I made this tortilla soup back in October when Carla wasn’t feeling well; I caught another cold last week and thought that chicken soup would be good for me as well. You can catch the recipe and discussion of the process by looking at that posting.
Meanwhile, I’ve been trying to improve my photography skills and have had a lot of problems trying to get good pictures of the food in the kitchen. I’ve had to increase my shutter speed to get enough light or increase the f-stop (is increase right, the aperture is bigger though the number is smaller) which then leads to a small fraction of the picture being in focus. I like background blur but at least the main part of the picture should be in focus.
I thought I’d try increasing my ISO setting in order to get faster shutter speed and a smaller aperture (again smaller aperture but bigger number). Using auto ISO usually limits the top setting to 125, I wanted to try 800 (but actually picked 1600).
What I’m going to do here is post pictures from the two sets for comparison.
Ingredients
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| January 19, 2014 – 1/125 ; f5.6 ; ISO 1600 |
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| October 2013 – 1/30 ; f/3.5 ; ISO 125 |
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| October 2013 – 1/40 ; f/3.5 ; ISO 125 |
Simmering broth
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| January 2014 – 1/60 ; f3.5 ; ISO 1600 |
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| October 2013 – 1/30 ; f/3.5 ; ISO 400 |
Making the base
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| January 2014 – 1/160 ; f/5.6 ; ISO 1600 |
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| October 2013 – 1/30 ; f/3.5 ; ISO 125 |
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| January 2014 – 1/160 ; f5.6 ; ISO 1600 |
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| October 2013 – 1/30 ; f/3.5 ; ISO 500 |
Shredded chicken
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| October 2013 – 1/40 ; f/3.5 ; ISO 125 |
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| January 2014 – 1/100 ; f/4.0 ; ISO 1600 |
Garnishes
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| January 2014 – 1/100; f/4.0 ; ISO 1600 |
Dinner is served
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| January 2014 – 1/100 l f/4.0 ; ISO 1600 (Terrible reflection of the overhead light here) |
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| October 2013 – 1/30 ; f/3.5 ; ISO 125 |
I found that working with the ISO 1600 files didn’t leave much room for adjustments without increasing the graininess of the photos. Looking back the October pictures don’t look to bad; it turns out that all the October pictures except the tomato base in the Dutch oven were taken with the flash on while none of the January 2014 pictures had flash. The Sony DSC-RX100 I use allows me to bounce the flash at a high angle. Maybe that’s a key for my food pictures.
At any rate I think I’ll try a few sessions with a less radical ISO of 400 or 800.
This does get to be frustrating for me. I got so frustrated by my crummy pictures on our train trip to Chicago that I stopped taking pictures for a few months. It took a while to get back to a good frame of mind. I follow Matt Kloskowski’s Lightroom Killer Tips blog and have really enjoyed this month’s series where he is doing all his adjustments in LightRoom; no Photoshop or OnOne products. I read the postings, get excited then think “I want to try that”. My trouble is I’m still so green that I have a hard time executing my vision.
I need to spend time learning how the tools work; and really, even how photography works. I remind myself that this is a long process; I’m not in a race and I don’t have to make my living at it. I just need to enjoy it.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the differences in the pictures. Let me hear from you.