Happy Chinese New Year

Today it's the start of the Chinese New Year. The coming year is the year of the Dragon, which is my Chinese sign. And although I really don't believe in Astronomy and signs, it gives me a great excuse to publish this wonderful dragon that I shot at the Confusius light Festival in Haren.

A new project for the next year

I've started a new project yesterday. It was my birthday and I'm going to shoot a picture a day for a year. At least I'll try to. To learn more about photography, get myself to shoot more than just food. I'll be starting a photography course in October, because I still have an awful lot to learn.

Of course the first picture is my birthday cake, can't ban all food photography of course. Hope you'll like to take a look once in a while and see if I'm keep up working at my good intentions!

"Lien's year in pictures"

Shoot!

I did it, finally. After dreaming about it, having been just a pinch away from buying it several times... studying the brands, models and prices.... I finally saw a offer I couldn't refuse and I bought it: My first digital SLR-camera. Yay! It had to be a choice between what I want and what I could afford, but when I grow up and I'll be famous and rich of course, I'll buy an even better one.

I'm very happy with it, though I haven't been able to play around with it a lot these last weeks. I wanted to follow a course, but those all had already started, so I'll try out all the basics myself and then take one after the summer holidays when they start again. I am going to attend an one-day workshop in May though at the Photography-school, hope that'll answer some of my questions, but the best way to learn is to use it a lot. It really takes a lot of getting used too. I used my very, very good advanced compact (Canon Powershot G7) before, that could great close-ups, was quick and sharp. With my new SDLR I found that I will probably need one or two addition lenses (macro and 70-200 mm or something), it just came with a kitlens (18-55 mm). So this will be an expensive hobby.... but a fun one. Let's just hope we'll see the difference ;)

___________________________________________

 Lekker schieten

Ik heb de knoop doorgehakt, eindelijk. Na er zo lang over gedroomd te hebben, hem soms al op een haartje na gekocht te hebben, op internet merken, types, mogelijkheden en prijzen bestudeerd.. tot ik uiteindelijk een aanbieding die me wel aanstond en ik heb hem gekocht: mijn eerste echte digitale spiegelreflexcamera. Het was een keus tussen wat ik graag wilde én wat qua budget mogelijk was. Maar later als ik groot ben, beroemd en rijk... dan koop ik een nog betere.

Ik ben er erg blij mee, hoewel ik er nog niet zoveel mee heb kunnen spelen als ik eigenlijk zou willen deze afgelopen weken. Ik wilde graag een cursus volgen, maar die waren allemaal al begonnen, dus daar wacht ik dan mee tot na de zomervakantie. Ik begin gewoon met zelf de basics uit te vogelen en de camera beter te leren kennen. Medio mei heb ik nog wel 1 dag een workshop bij de Fotovakschool, kan ik daar mijn eerste vragen stellen.

Het werkt wel even heel anders dan een compact-camera. Ik gebruikte tot nu toe de Canon G7, een 'geavanceerde' compact camera, zoals dat heet. Waar ik overigens ook erg tevreden mee ben/was. Kon schitterende close-ups schieten op 1 cm afstand, was snel en scherp. Met een SDLR-camera krijg je een lens bijgeleverd, maar daar heb je eigenlijk niet genoeg aan. Ik zal in de toekomst dus moeten investeren in een paar lenzen (bijv. 70-200 en een macrolens)... dit wordt dus een dure hobby, maar wel een leuke. Hopelijk zullen jullie straks verschil zien (hoewel ik tussendoor ook nog wel eens mijn oude vertrouwde G7 zal gebruiken).

Stacks of problems and bakes

Sorry, it's still a bit silent here. With my last post it all seemed to be going in the right direction: new laptop, man included (for installation purposes only) to transfer all my photo's and documents to the laptop, the old one (pc not man!) was to be cleaned and repared, a new screen and a new printer.

Well that didn't went as planned. He started transferring things, how speedy these people click away I can't follow. I thought I saw some things copied twice and/or three times, but really it was all OK, no worries. Then the laptop acted weird, he couldn't find out what it was, so took it with him. Two days later it was fixed, another man came to bring it by, didn't know what was done or not done with the transferring (and I didn't know either to be honest, except for the 'no-worries' part), so he left. Thinking that I was very clever probably to do the rest myself.

