14/365 shot with old automatic Point and Shoot Camera
Yesterday no time for my shot as I was still moving my kitchen, so today will do 2 shots.
Shot with an old and automatic point and shoot camera!
first here is 14/365, a shot done for Saturday’s food photography class at pantry magic to show the differences between light when its direct and hard or diffused, perhaps not the best time to do this as the sun was very high, but just don’t have enough time to do this otherwise.
Direct sunlight, the shot below is the same but with a large diffuser held between the sun and the fruits.
Direct Sun Light
Wityh diffuser between sun and subject
4/365 Party Duck
4/365 (Sunday January 16, 2011) Rubber Duck not to be confused with the Peking Duck my wife craves currently. You dont know how hard it is to get this kind of thing right, i have been busy for an hour! as my back hurts I gave up after an hour, need to think about getting my back back in shape first!
setup:1 blue gelled flash below scrim under tankfish tank on its side, duck on lower glass, drops on upper glass1 umbrella with flash100 MM Canon Macro Lens @ F32, 1/200 shutter speed3200 ISO
dont be fooled the drops are NOT water, its glycerin as water is too thin and pulled down by gravity, the water drops thus dont work well as lenses. use pure glycerin instead and work fast as also glycerin gets pulled flat by gravity and this just doesn’t aid you.
shot rubber duckies today due to DPC but failed to realize that you have to shoot 1 duck with vegetables, something red and a string in the shot…….so bummer, i wont join the DPC challenge!
4/365 out take, not so party duck!
3/365 Distortion
365 day 3 , decided to do something fun and weird at the same time, mounted fisheye lens and went in real close to on purpose create freaky distortion. my boy is still laughing from the session…..he is still at that age, luckily!
In photography and cinematography, perspective distortion is a warping or transformation of an object and its surrounding area that differs significantly from what the object would look like with a normal focal length, due to the relative scale of nearby and distant features. Perspective distortion is determined by the relative distances at which the image is captured and viewed, and is due to the angle of view of the image (as captured) being either wider or narrower than the angle of view at which the image is viewed, hence the apparent relative distances differing from what is expected.
and an out take, my ugly mug!
Dancing Paint
Inspired by Canon’s Pixma printer advertising commercial shots with some paint apparently splashing into the air, I got interested in how this was done and had to try this myself. A little research showed I wasnt alone in trying this out, but as far as I could find only one, the shooter hired by Canon was able to pull this off very well.
I have tried now several times and gotten better and better at it, with limited resources, no sound trigger nor a sound generator I went to work.
What you will need:
A small cheap computer speaker
Black Balloon
Lubricant
Background material
flags and reflectors
Tripod
Sound Generator (i used garage band on my mac)
Paint
Glycerin
Water
Syringes
Camera, lens and about 3-4 flashes depending on how you wish to photograph and light this.
DO NOT FORGET TO PUT A UV FILTER ON YOUR LENS TO PROTECT IT FROM AN ACCIDENTAL PAINT SPLASH!
Make sure anything valuable is packed in plastic bag or put far enough away to avoid any splashes of paint damaging it. I can tell you I have learned the hard way and have now rather colorful flash units!
I hope the below shot clarifies a bit how I had this set up, this was my 1st trial and afterward the set ups got a lot more complicated, but I didn’t take any shots of them…..just think 2-3 more flashes, a different background with light behind it.
I first tried to make the room dark, open the lens on bulb etc approach and then fire the flash when i wanted to take the image………this was very cumbersome and totally unnecessary in this case and I now do this by simply setting my camera to 1/160 of a second, F16 aperture to get a good depth, the flashes (and this is much more important) were all set to about 1/64 and 1/32 of a second, quite low power, so thats why the flashes were only inches away from the paint. at this power setting the flashes work extremely fast, hence the 160 shutter speed almost blocks out any ambient and the fast flash freezes the action of the paint in mid flight, or anywhere else you wish to catch it.
You have to use a remote shutter cable for this, and I have found out that in garage band none of the instruments really produce the right frequency, but there are some sound effect which do!
So the trick now lies in finding the right sound, making the right paint consistency (later more) and firing the shutter on the right moment to capture the perfect shot.
Paint consistency: for obvious reasons I have used water based paint, to get the consistency right though I sued a mix of 1/3 paint, 1/3 Glycerin and 1/3 water….teh paint brand was from Crayola (shhh dont tell my son)
Once you have the right paint, you take the balloon, cut of the bottom end, and stretch it tight over the loud speaker. Next you grease it with some lube so the balloon is nice and shiny and no dust shows up on it.
You then continue to place some drops of paint on it, try whatever you like, single color, mixed etc, also try topping off the paint with some lube on top of the paint for a smoother result.
Next you have to switch off as much ambient light as possible, set your focus and switch it to manual. Then the fun part starts, press the key to make your sound and at the right time press the shutter button…..ahhh just to late…….ok no problem, just clean up the whole scene, rub the balloon with paper tissue, lube it again, etc etc……do this about 30 times and you will end up with at least a few amazing shots.
I hope this explanation is useful for others wanting to try this, and if you do please share your findings as the sky is the limit!
All my gear is back from the doctor!
