Do the words 'Gluten-free' mean 'flavour free' to you? If it does then it doesn't need to be so!
I have a number of gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan friends who love to eat out and with some forethought and knowledge of your local health food shops now you can create a banquet at home.

MENU

GF = Gluten Free
DF = Dairy Free
V = Vegetarian

BREAD
CORNBREAD: Cornflour, Yellow Polenta, Salt, Gluten-free self-raising flour, butter, agave syrup, buttermilk)

ENTREES
Guacamole with tortilla chips (Avocado, lemon juice, garlic, salt, gluten-free home made tortilla chips)  GF DF
Goats cheese & lyonnaise tart with beetroot, hazelnuts & baby endives (Gluten-free)

MAINS
Spinach and ricotta gnocchi with sage butter or homemade tomato sauce  GF V
Mussells marinara in a spicy marinara sauce (mussells with tomato, spices, herbs, grapeseed oil) GF DF
Surf and Turf - Scotch Fillet topped with Garlic prawns (GARLIC PRAWNS: Prawns, Garlic, Coconut Oil, Salt) GF DF

DESSERT
Ricotta cheesecake with Passionfruit couli  (gluten free biscuit base, ricotta cheese, agave syrup, passionfruit pulp) GF
Fruit salad (Kiwi fruit, lychees, longan, pineapple, mango)
Gluten free chocolate biscotti

Each menu item is gluten free and offers a vegan-friendly entree or main. It also includes a few dairy-free items for those who are intolerant or sensitive to dairy or lactose.

I  have chosen a range of mains (dairy, seafood, meat) so that there is a choice and the colours will look great in photos. Picture the green of the spinach in the spinachand ricotta gnocchi complemented by the red of the homemade tomato sauce. The lush green of the guacamole and the cute and pretty lyonnaise tarts with cubes of roasted beetroot and justo decorate the plate. For the meat eaters, a healthy portion of steak with prawns on top. And to finish the evening some delicious and colourful desserts destined to please and convert anyone who held beliefs that gluten free means a lack of flavour :)

On Tuesday 28th of April I travelled up to Drummoyne, Sydney to work on the website of a friend. 

I caught the train from Wollongong and enjoyed the view as always, especially around Clifton

 

 

I also took some portraits for the Bio section of her site. We took this at dusk outside her apartment building.

Unfortunately the light was dying so I had to use my external flash. 

We agreed that it would be best to try again in the morning. This was the view from her balcony. Just stunning!

 

After a while we started getting some soft portraits which I love

 

 

 

Afterwards Yuliya and I caught a bus into Sydney, parting at Haymarket. 

Mamak was on my mind. An amazing restaurant specialising in Malaysian cuisine in Goulburn St, Haymarket. 

I was warned by Food Blogger Helen from Grab Your Fork to get in early. I took a few photos of the restaurant and this one shows the frenzied activity on the day. People were hungry for delicious, buttery roti and delicious satay and curry dishes.

After all that lovely food we headed to the Chinese Gardens of Friendship in Darling Harbour

 

Where I later met Alyssa who kindly posed for me

 

After a meeting with a colleague I caught the train home to Wollongong and a bus to Lake Illawarra. 

Such a nice visit to Sydney, new friends and lots of fond memories.

You've downloaded the images from your memory card. Now what?

 

Why not try my 'SOOC to Colour Popp' Adobe Photoshop Action (.atn) 

Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) presets

Tutorial: Part 1: Preview and apply a Develop preset

Download my presets

Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw software works with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, and Adobe Bridge. You can use Photoshop Camera Raw software to import and adjust camera raw, JPEG, and TIFF files.

[ Source: Lightroom LiveDocs http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/10.0/ ]

In this tutorial I will show how I can select images in Adobe Bridge and apply Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) presets within Bridge and then open those files in Adobe Camera Raw with the presets already applied. I can then either save the files, edit them in ACR or open the files in Photoshop. If you are processing 300 photos from the same session with similar lighting and camera settings then developing or applying a preset for one photo and applying it to similar photos may save hours of processing time. In the screenshots below you can see my workflow on four images selected in Adobe Bridge and edited with Adobe Camera RAW

Step 1: Bridge - What is it?