So I started to try and get some order in my pictures and documents. For hours and hours and days. Let's be short about it... it's total chaos, my whole system lost, lots of pictures missing. All the ones that I was going to post about, so that's why there is no new post yet. All my Bread Baking Babes badge pictures and stuff to make the buddie badge for this month.... nowhere to be found, so please keep baking buddies, but have a little patience, I'll get you a badge as soon as I can. Pictures in the wrong place, sometimes 4 copies in different places... ah well you get the picture (I didn't). The printer also stopped working. This friday a man will come... they said.... I called them not to delete anything from the old computer, because I need my pictures... No worries, they said... yeah right!

But I do worry... I know there's worse in the world... I know... I know I live on even if the whole thing expodes (well as long as I don't sit too close when that happens)... but it's still frustrating. I finally found my 'stack'-pictures that I put together for the CLICK!-edition of this month, so that is a post that I can make... and here is it.

Another edition of Jugalbandi's CLICK!, it's all about stacks this time, and anyone who ever baked and photographed cookies, probably has a 'stack'-picture in their archives. I never knew that stacks could be horizontal as well, I learn something new everyday.

When I choose a picture I search my archives for all sorts of stacks that I place together to get a quick view of what's suitable and what's not. Sometimes our kids like to pick their own favorites. They loved this picture of the coconut cookie stacks. "How did you get them to balance like that??" They thought I was really handy, until I told them I'd put wooden squewers through the cookies to keep them from falling down... hehehe.

I picked the photo of Rosendals Knäckebröt, a Swedish cracker, that we baked last year with the Bread Baking Babes to enter this months Click!

I like this picture a lot. It's a bit rustic, pure and simple, which fits the Swedish product I think. Sometimes less is more as we all know and I think this one benefits from that idea.

Good thing I know know that stacks can be more than just vertical, so I could send this one in. You still can join the event too, find all the details here.

Back and a Winner! (2)

Yahooah!!!! I won!!! Remember this picture I send in for Jugalbandi's CLICK! "Cookies"? No not the cookie-monster but the snowflake cookies. It was chosen most original photo! (and 3rd place in the spectra category 'best capture'). Isn't that something! I'm chuffed to bits. Thanks Bee and Jai, thanks Jury!
I had a melt down in computerland, so I wasn't able to respond right away, but I'm thrilled, really lovely!

Do you know what is spooky? I won before with my picture of the fava bean last year. I couldn't respond then either because... my computer had crashed. Can there be a coincidence or is the spring just a dangerous month to use my computer and/or enter photography events? Maybe next year I should skip the event around this time. But then again maybe spring is my only winning time... will I have a post up next year saying "Back and a winner! (3)"?.. We'll see...

Glad to let you know I'm back and the computer is running again, it still has to be replaced -we're working on that- but I hope it stays alive until the new one is chosen and installed. So far so good! I had to buy a new screen, 19" instead of the 15" I used before (it short circuited or something). They don't make them that small anymore for normal people (just for business). It just fitted in the computercabinet, but my pictures all look strange and stretched.... it'll take a while to get used to I guess. Funny I never realised that other people may see things different depending on their screens. Thanks for being patient :-)

Cookie-monster

The theme of this month's Click! was too good to let it pass by. It has to do with baking (and you know I can't resist that)... all about Cookies. I shot so many pictures of cookies these last years, it took a long time to find the right one.


My all-time favorite must be this one:

As a picture it's not very good, I shot it with my very first, very cheap, very limited digital camera in 2005. The lighting is all wrong and it's much too white, but it was such a funny moment. I was trying to get a good shot of the cookies, when our little boy popped up from underneath the other side of the table with his hands stretched saying: "quick mom, or they'll all be gone!" (well he said it in dutch obviously!). Cheeky little cookie-monster!

But for the event I choose another photo that is just totally out of season, but never mind. I wanted to creat a "let it snow"-scene, but they kept falling down and breaking. Still this one gives sort of the idea :D.

I shot it last december to post about them, but then I baked so many things, I just didn't have the time. So they're on hold... for next december. A sneak preview so to speak. When I was young I was a girl scout for (just) 1 year... I guess I've been there long enough to still be prepared.

If I remember in december I made them, I'll post the recipe, if I still know where it is (lots of "íf"s here). For the time being you have to be satisfied with the picture alone.

So here it is Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi, my entry for this months Click!.

Nothing to say.. or do I?

(alleen in het engels)

OK so this is the last day to post for Food-O-Grafie #4, an event from Zorra. It's about photo-software this month and well I have nothing to say really on the subject.

