Movie recommendations

McKay and I have been watching a lot of movies together lately.  It has been just my speed.  I haven't been craving any chick flicks, mainly action and comedy, which further convinces me that I'm having a boy.  But we should find that out soon.  So here's a list of movies that I have loved (in no particular order)...

1. Here Comes the Boom- Redbox

sooooooooooo hilarious!  Husband approved.

I was laughing out loud the whole time, it takes quality comedy for that to happen.

2. Jack Reacher- Redbox

A lot of bad-assery going on here.  Husband approved.

3. The Host- Redbox
Loved the book, loved the movie.  Not husband approved.

4. North and South- Netflix
Never heard of it before but loved it. Great when you have 4 hours to kill. Probably not husband approved.

Movies I want  to see:

The Wolverine

Superman

Now You See Me

...

Any recommendations?

Something educational- A food photography workshop

I am a member of the NIH Camera Club.  It is a group of artists who are interested in photography in the DC area and are somehow affiliated with NIH.  My grandfather and dad are both members and they decided that I should become a member too.  The club takes trips all around the world, I have been on one trip and it was fun.  They frequently meet for local field trips, workshops, contests, competitions, and other stuff.  It's pretty cool actually.  

This Tuesday they had a workshop for food photography and I decided to go after work, even though I would be an hour late.  Deb Lindsey taught the workshop, and she shoots for the Washington Post's food section (her work is always featured front page on the Wednesday paper.)  Her most popular shoot is when she photographs The Peep Show, but her favorite type of assignment is when the post just gives her a really vague theme and she has to use her creativity to come up with something great.   Her work is also in The Washington Post Cookbook.  She is a great artist and I want to share the tips that she shared with me for great food photography, that way I wont forget.

Unfortunately the Washington Post owns her food images so I had a lot of trouble finding more images that she has done.  The images below are not hers, but the images above are.

1.  Setting recommendations

She recommends using a macro lens (but just use whatever lens you have if you don't have a macro.)  She likes to keep the settings at f8 when shooting food at an angle.  She does this because when you shoot at an angle your area of focus is going to be a lot smaller than normal and your going to get a lot of blur on all the other places.  If you have your f stop any lower than that you will just be reducing your focus point into an even smaller space.  When you photograph food you want a good chunk of the food in focus so we can see what is in it.  This is one way food photography is different than portrait photography (at f8 everything in the background would be crystal clear if you were taking a portrait.)

She also said she would rather sacrifice ISO quality to keep near f8.  So instead of shooting at ISO 200  she would drop it down to 800 just so she keeps the aperture near 8... very interesting because I know so many ISO snobs.  example here:

yeah yeah yeah lady... (It is all about personal preference.)

2.  Lighting

             a.  From below

To illuminate thin and translucent foods she loves to light from below.  She achieves this by putting a piece of Plexiglas (covered in white contact paper for a white background) over two chairs and shining a light underneath.  It will make any thin or clear food illuminate.  For obvious reasons a ceramic bowl filled with soup would be inappropriate in this situation.  But it makes the food pop.  Other good things to use in this situation would be orange slices, tomatoes, sprouts, glass of soda, etc.

ex:

             b.  White board

Use one.  You bounce light off with it.  Other good tips here.  You can also use a silver reflector which bounces more light than a white board (white board has a softer effect.)  Also try crumpling a piece of tin foil and use that as a reflector, it will create a scattering of light rather than direct light.

             b.  Use a strobe to achieve a white or black background

Both of these pictures were taken using the same set up.  They both used a white table with a white background set up probably four feet behind the subject area.  The difference in how you get the white or black background is where you aim the strobe.  I am not a strobe expert just fyi.

                     

For the white background: aim the strobe directly at the food (maybe a little at the background too)

For the black background: aim the strobe between you and the food, not at the food, and not on the background

3. Other tips

-Clean the plate/bowl/cup/whatever.  Wipe away all of the drips, splatters, and crumbs.  These show up in your pictures and make them look sloppy.

-Natural light is one of the best ways to take pictures of food and this can be done in your own house.  Just don't forget to use some whiteboard

-Especially with soups be careful about light reflecting off of the surface of the water.  You do not want the reflection to hide the actual soup.

-You cannot get a straw to stay at the bottom of a glass with liquid in it.  You would have to defy physics.

-Play with textures.  A smooth soup might look good sitting on top of a braided place mat.