My gear had some problems, some were sick, some were dirty….so they had to go to the specialist and dust doctor for deep cleaning and medication.It sure looks like the sensor is clean again, and hell do they do a good job on dusting these guys, everything looks like new!
But everything has to be tested to prove its right so tonight, I had only limited time…..did a quick test with my little big boy as the subject…..man do kids NOT sit still.anyway everything squeeky clean and calibrated and fixed, etc etc again so here we go a few quick shots at home.
In two weeks time I am doing a shoot for a law firm, in between that for a salon, a few quick and small F&B shoots in between, all this whilst my wife and my wee boy fly out for a week of R&R in the Philippines…….i try to get some R&R with her when she is back home again!
Funny expressions
Dutch Filipino flags show his origin
All hens on deck!!
Food Photo Festival…..here we come?
Annette Abstoss send this to me from Spain…..now I am thinking of trying to go for a week break away, followed maybe by a stop over back home….who shows me the money? I so wish to go to this……a week of Tarragona, doing what I like etc …..will set up a piggy bank tomorrow!
Perhaps see you there?
Ciao
– FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –
Announcing the first international FOODPHOTO FESTIVAL, Tarragona
The best Food Photographers from all over the world will meet in Tarragona for exhibitions, workshops and networking.
The best Food Photographers from all over the world will meet for the very first time in a branch meeting with food stylists, editors, agents, advertising agencies, and art directors. Networking will be made possible in a relaxed atmosphere of the “Tinglado 4”, workshops in the “Refugio 2” and photography exhibitions will be spread over patios and unique exhibition spaces in the center and harbour of Tarragona in the beginning of October. The evening movie screenings and the award ceremony of the “FoodPhoto of the year” will take place in the open-air location of the “Camp de Mart”.
In short:
20 Exhibitions of worldwide known Food Photographers
4 days of networking of the professionals
4 days of workshops
4 evenings of movie screenings
Award ceremony
Educational Week
Tarragona, Spain – 17 May 2010
During the last decade, Spain has become a trailblazer in the world of haute cuisine. It has experienced an explosion of successes with its celebrated chefs, acclaimed restaurants and culinary innovations. Is it any wonder that the first international food photography exhibit – the FOODPHOTO Festival – will be held in Tarragona, Spain this coming October 2010?
These unique photography exhibitions, free and open to the public, will take place over a period of three weeks, in locations throughout Tarragona. In addition, there will be a four-day Professional Conference, culminating in the awarding of FoodPhoto of the Year.
Why a FoodPhoto Festival?
“If you can shoot food, you can shoot anything.” (shutterbug.com). Professionals consider food photography one of the most difficult specialties to master. The field generates more publications, greater sales and a larger audience then any other discipline. Yet in spite of this, names of the photographers remain mostly unknown. Jamie Oliver’s cookbooks are sold throughout the world, in many languages. But who shoots his pictures? The FoodPhoto festival will help bring these people into the forefront!
Who will participate in the FoodPhoto Festival?
Professional photographers and food stylists, of course, will be in attendance. But there will also be agents, editors, publishers, advertising agencies, art directors and professionals from the vast gastronomic sector. These people will be coming together to combine their skills, display their work and most of all – to share their passion with others.
HYPERLINK “http://www.foodphotofestival.org/index.php/exhibitions.html”Exhibition Dates: From 30 September – 17 October 2010
HYPERLINK “http://www.foodphotofestival.org/index.php/exhibitions.html”http://www.foodphotofestival.org/index.php/exhibitions.html
The FoodPhoto Festival will run from 30 September to 17 October. Venues will be scattered throughout Tarragona – from its exquisite city center to its beautiful harbor. The final selection of exhibitors will be released in June.
Professional Week: HYPERLINK “http://www.foodphotofestival.org/index.php/professional_week.html”30 September – 3 October 2010
During the FoodPhoto Festival’s Professional Week, food photography professionals from all over the world will join together. These four days will provide a rare opportunity for people to meet others in their field; facilitate an interchange of experiences; discuss trends; discover new products and find partners for the realization of new projects. Specialized workshops will be organized.
The Networking Center will be open and accessible to accredited visitors.
On the evenings of Thursday, September 30 – Saturday, October 2, movie screenings will be shown, highlighting the work of the photographers who are nominated for the FoodPhoto Festival awards.
FoodPhoto of the Year
An international jury will meet in Tarragona and select the FoodPhoto of the Year. The award ceremony, the culmination of this exciting show, will take place on Saturday night, October 2.
Educational Week: 4 October – 8 October
From 4 – 8 October, guided tours and special workshops directed towards those studying in the field will be organized.
Location: Tarragona, Spain
This glorious city – with its Roman and Medieval ruins, historical city center, gorgeous beaches and magnificent harbor – will provide a perfect setting for the first annual FoodPhoto Festival. The city is proud to be the host for the festival and looks forward to welcoming visitors from all over the world.
About the Organizers:
The organizers are photographer Gunter Beer and Events Organizer Manon Straver. Combined, they have several decades of experience in their respective fields. They have assembled a talented team of experts to produce this festival. They are very pleased to count with the collaboration of the Tarragona counsel of Tourism to realize the festival.