I don't have any special software like photoshop, Corel or whatever they are called on my computer. I do want to, but just to use to make things like etikets or badges, you know like collages to have some fun. I'm not really into changing pictures that much. They should be shot right and if sometimes that can't be (for whatever reasons), so be it. It doesn't all have to be perfect.

It's a bit like the teeth of the next generation, they all look the same, they all had costly treatments, wore braces and have a perfect smile. It looks good, it really does... and my kids will probably go that same way.. but I sometimes hesitate about these things, that all has to be so perfect looking in this world. Is it still real? I love the personal touch, your own handwriting so to speak in whatever you do.

Before some get upset, please don't feel personally offended, it's just what I think, and let's face it, who am I right?! It is what I want for my pictures, it suits me, it doesn't bother me with other people's photo's, well not most tof the time anyway. Btw I also applaud that we use the technics that has been developed, we don't want to get stuck in time right, so it's not that I'm against using it! I realise it's a thin like between yes and no here, it's more of a gutfeeling I guess.

Anyway it seems I have a lot to say suddenly. Let's shut up and look at the facts. What do I do with my pictures:

• I get rid of red eyes (though that's nothing to do with food pictures of course)
• I downsize them (to ± 35%) because it will take forever to upload them to Blogger or Flickr otherwise. I used paint for that, but now I use Microsoft office picture manager, because you can downsize baches in one go, which is much easier.
• I also turn my pictures with Microsoft the right way up, but thát probably doesn't count as editing a picture.
• I use paint to write in the picture (Notitie van Lien©2009) or sometimes other text. I used to have the same caracters that the head of my blog is made off, but after my computer crashed this type of letters weren't available anymore (don't know where they went)
• Sometimes I cropp a picture and I do that with paint too.

And that's about it I guess. To conclude a recent picture, just downsized and the ©-line at the bottom.

"Speltrolls"

Food-o-grafie # 3

(alleen in het Engels)

Quick, quick.... it's the last day to enter my post for the Food-o-grafie part 3. All about light. It still feels a bit... well let's say...silly to make a post about it with just the use of a compact. But I wanted to give it a go anyway.

So weeks back I shot several pictures of carrot bread, which had an ordinary color, set on a bright yellow underground with a bright orange place mat. I can tell you that it gives the most amazing and confusing effects. I wrote everything down, but... lost my notes. So I shot some buns instead... as most of my shots are off breads, a few days ago to enter.

And I must admit I shoot most of my foodpictures in a bad setting. On top of my cooker with the light (a tube light) coming from the back. I don't have a preset 'studio' that wouldn't be too hard to fix yourself, just takes in too much space here. There is no window close to the "scene of shooting", so I probably break every rule to make a good picture in the first place. It's probably a wonder how good they turn out considering the circumstances :-).

If I would put my camera on automatic (left photo below), it would flash. And foodpictures with flash, that's just a no-no for me, those will hardly ever look real good.

The right picture is made with the "tube light" setting (in "P"rogramme). That sometimes works but depends a lot on the colors used in the setting, they have a great influence on the end result. (Also the colors influence each other, especially with strong colours). In this case it's quite reasonable. (1/15 - f 2,8)

There is also a AWB-setting (Automatic White Balance) that is used in the left photo below. That gives a yellowish tone. I use this very seldom, because even if it doesn't look very abnormal, it's not the color of the rolls. (1/20 - f 2,8)
There is also a manual White Balance (on the right) that I use more and more (now I finally figured out how to use it). On most occasions it gives the best result that resembles the color that I see. (1/15 - f 2,8)

I shoot almost all pictures in the "my colors"-section with the "lively colors"on, this gives more contrast and colorintensity so the colors are much brighter. ISO is on automatic. Sometimes I reduce or add more light to the scene to compensate really dark colors (like brownies).

Click! March

When I saw the theme of this month's CLICK! "WOOD", I immediately thought about my little wooden spoon.

I bought it two years back in Pitigliano -Italy- in a small olive wood shop. I didn't have much money on me at that point and all I could afford was this wonderful little wooden spoon. Olive wood is very expensive, because the trees grow very slow and are normally used to harvest olives and not planted for wood. Olive wood is beautiful, soft and smooth, different shades of brown and nice stripes.

But this is a photo contest so I'll stop rambling on about my spoon and send in this picture I've posted a while ago when I made the "Gelato di Liquirizia", another Italian goody.

