Be Calm In Your Heart

 Wise words to live by. I post them here for as much of a reminder to myself as for each of you. The photo is an Instagram that I captured of a break in a pretty crazy storm that we had here recently. 

Do you have a particular quote or song lyric that never fails to lift you up?

The author of the above quote is listed as unknown - if you know the original source, please let me know.

Images of Easter

Easter was lovely this year. Lots of time to relax with family accompanied by great food and ample amounts of laughter. After brunch at one of our favorite restaurants on the water, we hosted desert and cocktails at our house. I didn't take the time to snap a lot of photos, but below are a few from yesterday.

Penny found Addie's eggs before she did.

Addie hunting eggs at our house. She was cut off from the candy at a certain point.

An Instagram of Addie from brunch... She insisted on wearing hot pink rain boots.

A Lyke family favorite!

I made lemon cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting.

Pink champagne and pastel paper straws

Lillies from Jake in my favorite vase.

An Instagram of Addie and my dad, "Pop Pop" at the park in our neighborhood.

Did you do anything special this weekend? I'd love to hear about it!

Happy Easter

Penny wanted to wish each of you a happy Easter/ Passover/ Weekend/ Whatever it is that you may celebrate :)

Because I can't stop with just one photo of this pup, here are a few more...

We made an attempt to get her into Bunny ears. Fail.

Penny's Easter Best. She looks pleased, doesn't she?

We are heading out for brunch with family and hosting desert, cocktails and an Easter egg hunt at our house afterwards. What are your plans?

Decisions, Decisions

Recently, I have been contemplating a rather big life decision. Countless pro and con lists have been scrawled on the pages of my journal. Sometimes though, the right choice is not clearly written in black-and-white.

It would take a leap of faith on my part coupled with a lot of hard work and sacrifice. Something that I know all too well: the things that are really worthwhile don't always come easy.

* * *

 

I hope to share more with you about this in the future... But right now, it feels good to think out loud.

 

Do you have any decision making suggestions for me? I'd love to hear what works for you.

  

*The quote above is by Bill Cosby. Thanks, Bill :)

DSLR Photography: Understanding ISO

The next segment of DLSR photography that we will cover is ISO. If you missed them, you can learn more about exposure and aperture by clicking here and shutter speed by clicking here. I highly recommend reading those posts before continuing.

ISO stands for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO is the sensitivity of the camera's sensor to light. ISO numbers usually start at 100 and can go up to 12,800 or higher. My camera allows me to put my ISO as high as 6400. 

The lower the ISO number, the less sensitive to light the camera's sensor will be. The higher the ISO number, the more sensitive to light the sensor will be. If ISO is set to 100 there will need to be more available light, or the aperture and/or shutter speed will need to be manipulated to let more light in.

It is tempting to crank up the ISO when more light is needed. Avoid this pitfall at all costs. The higher the ISO is cranked, the more camera noise can show up on an image (think of a grainy, or less crisp and clear image). The amount of noise created by cranking the ISO depends on what camera is being used. With my camera, I start to notice noise once my ISO is set to 800 or higher.

I always look at the situation I am photographing first to determine which element of the exposure triangle is most important for me to focus on. For example, if background blur is the most important element that I want from a given image (I use this alot in food photography), I will set my aperture first. Next, I will move to setting shutter speed. I always try to use any combination possible between shutter speed and aperture to get a properly exposed image before I increase the ISO.

A different situation may call for my shutter speed to be the most important element. This would be any instance where I want to either show or stop movement. For example, if I am shooting photos of my dog (she is always moving - and fast!) I would need a fast shutter speed. In many situations where my shutter speed is very fast, even with the aperture open all the way up (to let more light in), I still do not have enough available light to achieve a properly exposed image. This makes boosting my ISO necessary. Increasing ISO is fine and often necessary, just try not to use it as a crutch. Boost ISO when all other options have been experimented with. 