For more information:
FoodPhoto Festival organization:
Manon Straver (+34 651513300)
Gunter Beer (+34 607228294)
HYPERLINK “mailto:OCT2010@foodphotofestival.org”OCT2010@foodphotofestival.org
HYPERLINK “http://www.foodphotofestival.org/”www.foodphotofestival.org
Hong Kong Strobist Group Night Time Outing May 27th 7 PM
Organizer Ekmai from the HKSG organizes a night time outing, I will post all details below, but to join you need to sign up on meetup, its free of charge and only takes a minute.
WE ALSO LOOKING FOR 5-6 MODELS SO IF YOU FANCY SOME NICE PORTRAITS WITH hk SKYLINE OR BUILDINGS AS A BACKGROUND, PLS LET ME KNOW!!
Here is the link, and below all details: http://www.meetup.com/Hong-Kong-Strobist-Group/calendar/13420826/
“Ekmai says”: This month I thought it would be fun to try getting some cool night shots with the bright lights of Hong Kong as colourful backdrops and using strobes to perfectly light the subjects.
Two options we could do for this are
a) businesspeople shots with Central making the perfect backdrop (using each other as models)
b) edgy/fashion/portrait (see Jun’s photo that we use as the club logo above left) (bring and share your models)
To make the most of the night you will need to bring a tripod as well as light stands, umbrellas and colour correction gels.
Also, the HK-Land guards in Central can be a pain, so we will be in groups of 3 as usual – one shooting, and the other two holding the strobes in the busy Central districts so we wont attract too much attention.
If anyone has any friends who can model for us, or if the models on HK Strobist want to model for us, please let me know. Ideally, we need 5 models. If not, we will need to pose for each other so suggest the guys wear a shirt and tie and women skirt and blouse.
- Location
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Central
(The big open area opposite Cheung Kong Centre, infront of the pool)
Hong Kong
Rock, Paper, Scissors
The Crazed Asian Game that anyone can play without any tools. The game is often used as a selection method similar to tossing a coin.
According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock-paper-scissors
The players count aloud to three, or speak the name of the game (e.g. “Rock! Paper! Scissors!” or “Ro! Cham! Beau!” or “Ching! Chang! Chong!), each time raising one hand in a fist and swinging it down on the count. On the third count (saying “scissors!” or “Beau!”), the players change their hands into one of three gestures, which they then “throw” by extending it towards their opponent. Variations include a version where players use a fourth count — “Shoot!” — before throwing their gesture, or a version where they only shake their hands twice before “throwing.” Others prefer a five count cadence by saying “Says Shoot!” before throwing their gesture. The gestures are:
- Rock, represented by a clenched fist.
- Scissors, represented by the index and middle fingers extended and separated.
- Paper, represented by an open hand, with the fingers connected (horizontal).
The objective is to select a gesture which defeats that of the opponent. Gestures are resolved as follows:
- Rock blunts or breaks scissors: that is, rock defeats scissors
- Scissors cut paper: scissors defeats paper
- Paper covers or captures rock: paper defeats rock
If both players choose the same gesture, the game is tied and the players throw again.
Here is my take on Rock Paper Scissors in Images:
Rock Paper Scissors
Rock paper Scissors, the Modern version
Rock Paper Scissors
Hong Kong as maybe not everyone expects it
Hong Kong keeps amazing me, even after 15 years here! where ever you go how many turns you make thats how many sights you can expect.
A lovely building, a old lady working hard collecting papers, a building almost collapsing, a pink building, a blue one, someone cutting a blister or corn on his foot on the streets with a hobby knife, a barber shop for HK$ 25 hair cuts, yes HK$ 25 hair cuts, I should have tried and would have if I had any hair on my head!
Here i show you some random images from my stroll today:
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- Big Balcony for HK
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- Poor Old woman needs to work at this age like this
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- Haircut HK$ 25
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- Lonely Flower
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- Antiques
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- Church
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- Butcher
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- Temple
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- Cutting Corn with Hobby Knife
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- When will I collapse?
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- HK Street
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- Old women in shop front
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- Overgrown sign plate
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- Tom Bennell’s Olive and Oils
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- Museum of Medical Sciences
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- Museum of Medical Sciences
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- Museum of Medical Sciences
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- Museum of Medical Sciences
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- YMCA Sheung Wan
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- YMCA Sheung Wan
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- YMCA Sheung Wan
Here the Museum of Medical Sciences, website (with some amazing old pictures) : http://www.hkmms.org.hk/English/main.htm
Museum of Medical Sciences
Museum of Medical Sciences
Museum of Medical Sciences
Museum of Medical Sciences
The Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences, established in 1996, is an unique institution charting the historical development of medical sciences in Hong Kong. The Museum occupies 10,000 square feet, comprising 11 Exhibition Galleries, 1 Gallery for Tai Ping Shan View, 1 Library and 1 Lecture Room, each presents in a variety of ways to arouse interests and to help members of the community know more about health and diseases, including past conquests, current developments and future challenge of special relevance to Hong Kong. It also explores the interface between Chinese and Western medicine and encourage research in this area. It intends to serve both as an educational venue and to restore and conserve medical objects of historical value. As such, it is the first of its kind amongst medical museums in the world!
