Ok, so this blog is not about cooking, but maybe it's catchy and internet-capturing? But, if you came for the ghee part, skip to the bottom.
I photograph people, it's what I do. So when I was asked to take portraits of the instructors at the Sandhills Community College Culinary program, I jumped. Here was a chance to use my Godox off-camera flash setup to get some headshots.
This is what's called an environmental portrait. Photographing the subject in their environment tells their story much better that with a simple background. Here, Erin Durkee, the Chair of the Culinary and Pastry Arts program stands next to a bank of ovens. These are not ordinary, household ovens. The kind you would only see in commercial bakeries. The ovens made a perfect backdrop for Erin's portrait, don't you think?
Here is the recipe:
Get your camera settings by taking a shot of the background, without the subject.
Pick a clean ISO, anywhere between 100 and 400, depending on the available light.
In Aperture Priority Mode, use the widest aperture your lens will shoot at to blur the background.
Make sure your shutter speed is below 1/250 sec (my camera's flash sync speed) and above 1/60 sec (my safe hand-held limit).
Position your softbox 3 feet away from your subject and above and to the right.
Bring your subject into the scene and take some test shots.
Adjust your flash compensation, up or down, making sure to avoid creating hot spots on the subject or annoying reflections coming from the background.
Now you are ready to shoot.
Focus on the eye closest to your camera.
Keep your subject relaxed and having fun.
As for cooking with ghee. That's easy, just cook with it as you would butter. The good thing - it doesn't burn at high temperatures like butter.