I had planned on writing up my Lightroom workflow at some point, but it looks like someone beat me to it. This is an awesome post that follows a very similar Lightroom workflow to mine. Here are the main steps (the post elaborates on each one):
Determine a plan of attack
Download the images
Eliminating the duds
Sorting the usable images
Create a Collection
Apply initial processing to the images
Process in the Develop module
Make one off fixes
Export and burn
There really are only a few things that I do differently, and I tend to bounce around those steps a lot. However, it’s still an excellent post, and very comparable to what I do. Read the whole post here: A “Happy Snap” Lightroom Workflow.
I recently picked up an AeroPress, and I thought I’d do some additional research on how other people are using it. This video shows an additional technique, where you essentially do your brewing upside down.
There’s not much to say here, except that I totally agree with him: it makes some of the best coffee I’ve ever had. I’ve been using it for the past few days in place of my percolator[footnote]1[/footnote], and both Joy and I love the quality of coffee that it makes. I do, however, need to pickup some local, high-quality beans to see this at its optimum.
Some additional info from the manufacturer:
Smoothest: Using the ideal water temperature and gentle air pressure brewing yields rich flavor with lower acidity and without bitterness.
Richest: Total immersion brewing results in uniform extraction of the ultimate in full coffee flavor. Other coffee makers drip hot water on bed of grounds, over extracting at the center and under extracting at the edge.
Purest: Micro filtered for grit free coffee â unlike other press-type coffee makers.
Fastest: One minute from start to enjoy. The actual press time takes only 20 seconds.
[footnote name=”1”]Will this replace my percolator? No. If I want to make a lot of good coffee, that will still be my method of choice.[/footnote]
Dinner tonight: grilled pork sirloin, garlic and onion risotto, and French-cut green beans, with a slice of artisan Focaccia bread. We had some left over Arborio rice from a seafood party last night, so I thought I would try my hand at it. Overall, it turned out nicely.
Nothing too fancy here, just really tasty. Pork was covered in Badia then grilled, risotto was done “by the box,” and the beans were cooked in butter with some salt and pepper. Sometimes simple is the best.
I’ve been experimenting with the new light set I purchased: portraits, candid room shots, food, and so on. Last night’s experiment: action figures.
Here’s the final result:
And here’s the setup:
Basically, I had the two AlienBees setup at a 45° angle from the center, set to low power, and pointed down at the subject. From there, it was adjusting the composition in-camera, and making sure settings lined up.
Overall, I think the photo turned out great. I think my only complaint is that I wish the scenery wasn’t so boring.
Setup: the lights, stands, and umbrellas were all extremely easy to setup. I probably didn’t even need to read the instructions (but I did anyway just to be safe).
Build Quality: these lights seem like they are very well put together. The weight is appropriate, the shell seems very sturdy and durable, and the controls in the back are very usable. As for the stands and umbrellas, they too have a great build quality: not flimsy at all, and sit and hold their positions very well.
Usage: After using the set for a few days, I can say I’m very happy and very impressed with the results I’m getting. Considering this is my first go at using off-camera, studio-style strobes, the images I’m getting are excellent (see the sample below).
Flexibility: I’ve been playing with multiple setups; two front lights spread at 30°, two lights spread at 180°, one front-camera-right and one background camera-left, etc. I feel that, for a beginner, two strobes is the perfect number to have.
Here’s an example of one of the many setups I’ve tried; sorry for the poor quality, the panorama app I used didn’t stitch very well:
One of the photos captured using the above setup:
Here’s an example using the lights in front, camera-left and camera-right at approximately 30°:
Like I said, I’m very happy with the results thus far. I feel like all that’s left is practice, research, and more learning. I can only hope my photos keep improving, and thanks to the new AlienBees setup, I don’t think that will be a problem.
I’ve been thinking about using my pressure cooker, since it’s been quite a while, and Joy happened to buy some pork butt a few days ago; so I thought, what better than pulled pork?
Overall, this was super-easy to make:
The Meat
Here’s my initial prep (the marinating):
Take approximately 3 lbs of pork butt and cover it with a healthy layer of freshly ground sea salt on both sides.
Add any seasonings you desire. I did a light layer of freshly ground pepper, and, of course, a very thick covering of Badia. I put this on both sides as well.
Add a light coating of lime juice followed by a light coating of olive oil.
Marinate for as long as you’d like; I let mine sit an hour-and-a-half. I’m sure overnight would be excellent.
After you’re done letting it sit, it’s time to get the pressure cooker out.
Melt a stick of butter in the bottom of your pressure cooker (I did this on high).