History
The Old Bacteriological institute, established in 1906, was the first purpose-built medical laboratory in Hong Kong, situated near to the site of Tai Ping Shan plague outbreak. Originally, there was the main building and two subsidiary blocks – one designed to accommodate the attendants, the other as an animal house containing stables. Over the years, the Institute played a significant role in the development of Hong Kong’s medical service. With time, its role changed as did its name, becoming the Pathological Institute. It continued to be used as a laboratory until the 1950’s. Ever since Government declared it a listed building, the Hong Kong College of Pathologists, knowing the building’s potential and the importance of public awareness of the history and development of medical science in this region, petitioned for its uses as a museum. The Hong Kong Government agreed, and the Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences was founded.
The Building
The building is a British architectural design, drawing references from the Edwardian period, and representing Hong Kong architecture in the first decade of the century. It was transformed to suit tropical conditions, with expansive balconies and well-placed windows to encourage cross-ventilation. The use of Chinese roof tiles is probably due to the sensitivity to the local materials and deference to the local culture. It is interesting to imagine that in order to encourage the creativity of the exploring pathologists, the architect’s impulse allowed a folly of obelisks to sprout forth from the top of the building corners in stoic formation.
Another Gem on my way today, the Young mens Christian Association (we all know that means YMCA…erh….thank you darling!) a beauty of a building in HK I would say but all I can find is Chinese language only website info about this…..but what a nice building it is, and that in concrete jungle!
YMCA Sheung Wan
YMCA Sheung Wan
YMCA Sheung Wan
Jamming with Sam Mason
Richard Ekkebus and his team of Chefs at the Mandarin Oriental’s Restaurant Amber, a 2 Michelin Star establishment of outstanding standards. Richard invited me to come and do a Photo-shoot “in the heat of the night”. I can tell you thats a big challenge, no one can stop for 5 seconds as orders need to be fired, so there is no being nice to the photographer. Lucky I know the workings of a professional kitchen well enough so I know a bit where to be at what times.
So I ended up with a neat set of action shots where all the Chefs were really great sports, plus some studio shots of the individual dishes.
If you havent given yourself the Gourmet treatment lately, you should come here once and try his amazing food. I was also lucky to meet there Guest Pastry Chef Sam Mason, a little more about him can be read on this blog here: http://www.chow.com/stories/10796
I will let the pictures and Richard Ekkebus speak for them-self now.
Jamming with Sam Mason in Amber By Richard Ekkebus
There is something about cooking, something in kitchens that I only found when playing Rugby when I was younger: a form camaraderie, the willingness to achieve something in a team, to exchange knowledge, passion in order to evolve & to become a better team player & technician. I for that reason love to invite talented chefs, some former colleagues, Former chefs of mine & other friends I know or some I do not know but admire. We have had many talented chefs in Amber over the past few years of existence: Nicolas Lebec, Robert Kranenborg, Hans Snijders, Gilles Marchal, Jean Francois Piege, Jonnie Boer, Thierry Marx, Didier Elena, Christian Le Squer just to name a few & last week Sam Mason. All these great chefs came to Amber & shared their techniques unconditionally. Who said chefs have secrets, in my opinion there is nothing as inspiring as sharing your views, your concepts & your ideas with your counterparts, it will push you even further & make you dig even deeper to do it better & different that anyone else. It is an amazing opportunity for my team to see that I am not the only nut case pushing to become better tomorrow than we where today….
I have been a fan over the past 5 years of wd~50 in NYC for many years, a fan of their boundless creativity. Wd~50 opened at 50 Clinton Street, between Rivington and Stanton, on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in NYC. The dream team for many years of their young existence was Wylie Dufresne Chef Owner, Eben Freeman behind the bar as the gifted Mixologist & Sam Mason in Pastry
We have been working over the past year extensively with Eben, he has been involved with great events in our MO bar & Amber Restaurant, always driven by booze, great booze. Eben has been elementary to evolve & perfect the technique of our Amber & MOBar Mixologist team.
Sam is today considered one of the most creative chefs working in America. As the former pastry chef at wd-50, Sam Mason made a name for himself creating unlikely dishes such as cocoa caviar and miso ice cream. When he decided to open his own restaurant, the tattooed 33-year-old did so in unusually brash fashion, detailing the stops and starts of the process (Construction delay! Liquor license application red tape!) By the time it opened in SoHo in September 2007, Tailor was one of the most hyped restaurants to hit New York that year. Its savory and sweet dishes like chocolate-miso-glazed cod, sesame ice cream paired with ancho chile caramel and peanut “soil,” and Bazooka bubblegum–flavored cocktails sparked polarizing reactions. Food sites like Eater and Mouthfuls attracted comments ranging from “Sam Mason is my f…… hero” to “What is this Fear Factor?” Sam & Eben became both even more intriguing & clear the boys where ready to push the envelope even further.
During our highly successful All Star Mixologist Diner in Amber in June where Eben along with Jim Meehan & Linden Pride created Cocktails along with a 8 course menu by myself, the idea came up to bring Sam Mason in Hong Kong to do a one off exclusive diner event in Amber. Sam & Eben had closed the shop in August: so August was the month to go for.
For this event we prepared an exciting eight-course tasting menu. In order to make the event more challenging for us and more exciting for our guests, we took a novel approach: half of the menu will be cooked by Amber’s culinary team, the other half by Sam. Amber’s team cooked four savoury dishes with fruits while Sam prepared four desserts with vegetables.
