August 18, 20089. Food Photography
Life's been rough but I'm back and have more photography equipment than ever. So here's the deal:
This weekend I'm heading down to Key West. And if there's one thing Key West is known for, other than:
Special Note:
I want a little write up for each submitted picture. I'm not talking a whole essay or anything. Just an explanation of what you wanted to do with the shoot as the description. Did you want to get texture? Make the food look delicious? Emulate professional food photographers with manipulation? Play with expressionist/impressionist ideas about how the food makes you feel? How it tastes? if you submit more than one shot you only need to write up one picture if it represents your whole shoot. I just want to know what you're aiming for. How to shoot food: I'll be totally honest with you: I don't have a lot of experience shooting food. I'm going to be pouring over some links to figure out how to do what I want to do (as well as look for ideas of what I want to do). So we're all in this one together. The good news is I'm feeling nice so I'll share the tips, tricks and tutorials I've picked up. Food Photography Techniques and Tips This is a great place to start. It'll give you technical tips on how to touch up your food. It goes on to help with composition. After you go there to get a basic overview of how to pull this assignment off I'd highly recommend going looking at Big and Tasty Food Photography Tips Roundup This has links to blogs and videos and collected tutorials for all sorts of food shooting. The list can look a little imposing so go to these links in order. Get an idea of what you want and then look into it. If you hit a wall, go back to this second link and try something totally different. Can't get fruit to look right? Try a cold drink with ice cubes. Both are great ways to play with light and reflection, but totally different. If all else fails you can try out something else entirely like raw meat or what's left of food after you're done with food (fruit peels, coffee grounds, wrappers, etc.). The Ten Tastiest Food Photography Tips Ten really basic, and therefore really important, tips to keep in mind. If you're having trouble this is a good list to print out and look over as you're setting up your shot or running it through post production. Remember You're not trying to show us the food in front of the camera. You're trying to take a good picture of food. DO NOT BE afraid to play with the food. I expect you to do things to it that will make it look good (if that's what you're going for), even if they are not things you should do to food you want to eat. Spray it down with water if you want it to glisten. Stuff the inside of a sandwich or cake to fill it out. Use glue to hold things together or instead of milk! You don't have to go this nuts, but they are examples. Where am I getting these crazy tips? From the professionals who shoot commercial food shots. The dirty tricks of food photographers The name says it all. Motor oil, microwaved cotton balls and spray deodorant are just a few of the tricks the pros use to make things look delicious. Remember, you're not serving food. You're serving a picture of food. Any questions or calls for help and ideas - just start posting comments and I'll be there. Go! Related Groups:
Camera Shy, Photography
Posted on 08/18/2008 12:16 PM Comments (6)
August 15, 2008Netflix WTF - In the Name of the KingDon't forget to check out: In the Name of the King Adventures in Uwe Boll Land Just to get this out of the way: horrendous. There. Now you know and I can start writing about this movie. What may surprise you is that the movie I'm going to talk about is apparently Lord of the Rings. Wasn't that Peter Jackson, you say? It was. Until now. You see, In the Name of the King can be paired up almost perfectly to the Jackson magnum opus, but in a shorter, crappier way. But I'll get to that after I introduce you to this flick. Let's start with Ray Liotta since that's where the movie begins. He's an evil wizard straight off the streets of New York, as his accent lets us know. He is trying to take down the king and lives in the castles basement. Really. The kicker? He's getting all sexy-sexy with Leelee Sobieski, who happens to be the good wizard's daughter. Leelee actually tries to do an accent and I don't know if that makes her performance better or worse. The good wizard is played by none other than John No one tosses a dwarf Rhys-Davies. His British accent is pretty good. After they finish getting frisky we pan over