ADDING AN ELEMENT TO A PHOTO

 © by Michael Long 2013

© By Michael Long 2013

Comparing the two pictures above,  wind up being totally different with the addition of the cheese in the top photo.  The picture still conforms to the rules of composition.  But the bottom just lacks the snap to make it a great photo.  

Also note that the top picture is with pasta sauce, and the bottom picture was done with chili. And very little photoshop work.  I did  photoshop the contrast and the exposure to give a little more lift to the top picture.  

Knowing the color wheel

© by Michael Long 2013

 This first picture was shot using the color wheel.  The yellow omelet against the blue plate.  The two colors are a cross from each other on the color wheel.  Remember art class in school!!!   Anyway, with the color of yellow against blue provides a pleasant picture and your able to find the subject as soon as you look at the photo.   

© by Michael Long 2013

This picture has NO contrast,  the colors blend together and it's hard to find the subject......  So therefore you need contrast in doing your photo's for you menu's, or POP displays.  Other wise the customer will miss your message.  

Chili and Pasta

© by Michael Long 2013

I saw a picture not to long ago,  That was styled very similar to this one.  There are some major differences between this one and the one that I saw.  I'm hoping that this was by accident.  I don't know if other photographer copied mine, or we both got lucky on this and shot similar pictures,  Which has happened.  

Anyway,  To make a long story shorter,  And getting back to the picture at hand,  The light was from the far right,  with a diffuser and NO reflector on the right.  The only photoshop that was done was to clean  up the plate.  And it's just a plain old chili and some dried pasta.    

PhotoShop Burger

© by Michael Long 2013

This is a test of what can be done in Photoshop.  I increased the contrast,  and brightened the tomato.  Got rid of the Drips of Thousand Island dressing on the plate,  And removed the dust specks from the bun.  I also increased the green in the lettuce.  And that's about it.  This is standard practice with me.  This type of thing I do not charge the customer for such minor touch ups.  

Hamburger Testing

© by Michael Long 2013

This morning I did some testing on photographing a hamburger. I started with a dozen buns to find one that looked good to photograph.  I used leafy green lettuce,  Only used the leafy ends making a skirt around the bun base.  Next came the burger, which was only cooked on one side very rare.  I torched the meat to bring up the other side to match.  I I used toothpicks to secure the patty onto the bun. To keep the meat from drying out I used Pam cooking stray to bring it back to life.  I also used make up wedges to give the meat a little height.  Of course as you can see the tomato came next with water spray on the outer side to keep a fresh look.  I thousand Island dressing was applied after the burger was assembled.  The dressing was applied on set with eye droppers.  And that's it.  The lighting was diffused daylight from the right and silver reflector on the left.  And Poof that's what it takes to take a picture of a hamburger...