Shopping « Tags « Zoom Yummy – Crochet, Food, Photography

Photo Set (Bundt Cake)

November 1, 2010 by zoomyummy

Right now I am preparing a yummy recipe that I’ll be posting here tomorrow. Meanwhile I have something else you might want to see.
Over the past few months some of you asked me how this or that photo had been taken. Your questions gave me an idea that you might find interesting to see how several of my sets looked like. I myself love this kind of information and seek it eagerly wherever possible.

So, from now on, if I find the photo set that I’ve created interesting in a certain way I’ll show it to you.

If it helps at least one of you then my mission was worth it.

The picture above is by far not perfect or exquisite or anything. But what I find interesting about it is the lighting. You might be wondering how on earth that set was lit and whether I used artificial lights or not. And how I dare own photography lighting without letting you know.

So, this is what the set looked like.

I don’t use lights since I don’t own photography lights.

But what I own is my home-made silver reflector (you can find its heart-touching story here). And then I have one window. And then I have some white paper that I duct taped to the wall and to my kitchen countertop. And that’s it!

Very, very simple.

This is the job that my camera did.

Well, she was really trying.

I still love her dearly.

And yes, I refer to my camera as her. It’s my best friend after all. Actually, I might start calling her Amelie.

And this is how Photoshop helped.

Needless to say, I love Photoshop.

I might start calling it Fred.

See you soon!

Love,

Petra

Total11
1
4
2
3
1

Farfalle with Tomato and Cheese Sauce

October 24, 2010 by zoomyummy

Farfalle with Tomato and Cheese Sauce

Farfalle pasta is the best!

Don’t you think?

This kind of pasta has grown closest to my heart. For some reason it even tastes better than the other kinds.

Yum!

This time I’ve decided to prepare these lovely little bow-ties with a very simple tomato sauce.

But there’s this thing I need to own up… I saw Feta cheese in the fridge and just couldn’t resist and had to add it to the sauce. The temptation was too strong. Stronger than me.

The result?

The cheese has given a unique tang to the sauce and it was all perfectly yummilicious!

Farfalle with Tomato and Cheese Sauce

These are the ingredients that you need if you want to make your own Tomato-Feta Farfalle.

Farfalle with Tomato and Cheese Sauce

1. First, peel and slice the garlic thinly.

Farfalle with Tomato and Cheese Sauce

2. Then pour the olive oil into a pan and heat it up.

3. When the oil begins to sizzle add the garlic.

Cook for about 1 minute stirring constantly.

Farfalle with Tomato and Cheese Sauce

4. Add the crushed tomatoes, salt and sugar and stir again.

Farfalle with Tomato and Cheese Sauce

5. Now cut your Feta cheese into little cubes (or just crumble it if you feel especially mischievous)…

Farfalle with Tomato and Cheese Sauce

6. …and add it to the sauce.

Farfalle with Tomato and Cheese Sauce

7. Stir it all and let cook over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes. Stir every two minutes or so.

I wonder, will I ever tire of this color?

I don’t think so.

The color of tomato sauce might actually be the reason why I fell in love with food photography.

Farfalle with Tomato and Cheese Sauce

8. In the meantime, grab the basil leaves, give them a rough chop…

Farfalle with Tomato and Cheese Sauce

9. …and add them to the sauce about 18 minutes into the cooking process so that the basil can cook with the sauce for about two minutes.
Farfalle with Tomato and Cheese Sauce

You’ll notice that the sauce has reduced in volume a little and has become more thick.

10. Cook the bow-ties according to the package instructions.

Farfalle with Tomato and Cheese Sauce

And serve.

You can even sprinkle a little Parmesan on top. That will transfer you to heaven instantly.

Enjoy, dear friends!

(This recipe makes 6 portions and will take you about 30 minutes to prepare.)

Total85
0
12
0
73
0

My Camera Journey (…so far)

October 12, 2010 by zoomyummy

Who knew I’ll be into cameras and photography?

I didn’t.

At least until the time about one year ago when I decided that I needed to get some more beauty and color into my life and a camera seemed to be the best device to help me in that quest.

Grabbing a camera might have been a really tiny step for a mankind but to me it was huge.

I don’t really understand how it might work but through the lens of a camera beauty gets magnified, colors become richer, little worlds get bigger, unknown reveals itself and, as a sweet result, a soul gets happy.

Amen.

My camera journey started with a cute little blue point-and-shoot from Olympus called Mju: 600.

I love the name.

When I started to take photos with the point-and-shoot I knew completely nothing about photography.

Still, that little blue thing allowed me to take rather lovely pictures.

Like this one.

Or this one from our vacation in Hungary.

But when it came to food – which meant getting very close to the photographed subjects – it didn’t look optimal.

The pictures were blurry.

Even if I had a sufficient dose of caffeine and my hands weren’t shaking.

I just knew I needed more.

Since I am a very lucky person in general, I remembered that my boyfriend had bought a big solid camera a couple of months back.

It was Canon 1000D (in US known as Rebel XS).

I knew he loved his camera but I also knew I needed it.

So, what would a decent girl do in such a situation?

She steals the camera and snaps away like no one’s business.

This is the first picture that I took with my new camera.

I made it after I’d received one minute’s worth of camera-operating instructions from my man.

One minute of instructions, that’s what I asked for because my attention can’t take any more.

Nevertheless, I was impressed with the result.

The pictures were crisper and more professional looking.

I loved it.

As time went by (and my boyfriend went slightly mad) me and the camera became good buddies.

When the light was sufficient we were able to do wonders.

But when there was little light and I had to bump up the ISO to its full potential – which is 1600 – then that nasty grainy noise appeared.

I hated the noise.

You can clearly see it in the background of the above picture.

The noise mostly was the reason why I, again, wanted more.

And since, as you already know, I am a very lucky person, the family board (consisting of me and my boyfriend) agreed to buy me this Canon 550D camera (in US known as Rebel T2i).

To make the family board agree it only took a little – basically we are talking about six months of throwing myself regularly on the floor, a lot of high-pitched screaming and many different forms of threatening toward the other member of the family board.

Easy.

When I got the camera I took a few pictures and then I died.

Then I took some more pictures and died again.

The camera had quite a few wonderful features.

I especially appreciated that it had 18 megapixel resolution (the Canon 1000D had only 10 megapixels).

And the second thing which makes me almost cry is its unbelievable 12800 ISO.

That ISO means that you can carelessly stand in the darkest corner of your kitchen on a gloomy rainy day with no lights on over a pan of frying cauliflower and take the most wonderful pictures with your ISO working at only one quarter of its potential.

That’s gorgeous, my friends!

But do you want to know what’s even more gorgeous?

There’s almost no noise!

Oh. My. Gosh.