Some Somen Photography…

So the experiment here was with overhead lighting.  I should have taken a wide angle picture of the overhead rig I had used.

But anyway, the single light setup was with the strobe directly overhead pointing straight down over the food.  Diffuser was a small umbrella.  You can see the shadows underneath the bowls, chopsticks, and wasabi that illustrate this.  The idea was to get even lighting over all of the food, and also to get ALL the food in focus.  So I tried to use as small an aperature as possible, and get as far away from the food as possible.

But in the end, my love for clean, minute detail and the “intimate feeling” won over.

Also, this is my first time shooting liquids.  So I think flat overhead lighting helps for this too…

100mm Macro L

I’m very impressed at the sharp detail with this lens.  Shooting with the subject lower, allows to get this higher angle macro shot.  Not very common for food shots.  Much more from this lens coming soon!

50mm 1.2 L

50mm 1.2 L

Strobist: Alienbees 160WS crossbar mounted on Calumet background stand using superclamp, pointing straight down; diffuser: small umbrella.  Distance to subject: 4ft.

Taro Chips from Hawaii

Half Eaten Food #1

OK, so I’m really lazy… and I don’t have access to gourmet (translated: perfect looking) food, nor a food stylist.  But I’ve got all this great photographic equipment and the desire to take good photographs of food.  So, combine that all, and you have this guessing game.  Guess what restaurant this food is from ?

You guessed it! PANDA EXPRESS!!!!

Photo info:

5d mk ii / 100mm 2.8 NON-IS + 12mm Kenko extension

Strobist: 580EXII bounced off the ceiling in my NEW apt.

Inspiration for shoot: 1) Test out the lighting in my apt — Q: can good food pictures be taken here ?  Previous best was in my cramped kitchen in 1 br apt on Pacific blvd.  A: YES!  2) Q: Is the 100mm macro L in my future ?!??  I needed to take some more test shots with the 100mm non-IS to find out! A: I’m still not sure!  These pictures are pretty damn good!

Mochi from the 24-105… and eaten!

OK, so the little brother 50 strut’d his stuff… and now it’s time for the middle brother, the 24-105…  But not until the mochi was half eaten of course!

Mochi from Hokkaido (at Mitsuwa on Venice)

So today I happened to go to Mitsua, and they had a mochi sale there.  Apparently all the mochi was imported from Hokkaido…

All pictures were taken with the new 50mm.

Tea from the 50…

One last Miso Kit-Kat shot!

OK, OK, one last shot.  I really like this one because of the detail of the beaded mat reflecting on the enamel cracked bowl…

Miso Kit Kat – Naked!

So finally, I wanted to show the mini kit-kats.  How could I have pictured the sweet miso tinted white chocolate taste ?!??

Camera: This was one of the rare occasions I took pictures with the 100mm macro on the 5dmkII.

Strobist: 580EXII bounced off the ceiling.  430EXI frontal bounce off of white reflector.  Both on the counter

Miso Kit-Kat Unboxed (Portrait)

Here’s a portrait of the miso-kit kat.  You know, I’m really starting to get the meaning of the word “portrait” now that I’m using the Canon 85mm 1.2L lens!

Miso Kit-Kat Unboxed! (part 1)

So to my surprise, the Miso Kit-Kat box contained 8 mini-bags of 2 mini kit-kat bars per pack!  If everything is bigger in Texas, then everything is smaller in Japan!  Ahem… Hey, I’m Japanese… I’m allowed to make fun of them! 😉

The bowl here has a very interesting blue-brown coloring to it… thought it would make the picture a little more interesting, and definitely provide a good contrast… what do you think ?

Strobist: 580ExII on the counter.  Bounced off the ceiling.  Clear Gary Fong, no dome.