Throw in the pork butt and brown both sides.
While you’re waiting for the browning to finish, chop up some onions and mince some garlic. Throw them in.
Once the pork butt is browned, take the cooker off the heat and fill it with water. You’ll want to fill it approximately an inch or so above the pork butt (at the minimum, enough to cover the meat completely).
Throw in one or two chicken bouillon cubes.
Put the pressure cooker back on the stove, close it up, and leave it on high.
Set a timer for 45 – 60 minutes (I guessed).
Once the cooker starts to dance, bring the heat down to medium-high.
Wait until the timer is up.
Take the cooker off the stove, set it in the sink. Slowly release steam, then start running cold water over the pot until you’re able to open it.
Take the meat out; cut it in the center (or wherever the thickest part is) to ensure doneness.
Cut the meat down and shred into a bowl.
I’d also highly recommend saving the stock for…
The Sauces
There were two main sauces I used here. One is a barbecue sauce (I used a Bullseye Kansas City sauce), and the other is a gravy made from the leftover meat stock. Here’s a quick rundown of the gravy:
Strain some of the leftover stock into a pan.
I added some additional salt and seasoning to taste.
Cook it over a medium-high heat.
Put cornstarch and cold water into a bowl/measuring cup (follow the directions on the cornstarch). Slowly mix this in to create the gravy.
Cook and mix to your desired thickness.
Once the gravy was done, I took a half-cup or so and poured it into the meat to make it extra flavorful and juicy.
The Other Stuff
A few extras to bring to the table:
Coleslaw: I love coleslaw on these types of sandwiches (I love it in general, too). It’s excellent as a side, too.
A bun of some sort. We went with a sub-bun-style pretzel roll; it’s a bit thicker, but it was super-soft and went really well with it.
Serve!
This is how I prefer to eat this dish:
Put down your pretzel (or other) bun, split it open.
Add a layer of the pulled pork.
Add a layer of coleslaw.
Top with a line of your barbecue sauce, gravy, or both.
Knife-and-fork it.
Enjoy!
And as a note, as with all of my recipes, this is give or take.
I posted this to reddit a few weeks ago (and on Facebook a few weeks before that), but I thought that it deserved a spot on here now that I have a food section.
Once I got to the step of putting in the stock and sauce, I added extra vegetables (green pepper, zucchini) and seasoning (taco and Badia). Also, I had to use a lot more oil than they recommended, and it took a lot longer to get the consistency I wanted. Probably about 45 minutes to cook.
The Meat
A healthy layering of salt and pepper on pork steak, followed up with Badia Complete Seasoning (this stuff is amazing, by the way) and lime juice to cover it all. Threw it on the grill for an hour on low heat (I have an infrared grill, which if you don’t have one, cooks meat to absolute perfection).
The Side Vegetable Salsa
Diced onions and tomatoes, with slices of lime, sprinkled with Badia (it’s that good, really), and a bit of extra lime juice.
I cook to taste, so if you want to make this, you’ll have to improvise a bit.
This is by far one of the best meat dishes I’ve made. I’d recommend anyone to try it.
My main thought on switching to the B400 + B800 setup is that if I ever want to expand, it’d be easy to throw in another B800 or B1600. It also saved me some money to buy the additional umbrella.
I’ll post again once I get them and have had a chance to experiment.
I’ve been meaning to put this together for a while: here’s a listing of all of my camera gear. It has everything I currently have and use, with a short review/summary.
I’ve been looking into getting a small, semi-portable studio setup. Currently, I have a backdrop stand and a Canon Speedlite 430 EX II. However, I would like to take it to the next level.
After posting a question on reddit, searching the Adorama and Calumet photography supply sites, and reading several forums and reviews, including a great article on Strobist, I’ve landed on an AlienBees setup.
Before getting into the proposed setup, I’d like to address a common question I’ve been asked: “what do I want to use these lights for?” I’d like to use them for a small home-studio setup, primarily for portraits; I’d like it somewhat portable, since I don’t have a lot of room in my house (I’d have to accommodate, then teardown), and on occasion I’d like to take the setup elsewhere. Eventually, I’d also like to use them outdoors (using a power-pack or really long extension cord) for outdoor portraits.
Overall, 2011 was a great year. Normally, I’d take this opportunity to reflect on all of the things that have happened over the year, but it’s our biggest event that stands over everything else: the birth of of our son.
That event started one of the best chapters in our life: parenthood. Joy and I have had a lot of fun, and some struggles, learning the ins-and-outs of parenthood. We would never change any of it for the world, and only look forward to continuing the growth of our family.