After having created quite a storm with our previous Mixologist Cocktail Pairing Dinner, and due to popular demand we brought back Eben Freeman too. Eben created two special cocktails during the event and wines for the evening where carefully selected and paired by Patrick Frawley, our sommelier. I had send personalized emails to our regular foodie following & the event was full in 2 hours, obliging us to spill over in the dining room. The event was well received & the cocktail making at the table by Eben was highly entertaining. I have attached the menu along with brilliant pictures by Marco Veringa that will tell you the culinary journey of the evening.
Menu Attached
Bio’s:
Sam Mason, is one of the most creative chefs working in America today.
Having honed his craft at some of the most prestigious kitchens in the country including Palladin, Union Pacific, Atlas, Park Avenue Café and most notably as the pastry chef at the renowned WD-50, Mason is known for his amazing culinary vision and gift in combining unusual and innovative ingredients that surprise, delight and challenge the palate.
A native of Jacksonville, Florida, Mason was educated at Johnson & Wales University.
Eben Freeman, a native New Yorker, has worked in NYC’s food and beverage industry for two decades. During this time he has worked with the likes of Pino Luongo, Jean-Louis Palladin, Jimmy Bradley, Kurt Gutenbrunner, and Danny Meyer.
In 2002, Freeman joined chefs Wylie Dufresne and Sam Mason at wd-50 and it was there that Freeman’s “chef-driven” style of bartending was fully realized. He has been invited to participate in numerous esteemed seminars such as Bols Liqueurs’ molecular mixology seminar in Paris with noted molecular gastronomist, Herve This. Ever since, Freeman has been pushing the boundaries of the cocktail and has endeavored to challenge perceptions with his innovative and unexpected approach. He continues to be commissioned by liquor brands, such as Bacardi, to develop flavors and create signature cocktails.
Currently, Freeman works with chef Sam Mason at Tailor where he has created one of the most celebrated cocktail programs in the city. He makes his home with his wife and two children in Harlem, New York City.
We have this very exciting dinner event this Saturday and I am certain that a fine gourmet like yourself would find this an excellent opportunity to discover the talents of our guest chef Sam Mason from tailors in NYC & according to forbes magazine the best mixologist in NYY; Eben Freeman.
More information on Sam Mason at: http://tailornyc.com
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- Chocolate Cake with Candied Mushrooms
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- Eel and Goose Liver
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- Lobster
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- Suckling Pig being plated
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- Richard Ekkebus and Sam Mason
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- Pastry Chef Sam Mason at Work
My little Boy’s 1st Time Ice Skating
So Dad here you go got a brand spanking new 70-200 mm f 2.8 Canon Lens, and one of your dearest goes on an epic first skate…….yeah yeah the pressure builds…..how am i going to keep this heavy beast still while hand golding it, how do i get a fast enough shutter-speed to avoid blur while we are indoor and flash is no use because of distance…..
so the answer is trial and error…get to know your equipment…..it all takes time and understanding. Oh yeah and start to time your breathing…..breath in……hold it….now dont move……”click” ok and your allowed to gasp for air again! a bit like that!
at first it didnt go too well, but in the end and often a 1000 Iso all went down ok’ish. Appologies there are some other test shots mixed up i did in the afternoon……sweet stuff this lens and mind you it was heavily overcast today!
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Portrait of an Alien
Kohlrabi or also called German Turnip.
(sources used: wikipedia.org)
This perfect vegetable with its ridiculous Alien look and “tentacles” is often forgotten in the bottom drawers of the fridge, until its slowly going off.
Kohlrabi raw
If you ask me only because people know way too little about this little gem. Believe it or not but it belongs to the family Brassica Oleracea Gongylodes Group, or in easier terms Cabbages, Broccoli and Cauliflower.
Kohlrabi’s taste when eaten raw resembles a crispy and juicy Apple, however less sweet, the Texture resembles more a stem of broccoli or a cabbage Heart. Smaller Kohlrabi’s are better as the texture didn’t turn “woody” yet, so smaller then 8 cm in diameter would be best. Kohlrabi can be found both White, Purple and Green which is more common, they can be eaten as well raw as cooked, and also the stems and leaves can be eaten.
Kohlrabi is grown from July to November in Northern Europe, is a good source of Vitamin C, as well as magnesium and phosphorous, which are useful in the absorption of calcium.
The name Kohlrabi comes from German Language and means literally “Cabbage Turnip”.
This fine specimen is off course weeks old as I had to peel away almost all of its intersting leaves as they were all yellow and hanging down. As with everything freshness is paramount, but blucky for me this vegetable can easily keep for weeks without the main bulb deteriorating.
Kohlrabi in Creamy Dill Sauce
Ingredients
225 Gram Carrots shredded
25 Gram Butter
1 Cup Chicken Stock
1/2 Teaspoon Fresh Chopped Dill
150 Ml Cream
Salt and Pepper
- Thickly peel the kohlrabi to remove the woody outer layer. Slice thinly and cook with the carrots, butter and stock for about 10 minutes, until tender.
- Blend the Corn Starch with very little cold water and mix under the vegetable stew. Stir well.
- Return to the boil and stir in the Cream and Dill, adjust seasoning and serve hot with your main dish.
