Ive hired a food stylist

[UKBob]

More correctly, I took advantage of the good nature of the indian running the local pizza gaff, who couldnt try harder to please his customers, and agreed to get his staff to make me "perfect pizzas" whenever I want them

"Hello. I want a perfect pizza! Make sure all the ingredients are in place, and dont spill cheese on the edges because it burns and leaves marks. Theres a good lad. The asylum? No no, I live in the community! Please deliver to: ..."

Lord only knows what they think of me now

Edited by UKBob on Saturday 25th November 08:06

[Mrs Fish]

[Andy M]

UKBob said:

Lord only knows what they think of me now

Easy to find out, just check for copious amounts of phlegm on your pizza

[UKBob]

Andy M said:

UKBob said:

Lord only knows what they think of me now

Easy to find out, just check for copious amounts of phlegm on your pizza

I could buy a microscope, to check for the devils own tadpoles too

[badbeachbuggy]

UKBob said:

Andy M said:

UKBob said:

Lord only knows what they think of me now

Easy to find out, just check for copious amounts of phlegm on your pizza

I could buy a microscope, to check for the devils own tadpoles too

On one of our local Curry menus one dish says "includes chef's hand made special sauce" I've never dared to order it!

[megy]

So do we get a pic of the pefert pizza then Bob?

[Rednut05]

megy said:

So do we get a pic of the pefert pizza then Bob?

Would rather a picture of the perfect one.

[UKBob]

megy said:

So do we get a pic of the pefert pizza then Bob?

No no, you misunderstand. I didnt photograph it, Im just a fussy eater

[UKBob]

Here you go Megy



Im not happy with it, or any of my pizza shots. Its not too bad though. The whole shoot will generate hundreds of dollars over the years ahead which buys more pizza (and beer)

The very out of focus area at the top makes using a magic wand for selection, blowing the white card, and then blurring the area smooth again hard (especially the bluring the area smooth again step)

[ed_p]

Perfectly cooked pizza I reckon. I think I might have been tempted to have the foreground "crust" in part-focus too. But what do I know - we're in the hands of the master here!

[UKBob]

ed_p said:

Perfectly cooked pizza I reckon. I think I might have been tempted to have the foreground "crust" in part-focus too.

Ive had some pretty sloppy pizzas delivered in my time, so sloppy I envisaged the driver racing to deliver on time, drifting around corners, the box sliding around on the back seat... this one was far from perfect but it was a little better than the ones I usually get.

re: dof, you're right. The crust probably should have been in focus. Not only was I drunk at the time of the shoot, but Im shooting everyting on F14 now, and each time you change the aperture you have to adjust the intensity of the flash lights. I have no idea how other photographers can do studio shoots and change their aperture every 2 minutes, I find it hard enough working with just one setting as it is.

ed_p said:

But what do I know - we're in the hands of the master here!

I wouldnt say that much, but you're welcome to if you like

[megy]

What adjustment do you get on the back of the lights Bob? What power setting are you using?

What are the shooting properties for the shot(the exif isnt available for that shot), shutter speed, lens zoom, approximate distance of the camera to subject. If you move further back, and zoom in more then (from my anderstanding) the depth of field will be wider for the same aperture.

You have brought back some memories of a TV program i saw a while back, all about food filming and photography, one of the funniest things i can remember from it was a way to get steam from cold or cooling food, place a tampon in boiling water and place where you want the steam. Tesco online is ideal, dont have to go through the embarassement of buying then.

[UKBob]

megy said:

What adjustment do you get on the back of the lights Bob? What power setting are you using?

What are the shooting properties for the shot(the exif isnt available for that shot), shutter speed, lens zoom, approximate distance of the camera to subject. If you move further back, and zoom in more then (from my anderstanding) the depth of field will be wider for the same aperture.

You have brought back some memories of a TV program i saw a while back, all about food filming and photography, one of the funniest things i can remember from it was a way to get steam from cold or cooling food, place a tampon in boiling water and place where you want the steam. Tesco online is ideal, dont have to go through the embarassement of buying then.

I thought it was the other way around... ie use less zoom and move closer to the subject for the most depth of field?

I shoot everything manual, iso 100, 250/s usually f14. 250w lights require 'about' 75% power at that setting. ie, I could probably go up to F20 on full power maybe, but I prefer to use one aperture setting and keep it the same so I dont have to change and adjust the power of the lights each time I shoot moving in or out to change the dof.

As you probably know, when you're using flash it doesnt matter if the shutter speed is 1/10th or 1/250th, even if the camera is hand held.

Im also partial to a shallow dof

The question is, which brand and type of tampon steams best. Praps you could ask in the pie and piston for me

[UKBob]

I dare not start another food thread, not till next week anyway
Heres more food from today


Im not sure what Id change, although the blurry stalk is a bit crap

[D_Mike]

perfect pizza always has the (stonebaked) crust a little burnt!

[graham@reading]

UKBob said:

The very out of focus area at the top makes using a magic wand for selection, blowing the white card, and then blurring the area smooth again hard (especially the bluring the area smooth again step)

So don't include any white background. No reason you can't frame the shot at a slightly steeper angle and just have pizza disappearing off the edge of the frame. It's the kind of food that can go on forever with seeing the far edge of it in a picture. You expect the portion to finish in the middle of the actual pizza, ie a slice.

I'd only include the far edge if shooting the entire thing to be honest.

Edited by graham@reading on Saturday 25th November 23:25

[Platinum]

My effort from today, not as sharp or tempting as your fruits Bob.

Could you post a 100% crop of the blackberry? (Is it sharpened in PS or straight out of the camera?)

Edited by Platinum on Saturday 25th November 23:28

[UKBob]

graham@reading said:

So don't include any white background. No reason you can't frame the shot at a slightly steeper angle and just have pizza disappearing off the edge of the frame. It's the kind of food that can go on forever with seeing the far edge of it in a picture. You expect the portion to finish in the middle of the actual pizza, ie a slice.

I'd only include the far edge if shooting the entire thing to be honest.

I got such a shot, and I love it. Trying to whittle an enormous amount of shots down to a dozen (stock sites done like too much of the same thing) I deleted it, in favour of the one I posted, thinking the designer would have cropping power/choice.

[UKBob]

Platinum said:

My effort from today, not as sharp or tempting as your fruits Bob.

Could you post a 100% crop of the blackberry? (Is it sharpened in PS or straight out of the camera?)

Ahh, but yours is more perfectly isolated

Ive already processed and saved the image, but I dont sharpen the photos I submit for stock, only the web crops like the one I posted.

Heres a 100% crop, unsharpened:

Note that noise ninja, when doing its thing, does have a slight sharpening effect but otherwise all that Ive done is adjust the levels.

Looking at this crop, Im sure I focussed to the right and further down. Does that mean I need to have my lens adjusted, it can be adjusted right, and at what cost?

Actually, I was focussing in the hole iirc, that might explain it...

Id still like to have my lens checked at some point, if someone could give me some more info that would great.

Edited by UKBob on Saturday 25th November 23:42

[che6mw]

love the fruit. Not so keen on the pizza one - think it would be better complimented with a dark (i.e. black) background since the colours themselves are not overly strong. Keep up the good work though!

I want fruit that shiny