Adobe Bridge comes bundled with Adobe Photoshop CS2 and CS3. It works better on computers that have a lot of memory and hard disk space and is a great way to view and organise your files. It also allows you to view, rate, add keywords, add metadata - and best of all it allows you to apply presets and see a live preview of what your photos would look like with such presets.

Figure 1: ACR settings tutorial: Four files selected in bridge

Figure 2: ACR settings tutorial: Applying a purple duotone preset in bridge. I right-clicked on Develop Settings and then duotone_315 which is one of my presets available to download.

Figure 3: ACR settings tutorial: Four files selected in bridge with preset preview

Figure 4: ACR settings tutorial: Applying a brown preset in bridge

Figure 5: ACR settings tutorial: Applying a brown duotone preset in bridge

Figure 6: ACR settings tutorial: Clearing a preset in bridge

Figure 7: ACR settings tutorial: Clear a preset - back to no preset

Figure 8: ACR settings tutorial: Open file with preset in Adobe Camera RAW

Figure 9: ACR settings tutorial: Photos with preset selected open in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR)

Figure 10: ACR settings tutorial: Opening files with preset in ACR - finding the preset in ACR

Figure 11: ACR settings tutorial: Opening files with preset in ACR



Figure 12: ACR settings tutorial: Applying a purple preset in bridge



Figure 13: ACR settings tutorial: How I made Duotone_315 preset in Adobe Camera RAW (acr)

 

More information:

Preview - ACR: Photoshop Camera RAW 4 http://www.applelinks.com/index.php/more/preview_acr_photoshop_camera_raw_4/

http://www.adobe.com/go/learn_ps_camerarawhelp

Examples of Babysoft Action Group

	Original image by Bea Pierce Below is a series of images created from a photo by Bea using the Baby Soft set of Adobe Photoshop Actions (.atn) I developed. There was no tweaking of the end result. What you see is the result from pressing the 'play' button for each action and then saved. Some images were created by running one or more actions. You may need to run an action such as babysoft I more than once to achieve the effect you are looking for.
Babysoft I	BS Apply Image Soft
Babysoft blurred	Babysoft desat diffused
Babysoft gentle	Babysoft increase exposure
Babysoft increase exposure (x2)	Babysoft more red warmth
Babysoft more red + babysoft	more red with babysoft bw v1
red skin to tan	smooth skin
with soft light	soft merge
with softmerge bw_v1	with softmerge bw_v1 (x2)
softmerge bw v2	babysoft x2 (run twice)
softmergebw_v1 (x2)	more redw + babysoftbw1 (x3)
babysoftbw1x3_warmify	babysoftbw1x3_warmifyx2
bluebayou	colour pop for underexposed
drabtofab	warmify

My album (20 pages) prices are:

6x6 $695
8x8 $795
10x10 $895
12x12 $995

Not sure what to get your technology-loving loving photographer spouse or loved one? You're sure to find something that they will love in the list below

• A website to show off their work. From $200 a year (under $20 a month) its the gift that keeps on giving! 
• A digital photography workshop gift voucher. You or your loved one may have a good camera but not sure how to use it or want to improve
• Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom training to enhance the images created with your digitial camera or digitised film images. 
• Adobe Photoshop Actions and Adobe Lightroom presets to make processing of images more efficient and create a signature look
• A gift voucher for a People Photography Workshop including a character model and a glamour model to photograph as well as helpful hints on how to interact with your model. Using natural light to your best advantage and creating a high key look with the use of studio lights and reflectors
• Photo retouching. You have a photo that needs retouching but you don't own Adobe Photoshop or have the skills required to get the most out of the image. Contact me for a quote today. 
• A PRO account on Flickr. Unlimited storage and you can replace images with updated versions. 
• Memory cards. A photographer can never have to many of them. Nothing worse than missing a photo opportunity because the memory cards are all full!