Tag: Food Photography

Raspberry & Cream II

Posted in Nikon, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , 22 Comments

Copyright ©2017 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

After shooting water drops and splashes last week-end I went back to some images I made back in 2014 of splashes that I made using milk and raspberries.

Here’s one that has been languishing on my hard-drive since Spring of 2014.

Raspberry & Cream II

Timing this was really hard, and I’ve been wanting to try it again.  I went through a whole package of raspberries during this shoot because after dropping them into the milk over, and over again they began absorbing the milk and sank rather than come back to the top to be part of the splash which is what I wanted to photograph.  Who knew!

I cleaned up the shadows a bit, and removed some far flung drops that were blurry in post development.

Nikon D700| AF Nikkor 105mm f/2.8D @ f20| 1/160sec| ISO 400| Manual Priority| Matrix Met| Tripod

Strobist- SB910 @ 1/25th pwr, camera right low front 75º angle, Triggered via Commander Mode in camera

More to come…

Walnut Butterball Cookies

Posted in Christmas Cookies, Cookies, Nikon, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , 31 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Linda over at fabulousfaresisters posted the recipe for these cookies earlier in the week, and I love this type of cookie so thought I’d try them.

Walnut Butterballs

Linda credited her Mom for the recipe found here, but I’m giving Linda the credit for nudging me to try them and for the recipe. I changed the recipe just a little by adding Confectioners sugar to the dough too.

I love that there are very few ingredients, and the cookies are not too sweet even with the extra sugar in the dough.

Walnut Butterball Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup confectioners sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

2 cups flour

1 cup walnuts, finely chopped

Extra Confectioner’s sugar for dusting the cookies after baking

 

Preheat the oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, using a spoon, cream the butter and 3/4 cup of confectioners sugar. Then add the vanilla, flour, and walnuts to the buttercream mixture. Stir until well combined. It will be crumbly. That’s fine!

Next, shape into small balls. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. ( I lined mine with parchment paper.)

Bake 12 minutes or until bottoms are golden. Roll in confectioner’s sugar while still warm.

(I let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then rolled them in confectioner’s sugar then finished cooling them on a cooling rack)

Store in an airtight container for a week, or freeze.

FWIW: I used a wooden spoon to mix the dough. I always do. When I was young and learning to bake I heard it keeps the dough from getting tough. Is it true? I don’t know. I’ve used my electric mixer to make other cookie dough, and its paddle is metal and the dough hasn’t been tough.  However, I don’t over work the dough…so that’s probably the key. 🙂 Knowing when to stop mixing. That’s the key!

I’m giving most of this batch away to neighbors and friends. I think they’ll make a lovely little gift for Christmas.

I’ve eaten two already. They’re delicious!

Thank you Linda! ♥

Nikon Df| Nikkor 105mm| Delkin Digital Film| Tripod| PS CC 2017

More to come…

 

Annual Good Luck Dinner

Posted in Family Traditions, Food Photography, New Years Traditions, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , , 22 Comments

Copyright c2015/2016 Deborah M Zajac

All Rights Reserved

 I adopted He-Man’s family traditional New Years Day Good Luck Dinner in our 1st year of marriage. He had me get the recipe from his Mom.

Hot Dogs, Polish Sausage, and Saurkraut. Since we married amost 35 years ago I’ve made this on New Years Day except one. That year we were in Mexico and had their traditional eat 12 grapes in one minute before all the 12 chimes finished at midnight. I did not finish. That was hard! The grapes had seeds!

Tomorrow I am getting up at 4am and going to Yosemite with Dear Friends for our almost annual New Years trip so I have our New Years Good Luck Dinner cooking on low in the crockpot tonight. I will be having a hot dog and Saurkraut for breakfast before I leave at O’Dark Thirty. I can’t imagine starting a new year without  this meal now.

What do you eat on New Years Day?

Iphone5

More to come…

Top 10 Images in 2015

Posted in Photography, Top 10: Most ViewsTagged , , , , , , , , , , 17 Comments

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac.

All Rights Reserved

I had a lovely Christmas Holiday, and I hope those of you that celebrate it did too.

During the quiet times here at home I looked back through this years images, and looked at the stats of images I’ve posted here, and/or on flickr.  I had some good trips, hung out with amazing people, and had the opportunity to see many beautiful places, and things.  I feel truly blessed!

Drum roll! These are the Top 10 images of 2015 that received the most views on flickr.

1) Pacific Snapper

P52 10 of 52 Pacific Red Snapper in Lemon, Butter, Wine Sauce

2) Running in Rain PuddlesRunning in Puddles

3) On the VergeMonochrome Madness 2 15 of 52 On the Verge of Blossoming

4) Gung Hay Fat Choy! Plus a new Conjunction Venus, Mars, and the Moon

Gung hay fat choy!

5)  Caramel Macaroons

P52 3/52 Caramel Macarons

6) Waning Crescent Moon over Vasona Lake

Waning Crescent Moon with Saturn over Vason Lake Los Gatos CA

7) Golden Gate Bridge from Battery Spencer

Golden Gate Bridge after Dark from Battery Spenser

8) Lunar Totality over the Palace of Fine Arts San Francisco, CA

Totality-Lunar Eclipse over The Palace of Fine Arts San Francisc

9) Dawn Vasona Lake ParkDawn Vasona Lake Park Los Gatos CA

10) Moth Orchid

Moth Orchid

 

It’s interesting to see which images received the most views verses my personal favorites. I’m planning to post those soon. I have a hard time whittling those down to just 10! 🙂

I wish you all a great week!

More to come…

 

 

 

P52 44/52 Chicken Noodle Soup

Posted in Comfort Foods, Food Photography, Off Camera Flash, Project 52, Soup, StrobistTagged , , , , , , 21 Comments

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Project 52 44 of 52 Chicken Noodle Soup

It’s getting chilly here in the morning and evenings which makes me crave comfort foods. One of my favorite comfort foods is Soup! I had some left over chicken in the fridge so while #1 Grandson napped I deboned the chicken, and chopped up all my veggies then made my soup.

Earlier I took #1 Grandson for a run around the block looking for Spooky stuff and he ran 3/4 of the block before slowing down to a walk. When we got home he asked for cold juice then cuddled up next to me and promptly fell asleep. He napped long enough for me to get the soup done! 🙂

My soup is semi-homemade. The chicken was a store bought rotisserie chicken, and I bought Organic Chicken Stock to speed up the prep time, and cooking time. From there it’s a pretty basic Chicken Noodle Soup.

Nikon Df| AF-S 50mm f1.8g| SB910 camera left front @1/4pwr| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| CS6

More to come…