Raw and Cooked
Raw and cooked close up
Light, Science & Magic
A great book by Fil Hunter, Steven Biver and Paul Fuqua
I just started reading in fact and thought I’d have to take a self portrait with the book and some lights, so what I have done here is a 430EX with a snoot to light the book, me and surroundings a bit, in such a way that its almost vignetting, I then hold another 430EX behind the book pointing upwards with a orange gel over it to warm up the temperature.
Supposedly after reading this book and understanding the Science behind it I should be able to create anything I wish….so lets see if my photography lighting will explode the coming weeks!
Until then, Happy Cooking and Shooting!
Me Studying
Me Orange Gelled this time
Food Photography and deception
I just had to share this, any readers I have right now, you must know I am into food photography, however I am also an avid critic on Images that dont show the true picture.
I mean I know marketing is important, but its also important to show the truth or you will end up with something like this:
http://www.funtasticus.com/20080324/advertising-vs-reality-a-product-comparison-project/
This cannot be what we food photographers want on our name do we?
Something to think about, after you shot, who is going to edit, what are they going to do with the image, do you want your picture to be used to promote something that is not whats in the package?
hmmmm……
Photographing Glassware
Empty Glass on Blue
This post was inspired by Fhansen photos (link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/76924374@N00/ )who is one of my Flickr contacts, who has some absolutely awesome shots of wine glasses and a bloody mary, his shots stayed with me until now, many weeks after I had seen his. His shots were so crisp glass shots….i kept wondering how he did it. he did share some tips with me once after seeing some of my shots and as I always have trouble taking good shots of Glassware, I thought I have to revisit that now.
Glass half full
Excuse my ugly walls, I didn’t have any graduated background materials which I would prefer to use for this, but since this is just a learning experience I thought….oh well…so what you will see here used as b/g are my wall, some silver or black paper and sometimes a foam board.
Champagne Coupe
What I have learned over time is to light the background and let the light come through the glass, instead of adding fill, or lighting from above/the front. So what I have done here is place 1 light with a snoot and a blue gel directed from the side, above, level and below on the background. You can clearly see I used different angles, and not always succesfull….also my snoot isnt round but more oblong shaped, I tried to fix that, but didn’t do too well.
White Wine
In most shots I have used 2 white or black foam boards on either side of the glass, and even sometimes mixing them, i.e. one white left and a black left, to add those beautiful black or white reflections on the sides of the glass, stem and foot.
Varying success I have to admit, but for a first try also not too bad. I didnt quite get it sharp, perhaps I been stupid and rely on AF here as I can imagine its tricky to af on glass, and I also realize I would have better used a black reflective base to put the glass on to add something to the shot.
The glasses were quality Riedel glasses however not new so you can see some wear and tear on them.
Glass
Anyway I thought this is worth sharing with you all and as I am anyway waiting for a skype conference call for WACS at 4 am HK time, I thought might as well do my best on this.
I will now resort to filling the glasses and emptying them until my call is over. Expect a grumpy man in the morning at 9 am 😉
Cheers
Chef
Strobing, Styling and working with Textures
So I felt I was in dire need of some more practise, as last weeks few shoots at home were less then satisfactory.
Jens
So I started taking my little food stylist Jens along to the stationary shop for some paper backgrounds with textures and a variety of colors. Prices of this are very reasonable, about HK$ 6 per sheet, and its great to have 12 or so now at home securely rolled up in a tube, ready for any time I might need one.
I decided that this time I wanted to skip cooking or producing anything, but just work on the photography side of it, as its less hectic and confusing. Also I made use of the ability to once shoot in daylight, be it very overcast, but that just makes all of Hong Kong one giant Softbox.
In the short future I have to shoot some bottles for someone and as I always had trouble with that due to height etc I thought ok lets get a bottle of the cheapest bubbly I could get, (Emilie and me we both dont like bubbly) I immediately thought of Strawberries, what else to go with bubbly huh and lucky as I was they had some near perfect ones in the Supermarket. Then I also saw some Kiwi berries, tiny little kiwi’s with edible skin, true when ripe they are mushy, when unripe they are sour and hard. Anyway I thought great material to contrast with Big Brother Big Kiwi.
Kiwi (Big Brother & Small Sister)
Next was a Cup Noodles, how convenient at lunch time! with some bottled Chinese Oolong Tea.
I personally think the cheap paper backgrounds are great to work with, 
they can really add some punch to the images, especially if you consider that until now I almost shot everything exclusively on white or black backgrounds! Color my life I say!
I did have some big misses again though, some Kiwi berries were left out of the shot and I failed to realize that they would still cast a shadow into the image…..bummer! Also the lighting isnt that great really, in some areas its great but at the right its too light and at the left too dark, especially on the subjects. I think I am in dear need of some stands which can gold up reflectors in any position I need (or an assistant with 10 arms) so I will be looking into getting something hopefully cheap and jolly for that soon. For the Kiwi’s I used the 100 MM Canon Lens.
For the Champagne, I was worried as the bottles are very high but narrow as well…..So I thought to shoot it with a glass besides it, and the Strawberries just in between in front.
For this i chose to use the 50 MM 1.4 so I could get lower and closer in, as I really dont like to shoot this from above, but also dont have a large enough background which goes up, so I could shoot it straight on. There are reflections in the bottle but mainly of the stuff that is in the bottle, you cant really see myself, or any other things in the room clearly so I was quite happy with that.
