Things are getting a bit out of control...

I was thrilled earlier today when I learned about the ISO setting on my camera. From what I understand, this setting controls the sensitivity to light, where higher ISO values let you shoot in darker settings. (But please check out this post on White On Rice for a much better and more thorough explanation). Without getting out the manual, I discovered that I can change the ISO setting on my point-and-shoot digital camera from "auto" to "hi", and preliminary tests suggested that this might get me better focus on my pictures and reduce some of my shadow issues without needing to rig up elaborate lighting.

So off I went to play racquetball, excited to experiment with this when photographing dinner tonight.

... then I got home an hour later to discover that my boyfriend had set up a photo studio in the corner of our kitchen. In case you can't tell, that's SIX additional sources of light pointed at "the set". And let me be clear: our kitchen is not large enough to house a professional photo studio. You may notice that this is all set up in the kitchen doorway - this was as inconvenient as it looks.

But, I'll concede, the picture tonight came out fabulously, whether this is due to the change in ISO setting, the obscene number of lamps, or the beautiful meal my boyfriend made, I can't say. I really think he got fancy with his cooking just so the picture would be great and I would deem his photo-studio effort a success.

Next step: finding a place in our house that is NOT the kitchen to set all this up permanently. Oh, and I'm pretty sure my boyfriend is now planning on buying me professional photography lights for Christmas.

Pan-friend lamb chop with a shallot, sage & red wine reduction

Peas boiled with shallots and sage

Six-cheese tortellini with a pesto & mascarpone butter sauce

Fried sweet potato slices with grated parmesean