Sunday, September 26, 2010
Lemon Drizzle Cake
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Steamed Mix Vegetables
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDCbV-RPxn7FcOOpUNwbd71VbsmCaX9Ya4JafIf-0oxwok7C5fQak7MeidI7wYqH2NTAaE8MhfCeBSdICj5C5DX0lzwNeK0yq-72mS1T88jk4T-NAI7OUy_1KkrhaQEPzy18Rnuaz9E23I/s400/DSC_5115.jpg)
Lately my dinner seems to be steamed food besides the usual platter of fruits and fresh veggies. It's not entirely because I wanna fully utilize my i-chef steamer pot but rather it's because of the contraint time I have. Every week, I found myself wishing I have the time to cook certain interesting dishes that I suddenly thought of, saw somewhere or had recently eaten it somewhere. But the fact remains that I'm a working woman who starts work at 7+am and reaches home either before 6.30pm or after 8.30pm. My routine is as such that whatever dish I wanna cook has to be pre-planned, pre-prepared and preferably, simple and fast. This mix vegetables do not need much of planning and work done. So little time was needed for washing , cutting and cooking. Since steamed vegetables for me only has one singular boring taste (unless I add seasoning like oyster sauce and the likes), I sliced some ginger and threw in a pinch of mushroom powder. To satisfy my cravings for baked beans, I opened up a TST brand baked beans and cooked it over some fried garlic and tomato sauce. And so.. in the end, I found myself having 4 dishes and a rice on the dinner table. And all.. for just me and hubby to dig in.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY_jHXCey7i8GO1fNGTe5nielxqlPB6k51McY8GGJmbunBzfBOJHu1eeKITIf71r1Oee2OW6CArRfAPKfvXuzohaktq3OOm5b8HUoRdzh5PDeIlL_urDht9MlCKkJ4m4XZXqGraB8zpyJL/s400/DSC_5117.jpg)
Friday, September 17, 2010
Chilled Lemon Cheesecake
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd7t4hsMwQzCH7f7QeqdLJHA0-GaeDIRM7ti8k68HrV4G9kFUhfxO64iXBMxghWujCZZCgLMkzionm4Ah95dCmlHp4jP5jms4iBhwusqmp1bB9dliSmBMS1rw-gM1tsqYc4DvL2DBZQ6Cw/s400/DSC_5314.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs1GG2chKBfVqNX_plfLHmZooIrwBBRYNHWBpdjI3qXpg83FBCuGqO33pqEk-Zc6gPCuX1bsgg8qHyZheiL7v0XsIp8phgvyaNI7n1o1fEjkyKKkLq1iLbj44NV0rJsBn7FhPsRI7_4OLF/s400/DSC_5315.jpg)
Monday, September 13, 2010
101 Essential DSLR Photography Tips: Bokeh
One day, a friend of mine was terribly excited and told me he managed to capture blur background photo with his newly purchased DSLR camera and with this, he complimented himself as an outstanding photographer!
That brought back a long lost memory that many years ago when I just started to learn photography, I kept pestering my brother to teach me this blur background technique. When I finally managed to capture it, I felt excited too. Last night, my wife asked me the same question again, so because of her request, I penned this down.
For layman, we called it blur background or more specifically, we call it out-of-focus area but it has a photography term called Bokeh. Bokeh was believed to be originated from Japanese word ‘boke’, which mean ‘blur’ or ‘haze’. Okay, I’m not gonna discuss further about Bokeh because if I do, there is every possibility that I could stretch it to 10 pages long. Right now, we are more interested to know how to create ‘bokeh’.
Before I share with you the technique, we must first understand Depth of Field (DOF) and its relationship to Bokeh. DOF refers to area of an image is in focus whereas the appearance of the light that is seen within the blur part of the photograph is Bokeh. DOF and Bokeh work together to produce a photograph with main subject that stands out from the background without distraction.
To produce these kinds of photos is not a rocket science technology, just follow these camera settings and set up should be able to assist you to produce a relatively decent ‘blur background photo’.
1. Aperture
Open up your aperture, simply mean use the smallest F number available in your lens like F1.8, F2.8, F3.6 etc.
2. Focal Length
Preferably use a telephoto lens with a focal length 85mm and above. If you use a zoom lens, zoom to the longest telephoto end eg. if you are using a 18-200mm lens, used 200mm end instead.