Anyway I am quite happy with these few shots, except for the cup noodles…that just seems to be a shot of cup noodles and nothing more!
Bubbly and Strawberries
Roast Gooseliver with 50 Clove Garlic Confit
Roast Gooseliver with 50 Clove Garlic Confit
Goose Liver:
1 Whole Goose Liver
20 Grams Maldon Sea Salt
50 Grams White Pepper Freshly Ground
6 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
Celeriac Puree:
500 Grams Celeriac, Peeled
150 Grams Milk
Salt and Pepper
A dash of Nutmeg
50 Clove Garlic Confit:
50 Cloves Garlic in the skin
200 Grams rendered Goose Fat
Turned vegetables:
100 Grams Carrot
100 Grams Zucchini
100 Grams Radish
Method:
Season the Liver with Salt, Pepper, Lay Liver on a baking tray and preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Sprinkle Fresh Thyme around and place in oven for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 165 degrees Celsius as to avoid burning the skin. Bake until almost well done.
Boil the Celeriac in the Milk, and blend, add more Milk if needed, add seasonings, and place in center of plate.
Melt Goose Fat and place Garlic Cloves in Fat, on low fire slowly cook the Garlic Cloves until done. Remove from Fat and allow to cool slightly. Press each Clove slowly out of the skin and place it on the plate around the Celeriac Puree.
Boil Turned Vegetables until done, wilt in melted butter and scatter also around the celeriac.
Place Goose Liver on top of the Celeriac and spreads the Thyme around.
Drink a relatively sweet wine with this and do not worry about calories, cholesterol etc, it’s the wrong day for that!
Image was taken with a Point and Shoot, sorry for the quality!
Inca Tomato Tartar
Inca Tomatoes in the case, a nice variety of Tigers, Pineapple, Lemon, Beef and other Tomatoes!
Inca Tomatoes freshly delivered
For this dish there is no need to have a recipe, as its all so simple.
Simply score the Tomatoes and dunk them in Boiling Water and then Ice Water to remove the Tomato Skins. Cut the Tomatoes in quarters and deseed them, next dice the flesh nicely all the same size. Put each Variety in a bowl and add some very finely chopped Onions, Oregano, Salt and Pepper and some very nice Ligurian Olive Oil. Toss gently and assemble three different types of Tomato Tartar in a square mold.
Top with home made Melba Toasts, est voila a simple but very yummy appetizer is born!
Inca Tomato Tartar
Inca Tomato Tartar
Inca Tomato Tartar
Black Kumato Crumble with Arugula Pesto
This Recipe comes from a Friend of mine, Angelo Mcdonnell who is a great Chef, and I love this recipe in particular because its so refreshing but at the same time sweet.
Black Kumato Crumble
Arugula Pesto
– 50 gr pine nuts – 200 ml olive oil – 40 gr garlic – 250 ml tightly packed fresh basil – 250 ml tightly packed arugula – 80 gr grated parmesan cheeseCrush pine nuts in a blender and add olive oil and garlic. Add the basil, arugula and blend for 1 minute. Add the cheese and blend for an additional 1-minute.
Crumble Topping
– 250 gr flour – 130 gr butter – 50 gr sugar – 5 gr saltMerge all components and grate through a large hole grater.
Savory Dough
– 350 gr flour – 120 gr butter – 5 gr salt – 5 gr fresh oregano, chopped – 30 ml milkMixed all components to a dough consistency. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Black Kumato Tomato Filling
– 100 gr black kumato tomatoes, diced – 10 gr onion, chopped – 5 ml basil, choppd – 1 pc garlic clove, chopped – 30 ml olive oil salt and pepeprSauté the onions and garlic in olive oil for 1 minute. Add the diced black tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes. Add the basil, salt and pepper.
Assembly
Roll out the savory dough to 3mm thickness and line a buttered square baking mold. Add the black tomato filling and finish with a layer of crumble. Baked at 180 Celsius for 10 minutes. Brush the plate with arugula pesto and serve crumble tart on top. Garnish with a few leaves of arugula tossed in vinaigrette.
Kumato's in the case
Softboxes and Flashwaves Triggers
Softbox + Flashwaves trigger
I wonder if anyone has flash waves and found a way of getting them to fire the flash whislt its not under the flash. The reason I am looking into this is it creates problems when I use my softboxes, as the flashwaves slide under in only one way, thus I have to turn my flash away and then twist the head back in the softbox, but this is far from ideal or stable. The flashwaves triggers come with some cable, a mini stereo plug to go into the flashwaves, and the other end is a weird plug, never seen it before….anyway nowhere to plug it in my canon flashes……anyone with any tips? pls shine a light for me!
Strobing with Malcolm, Lobster and Aberdeen as Background
Yesterday it was finally time to take softboxes, umbrellas, stands, tripods and just about everything esle in photography gear I own outside for some more serious work.
Malcolm and me we had this idea to do some seafood shots at Aberdeen harbour site, however the weather was playing parts, cloudy and very windy (read umbrellas and softboxes flying around) but we found a little stretch that was nicely sheltered and good to shoot.