Click januari

For this month's Click! photo event with the theme RED at Jugalbandi´s, I will enter this picture of a Blackberry pudding.

Remember all those blackberries I took home from my father's, well some of them made it into this wonderful light and airy dessert. I like this picture, not only because I still remember how good it tasted, but because of all its tones in dark red and the air and lightness you can see in the interior of the pud.

So here it is Bee and Jai, my entry for January:

Food-o-grafie #2

(alleen in het engels)

This second edition of food-o-grafie is about lenses. Well I don't have much to say about that really at this point. That's why I wanted to skip this time, and also because of the busy holidays. Later I saw that the deadline was changed and I decided to throw a little post in anyway.
I was so close in buying a SLR during the holidays, saw a really good deal for a Canon EOS450D, but in the end no new camera. (won't bother you with the reasons) So I still have my Canon G7 compact... and not much lenses to talk about.

One fixed lens with two settings: close (a flower) and normal (a mountain). The latter takes sharp pictures from about 40 cm I think, so for food pictures I normally just use the 'flower'.
I use the P (programme) setting the most and not the auto. And of course which setting I use depends on the spot where I take the picture. I always look for the setting that makes it look colourwise like it is in real... logical.
Optical zoom (6x) I don't use a lot for foodphotography, that's more with scenery and people.

I am using the white-balance more these days, not only because I finally understand (or think to understand) how it works, but also because one light setting that I tend to use a lot, sometimes gives a pinkish undertone depending on the surrounding colours. It didn't do that at first... don't know why that happens now.

This photo "Persian Kardamomcookies" (from the book "Home Baking") is shot in Macromode and here are some other EXIF-data:

Camera: Canon PowerShot G7 - Canon
Exposure: 0.05 sec. (1/20)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 7.4 mm (35 mm equivalent: 34.3 mm)
Flash: Off
Max Aperture: 2.8
Resolution: 180 x 180 dpi
Dimension: 2736 x 3648 pixels

If you want to see more EXIF data you can see them HERE. Frankly most of them don't mean much to me, I don't even know what some of them mean. I'm not that technical, though learning more everyday. Whén... ah when I'll ever own a SLR, I'll buy a book and learn more about it and or take a course.

Food-o-grafie # 1

(alleen in het engels)

I don't know how she does all this. All those different events that she initiates, and all those others that she participates in herself and she still manages to make postings about the things she makes in between....

And now there's another event: Food-o-grafie. I hesitated and thought about it for a while if I'd try to post an entry. Though I do my best to make nice pictures... I have limited knowledge about camera technology, time and resources to make them, so I can't compeed with some of those talented foodphotographers there are in the blogsphere. And boy, do I enjoy to watch those pictures a lot!! You can learn a lot from just watching and observing pictures. So I thought what the heck I'll give it a go and we'll see how far I get!

Food-o-grafie #1 is all about 'my camera'.

And this is it: a CANON Powershot G7. I bought it about 1,5 years ago after struggeling with my first (very cheap) digital camera for a while. I already blogged at that point, so of course I wanted a camera that was able to make some nice close ups and a long lasting battery-pack was also high on my wishlist and it should have at least 8 megapixs. (Other details)

I bought my first (analog) SLR many years ago with my first earned money, that was a Minolta. It was a second hand camera and it made the best pictures. I really really wanted a digital SLR , but I just couldn't afford one, at least not the one I wanted ;-). So I searched, studied and compaired to find another camera that could fulfill my wishes in the best way.

And this one (though not very cheap for a compact) seemed to be the one. You can make a macro shot up to 1 cm from the subject. It has 10 Megapixs, is small and ready to shootn a few seconds. It uses SD-memory cards, which was handy because I already had some. It has 6x optical zoom, which makes it easy to get things hard to approach a bit nearer. The only thing that is sometimes hard to get the right lighting indoors. That is to shoot what you see in exactly the same colors. But that probably has more to do with the setting in which I take the food-pictures.

So if I had the same amount of money to spend... yes I would buy this one again. But as said it's not my dream camera. If and when my ship with golden coins sails in, I'll buy a SLR. I don't know what type, because the ship probably won't come soon and the technical features change so quickly, by that time I'll make a study of it. It'll probably be a Canon or a Nikon.