3. Distance to Subject
Physically move in as close as possible to the subject that your lens allow you to be, yet at the same time the lens can still focus properly.
4. Distance of the Subject to Background
Find a background not too close to your subject so that you can isolate them nicely.
The below photograph of mine is an example where I used my TAMRON AF 18-270mm F3.6-6.3 lens to capture a butterfly during my hiking trip last year in Maxwell Hill, Taiping. I used F6.3 at 270mm end and move as close as possible to subject (in this case is the butterfly) and found some green bushes as background.
That brought back a long lost memory that many years ago when I just started to learn photography, I kept pestering my brother to teach me this blur background technique. When I finally managed to capture it, I felt excited too. Last night, my wife asked me the same question again, so because of her request, I penned this down.
For layman, we called it blur background or more specifically, we call it out-of-focus area but it has a photography term called Bokeh. Bokeh was believed to be originated from Japanese word ‘boke’, which mean ‘blur’ or ‘haze’. Okay, I’m not gonna discuss further about Bokeh because if I do, there is every possibility that I could stretch it to 10 pages long. Right now, we are more interested to know how to create ‘bokeh’.
Before I share with you the technique, we must first understand Depth of Field (DOF) and its relationship to Bokeh. DOF refers to area of an image is in focus whereas the appearance of the light that is seen within the blur part of the photograph is Bokeh. DOF and Bokeh work together to produce a photograph with main subject that stands out from the background without distraction.
To produce these kinds of photos is not a rocket science technology, just follow these camera settings and set up should be able to assist you to produce a relatively decent ‘blur background photo’.
1. Aperture
Open up your aperture, simply mean use the smallest F number available in your lens like F1.8, F2.8, F3.6 etc.
2. Focal Length
Preferably use a telephoto lens with a focal length 85mm and above. If you use a zoom lens, zoom to the longest telephoto end eg. if you are using a 18-200mm lens, used 200mm end instead.
3. Distance to Subject
Physically move in as close as possible to the subject that your lens allow you to be, yet at the same time the lens can still focus properly.
4. Distance of the Subject to Background
Find a background not too close to your subject so that you can isolate them nicely.
The below photograph of mine is an example where I used my TAMRON AF 18-270mm F3.6-6.3 lens to capture a butterfly during my hiking trip last year in Maxwell Hill, Taiping. I used F6.3 at 270mm end and move as close as possible to subject (in this case is the butterfly) and found some green bushes as background.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2oF-LjyaPmefWhyzFM7K9D9_IzNsG7UxpyzHK4ssSHCEufvWhiE_Lz2UT0RCzQwMOFC7qyZdEyNgDEThdhFQeXr0SxY6MN8iN5BfLfCD99pv-1C4hs6z6l2wo18yq2EEuvbfzi1eJNjTp/s400/Butterfly.jpg)
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Juicy Roasted Chicken with Rosemary
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG5lks-9wMGc7JMqCNv85i33iNsgi8GhRNhLE7r7jYkSWCRsJGTj3YQX03QjYz1bW1UGJYTyfTACxZJvFDvc9jQMOXEv_ovGVB94A8GISStGBCaW1T4qeQG_k0vQuGy66x6GS4j8E2NOFZ/s400/Juicey+Roasted+Chicken.bmp)
Saturday, September 4, 2010
101 Essential DSLR Photography Tips: Bracketing
I am halfway writting my Basic DSLR Photography (Part III): Shooting Mode and out of a sudden, I received a request to talk about bracketing function of DSLR camera. Believe me, I am more than happy to assist in this topic.
What is Bracketing? Bracketing is a technique to take a series of shots of the same scene using different camera setting. Camera setting that can be bracketed includes exposure, ISO, white balance, flash and even focus. Nowadays we always refer bracketing as a camera function; a function that your DSLR camera will fire a series of shots automatically produced images (usually 3, 5, 7 or 9 images) with various settings you desired to bracket.
Bracketing can be done manually too but it is tedious. The whole idea of bracketing is for you to choose the best from the series of shots you have just taken. A long time ago before the digital era, we used film to capture light and took us days to develope the film before you could see the actual photos and result. You will miss a great scene due to mistake, misjudgement or metering in your camera not doing a good job. Bracketing becomes a savior here so that you will have a series of shots with different exposure setting eg. -2EV, -1EV, 0EV, +1EV and +2EV for your selection.
