I think I'll wait. Gives me something to dream of. And I don't have a line of portrait subjects queuing before my door anyway.

I rented this one, incidentally

I want to feel what it is like to have a piece of kit like the ones the real pros shoot with. And the portrait one is the most accessible. Also gives a useful length on the small format sensor.

@rumtscho then ditch the D90 :P

I already have a 60 mm 2.8 (the macro one), if I upgrade in this length, I'll do it for real.

heck, I wouldn't get a 50 then

60 2.8 is perfectly good for portraits

in fact, it's probably better for portraits

It is pretty good, but I know I can do better.

longer and macro

If you were going to go full on portrait you'd get something like a 135

Yes, but it doesn't give this beautiful bokeh effect and tiny DOF you get with a real portrait lens.

2.8 is plenty shallow

you'd rarely shoot at 1.4 with a 1.4

you'd get the eyes in focus and the nose out

Well, depending on where you stand, of course. The nonexistent DOF in the blog pics was caused by exactly this lens. But I shot those cookies from something like 25 cm from the sensor plane or even less.

it would look weird

@ElendilTheTall Maybe. I will probably borrow one before I buy, and see if it really brings something.

If you want great bokeh, get a 135 DC

It isn't a very recent plan though. I have other things I could upgrade, and my contract is running out in some months.

DC?

lensesforhire.co.uk/nikon-af-dc-135mm-f2-d-193-p.asp

Defocus Control

like it says, perhaps the world's best portrait lens

Yeah, but three times the price of the standard one

hey, you wanted a dream

Maybe I'll do it when I have a new job.

@ElendilTheTall speaking of good and bad pictures, I think you were good at post, right?

Do you have any ideas how to make this one more presentable?

My best attempt was:

What is it?

@Mien matzah ball dough

It will go live on our blog

Her other pics are OK

crop a bit on the right side as well

This is the only one which shows the pure dough, and the lighting is not so great

so that the bowl is in the middle

That's all I can say :p

It goes against two important photographic principles :)

First, standard formats are better, and this is a 4:3 format. (although, I probably could go square).

Second, don't place the subject in the middle.

It's not so much about the crop, I don't think there is much that can be done there. It is the gloomy indoor light mixed with some extreme burning highlights from light seeping through the window in the lower left. And at that resolution, plus jpg artefacts, all I try to do results in bad posterizing effects.

I like symmetry.

It has its uses. But it is much harder to pull out a good picture with a centered subject than with an off-center one. I don't try it at my current skill level.

@rumtscho Looks like deviled eggs filling.

@Sobachatina Maybe I overdid with yellow saturation - but the original is also yolk-yellow.

This is eggs, cottage cheese and matzah meal.

I'm not critical of your photograph. It looks tasty.

Could be that her eggs are very colored.

What is matzah meal made of?

@Sobachatina You are free to be critical of it. In this case, I wondered about the color myself yesterday.

Matzah is an unleavened bread (says Wikipedia)

Matzah meal are the dried breadcrumbs from it.

I used normal schnitzel breadcrumbs yesterday.

Ok then.

My mass was nowhere this yellow.

My eggs will turn everything they touch this yellow. My chickens eat a lot of grass.

Really, grass? McGee mentions other foods which will do this, especially maize IIRC. But maybe the grass in your yard just has lots of coloring substances (I forgot how the ones in yolk are called).

I think I'll go home now, and work on Martha's and Yossarian's post from there.

telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8593782/…

@rumtscho beta carotene. Grass fed cows give yellowish milk too.

@Sobachatina I think it was something else.

Fair enough.

My chickens don't get much corn feeds or alfalfa of course but the chemicals that they get from wild plants may be the same.

That's good to know.

in 9 hours, I'm home alone :D

Does somebody wants to come over?

Sounds like a party will be happening in Belgium.

Not really :( bad timing

@Mien Want? Yes. Able to is another matter :(

I'm sure you are able to, in the broad sense of the word.

Yes, alright. I'm not willing to invest the time and money needed and break promises I've made (such as appearing at work tomorrow). I hope you don't feel rejected now :)

I wouldn't come to you now if you'd ask to :p

So we're even.

But I am curious, why are your parents leaving at 5 AM?

They go on holiday. They have a plane to catch. And indeed, they leave aroudn 5.

Or at least, that's their plan :p

We is my first reaction always to write disparaging answers? I need to get over that tendency.

@Sobachatina get over it!

:)

Ok.

@Sobachatina what was disparging about your old answer?

I just have a bad habit of making my first answer "No. That's stupid. Don't do it. You'll put your eye out."

Instead of answering more constructively with how to do it properly and when it makes sense.

hello people

hi @dpollitt

Hello @dpollitt.

@Sobachatina parents have this tendency, yes.

hi @dpollitt

@rumtscho I like that you linked to @cerberus' flaming stove picture in your comment.

Oh?

I am going to Chicago for the weekend, anyone have restaurant experience or info?

Whero?

@Sobachatina It was convenient.

@dpollitt ask @hobodave

Since I read that question, there is a song I can't get out of my head

LOL :D

It even has the same meter (I don't recognize it, maybe @Cerberus can tell what it is)

That's what makes it more fun.

@rumtscho Nice. +1

@rumtscho Um I'm not sure.

It's hard to distinguish syllables.

And the rhythm is diverse.

@hobodave - I see you are from Chi town. I'm mainly looking for awesome Pizza. I've been to giordanos before. We will be near wrigley more or less. Any za or other places I need to visit on a weekend trip for fooding?

@dpollitt I'm afraid that he can't come often into chat nowadays - I hope he will come back to you when he sees the ping, but it probably won't be a synchronous conversation right now

But I don't think we have any other Chicagoan among the chat regulars.

Right now, you are talking to three Europeans and a Texan.

@dpollitt My Chicagoan coworker swears by Uno Chicago Grill. Apparently that is the place to go first. Of course- I don't personally know anything about this.

Uno is pretty good

I've been there

@dpollitt my buddy who worked in a few pizza places in Chicago says "Gino's East or Lou Malnatti's " or

he says absolutely not giordono's

@rfusca I have heard the name Uno's somewhere

its fairly famous

could it be that Reinhart compares Chicago pizzerias in American pie?

he does, yes

So he probably is another good source for advice for dpollitt.

ya, i don't have the book in front of me. But generally, he covers the ones already mentioned here as I recall

@Rumyancheto- I soaked my soy beans last night so I can make milk tonight and start my experiments. I hope to have the post written this weekend. We'll see how the motivation holds out.

@Sobachatina That's great

We still don't have a post to run on the 4th of July, celebratory or otherwise

So it would be nice if we can fill this hole in our schedule

We should have one. But not about tofu. That would be downright communist.

I cross my fingers for your soy milk

Well, if you guys want us to have a blog post on the 4th (which happens to fall on a regular schedule day), you'll have to write it

I'm making one for later. And anyway, I don't think I can produce a blog post on something which you Merkins will consider worthy of your holiday :)

Then post something on 14/7?

I was thinking of doing something very simple.

I'm making guacamole on Friday.

I could divide it into two container and put the stone in one.

@Cerberus maybe on the 3.3. But we don't have any food traditions about it

It's kind of a myth that the pit would prevent/slow down browning.

I'm quite sure that my ability to write a France-worthy blog post is almost as low as writing an America-worthy one.

Same here.

@Mien But I'm quite sure the myth is debunked elsewhere in depth.

Do the Merkins eat something special on their Day?

@rumtscho Agreed.

I read not long ago that it is complete Quatsch.