So yeah.  That's all.  Try to take some cool pictures of your food, I know I will try.  How about we make a date of it?  Say in one month come up with an interesting recipe and we will see what everyone comes up with.  Send me the link and we can share, learn, and grow together.

ttyl!

Confessions of a germaphobe

I was a little nervous about Ellie going into Nursery during church. I wanted to help out in nursery and be there for her while she accumulated to the new environment and take her out if she had any problems. Unfortunately I had to substitute teach sunbeams so I asked McKay if he would do the honors. So apparently the nursery people just took her and told him to go away. He liked it, but it wasn’t what I wanted. Crazy mom? Probably.

So we get this email the next day saying someone brought their kid to nursery with hand, foot, and mouth disease and that we all need to keep a close eye on our kids because someone doesn’t know when to stay home. If it wasn’t bad enough someone brought one of their kids into nursery a two weeks ago with LICE! UGHHHHHHHHH!!!!! SERIOUSLY????????

Leave your sick kids at home, or take them with you to your class. Then you can spread lice or whatever else to the relief society.  You’re not going to go to hell if you stay at home when your kid’s sick (at least I'm pretty sure). Maybe I should take Ellie to class with me until she’s in young women’s to avoid the next rabies epidemic. not really.  haha

Crazy mom? Hormonal? Probably, but I have a point.

I think I'm going to make a sign and put it outside the nursery.

On second thought, it's only going to get worse right?  With school and stuff... I don't know.

It's been a while

So I guess you can tell whenever I'm pregnant because I never post anything on here. This is due to fatigue and just feeling like crap. Anyway yeah.

This picture is how I told my husband we were pregnant. With creme de leche gelato (from giant) on a toasty waffle. It's actually really an amazing combo. Try it. You'll be glad my pregnant intuition invented it.

So the baby is probably going to be born in Jan sometime. The what to expect website says Jan 1.

Retro Sat Night throwback

i love this song

Lets take it down a notch

Or not.
I would just like to touch on a couple of very random, unimportant, and mildly amusing topics.

Like Uranus. 

With a headline like that who wouldn't want to find out more?
 McKay just sat there cracking up saying "who named this article?"
touche, Fox News, touche




Second topic… this evil child.

I thought I was the only one with a hateful loathing for Calliou until I started looking around and learned
Calliou is French for SHUT UP!
lol
(not really)

This kid is the biggest whiner!  If it's not enough to listen to your own kid whine you can turn on the TV and listen to the spawn of satan throw a tantrum.  AND.HE.NEVER.SHUTS.UP. His voice is like fingernails on the chalkboard and I have wondered why his parents haven't lost it yet.  The sooner they take this show off the air the better.







and this is a great article…
sooo amusing!
Although I think they need to add another color just for Boston.  They speak really crazy.


22 Maps That Show How Americans Speak Totally Differently From Each Other

Another thing I read was this article about Why Men Aren't Real Men Anymore, and I really couldn't agree more.  I would just like to clarify that I don't think that this is all men, and I'm not ranting because of my husband and just for the record I think he's a real man.   All I'm saying is that I think that this "pseudo man" or "man child" is becoming more and more prevalent in today's society.   Why? Is it they way our society's run? Is it the economy?  Is it the lack of God in our lives?  Is it the lack of wholesome values?  Is it because our society is flooded in sex?  So how exactly are you supposed to raise a boy these days?



We need to do something about this manchild plague!  

Florida

This time McKay came down with us to Florida.  We spent most of the time relaxing at the pool, hanging out with Grammy and Papa, and going to the beach.  The gulf water was warm and perfect for a toddler especially because there is no waves.  The first thing Ellie did when she reached the water was to bend down and taste it. haha.  Her face was priceless but unfortunately that picture didn't turn out.  

 I'm pretty sure it was because of the attention she was getting but Ellie loved eating the sand.  We would all tell her "ewwww" and "yucky" but that only made her do it more.  It got to a point where you could tell that she didn't like it but kept doing it for the attention.  haha.

 She also tried to touch the sunbathers with her sandy hands. 

Back at the house I proved myself a skilled critter catcher by nabbing one of these little guys.  They are fast, but I am faster. 

Ellie is petrified of these fountain things at the pool.  She hates them.  Her face glazes over and her hands start shaking, very similar to that windup chick.

It was a very fun vacation!