to a lovely little place called Hobbiton. It's not given a name but that's where it is. I swear. We see that Jason Statham is really happy with his wife (Claire Forlani), who does her Is she a slow talker or does she function with low level Downs Synndrome? thing. To be fair, I can't judge her accent because she was raised with a British accent and then spent her early career trying to cover it up making anything she says awkward on either side of the pond. Oh, and Statham is happy with his child (blond child) who says things like I'm glad he has a family. I'm glad it's us. so you know bad shit is about to go down. Seriously, that was a direct quote. Also Ron Pearlman really wants chicken so you better f'ing give it to him before he eats your head. At this point I need to warn you that there are many more stars to come. How do they show up in the Sci-Fi channel Lord of the Rings ripoff? Apparently Uwe Boll is some sort of secret agent from Germany. He must have blackmail material on everyone in Hollywood. That's the only logical explanation. Where were we? Oh yes. The camera whizzes over to a castle that looks suspiciously like Orthanc. Who is king of this land? Why, Burt Reynolds of course. Burt. Reynolds. A British king. Think about it. Reynolds looks disappointed to be in this movie, wishing for the earlier days of his comeback. Since he has no child he must watch Matthew Lillard eat. A lot. Now that we know Burt Reynolds is jaded but good (because he's bored) and Lillard is going to be the villain (he's greedy!) we can go back to the town. To Hobbiton! More establishing shots of a Dark Age era town suspiciously free of disease or hunger of any kind... Suddenly we hear LOTR battle music and Orcs show up to kill everyone! Really! Thank goodness Statham isn't a weasly little hobbit. No, he's Jason Statham as Dark Ages Jason Statham. He knows karate and does some awesome flying kicks and ninja chops to kill the Orcs. You couldn't have expected this because his name is Farmer. Since he's a farmer. So what farmer do you know that can kill an army of Orcs with his feet? So Jason Statham shocks us all by doing ridiculous martial arts. Wow. Then he kills some with a sword. Nice! Then a boomerang (I shit you not)! Then a rope! This guy is badass. I wonder who else is bad ass in this movie... Cut to Leelee at the castle, practicing fencing. They're both using broad swords to fence but whatever. The king of this ancient British land is Burt Reynolds and the evil Wizard sounds like he's from Newark, NJ. Logic holds no court here! You know what this scene needs? Well so did Uwe Boll. Matthew Lillard shows up drunk. One look at his creepy little mustache lets you know how wrong it is. He has a cat like mouth so with a creepy little 'stache he looks like... well, some kind of mutant cat drunkard. It's off putting. Oh, action. Sorry. Back to the soccer hooligan riot Orc battle. We see more fighting and then Statham's son tries to act. I guess after Star Wars: Episode I Jake Lloyd set up an acting school because lack of talent like this is not inherent in anyone. It has to be worked at. The director has pity on us and kills the kid. Oh, that was a bad thing... Statham kills The Mouth of Sauron, which is some sort of fake body controlled by Liotta. He has a bunch so that's great. Liotta can be killed lots of times and come back. And he does. Statham sticks it to the man when Rys-Davies comes around and Statham's all You should totally have protected us and they're all Come join our ninja army and Statham's all like Screw you, I'm gonna take some pals of mine and we're gonna find my wife because she's all hot and I'm all hot and then he does. Cut to Leelee trying to learn some magic. I paused the DVD at this point and confirmed that the books she's reading are written in gibberish Hebrew, and then turned upside down. The secret to magic is flipping a book, Leelee. Try it. Boll-shit At this point I need to talk about some things that Uwe does on a regular basis. I will call these point Boll-shit.
Stathamg goes walking some more. He passes through a cursed forrest. But it's not really cursed. It's full of hot amazons who trained at Cirque Du Soleil. They drop down on fake vines and trap him. For some reason the amazons let him go. They either hate Orcs too or it's because Statham is looking for a woman to help and they can dig that as ancient feminists. Girl power! Boll-shit
NOTICE: This is where most of the movie happens. It's easy to follow but very unmemorable so I'm having trouble with some of the details.
