I’m in love with Fall. I love its crunchy leaves underfoot and crisp evening breezes. I love its earthy autumn colors and promise of new beginnings. It makes me feel all warm and gooey inside, which is weird because I love the cool weather it brings. Sorry Summer. I know you’re the popular kid but I’m just not feeling you.
Fall has stolen my heart…and stomach with pie…glorious sweet potato pie. But there’s no pie. It’s not time yet. I still have about a month to go and I’m not good at waiting.
So, while I’ve been not-so-patiently waiting for Fall, I’ve soothed myself with these fried cinnamon sugar tortilla chips in the shape of Fall leaves. And when I write ‘soothed’ I mean power-snacked two handfuls but pretended it was only one. How could I not? Did you read the title? They’re fried cinnamon sugar tortilla chips!
And just in case you were wondering…fried tortillas + cinnamon sugar = double-win, y’all.
At the dman’s request I prepared some daisy-like shapes, as well. They were harder to cut out and didn’t mesh with my ‘love of Fall’ vibe, but I did it anyway. Of course, they photographed beautifully.
Ugh, I hate it when the dman is right.
But maybe I was wrong. I’m not-too shabby at the waiting game. In fact, I should be given a ‘waiting’ award-all fans should. We just waited one year for the last eight episodes of Breaking Bad!
Now, then…I’ve got a big bowl of fried chips and eight hours of Breaking Bad in my queue. Sounds like a perfect way to wait for the arrival of Fall.
Fried Cinnamon Sugar Tortillas Photo Notes
by David
I wish all photo shoots were this easy. I captured both of these images with less than 10 shots and called it a day.
Gameplan
I’ve been getting sloppy, so this shoot was about good technique and good lighting. A picture made with lousy technique may look decent on the web, but it looks like junk on a print…… and guess what? Real photographers print.
Technique
I locked the camera on the tripod and left it there. I also turned on the mirror delay mode and used a remote shutter release. When the composition looked off, I didn’t take the camera off the tripod and hope for a miracle. Instead, I recomposed the items on the table until I got it right. This is pretty simple stuff, but even in a studio with strobes, sharp images require good technique.
Lighting
I tried something different and now have my new favorite lighting setup. For the main light, I bounced a strobe off the back wall of the studio. This lighting is stupid simple and simulates a large window. For the fill, I got on the David Hobby bandwagon and put a large 60″ soft-silver umbrella on-axis. This created a very even fill across the scene and cut down on the contrast. For the shot with the bowl, I also added a small white bounce card on the right side of the chips. This setup may be a 99 cent store solution, but it creates beautiful results. Here is a picture from behind the scenes:
Tech Notes
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm 2.8
Strobes: White Lightning x1600
Tripod: Manfrotto
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 48mm
Shutter: 125
Aperture: f/10
Fried Cinnamon Sugar Tortillas Recipe
Recipe slightly adapted from Cheeky Kitchen
- 1 package of large tortillas (I used a package of 8)
- ½ c sugar
- ½ t salt
- ½ T cinnamon
- 2 c. vegetable oil for frying
- Medium-sized cookie cutter
- Cut as many shapes as the tortilla’s will allow.
- Mix sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl.
- Heat oil in pan set to medium heat.
- Once the oil is hot, fry the tortillas on both sides until the edges are browned. Be careful! They cook fast!
- Cool fried chips on a wire rack.
- Gently toss the fried chips in the sugar-mixture.
- Serve immediately.