(Note: Ultimately, the effective amount of noise in the final image is up to you. In some situations you may decide that you like the look of noise/ you may want a grainy photo to give a certain mood. If you are not enlarging images and are using them in a small format on your blog, noise may not be a big factor. Therefore, increasing your ISO would not cause a problem with the final output of your image.)

Below are the steps to change ISO on my camera, most Canon DSLRs have similar steps.

1.) The image Below is where ISO is shown on the home screen. It can also be found when looking through the viewfinder, on the bottom right.

2.) To change ISO hit the ISO button on the front of the camera (location below).

3.) This will prompt the ISO screen to pop up (or will make ISO the highlighted option through the viewfinder).

4.) Move the front dial (pictured below) to select which ISO number to use.

There are many ways to create a properly exposed image. Any single setting is usually interchangeable with another setting to create the same exposure. Basically, it is all about playing around with your camera, shooting a lot, and comparing images to decide what works best for you.

I hope that the exposure triangle posts have helped you to get started. I plan to continue photography tutorials here on the blog... 

Is there anything that you would like me to cover next?

Ellie's Creole Chicken Gumbo

My paternal grandmother, "Grandma Ellie", had such a loud personality. From her bedazzled clothes, to her boisterous and contagious laugh - it was impossible not to smile when she was in the room. 

Grandma Ellie's favorite possession was her Polaroid camera. Not a single family event would go by without her gathering all of us grand kids (read: forcing us kicking and screaming) together for a photo. I have to laugh, because I have followed in her footsteps in this regard. Yes, lovely family, I can see your eyes roll when I exclaim, "Picture time!".

Two recipes in particular come to mind when I think about Ellie - Spanish rice and chicken gumbo. These were staples for her. When I was older, I learned that her gumbo wasn't exactly home made (Campbell's had me fooled). For me this only adds to Ellie's quirky charm.

In Ellie's honor I'd like to share an easy (I'm talking 40 minutes from start to finish and it's all cooked in one pot!) and satisfying chicken gumbo recipe.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 red bell pepper chopped
• 1 green bell pepper chopped
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 5 celery stalks chopped
• 4 garlic cloves chopped
• 10 ounces corn (use canned or frozen to save time)
• 1 can diced tomatoes and chilis (I used Rotel's spicy mix to add some heat)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons creole seasoning (I found this in the spice aisle of my grocery store, it includes paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper)
• 10 ounces cut okra (to shave off time, use frozen or canned)
• 8 ounces smoked andouille sausage halved and sliced (I used precooked, again to save time)
• 1 rotisserie chicken (about 2 1/2 pounds), skin and bones removed, meat shredded (about 4 cups) (this is a BIG time saver)
• 4 cups chicken broth.
• White rice (I made 3 cups)

Instructions:

1. In a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat oil on medium. Whisk in flour and cook until pale golden, 5 to 7 minutes (be sure to whisk continuously). Stir in bell peppers, celery, onion, garlic, creole seasoning and oregano. Cook until vegetables are crisp-tender 10 to 12 minutes (stir occasionally).
2. Add 4 cups chicken broth to vegetables. Bring to a boil. Stir in shredded chicken, okra, corn and diced tomatoes and warm through (about 2 minutes). Salt and pepper to taste. For extra spice, add Tabasco sauce. To plate, ladle gumbo over white rice.

Serve with sweet tea and cornbread, y'all :)


Do you have a favorite family recipe? I'd love to hear about it!


*Recipe altered and adapted from marthastewart.com

Best of Instagram Week 7

Below is a peek inside of my week (hey, that rhymes) via Instagram.

1.) Addie enjoying an ice cream cone 2.) My birthday flowers from Jake 3.) Guster, my parent's crazy cat 4.) Addie playing dress up 5.) On my way to Addie's 3rd bday bash 6.) Addie's cake 7.) My Geee-tar 8.) Making lasagna for our neighbors (they had a baby!) 9.) Our newest next door neighbor, Chase!