More food photography fun

Well, I promised a lot of you back in December, when I was shooting all these food images (including the one above of Local 188's delicious Seafood Paella that made the cover of Portland Magazine last month) that I would post the other images when I could. None of them in my humble opinion came out as well as the Local 188 image, but they're yummy-looking for the most part. In order of presentation below, these are what they are and where they're from.
Walters' Old Port Filet and Lobster Macaroni and Cheese presented on their beautiful black marble bar upstairs:

The Old Port Sea Grill's spicy Lobster Fra Diavolo, served with broccolini:
Pat's Meat Market Cafe's Lobster Newburg with homemade cracker:
Caiola's delicious Seafood paella, served on my favorite rooster table in the restaurant:
Hugos' fabulous Hake Bouillabaisse, which doesn't look the most appetizing, but I honestly have to say it was the most delicious fish dish I have ever tasted in my life--I very nearly licked the bowl clean after I finished it. It came with these wonderful fried bread croutons that were spiced really well (the brownish pieces) and the sauce was absolutely incredible. I highly recommend it and Hugos!
And finally, Street & Company's Whole Fish Dorade, served up by the chef himself. Once again, not a dish that presents as prettily in photos as the first photo of Local 188's seafood paella, but it smelled divine!

Thanks for looking and reading as always. Cindy

Cookies and Milk

I made some Ginger Crinkle cookies yesterday (mostly so I could photograph them, but they were good to eat too!) Photographed them with my Pentax SMC-FA 50mm f/1.4 lens at f/16 on a tripod with only natural, cloudy light.

More Tulips than a field in Holland. . .

Okay, okay. . . I'll admit it. I'm obsessed. . . I love shooting tulips, and I'll shout it from the rooftops. The first ones, I call "Martha's Tulips," because I was trying for an effect I sometimes see in Martha Stewart Living Magazine: soft, gauzy and high-key, with only one element in focus.

I radically over-exposed this one in bright sunlight, on the deck of my mother's house this past weekend. I like how it looks more like a watercolor than an actual picture.

These two have a different effect: I de-saturated them quite a bit and added a silver-gelatin film effect.

And this one was taken last week, with over-exposure in mind. People seem to have mixed feelings about it, but I like it quite well. My mother and I have done a piece together--my photo (above) printed on watercolor paper and her encaustic painting technique. (She painted beeswax paint onto the painting and adding highlights of gold rub to the picture selectively and added a small piece of text from a very old book of poetry to the bottom right.) It looks great and I wish I had thought to take a picture of IT when I was up visiting on Saturday or Sunday last week. Oh well. . . We're putting it in an art show in Deer Isle soon and of course, like any piece of art, it may or may not sell, so I may be able to post a picture of it here eventually.

Well, that's all for today. Hope you liked my continuing tulip obsession. Thanks for looking, Cindy

Lit from Above. . . Tulips in the Spotlight

Yesterday I had a brainwave: I figured out how to light the beautiful tulips that were sitting in a vase on my kitchen table from above and take dramatic pictures of them. At least I hope you'll find them as dramatic as I did. (I almost dropped my camera, I was so excited to download them!)

To do this, I set up my incredibly expensive "studio." Prepare to be underwhelmed:
Yes, it consists of a contractor's light with a daylight bulb, a piece of black stretch-velvet, two thumb tacks and a mister bottle. I think all told, it probably cost me about $12.00. You, too, can get "professional results" with a cheap "studio!" Well, it works for me. . . I'd love to hear what you think of these new photos. Thanks for looking, Cindy

Name your dream assignment--can you help me out?

I'm sure all of you remember this photo of Portland Head Light. Well, I have discovered a contest called "Name your dream assignment," sponsored by Lenovo and Microsoft, in which the winner picked receives $50,000 to achieve their photographic dream. I entered with the idea of photographing every lighthouse from St. Augustine, FL all the way up to Maine at the "golden hours" of the day, dawn and dusk in my own style, eventually combining it into a book. I'm hoping that you'll all take a moment to past this link in your browser address bar to my entry and vote for it, to help me achieve this dream!

http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/Photogirl67/photograph-every-lighthouse-from-florida-up-to-maine/

Thanks for reading and voting, Cindy