I choose this picture of Buckwheat pancakes with blue berry compôte, because I like the clarity of it. It's crisp and looks appetizing to me. Recently I heard a food photographer say that you shouldn't photograph food on the color blue. (I still don't know why, because I see lots of good pictures with blue) But I'm not restricted by such knowlegde, rules and guideliness, and I like it. I think the repetition of round forms make it stronger too, the blue berries, pancakes and the round shapes in the plate.

Click! CRUSTS

And this picture on the right of these beautiful fragant loaves are my entry for the CLICK!-event this month: "Crusts" at Jugalbandi´s.

As a (bread) baker this theme is just too good to pass by. Check out all the other ´crusts´ that are to be seen in the `Crust-gallery` this month.

AND stay tuned in a few days the recipe will be posted.... delicious!!!

De foto van deze baquettes is mijn inzending voor het CLICK!-event van deze maand met de titel "Crusts" (Korsten). Het recept zal binnen enkele dagen volgen....

Click! event: Citrus

(Only in english)

I almost forgot... the Click! deadline is near. Thank you Jai and Bee of Jugalbandi for posting a reminder....

So here quickly my entry for the august edition of the photo-event CLICK!, this time it's all about Citrus.

It was the first time that I pickled lemons with salt, it's easy. Just take organic (unsprayed) lemons, cut them crosswise not all the way through. Fill up with coarse seasalt and stick them in a jar. Some bayleaves, stick of cinnamon and a few cloves in between, some extra salt. You can add some lemonjuice if there's not enough juice (keep in mind that the salt will draw out juices too).

And of course I made a nice label to stick on the jar :). All I need now is a fabulous recipe for me to use them in......

CLICK! Fundraiser-edition.

(dit bericht is alleen in het engels)

Last month I was asked to take part in the judging of the click-event as an extra honour for winning a prize at the "au naturel"theme of last month. Of course I was willing to. But there was more, a special edition of the photo-event for the month june was launched for a dear friend in need, Briana. Except of seeing lots of lovely photo´s of other bloggers, giving support just by participating, it is meant to raise money in order to give Briana the change to fight her battle without the worry of money. I don´t know Briana very well, but I know about this disease from very close by, as many of you have or maybe will in the future, and it´s hard. Very hard. So read all about it in the next lines and see what it´s all about. Wishing you all good health! Lien.

This is an appeal on behalf of a group of food bloggers who are friends of Briana Brownlow @ Figs With Bri. Bri was diagnosed with breast cancer two and half years ago. A mastectomy, chemotherapy and two years of relatively good health later, the cancer is back. It has metastasized to other parts of her body. At the age of 15, Bri lost her 41-year old mother to the disease. Now, she’s waging her own war against breast cancer. More about it here.

She is going through intensive chemo and other treatments and needs to focus single-mindedly on healing and finding what treatment works best for her. Her health insurance, unfortunately, does not cover holistic alternatives which she would like to try. Bri and her husband Marc have enough on their plates right now in addition to worrying about her medical bills.

The team organising the JUNE edition of CLICK at Jugalbandi has organised a fundraiser to help Bri and her family meet her out-of-pocket medical costs for ONE YEAR.

CLICK is a monthly theme-based photography contest hosted by Jugalbandi. This month’s theme is: YELLOW for Bri. Yellow is the colour of hope. Through the work of the LiveStrong Foundation, it has also come to signify the fight against cancer.

The entries can be viewed HERE. The deadline for entries is June 30, 2008. The fundraiser will extend until July 15, 2008.

The target amount is 12,000 U.S. dollars. We appeal to our fellow bloggers and readers to help us achieve this. Bri deserves a chance to explore all options, even if her insurance company thinks otherwise.

There’s a raffle with exciting prizes on offer. After viewing the list, you may make your donation HERE or at the Chip-In button on any participating site. Your donation can be made securely through credit card or Pay Pal and goes directly to Bri’s account.

This month’s photo contest also has some prizes. Details HERE.

You can support this campaign by donating to the fundraiser, by participating in CLICK: the photo event, and by publicising this campaign.

Click: peulvruchten

(English? Scroll down please)


Deze maand is het thema voor het Click-photo event "bonen en linzen". Ik dacht meteen aan de foto die ik al eerder plaatste bij een recept van een peulvruchtensoep.

Vooral de grote diversiteit aan vormen en mooie kleuren vind ik erg aantrekkelijk en dus doet deze foto mee voor de maand mei. Het is eenvoudig voedsel, maar met een enorme diversiteit en hoge voedingswaarde.

