Wet weather street photography

It is spring in Australia, my favourite time of year especially when I can get out with my camera and go bush walking so I can take photos of wildflowers. But the sunny days are interspersed with rainy days, and the farmers certainly need the rain to finish off their summer grain crops. 

 When it is raining, don't think you have to hibernate inside. Think of it as a great opportunity to practice street photography. If the rain is just a drizzle, a city or town can be a great place to explore with your camera, especially if you can walk under over-hanging verandas. I find my small Canon G11, whilst it doesn't have all the latest features, is a great camera for street photography as it is unobtrusive, and I enjoy not having to carry around my heavy DSLR camera. But please remember to use a water proof camera bag and wipe down your camera with a cloth. 

How to make and photograph Blueberry Pancakes

A few years ago a friend gifted me a blueberry plant, and this year we've had a nice little pick from i. I've been guilty of eating them straight off the bush. But I thought what better way to celebrate the blueberries summer goodness than with Blueberry Pancakes with cream and lemon curd.

 I saw a recipe in a foodie magazine, but I adapted it slightly. It is such an easy recipe and the lemon curd adds a little zing. So here is my recipe for how to make Blueberry Pancakes with lemon curd.

First off just make your pancakes using your favourite recipe. I used my pikelet recipe. 
So easy to remember - 4 tablespoons of self-raising flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 egg, and half a cup of milk. Do you see the formula? 4, 2, 1, and a 1/2.

 For the lemon curd recipe, I used a variation of my lemon meringue pie filling recipe, but used about half these amounts - 

2/3 cup lemon juice, 
3/4 cup white sugar, 
1/3 cup cornflour, and 
1 cup water. 

Combine all in a saucepan and stir till smooth. Stir constantly over a medium heat until the mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat and quickly mix in 55 grams (2oz) butter or margarine till completely melted. Cool. 

To serve stack your pancakes in individual serving plates. Dollop on some lemon curd, a spoonful or so of thickened cream, and blueberries. Dust lightly with icing sugar. Yum!

 In case you were wondering the food images you see here were taken in RAW and the settings I used were - F 5.6, ISO 100, 1/13 sec exposure, 100mm macro lens, DSLR camera mounted on a tripod with a plug in shutter release. A little processing in Lightroom.  I chose a blue checked tea-towel to team in with the blue edging of the plates and the blue blueberries.  Take shots vertically and horizontally, review and move things about a little, and don't be afraid to crop the plate!

 As you can see below I just set the blueberry pancakes up on my kitchen bench which has a fairly neutral top. I set up a white card opposite the light to bounce light back in on the opposite side. The bounce card is white "foam core" card which you can buy in a framing shop.
 

Recently I finally bought myself a light for photography - you can see it set up above. I LOVE natural window light and that is my preference, but there are times as a food photographer where you might not have natural light. I have been looking and researching for a long time and finally came up with this LED light which I think will suit my purposes. It is a Edgelight LED light. 

This is a continuous light which is what I was looking for, as you can see straight away what your set up looks like lit. It has variable brightness adjustments and adjustable temperature from amber tungsten 3200k to white daylight 5600k. The light itself is thin, and the lights instead of being directed outwards, are directed inwards and diffused through the front, which means there is no harsh light on the product, and can also be used for portrait photography without the subject having to squint into a bright light. It comes packed flat in a portable padded carry bag. In addition you will need to purchase a light stand to mount the light. It runs on batteries or can be plugged into mains power.  

 The one I bought is a 52cm round panel which cost nearly $1,000.00 Australian, so not cheap. But there are smaller cheaper options. There are different styles available, and even one that can be mounted on to the top of a DSLR camera. I bought mine in Perth, but here is a link so you can look into it further - Protog - Edgelight
and here are a couple of little videos I found on the web - YouTube - Flapjack LED light 
and   You tube - Behind the Scenes

On the same day I made the blueberry pancakes I made these ones topped with crushed nuts and cream, and drizzled with caramel sauce. I had fun trying to drizzle the caramel sauce and take the picture at the same time. A remote shutter release will help you with this. The advantage of a remote shutter release is that there is no movement of the camera when you press the shutter, which is important if taking images in low light with a slower shutter speed.

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed this post. Do you like blueberries? Do you have a favourite blueberry recipe? Perhaps you'd like to share it in the comments. 

Natural light outside under my patio

I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week.

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!
 

Mosaic Monday 
Life Thru the Lens 

Our World Tuesday
Through My Lens 
Image-in-ing
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global
Travel Photo Thursday 
The Lovin' Life Team over at Lifestyle Fifty
The Weekly Postcard

Melting Moments & Hydrangeas in the garden

Do you sometimes have a day when you set out to do something, and then it ends of as something completely different? That's how my day was today.

Inspired by a recent photo I had seen of afternoon tea in a lavender garden I made a batch of Melting Moments from my Mum's recipe that I used to help her make when I was a child. It is a happy memory I have from my childhood, pressing the top of the biscuits with a fork to make the pattern.

While the biscuits were in the oven I set up the chairs and table in the garden. 
It's nice to use pretty cups sometimes don't you think?




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Photographing flowers and using clouds as a natural diffuser

I am taking a break today from blogging about our recent trip through South Australia. For those who are enjoying it, don't worry, I will be back.  Here is a link to the last post if you missed it - and you can scroll down to the complete list so far - South Australia Part 5 - Woomera, Coober Pedy & the Painted Desert

Yesterday I spent most of the day in my garden - my early summer flowers are starting to burst from their cups and it was a brilliant day for working in the garden as there was a light cloud cover, and in fact at one point it started to rain!

I have been so busy that it has been a while since I photographed flowers around my garden. I was grateful that the clouds were shading me as I worked and the overcast day got me thinking about how clouds act as a really great huge natural diffuser of the sun's light. This is perfect for photographing flowers as it balances, softens and evens out the light and you won't have blown out highlights, washed out colors, and harsh shadows. The diffused light will also help the colours of the flowers stand out. 

 So I took a break from my work for a while and got my camera out. 

Please click on "read more" to keep reading and see more pics! .........