KOBE's Japanese Steak House

© by Michael Long 2013

© by Michael Long

© by Michael Long 2013

The other nite I got invited to join the family and granddaughter's birthday party at KOBE's.  In Rancho Mirage, CA.  

I took my Nikon to get some family pictures etc. Along with the family pictures I got to take pictures of the chef cooking our dinner. 

The hardest part of this was shooting in available lite.  I did manage to get a few pictures of the chef with a flash,  but I could tell that he wasn't real excited about the flash thing.  So I cranked up the ISO to 1600 dropped the shutter speed to 1/30 and the F-stop was about F8.  I did have to adjust the pictures a little bit in photoshop, but that was just to bring up the exposure some.  And Poof they were done.

Just a different angle

© by Michael Long 2013

© by Michael Long 2013

I was hoping to get a portfolio picture out of this one,  We'll see after I get an enlargement of the pic printed up..  This was shot with a Nikon d3200,  A 55-200 lens with an extension ring.  The reason for the extension ring was to get in a touch closer to the fish and still retain focus.  The light source was diffused window light, on the right and a silver reflector on the left to fill in.  I used a manual setting for the exposure.  with bracketing. 

Here is another pic of the same Salmon but from a different angle.  Every thing stayed the same except the lens...... I went to a 18-55 lens.  Same lighting etc.

FACEBOOK

Today we just pulled all of our photographs off of FACEBOOK.  They have in there info section or wherever it is.  A clause that states in short that they have the right to use any of our photographs of anything that is posted And use it in their OR Third party advertising.  So to make a long story shorter,  they can use your pictures of you or your family anyway they want...... and there is nothing that you can do about it........  So don't look for us on FaceBook.  I will keep a personal page on there but that's it.  I hope that this is helpful in some way.

Here is a link to the article.


  http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/04/privacy-groups-ask-f-t-c-to-block-facebook-policy-changes/


 

A possible menu cover

© by Michael Long 2013

I just got a new camera body to work with.  I got a Nikon d3200 with 24.1 megapixels  which is a bunch of pixels.  Anyway,  This started off as a test shoot on the camera,.  And it came out so well that I may use it in my portfolio,  as a menu cover.  But we'll see about that and how that goes.

This was done without booze,  but with Lemon-aide and fake ice crystals.  or chunks.  The lighting came from the right side through a diffuser.  There is NO reflector on the left.  The floor of counter top was a fake marble or slate tile.  Actually it was Lino peel and stick tile.  And a black card for the background.  The lime twist was the only real thing in the picture,  And probably the hardest to make and get to curl like I wanted.  So there you go.  a Menu cover for a bar.  

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...  

ScotchGuard

I was reading somewhere again,  On food styling of course...... about pancakes... And how to make them picture perfect for the camera...... 

So the other day I made up a bunch of pancakes to shoot.....  I used a box mix and my biggest concern at the time was getting them all the same size.  So anyway,  I picked out the best three of the batch and saved them for the pictures.  

The first thing I did when it was time to take my pictures,  Was to spray SCOTCHGUARD on the cakes,  I did all three but Looking at the pictures I really don't think that is really necessary to do, Just the top one or the HERO cake.  By now the cakes are not as fluffy as they should be,  But this was more of a test than anything else.  

So I sat the plate down on the set and aligned the camera for the angle and did my pre-focus.  etc.  Stacked my cakes with the good one on top,  Took some test shots and checked them out,  I adjusted from there,  To get my final composition the way I wanted.  Placed the butter on top.  For the real shot I would use pads of butter,  but this was testing only.  Then poured on the syrup And watched it run right off the cakes onto the plate...... So that was test one.....  got a few good pic's.  But nothing outstanding.  Then I decided to put the syrup in the frig to cool down and run slower.......  So the final shot came out better.....  

So what one needs is scotchguard to protect the cakes from too much syrup and cold syrup so it doesn't run all over the place while your trying to get your pictures.

© by Michael Long 2013

Using make up wedges

Both pictures were taken on a Nikon 3000 camera and a 55-200mm lens.  The trick to this photograph was the use of the make up wedges that were used to give the croissant the height. In turn making the roll look bigger.  That was about the only trick to these pictures other than cropping them.  The top picture was done with out any cropping,  Where as the second picture was cropped to the rule of thirds.  Shifting the center of interest to a more pleasing angle.  Both pictures would sell,  But the bottom one is more correct.  The other trick to the picture was to get the butter to melt.  Which was a simple trick of using a kitchen torch to melt the butter.  Both pictures are © by Michael Long 2013

Hot roll with melted butter

© by Michael Long

Having some time on my hands this morning,  And wanting to photograph a crescent roll.  I went for it.  I picked up a dozen rolls this past weekend at Sam's club and started to work this morning.  I tired the steam thing,  Not much luck with that,  Then I tried a bowl of boiling water behind the roll.  Got some steam,  but nothing that said HOT.  So I put a pad of butter on top and took a flame torch to the butter and slowly melted the butter so it would run down the front.....  And that came out pretty good.  I was happy with it.

I used a Nikor 200mm lens and diffused window light and a small reflector on the side......  

Test Photo's

Test photo's for the portfolio.  North lite,  with white reflector

Both Pictures are ©by Michael Long 2013

Portfolio

© 2013 by Michael Long

This is a test for a portfolio picture.  I wanted to see how it would carry on the internet.  If it goes well,  I'll post it on my portfolio.  Shooting it was simple,  single window lite,  no reflectors or anything.  Just an over cast day.......