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CLICK: Legumes

When the theme of this months Click Photo-event was announced: "Beans 'n lentils", I immediately thought about this picture which I like for all those different colours and shapes of the legumes.

Although a humble product, so rich in diversity and very, very nutricious.

I published this picture a long time ago, -in the time that I wrote the entries only in dutch- to accompany a wonderful soup recipe I made with them.

I don't think we eat a lot of legumes here in the Netherlands, just for our 'snert' (Pea soup)that is well known all over the country. When you come in Italy, there is a sheer abundance of them in all shapes and endless varieties. In fact these legumes I brought back home with me from Italy.

Weer terug en een prijs!

(english? scroll down please)

Zo ik ben er weer, nog wel steeds bezig van alles te installeren, maar de basics van de PC werken weer (na een aantal dagen zweten, omdat ik er gewoon te weinig verstand van heb). De computermonteur heeft 99% van mijn foto's weten te redden... JOEPIE!! Het kost zeeën van tijd, maar uiteindelijk is het dus met een sisser afgelopen gelukkig. Er is meteen een beter back-up systeem geïnstalleerd en we hopen dat het nooit meer gebeurd!

Bij het weer aansluiten van alle programma's kwamen er natuurlijk héél veel emailtjes ineens binnen en daarbij ook de mededeling dat er wat leuks voor me was bij Jugalbandi.

Ik had voor de april-foto met het thema "au naturel" de tuinbonen ingestuurd en ik heb warempel de 1e prijs gewonnen! Dat had ik echt nooit gedacht.

Ik vond mijn foto wel mooi natuurlijk, anders had ik hem niet ingestuurd, maar er komen daar zoveel fantastische foto's binnen (141 deze keer) , dat ik nooit gedacht had ook nog te winnen. Dus dat was een helende pleister op deze computerstress en ik ben er blij mee!! Bedankt Bee en Jai voor het organiseren en alle mensen die op me gestemd hebben!

**************************************************

Back and a winner!

Well I'm back, still busy installing all sorts of things, but the basics work again (after sweating a few days... I am such an idiot when it comes down to computers). The computer repairman (kiss the ground he walks on) managed to save 99% of my picutures Hoorah!! So a lot of stress, but it'll all be well again. He also installed some kind of special back up, but we hope we'll never have to go throught this again. It also made it very clear how much time we're spending behind this device, which gives some food for thought.

Yesterday we finally managed to install my own emailprogram and the email's started flying in. So it took a while to take a look at all of them... and there was an announcement that there was something nice for me at Jugalbandi.

I had entered the photo of the fava beans for the april-event of click with the theme "au naturel" and guess what?? I won first prize! Never thought I would.

Of course I like my picture (otherwise I wouldn't have entered it), but there are always so many beautiful and artistic photographs there (this month 141 entries) that I never ever thought I could win. So this was as a wonderful soothing crème on my computerstress wounds.

I'm really flattered and very happy with it. But winner or not if you like making photographs (and food), it is very inspiring to see all those great shots at the round up. Thanks a lot Jai and Bee for initiating and organising this event and all the voters who liked my picture too!
And furthermore I'd like the opportunity to thank my parents, my husband, a special thank you to my.... (oops, better keep my feet on the ground...hahaha)

Au Naturel

Click! the food photography-event from Jugalbandi is this month all about "Au Naturel", no not about naked chefs and not even about me without make up on, but about food in it's raw state.

I wrote about this fava-bean recipe a while back and I always like the photo of these beans in their lovely velvety pods. So I decided to sent this one as my entry for april.

So here is it, hope you like it too.

Click

I like to make photo's that accompany my recipes. I'm nothing of a pro, I don't even own a SLR, I don't have knowledge about special lightning or effects, I don't have a special place where I shoot my pictures, I don't have lots of time to set it all up, I don't own a photoshop (or something similar) program (yet) and I don't pretend to be anything more than someone who is just trying and I just like it.

I have a stack of different plates, placemats and napkins to not let it look the same all the time when I shoot a recipe. I look for those at second hand shops or any other place cheap, because I only use them for the pictures. I love looking at good food pictures, and there are lots and lots to be found in the blogosphere.

And so I found this Click event at Jugalbandi, a monthly food photography event with this month FLOUR as theme. As there is a lot of flour in my kitchen, I decided to sent in this picture of the Royal Crown Tortano that I baked this last month. It'll be fun to see all the other contestants.