Malcolm setting up Lighting Gear
First things first so we got to work to get the water boiling, and luckily Malcolm was so good to think of this being a problem at home….so he brought a big thermos with already boiling water along! Imagine the Kilos he brought along! Veggies in the pan, splash of white wine and we were off to seting up gear and visualizing what we wanted to do. First what we wanted was to get some Lobster shots where the Lobster was still alive, of which you can see some example here:
Boston Lobster
To get the Lobster in the pan was the next big thing, we both switched
Marco setting lights
places few times to shoot and light or assist in any way needed. So we set up the pot on the right location and set the lighting, using softboxes as the area was quite small and i like the lights from the softboxes much much more then from the umbrellas, especially if there are reflective surfaces.
Lobster hitting Pot
I had some serious problems with reflections in the water in the pan, and also the clarity of my pictures here is not that great, i am wondering is it my 17-70 mm lens? perhaps it is.
Anyhow, the Lobster was cooking and as that takes a while we went scouting for options on how to shoot the Lamb, now take into account I had no kitchen, no nothing at all…….just an ice cold concrete slab under my knees that was all i had to work with………so well cold lamb, cold sauce etc, in a picture looks
Cinnamon Smoked Lamb
just …..erh……cold! yes so we did find a great arrangement with the plate and the leaves and branches, but the food was crap. Next time better!
Cinnamon smoked Lamb
So lesson learned do not attempt to make cold food look warm, it wont work, rather next time just schlep your whole kitchen to the location!
The Lobster meanwhile done, the beers nice and warm, we setup on the seaside an umbrella to light the body from the right and a bare flesh left to create nice rim lighting.
I end now with some shots of malcolm and me:
Malcolm taking a bite
Yummy!
Marco digging the Tail Credits Malcolm!
Testing my new Softboxes with Caviar and Balik Salmon, what Luxury!
Balik Salmon and Chinese Caviar
Balik style home smoked salmon with Chinese Hybrid Kaluga-Schrenki Caviar (free of charge) which is of superb quality, much better then the farmed Italian or French Caviar nowadays. On the side you can see some condiments for the Caviar and some Bruschetta’s with different toppings. so yes dinner was a blast! Strobist: 1 softbox above and behind with 430EX 1 softbox slightly above left with 430EXII Would like to mention if you ever get to taste Caviar, try it the traditional way, on the soft part of a fist, lick it off and take about 1/2 a shot of Vodka, then let it all mingle in the mout for a few seconds before swallowing….oomph what an explosion of tastes.
I have to say my two small size softboxes give me pretty nice results, way better then using umbrellas for this kind of small table top things. Umbrellas spread light around the whole room so you dont get too much directionality…..this is solved now with these soft boxes. have to admit it was my first shoot with them and just did the “bath in light thingy” have to see how it works when i want to do black background darker type of shots, but I bet you for that I will need another flash and snoot at least to
add high lights. Also overdue are some mirrors, but hey you cant have everything and to be honest living in a Hong Kong shoebox, everything needs to be set up and cleaned away right afterwards again……this means that every shoot takes at least 2 hours, and its full of labor…..then again its a lot better then having a husband “couch Potato” I suppose, right Honey?
Salmon and Caviar
The Babies
Bruschetta
The best way to eat Caviar
Good equipment is half the job!
Its really true, good stuff makes half your work. So since yesterday I am the happy owner of two very small portable softboxes, bought from Ying Kee in Sham Shui Po at HK$ 250 each. Each comes with a bountifull ball head connector, a sliding mechanism to match up with the strobes and triggers….for portable and home style studio pretty good stuff I find, however I seem to have problems with white balance, so need to do some tests. The inner lining of the boxes is silver, and the cover is seemingly plain white, however if I dont manually adjust it seems everything comes out golden cast.
anyway here are the softboxes in actin:
Softboxes for Home Studios
Here a close up shot of the Soft box with the flash and triggers and ball head connected to a light stand:
Softbox close up
As you can see my flashwaves triggers get in the way, but as canon flashes dont come with pc sync or any other connections…..this way will have to do for now….next time i wil try and find a hot shoe which can link the two via cable, so my flash can be positioned better.
The whole connection thing apart from my troubles is pretty much well done and the softbox sits pretty tight on the connector ring. The Ball Head also performs pretty well considering the weight resting on it, it did not slip at all. Only one minus I would say is that everything is connected by big butterfly screws which quite often can get in the way of each other.
Time for setting up and breaking down 2 of these units, the camera, etc etc, is quite considerable……I was left with only 15 minutes to shoot today, time was not on my side. but count on 20 minutes at least to set up and same for breaking down and putting everything away.
I am really eager to do another drink or food shot with these, but will need to wait till I really have some free time for that, I can only imagine how my lamb shot, or bloody mary shot would look like with these softboxes.
I forgot to mention the softboxes with ball heads and slider connection systems cost only HK$ 250 so its worthwhile to try and experiment with these without breaking the bank.
Ok so here some test shots with this setup:
My clock
Some Corn
Royal Albert Tea Cups
and finally my wee boys favorites
Oh I forgot to mention I also got myself a spanking new tripod with ball head, finally one which i can put horizontal, or for that matter in just about any direction i ever wish to…..and well Alex will be happy to as he got my old one so at least hess got a bit of equipment to experiment about with:
Ballhead Tripod
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