Lumix ZS5 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

A Walk in the Dark

Tonight I took a walk with Josh over to the campus where he goes to school, just a few blocks from our house. As it has been raining the past few days, it was really nice to be outside and smell all the damp night scents – earth, leaf mould, cement. The sky is foggy, with the moon appearing and disappearing. I took the Lumix ZS5 with me, and did everything on manual settings, just to see what I would get. Altogether, I was amazingly pleased with the results!

The above exposures are what I think I did – I could look at the EXIF if I wanted to, but it is a bit late in the evening for me! So, I’ll finish with a couple of shots I took as I walked back home.

This last one is looking over the fence into the back yard of my house. As I was setting this one up, a car drove by . . . I wonder what they thought if they saw me skulking along the fence in the dark!

Anyway, all the photos from tonight are on Flickr if you want to see them. Some I converted to black and white, and others I putzed with using Photoscape and Elements 9.

Sparkles

I am a magpie at heart – I love shiny objects. As a kid, I used to drive my mother nuts because I liked rhinestone buttons on my dresses and gaudy costume jewelry. These days, I am more conservative, or at least demonstrate better taste, than I did when I was five years old as far as clothing. But, I am still irresistibly drawn to sparkles – splashes in water – spider webs in the morning light – flickery sun in dark shadow.

Today, I returned to the local botanical gardens. Autumn is settling in. The sky has a different quality of blue, the light is cool and intense. The scent of pine needles rises up with the heat of the day. With me came my Lumix ZS5, and the Canon QL17 GIII. I took a few pictures with the Canon, and oodles with the Lumix. This is the luxury of digital – 60 pictures without the cost for processing.

The path I took this morning was one I haven’t taken before. I always head uphill for some reason, but today I deliberately went downhill. Here, the garden is more of a woodland, with large California oaks mixed in with other native plants. The colors are more brown and green in the woodland area of the garden than up the hill, but there are little bright spots here and there of sunshine and shadow, along with lingering flowers and autumnal berries.

What I looked for today, very deliberately, was the contrast of light and dark, of sun and shadow. I stopped the camera down to -1/3 EV, to keep the camera from making all the light areas washed out. In the shadows, this creates a bit of drama with contrast. Compositional elements were a bit more studiously considered as well, such as movement of a tree branch across the picture, a pathway, a stairway. Some shots I framed with foliage, others I attempted to focus on a specific part, such as a tree leaf, and open the f/stop as much as possible with this camera (which is not more than f/3.3 manual), to blur out the background.

The set on Flickr for today contains images as they came from the camera. Most of them need some help, I think, but a few of the ones of the oaks are interesting and successful as they stand, I think. The one below has been cropped.

I am always in conflict about post-processing images, yet it has been done since the early days of photography. Images have been manipulated by time and f/stop, airbrushing out of unwanted characters who have lost political importance, handpainting. Processing of film images also influences the final product.

Why should digital images be any different?

Blueberry-Blackberry Cornmeal Scones with Lemon

Scones before topping with kefir and sugar

Sunday morning breakfast – what to make? Blueberry pancakes? Muffins? Go to ‘fridge, no eggs. No one wants to go to the store so . . . scones! And scones it is, as there is butter and everything else you need in the house to make scones. But, I have only 1/2 c. blueberries and about 1/2 c. of blackberries, so this is what we’ll use. The result: A made-up recipe filled with juicy, fresh berries and a slightly crunchy texture. Enjoy!

The Recipe

2 c. flour
1 c. yellow cornmeal
1 T. baking powder
pinch salt
3/4 c. chilled butter (1.5 sticks)
1/2 c. white sugar
grated zest of one lemon
1 c. 1% kefir
1/2 c. blueberries
1/2 c. blackberries

Scone before baking, with kefir and sugar topping

Preheat oven to 425 F. Spray cookie sheet with oil or use parchment paper. Cut butter into chunks. Combine flour, meal, powder, sugar, salt, and lemon peel into mixing bowl. Add butter. Cut butter into flour mixture, or work by rubbing through fingers, until blended and crumbling. Mix berries into flour mixture to coat. Dump kefir into flour-butter-berry mixture and stir up quickly with a fork. Dough will be soft in texture. Flour cutting board very generously. Put dough onto board and work into ball. You may need to add more flour as the dough is wet. Continue until dough will hold a light amount of flour. Cut ball in half. Shape each half into a ball, adding a touch of flour if you need it. Flatten into circle 1″ thick. Cut each into 6 wedges. Place on cookie sheet. Using paper towel tip or pastry brush, coat the top of each scone with extra kefir and then sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake in top 1/3 of oven for 20 minutes. If you wish to brown the scones a bit, broil them briefly. Yield: 1 dozen scones.