130. Cookie - December 6-12, 2015
Jerry-
Back in the 60's my brothers and I would gather in the kitchen to "help" mom make cookies. We were crazy for the spritz cookies she would make with the "grease gun" thing - I remember my younger brother munching down on the raw dough, unable to control his sweet tooth. So I've kept up the tradition and paused during a cookie bake to get a close up of the dough coming out of my Swedish SAWA 2000.
Nikon D750 with 24-85 set to 85mm. F32 @ 1/200, ISO 200, with the SB700 flash laying on the cookie sheet.
Back in the 60's my brothers and I would gather in the kitchen to "help" mom make cookies. We were crazy for the spritz cookies she would make with the "grease gun" thing - I remember my younger brother munching down on the raw dough, unable to control his sweet tooth. So I've kept up the tradition and paused during a cookie bake to get a close up of the dough coming out of my Swedish SAWA 2000.
Nikon D750 with 24-85 set to 85mm. F32 @ 1/200, ISO 200, with the SB700 flash laying on the cookie sheet.
Don-
I chose to bake up a batch of the official New Mexico cookie the biscochito. The biscochito is a traditional Christmas cookie. For me this was a new experience. First time using lard in cooking. First time making biscochitos. First time using a 105mm Micro lens. The final picture is attached for the WPOTM website. This was done this morning because it has been a very busy week. Finals week and submission of a portfolio for grading. Two days at Mesa Verde to photograph the lighting up of a couple of ruins. Enough whining, The cookie picture information is, shot with D810 and 105mm Nikon Micro lens; 0.4 seconds shutter; f10; ISO 200; and in Aperture Priority.
I chose to bake up a batch of the official New Mexico cookie the biscochito. The biscochito is a traditional Christmas cookie. For me this was a new experience. First time using lard in cooking. First time making biscochitos. First time using a 105mm Micro lens. The final picture is attached for the WPOTM website. This was done this morning because it has been a very busy week. Finals week and submission of a portfolio for grading. Two days at Mesa Verde to photograph the lighting up of a couple of ruins. Enough whining, The cookie picture information is, shot with D810 and 105mm Nikon Micro lens; 0.4 seconds shutter; f10; ISO 200; and in Aperture Priority.
Byron-
That's the way the cookie crumbles. I wanted to get a picture of a cookie freshly broken with crumbs captured in mid-air. I considered how to take the picture at the right moment. There is TriggerTrap. I could set it to fire when it hears the sound of a cookie breaking. The problem with that is that cookies don't make a very loud sound. I considered using a self timer. Not precise enough. So I called on Erleen for assistance. When I did a countdown the timing was off. When Erleen did the countdown, the exposure happened at the correct moment. I used a flash shooting through a softbox. I added the egg crate looking grill to the front. It controls the spread of light much like the Byro-snoot. The flash was on the left side with a reflector on the right. The black background keeps out anything distracting. I used my 55 - 200mm lens set at 68mm. Exposure was f8 at 1/60 sec. The ISO was 200.
That's the way the cookie crumbles. I wanted to get a picture of a cookie freshly broken with crumbs captured in mid-air. I considered how to take the picture at the right moment. There is TriggerTrap. I could set it to fire when it hears the sound of a cookie breaking. The problem with that is that cookies don't make a very loud sound. I considered using a self timer. Not precise enough. So I called on Erleen for assistance. When I did a countdown the timing was off. When Erleen did the countdown, the exposure happened at the correct moment. I used a flash shooting through a softbox. I added the egg crate looking grill to the front. It controls the spread of light much like the Byro-snoot. The flash was on the left side with a reflector on the right. The black background keeps out anything distracting. I used my 55 - 200mm lens set at 68mm. Exposure was f8 at 1/60 sec. The ISO was 200.
Deron-
Waka waka waka waka waka waka waka...
Waka waka waka waka waka waka waka...
Kevin-
This is of course a wonderful time for cookies (thank you Jerry)! And after putting all of work into last week’s theme, Spice, I wanted to take a more simple approach this time. I had just baked a batch of my favorite holiday Thumbprint cookies on the Friday after Thanksgiving, and they we all gone. But this was a great excuse to create another 8 dozen!