However, today just a blink of eye after clicking your shutter, we can ‘chimping’ the image you have just taken through DSLR camera’s LCD screen to check result and retake if not satisfied. That’s why I can tell you that the bracketing function is not as important as those day in film era.
For NIKON DSLR cameras, Auto Bracketing function is only available for their mid and higher end model such as D90, D300s. It is limited to 3 shots per bracketing for D90 while 9 shots for D300s. You can’t find it in entry level model like D60, D3000 but for the fortunate CANON users, it is available even for their entry level model ie. 1000D. I'm a strong supporter of NIKON but I do hope NIKON will be more generous in their future models.
For some bracketing, you have to do it manually like focus bracketing. Some however, advices to do it automatically like ISO & White Balance but subject to your DSLR camera capability. Some can do it either auto or manual like exposure bracketing. As for me, I hardly use the Auto Bracketing function for exposure but opt for exposure compensation for my shooting and check after each shot through my DSLR camera‘s LCD screen until I am satisfied with it. This is what I call manual bracketing and I find this much easier and simpler as compare to Auto Bracketing function.
Auto Bracketing comes in handy for me when I want to produce a HDR (High Dynamic Range) image. Today, with photo editing software like Photoshop and Photomatix, you can combine a series of different exposures shots to assemble a single image with huge brightness range. The below image is the result I combined 3 frames with -2EV, 0EV & +2EV exposure bracketing. This post is about bracketing, so I will talk about HDR in my future post or if there is a request.
What is Bracketing? Bracketing is a technique to take a series of shots of the same scene using different camera setting. Camera setting that can be bracketed includes exposure, ISO, white balance, flash and even focus. Nowadays we always refer bracketing as a camera function; a function that your DSLR camera will fire a series of shots automatically produced images (usually 3, 5, 7 or 9 images) with various settings you desired to bracket.
Bracketing can be done manually too but it is tedious. The whole idea of bracketing is for you to choose the best from the series of shots you have just taken. A long time ago before the digital era, we used film to capture light and took us days to develope the film before you could see the actual photos and result. You will miss a great scene due to mistake, misjudgement or metering in your camera not doing a good job. Bracketing becomes a savior here so that you will have a series of shots with different exposure setting eg. -2EV, -1EV, 0EV, +1EV and +2EV for your selection.
However, today just a blink of eye after clicking your shutter, we can ‘chimping’ the image you have just taken through DSLR camera’s LCD screen to check result and retake if not satisfied. That’s why I can tell you that the bracketing function is not as important as those day in film era.
For NIKON DSLR cameras, Auto Bracketing function is only available for their mid and higher end model such as D90, D300s. It is limited to 3 shots per bracketing for D90 while 9 shots for D300s. You can’t find it in entry level model like D60, D3000 but for the fortunate CANON users, it is available even for their entry level model ie. 1000D. I'm a strong supporter of NIKON but I do hope NIKON will be more generous in their future models.
For some bracketing, you have to do it manually like focus bracketing. Some however, advices to do it automatically like ISO & White Balance but subject to your DSLR camera capability. Some can do it either auto or manual like exposure bracketing. As for me, I hardly use the Auto Bracketing function for exposure but opt for exposure compensation for my shooting and check after each shot through my DSLR camera‘s LCD screen until I am satisfied with it. This is what I call manual bracketing and I find this much easier and simpler as compare to Auto Bracketing function.
Auto Bracketing comes in handy for me when I want to produce a HDR (High Dynamic Range) image. Today, with photo editing software like Photoshop and Photomatix, you can combine a series of different exposures shots to assemble a single image with huge brightness range. The below image is the result I combined 3 frames with -2EV, 0EV & +2EV exposure bracketing. This post is about bracketing, so I will talk about HDR in my future post or if there is a request.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYgQOYgHs1jcpBsDJHr2OZNk9guzipo-c4NlQAVGs356cxC4IALXnhiWLaVE4gGvztB6JbaLbnbuM435zYH4QAdNK0vOCjh4OqebFxdKHltuC8_cpgrC66rtfjEgeaDnvHyyYiCsr7Ik0F/s400/HDR.jpg)
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