01-14-2010: Day 014: If you are what you eat...

If you are what you eat, then tonight I'm chicken and broccoli with fried rice.  I chose to take this shot today for a few reasons.  First, taking a still life shot of food was a Shutter Sisters mini challenge this week in the Flickr group.  But, I chose the still life - an environment I could control - for a much bigger reason. 

I've been re-reading Ken Rockwell's guide to the Nikon D80.  I read the guide when I first bought my D80 three or four years ago.  However, at the time I was headed off to vacation and all I really cared about was that I finally had a quality digital camera that would take clear shots, assuming I pointed the camera in the right direction (which I managed some of the time).  Probably needless to say if you've been looking at my shots over the past two weeks, I don't come close to using all the features of the camera.

Yesterday's photos at the park really annoyed me because the color was all wrong.  I could tell it on the LCD right after I took each shot but trying to fix it just wasn't working - I had forgotten nearly everything I'd learned about using all the features of the D80.  So, when I came home last night I got Rockwell's book back out and started to rediscover my camera.  I'm already happier.  I took this shot of Lindsay early this morning when she was in the mood to pose with her bear (she only plays with it first thing in the morning or right before bed when she cuddles up with it). 

There was very, very little light in the room when I took the photo.  I had tried to catch this shot on other days, but the color was all wrong.  This morning, even though the shot is a little fuzzy, the color is nearly perfect for that time of morning in that room.  So, back to the plate.

I wanted something on which I could practice for a really long time.  Cats and dogs like to move so I decided the food still life would be a good challenge.  Plus, I hadn't seen my chinese food place in a couple of weeks and they miss me when I'm gone. So, tonight, you got to see my dinner.  I hope that the picture conveys - in actual color without any post-processing - how delicious it was.  And, hopefully I'm back on the "wagon" of using all the features of my camera to their fullest possible extent. 

I also wanted to do this because on Monday I'm going to have some private photography instruction with Walt Kuhn, a professional photographer.  Walt works with IndyPhotoCoach.com.  I'm really excited about the opportunity and I'll hopefully have some great pictures to share with you after our lesson on Monday.  

Here's wishing you a happy Friday...