SEARCHING IMPRESSIONS OF LIFE: food

Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Some Food Photography

During the past Christmas holidays, Denise baked some delicious cookies and I took the opportunity to take some shots.

Baked stuff is a favorite of mine when getting to food photography, and since I had bought a few different kind of breads, I shot those as well. Finally I am posting some of those pictures!

You might notice some have not been color corrected, but I liked the blue dominant and I left it. The first batch of pics has been shot in natural light, using some white reflectors in the front to redirect the back-light from the window. The last ones, on black background, have been shot with artificial light.

85mm f/4.5 1/10sec ISO200

85mm f/5.0 1/10sec ISO200

85mm f/5.6 1/6sec ISO200

85mm f/11.0 1/100sec ISO100

85mm f/9.0 1/100sec ISO100

Monday, March 28, 2016

Dinner with the Long-billed Curlew

Browsing through some of my folders, I found some photos taken a couple of years ago at the Bolsa Chica Wetland Preserve, in California.

That day, I went to the wetlands around sunset, hoping to take some good shots of the many birds that can be found there. Sunset is a beautiful moment because of the light, the colors and it looks like many birds fish at that time of the day.

During my previous visit, I only had a quick glimpse of the Long-billed curlew, and that was certainly one of the birds that I was hoping to see. And this time I was lucky enough to spend quite some time with this one bird.

560mm f/6.3 1/1250sec ISO640

560mm f/6.3 1/1600sec ISO640

560mm f/6.3 1/3200sec ISO1000 +0.33

560mm f/6.3 1/1250sec ISO640

560mm f/8.0 1/1600sec ISO800 +0.33

I had the opportunity to see it looking for food and capturing some crabs. The bird uses the very long and curved bill to probe the muddy ground close to the water to find crabs and small invertebrates. He also captures grasshoppers and other insects.

It was incredible to see the curlew turning its neck 180 degrees while trying to extract a crab from the mud, adjusting the proper curved side of the long bill to the situation: It really looked like a contortionist.

560mm f/6.3 1/1250sec ISO1000 +0.33

560mm f/8.0 1/800sec ISO800 +0.33

Here a funny shot when the crab realizes that it's been discovered... It looks like it's saying: "Don't think it's going to be easy, man! I am not going down without a fight!" It's almost like having two knights fighting in a duel... who is going to win?

560mm f/7.1 1/1000sec ISO640

But nothing could be easier for the long-billed curlew. Even though the crab is not a very small one, the long bill is a formidable weapon that the bird uses with incredible expertise.

560mm f/7.1 1/1000sec ISO640

With a one-two move, the crab is made harmless. And after capturing it, there was certainly the need of washing the food before eating it! I was surprised to see the bird going to the water and letting the crab fall into it, just to immediately capture it again to wash all the mud off of it. The curlew was incredibly skilled in "handling" the crab with the bill, making it jump in mid-air to get it again in the correct position.

560mm f/6.3 1/1600sec ISO640

560mm f/7.1 1/1250sec ISO640

560mm f/6.3 1/3200sec ISO1000 +0.33

560mm f/8.0 1/1250sec ISO800 +0.33

Well, no more crabs... dinner time was finished for the day.

560mm f/8.0 1/1250sec ISO800 +0.33

560mm f/6.3 1/2000sec ISO640

400mm f/8.0 1/1600sec ISO800 +0.33

400mm f/8.0 1/1250sec ISO800 +0.33

And after so much hard work, and a great dinner, finally some relaxation, getting ready to go to bed.

400mm f/8.0 1/1600sec ISO800 +0.33

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Portobello Road – part 1

During our last visit to London, Denise and I decided to go to Portobello Road. We had never gone there and we thought it would be fun to visit the famous street market. It is really large, with a lot of things to see, both old and new.

24mm f/20 1/60sec ISO 100

This time I decided to switch to black and white, since I thought it would work well with antique stuff or anyway with the feeling of a street market. Though I have not been shooting that much in b/w, I love the technique and I would like to do more.

155mm f/5.0 1/250sec ISO 100

At Portobello Road you do not find only old used objects, more or less antique or rare, but also new clothes, cakes, food and street performers. The place is huge and, specifically during the weekend, it covers not only the street with the famous name, but also other side streets and areas, so plan to dedicate to it the whole day, if you want to take a good look at everything – or if you can brake it into two days for less hours, that might be even better.

145mm f/5.0 1/250sec ISO 12800

I like to concentrate on details, so I often choose to zoom in and explore objects with my camera. I usually work with a large aperture to focus selectively just on one area or detail while the foreground and background are left soft. Many times just one part of an object is sharp while the rest goes immediately off focus.