Thumbprint cookies, the way my mother made them, are simple. Flour, brown sugar, butter, shortening, salt, an egg yolk and lemon extract. Thankfully she didn’t cover them in nuts like the Betty Crocker recipe calls for and I don’t do that either. You roll the dough into 1” balls, press your thumb in the middle of each and bake them. Instead of putting a jam/jelly in the thumbprint she filled them with frosting and I have been making them the same way for over four decades.
I fiddled around with a wide shot of multiple Thumbprint cookies on a platter, shot wide open to really limit the depth of field. But ultimately decided that I like this hero shot much better.
Nikon D4s, tripod mounted. 105mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor lens. ISO 100, f/16 @ 6 seconds (yes, 6 seconds). Behind the cookie is a huge window on a very cloudy day, which provided some backlight, and as a macro shot there is no detail even at f/16. One Nikon SB-910 flash unit was bounced off the ceiling above to add a bit of fill to the shadows and a few highlights on the frosting. ISO 100, f/16 @ 6 seconds.
Yum!
This is of course a wonderful time for cookies (thank you Jerry)! And after putting all of work into last week’s theme, Spice, I wanted to take a more simple approach this time. I had just baked a batch of my favorite holiday Thumbprint cookies on the Friday after Thanksgiving, and they we all gone. But this was a great excuse to create another 8 dozen!
Thumbprint cookies, the way my mother made them, are simple. Flour, brown sugar, butter, shortening, salt, an egg yolk and lemon extract. Thankfully she didn’t cover them in nuts like the Betty Crocker recipe calls for and I don’t do that either. You roll the dough into 1” balls, press your thumb in the middle of each and bake them. Instead of putting a jam/jelly in the thumbprint she filled them with frosting and I have been making them the same way for over four decades.
I fiddled around with a wide shot of multiple Thumbprint cookies on a platter, shot wide open to really limit the depth of field. But ultimately decided that I like this hero shot much better.
Nikon D4s, tripod mounted. 105mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor lens. ISO 100, f/16 @ 6 seconds (yes, 6 seconds). Behind the cookie is a huge window on a very cloudy day, which provided some backlight, and as a macro shot there is no detail even at f/16. One Nikon SB-910 flash unit was bounced off the ceiling above to add a bit of fill to the shadows and a few highlights on the frosting. ISO 100, f/16 @ 6 seconds.
Yum!
Paul-
There’s an infinite number of ways (positing the existence of multiverses, of course) I could have gone with this fun theme. “Cookie” opens up all sorts of creative or mouth-watering or idiomatic or slang-specific images that could have been captured for the delight of the WPOTM members.
I choose not to go in any of those directions. Rather, I sought to take a simple idea and then:
1) Botch it up in four separate nano-studio shoots. (Two using an extension tube, and one forgetting that I had switched the Nikon to its “purposely out of focus and over-exposed” setting.)
2) Get fairly close to what I wanted on the fifth shoot…only to tweak it to death afterwards.
3) Find the finished picture to be boring, vacuous, and icky.
4) Find the picture I was going to throw in as something extra to look at—and that one wasn’t all the great either—more interesting that what I am submitting.
You know, if the theme had been something waaay out in left field like Labyrinth or, maybe, Sisyphean…well, sure. That would have been a challenge. But “Cookie?”
We all have days (sometimes longer) when the impetus to strive for something creative, novel, or at least mildly interesting goes…okay…flaccid. And I’m not talking about that commercial telling you to call your Doctor if your lack of artistry lasts for more than four hours. Let’s be clear on that, okay?
So, to try and misdirect your attention elsewhere, I will now regale you with all the iterations of what started—and should have finished—as the simple Nabisco Oreo. (The subject of my two pictures.)
