food photography

Many times when I take pictures of the food, I am almost alone at home and never have a chance to request someone to be my 'live prop' for the picture. I have seen that many bloggers take some beautiful pictures holding the bowl or a slice of cake and so on. I had seen on Flickr someone share a photo of a cake they baked for the child's 2 nd birthday with two of the tot's fingers on the cake indicating her age. Similarly I loved the picture in Soma's guest post in Namitha's page. I wished that I cooked something that delicious and took a picture as good too.
I have, however tried my stunts with adding life, as Aparna suggests this month for the exercise many times before too. I made the sugar syrup and wanted to show the consistency by pulling a small portion of it between my fingers, filling up the golgappe and some more. However, I was shooting mostly on automatic settings then. Now that I am slightly more confident to venture further and shoot manual, I find it hard to hold the camera with one hand and use the other as a prop. Trying to have the camera set on a tripod or a base does not seem to help when you are alone. I just do not seem to fix exactly how near or further I need to move to be in good focus.Thanks to the vary angle monitor and a fixed focal length lens, I tried some pictures for this exercise. Even then not to my satisfaction.
My husband suggested making golgappe when I was reading out the ingredients off a Haldirams packet of aloo bujiya to try making it at home. Thus I had a nice photo situation for the exercise. The seasonal rains and the permanent cloud cover plays spoil sport, yet I hoped that we will have enough natural light to take pictures when my husband is home after office.
I had the puris and the sev and the required accompaniments made and ready and even before he would want to try, I had him do the filling and shoot the pictures, much testing a hungry man's patience. Nonetheless, I have photos to share here.

 Lens Nikkor 35mm f/.8 @ 1/13 seconds,  f/3.5,  ISO 400

 Lens 35mmf/1.8  @ 1/15 seconds, f/3.5, ISO 400

The aloo bujiya recipe will have to wait for another post, but you may find the golgappe here.




The other picture I would like to share is that of the ellu poornam filled kozhukkattai which I made for the Ganesh Chathurthi and did so with the camera supported on a few books on the work table. I used the close focusing prime lens so that I can stand close and check my picture settings on the monitor.

 In clockwise rotation the pictures in the collage below have been taken with these settings

 1/25 seconds  f/2.5  ISO 250                                                      
 1/15 seconds  f/3.2  ISO 250
 1/8   seconds  f/3.2  ISO 250

                                                                                                                  

You may notice that while the powdered filling has a good focus on the hand holding the spoon too, the other picture with the outer dough cups the focus has shifted to the cups and the hand is off focus.

And this last one is that of the syrup consistency taken with automatic settings.

 

I find adding a human touch interesting if done using that well as I mentioned in the beginning. Those two pictures specially had me very inspiring as were the oft viewed picture in Tongue Ticklers, those of Harini's Avarakkai poduthuval and Carrots, leek and zucchini soup.
I am hoping to reach there sometime with perseverance. But for now, I shall be happy if you found mine good enough to have posted for the exercise.

Showcasing One Ingredient -An Exercise in Food Photography

                                     Lens18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 at 95mm, f/5.3, 1/3s ISO 200

Many times we cook and click pictures of dishes we want to share and pay much attention to setting up the dish in order to make it appealing in the photograph. We do not think of the ingredients that have made the dish as good as it looks while tasting even better.


Though I am not very obsessed with cutting the vegetables in uniform sizes or measuring out every grain, I do have the patience not to mess the kitchen counter as I work there. I tend to keep them arranged in some orderly manner as I work. this is not an obsession but training.
So when this month's photography exercise was announced by Aparna, I thought that I will have many options to show, and thus kept taking pictures of whatever my eye suggested as the ingredient. I might have clicked and discarded many just for this one exercise.The few i have selected that I can put them in this post are which I thought were good, though they are not the best. I need more practice with the setting up and angles and many more aspects.
The area at home which receives abundant natural light is just outside the kitchen where the South East side is a glass door. There is no other window to let light in from any other direction. And many times it is not direct or harsh light which may be an advantage.

 

 Focal length 120mm, f/6.3, 1/40s, ISO 100

As young children it was compulsory that we had fruits and my mother would meticulously peel the oranges, make us sit and share it among us sometimes sprinkling some sugar on the top. She would peel them thus and remove the seeds before we consumed them. Till date she peels her oranges for the juice and does not use the citrus juicer. I had some oranges from the festival season at home and wanted to make juice. As I was placing them back on the tray, they looked neat enough to be in a picture.                                                                    
Just back from the market and putting them away, the garlic wholes fell out of the bag and I pulled out one pod and shot  two pictures. While my husband liked one, my daughter approved the other.

   In both the pictures the settings are the same  with just a slight difference in the shutter speed.
They were both shot at 90mm, f/5.3 and ISO 100 while one was at 1/13 seconds the other was at 1/15 seconds.




                 









                                                                            

Though we get locally grown tomatoes, the one in the picture below is good for soups and making stuffed tomatoes. I buy them occasionally as they are expensive to pick them on a whim. And so are the peppers as compared to the regular green capsicums that are very small. While I use these too for stuffing, I do use them in other dishes.










The green gram in this picture has been measured (in those jars) for making maalaadu, a very famous South Indian sweet which I am aiming to post soon.

 Lens 18-55mm  f/3.5 - 5.6, Focal length 55mm,f/4.8, 1/8s, ISO 200

Hope you have enjoyed the pictures. Stay tuned for some recipes with these right here.

