Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM Art Lens Sample Pictures

One of my life's best investments was in The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook. We gave it to my oldest daughter, Brianna, for Christmas a couple of years ago. The cookbook seldom left her side for the next year and it still gets lots of use. Brianna has become an excellent chef in that time – with deserts being one of her specialties.
 
Not long prior to this photo being taken, I showed Brianna a picture of a cake decorated as a flag using fruit and whipped cream. The investment in the education (the cookbook and the time Bri spent with it) and the inspiration of a picture came together to yield this cake.
 
The cake of course turned into a photo subject. This time the Canon SL1 was paired with the Canon EF-S 18-55mm STM IS Lens. While the lens was not the most drool-worthy, the subject sure was. The design was a few blueberries short of authentic, but the cake still looked great. And I can tell you that it tasted twice as good as it looked.
 
What inspiration are you finding in pictures? Are you generating inspiration with your pictures?

On this site, it is generally the camera gear that we drool over. Then my daughter decides to be a desert chef for the day.
 
To capture this photo, I used a wide aperture and a close focusing distance to generate a shallow DOF (Depth of Field). While this lens' MFD (Minimum Focusing Distance) is not very short and its MM (Maximum Magnification) spec is not very high, its aperture is very wide. Wide enough to yield a strong background blur in this example.