Oreos
Double Stuf Oreos
Peanut Butter Oreos
Chocolate Oreos
Cool Mint Oreos
Fudge Sundae Oreos
Halloween Oreos
Reduced Fat Oreos
Golden Oreos
Golden Chocolate Oreos
Golden Double Stuf Oreos
Oreo Fudgees
Oreo Fudge Rings
Oreo Cakesters
Oreo Chocolate Cakesters
Oreo Peanut Butter Cakesters
Golden Oreo Cakesters
Oreo/Botulism Fun Yummies
Golden Oreo Fun Stix
Sugar Free Oreos
Mini Oreos
Oreo Mini Cakesters
Oreo Thin Crisps
Oreo Snack Cakes
Oreo 12 Packs
Oreo Variety 12 Pack
Mini Oreo 12 Packs
Oreo No-Bake Jello Dessert
Oreo Pie Crust
Oreo Cookies and Cream Ice Cream
Oreo Marble Mix’ins
Oreo Cones
Oreo Ice Cream Sandwiches
Our story so far: A four-image composite (dare I say it, HDR) image shot at various shutter speeds, AF-ON button used, 4 E/V settings roughly balanced either the side of the 0.0 line; f/22; ISO 1250; 18-55mm lens set at 42mm; aperture priority; 21-point metering; cookies are in a lightbox with a spots affixed to either side of the front (flanking the camera) pointing inward.
I tried to make the second image (coming in a separate email) look mechanical by distorting it. Same cookies, same shot. Different (read: puerile) approach. Yes, these things happen. No, I did not eat the props in a fit of frustration.
There’s an infinite number of ways (positing the existence of multiverses, of course) I could have gone with this fun theme. “Cookie” opens up all sorts of creative or mouth-watering or idiomatic or slang-specific images that could have been captured for the delight of the WPOTM members.
I choose not to go in any of those directions. Rather, I sought to take a simple idea and then:
1) Botch it up in four separate nano-studio shoots. (Two using an extension tube, and one forgetting that I had switched the Nikon to its “purposely out of focus and over-exposed” setting.)
2) Get fairly close to what I wanted on the fifth shoot…only to tweak it to death afterwards.
3) Find the finished picture to be boring, vacuous, and icky.
4) Find the picture I was going to throw in as something extra to look at—and that one wasn’t all the great either—more interesting that what I am submitting.
You know, if the theme had been something waaay out in left field like Labyrinth or, maybe, Sisyphean…well, sure. That would have been a challenge. But “Cookie?”
We all have days (sometimes longer) when the impetus to strive for something creative, novel, or at least mildly interesting goes…okay…flaccid. And I’m not talking about that commercial telling you to call your Doctor if your lack of artistry lasts for more than four hours. Let’s be clear on that, okay?
So, to try and misdirect your attention elsewhere, I will now regale you with all the iterations of what started—and should have finished—as the simple Nabisco Oreo. (The subject of my two pictures.)
Oreos
Double Stuf Oreos
Peanut Butter Oreos
Chocolate Oreos
Cool Mint Oreos
Fudge Sundae Oreos
Halloween Oreos
Reduced Fat Oreos
Golden Oreos
Golden Chocolate Oreos
Golden Double Stuf Oreos
Oreo Fudgees
Oreo Fudge Rings
Oreo Cakesters
Oreo Chocolate Cakesters
Oreo Peanut Butter Cakesters
Golden Oreo Cakesters
Oreo/Botulism Fun Yummies
Golden Oreo Fun Stix
Sugar Free Oreos
Mini Oreos
Oreo Mini Cakesters
Oreo Thin Crisps
Oreo Snack Cakes
Oreo 12 Packs
Oreo Variety 12 Pack
Mini Oreo 12 Packs
Oreo No-Bake Jello Dessert
Oreo Pie Crust
Oreo Cookies and Cream Ice Cream
Oreo Marble Mix’ins
Oreo Cones
Oreo Ice Cream Sandwiches
Our story so far: A four-image composite (dare I say it, HDR) image shot at various shutter speeds, AF-ON button used, 4 E/V settings roughly balanced either the side of the 0.0 line; f/22; ISO 1250; 18-55mm lens set at 42mm; aperture priority; 21-point metering; cookies are in a lightbox with a spots affixed to either side of the front (flanking the camera) pointing inward.
I tried to make the second image (coming in a separate email) look mechanical by distorting it. Same cookies, same shot. Different (read: puerile) approach. Yes, these things happen. No, I did not eat the props in a fit of frustration.