Serving you Chaat for Black and White Wednesdays

I loved the mixed sweet, sour and spiced taste of the street chaat the very first time I had tasted bhel puri. During my working years in Coimbatore it was an affordable and nice evenings out with friends to have chaat in one busy street side shop, standing and balancing your paper plate and trying to not allow the juices to spill. Those were fancy street food and hard to find then, unlike today.
It was much later that I could make it at home. Making golgappas and bhel puri at home is easy. I also realised that you can play around with the basic ingredients and bring out very interesting combinations as you wish. Though I make them once in a few weeks, I still fancy to eat chaat in some chaat corners .

Sra is hosting the Week 34 of Susan's Black and White Wednesday, for which I wanted to share the chaatwala at Adyar Ananda Bhavan's outlet in one of the highway petrol stations, where the time I visited, I opted to eat chaat though it was lunch time. The pictures above and below are from that visit.

And the recipe today is something that we ( my husband and myself) enjoyed with tea on a cloudy grey evening. I had some puri's /gol gappe left over having made a large batch for friends. there was some cooked chick pea and with just those we decided that we will combine our own chaat and have for a snack.
Aloo Channa Dahi Chaat


Ingredients:
Serves 2 people
8 - 10 golgappas
2 medium potatoes
1/4 cup chick peas  (soaked overnight  and pressure cooked until soft)
1 medium red onion
1/4 cup thick home set yoghurt
2 tablespoons mint leaves
2 tablespoons coriander leaves
1 pinch of carom seeds
1 green chili
1 teaspoon chaat masala powder
Salt as per taste

Method:
Boil the potatoes until the skin can be removed and cube them in small size cubes.
Grind the carom seeds, mint leaves coriander leaves and the green chill to a coarse paste and whisk this into the yoghurt.
Add the salt to the yoghurt and also add some to the chick peas.

Marinade the potatoes in this yoghurt mixture and leave aside for a few minutes.
Chop the onion finely.
If you would love to, add some chopped tomatoes and cucumber too.
 
While assembling the chaat, crush the golgappas in a bowl and drop the cooked chick peas and the potatoes. Mix well and allow the yoghurt to blend in the peas also. Add the chopped onion and mix once in a brisk mix.
Serve in small bowls topped with a garnish of chopped onions and fresh coriander leaves.

An exercise in food photography with Bangalore Chutney podi

A certain advantage with writing a blog is that one gets to learn new things however big or small. 

We had a particular assignment while in our second year in college to  learn to use a normal camera and also develop the film in our physics lab as part of optics. We were encouraged to take pictures in different light conditions and with just the adjustment of the shutter which also was done manually as then was not the time with automatic cameras and some thirty years ago, digital photography was unheard of where I schooled. We had fun shooting anything that caught our attention and were soon aware of how poorly we can perform, if not guided by the teachers, when we developed the prints. Yet we had so much fun with the camera and the printing!

Many years later with the progress in the field of photography, today I own a basic dslr camera, but still very novice with my picture capturing skills. I have always wondered what details one must pay attention to in order to make your pictures look good, especially the food that you capture and share in the post. I would look up some various sites that offer tips and such hoping to learn and improve upon. Some of my friends share pictures on their photo blogs where the necessary details are added to the picture and that would help me to try the same with my settings.

Recently, Aparna encouraged us to make an effort to work on our skills and I willingly joined the exercise. The first of this exercise is with the Aperture and Depth of Field. I have tried the experiment with a Nikon D5000 with the 18-55mm kit lens. 

For this I chose to make Jayasri Ravi's Bangalore style chutney pudi.

Below are the two pictures taken with a 24 mm focal length and two different apertures viz, f/4 and f/8. The rest of the settings such as shutter speed and ISO remain the same. These have been taken partially hand held with the camera being supported on a strong cardboard box and a coaster to tilt it a bit. The day light from my patio door lights up the wall on the back. Both pictures have been shared as taken with no adjustments.

Aperture and Depth of Field

 

Bangalore Chutney Podi:

Source: Jayasri Ravi ( Read her post here)

I have made 1/5th of her shared recipe. I had intended to share the measures in volume as against her recipe in weight. However, I got disoriented with the above experiment and such that I have not worked on the volume. Hence I would love to share her recipe here.

Ingredients:

175 grams channa dhal

115 grams urad dhal

375 grams copra (dry coconut shredded)

50 grams dry red chillis ( Guntur variety that is high in heat)

50 grams byadagi red chillis (for nicer red colur)

12 grams mustard seeds

40 grams tamarind

1/2 of one small cube jaggery ( about 1 heaped tablespoon jaggery powder)

5-6 sprigs curry leaves

2 grams of asafoetida

Salt to taste

Oil as required to roast the chillis (I have omitted that and dry roasted all the ingredients)

Procedure:

Her post elaborates with many tips to do this. I have just roasted each ingredient, save the jaggery, on a very low flame and separately until the dhals and copra are golden, the chillis are brittle and the tamarind also is dry enough. i use a non stick utensil so the tamarind did not stick to the pan, However, I usually roast the tamarind also in my regular hindalium pan and over a gentle heat it will roast well .

Cool the roasted ingredients. Pulse the dhals, chillis, curry leaves, salt and mustard seeds gently to a powder. Add the copra and the jaggery and pulse on the lowest speed of the blender inching short pulses lest the copra oozes oil and the powder becomes sticky.

Transfer to a flat dish from the jar of the blender and cool.  Store in airtight containers.

Serve as accompaniment with dosas and idlis.