Monday, May 7, 2012 at 11:02PM Thanks to KitchenAid, I was able to attend this year's Austin Food & Wine Festival. I had a lot of fun. Take a look at a few of my photos from the event. You can click on any image to get a better view. Cheers!
Sunday, March 18, 2012 at 9:51AM Do I contradict myself? I do. I told you not to expect much food photography with the Lytro. But the Lytro is so much fun to use I couldn't resist taking it to Uchiko last night. Uchiko was very generous to send us out several different plates to try in addition to our orders. Thanks Uchiko, we love you!
Don't blame Uchiko if some of the food has a funky color -- blame me. Despite the sometimes funky job the Lytro does with white balance, I think many of these photos are fun to play around with. Click on different parts of the photos to change the focus.
Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 10:35AM Have you heard of the Lytro camera yet? The Lytro is a small, unusually shaped camera that's most amazing ability is to be able to re-focus a photo after it has been taken. You can read my initial impressions and thoughts on the Lytro on my more nerdy blog.
The Lytro technology might come in handy for food photography. Focusing on food can be difficult since the camera is often very close to the food. You can click on various parts of the cafe latte above and see how the image is re-focused. Nice, right?
Unfortunately I can't recommend the Lytro for food photography right now. At least I cant suggest it as your primary camera. Why isn't the Lytro a great camera for food photography yet? First of all, the amount of post processing available to the artist is limited to the same changing of focus that the Lytro viewer gives. The artist can't correct white balance, exposure, contrast, or even crop the photo.
When I take photos of food, I spend a lot of time and effort after the shot to make it look good and convey the story I want. While it is a relief to be able to take photos without worrying about post-processing, I don't feel comfortable sharing photos that didn't turn out well. And when it comes to food, I want to do the Chef and the Kitchen's work justice. I'm sure you'll occasionally see a Lytro photo here that fits the bill, but with the current technology it will be rare.
The good news is that Lytro has expressed their intent to add features and even potentially make a more professional camera based on their technology. I think it would be nice to avoid throwing away those photos with the focus on the sauce rather than the more interesting parts of the dish.
Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 10:17AM Bread to the sandwich is what the first scene is to a movie. If the first minutes of a movie find you trimming your toenails, you probably won't appreciate the rest. Likewise, if a sandwich comes stuffed between two slices of government subsidized carbohydrate foam, you'll probably hope that a friendly bear steals your picnic.
The bread that encased my Po'Boy at Emeril's Table Ten in Las Vegas was so good that I may not have noticed if they forgot the filling.
The bread's texture was perfect: a light crunchy crust with a featherly light interior. Good gracious. I'm going back.
P.S.: The fries only look gigantic because I used a crazy wide angle fisheye lens to take this photo.
Food Sunday, January 15, 2012 at 11:50AM If you ever visit Las Vegas, my instructions are as follows:
I couldn't get enough of the texture and the flavor. Just look at it! Doesn't it look exciting and new? I can't even look at it without feeling hungry. I'll be back.
Food