2019 Chicago Auto Show

I attended the Chicago Auto Show today, but really only spent time at the Lexus booth, the Hyundai booth, the Ford and Lincoln booths and the Toyota booth. My two brother in-laws and I were only interested in the cars we were considering buying very soon. We skipped most of the show's vehicles since we had a specific purpose to find new cars for ourselves at this show.

I only brought the Canon point and shoot camera (I really don't like this term since this camera has all the same controls as my DSLR), the Canon G7xMkII. This sample Lexus LC500 shot was taken with Aperture Priority at ISO 125, f2.8 and 1/100 second. This image is straight out of the camera without any modifications other than converting the RAW file to a JPG image.  The second image was edited in Lightroom for a slightly brighter look.

Overall, the camera does very well. It's not the best lens (it has issues with soft edges when shot up close at large apertures like f1.8) but from a distance, the photos look pretty good for a little $650 camera! It is nowhere as clean as my Nikon D850 with a Nikon lens, but for what I was using it for (documenting the cars I was interested in considering), it did the trick. Being so small, I didn't have to deal with carrying around a big camera and big lens. It was nice to have that freedom!

By the way, this is not the car I am considering. I don't have that kind of money!  :)Her

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Food Photography

Nothing better than taking a photo and then getting to eat the subject!

The top photo was taken with an iPhone 6s+.  The bottom photo was taken with a Canon G7xMkII point and shoot camera.

I asked my students which photo was better and why and unanimously, they all picked the bottom photo!

The reasons given included, better angle, better lighting, better color, better plating of the food, sharper/clearer image, the image "pops" better, better shallow depth of field...

It just goes to show that while the iPhone can take a decent photo, using a better camera that is dedicated to adjusting parameters along with better light and color balancing, the image can look a lot better.

Granted, these are two different salads, but you get the idea.

I assembled these salads at Jason's Deli in Schaumburg, IL.  The camera for the bottom image was set on Aperture Priority mode.  ISO 640, f8.0, 1/60 second.  Shot in RAW and converted to JPG with Adobe Lightroom.

1966 Batmobile

Still waiting for Ford to release this Batmobile for consumer purchase.  When will it happen?

Image taken with a Canon G7xMkII point and shoot camera.  Lighting - continuous LED's with soft box on a shooting table.  Second light pointed through the opaque back side of the light table.

Shrimp Pad Thai - Chopstick - Rolling Meadows IL

I went to Chopstick - Chinese carryout restaurant in Rolling Meadows to get this Shimp Pad Thai dish to take a photo using my Nikon D850 and Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 lens.

The dish was set on a product shooting table with a continuous LED light source behind the table with a softbox and another light above and to the left of the front.  The image was taken at ISO 100, f8 and 1/8 second.

The food was really good!  I was surprised at how much they give you for only $6.15 plus tax.  What you see here on a standard dinner plate is only half of what they actually give you!  And, you get an egg roll and a soft drink too!  Great deal!