Here's how the big battle goes:
And that brings us to the final battle between Statham and Liotta. The continuity is terrible. They switch positions between camera cuts. Sometimes they have weapons. Sometimes Liotta uses magic books and tries to give Statham papercuts of doom. Leelee shows up with her dead father's powers and kills Liotta. Oh yeah, her dad the good wizard was killed by Liotta. It was funny. Trust me. Statham and Forlani are happy agains. Oh, she pregnant so it's like they didn't even loose that kid in the beginning of the movie. Yay for all! Cast of characters Matthew Lillard Wormtongue Ray Liotta Sauron Jason Statham Stryder Ron Perlman Gimili Leelee Sobieski Arwyn John Rhys-Davies Gandalf Random dude with long blond hair Legolas On a scale from -5 to +5 I give In the Name of the King a 1.5 It's not good by any means. Don't get me wrong. But it's hilarious. It's a tiny Lord of the Rings and the casting is so ridiculous that it's laugh out loud funny. Not only that but I think I know why the studios give Uwe Boll money. Other than the blackmail, he puts a lot of action in his movies. This means that it's the lowest of the low that a movie can be while still being watchable. Kinda like Terminator 3. Related Groups:
Buzznet Secret Cinema
Posted on 08/15/2008 10:00 AM Comments (5)
Netflix WTF - The Return!
Netflix WTF is back! So here's the whole list.
JunctureWe're not ripping off WANTED. Really. Please, put the lawsuit down! Ninja CheerleadersJust to let you know the level of this movie:
Belphegor: Phantom of the LouvreNot only do you get...whatever this is but since it's based on a remake they take that into account and use the old footage as "flashbacks"! Twice the movie, half the production value! Abe's TombA group of vampire-killers team up with a "ghoul" to fight a vampire queen. You can assume this will try to be clever with twists since it has two sets of villains! And (apparently) Abe as well. The Lost Boys: The TribeI'm not going to lie: this is already in my queue. I'm going to see it whether you vote for it or not. But who asked for this to be made? Exte: Hair ExtensionsThis one is so perfect that 'll leave the summary intact: When a mortician discovers that a girl's mutilated corpse grows prodigious amounts of hair, he sells the locks to a beauty salon for use as hair extensions. But the dead girl's spirit has cursed the hair, which begin to attack the women who wear it. How many must die before the hirsute rampage relents? Really. Wargames 2: The Dead CodeAre you shitting me? No. Just no. It's Wargames without the talent or timeliness. And I bet it's about terrorists. JC in the HoodThe timeless story of JC -- Jesus Christ -- is updated and moved into the violent streets of the inner city. How timeless can it be if you had to update it? JekyllIt's just like the book... but with computers. Do yourself a favour and go rent the BBC show Jeckyll and then watch 13th Floor. C'mon, computers? HybridHow do you turn the Jessica Alba movie The Eye into a werewolf movie? Um, give people wolf eyes? CrimsonWhat does this movie have?
Unborn SinsWoman has abortion. Fetus comes to life to terrorize her. I know I've done this movie or one like it before. Does that mean that abortion horror is a new genre? Recon 2022: The Mezzo IncidentWhen you're ripping off the straight-to-dvd Starship Troopers you know you have a problem. This movie has:
Fool's GoldDear Hollywood, Who payed Matthew McConaughey to hang out on a beach? And now a quick "No" section Witless Protection305Meet the Spartans
Related Groups:
Buzznet Secret Cinema
Posted on 08/15/2008 10:00 AM Comments (0)
August 1, 2008I have returned.
After a pretty long and much needed break I think I'm coming back. Not only was there a lot to deal with in my life but at the same time my DSLR and ATT Tilt broke so I couldn't even get into art to snap out of it.
Well, the camera is back and I'm going to perform Tilt surgery tomorrow. Expect my Terrible Netflix series and Camera Shy group to start up again after the weekend. Here are a few shots I took with my new lens that I can finally use. I had about a week with it before my camera needed "the fixing". Hope I'm not too rusty with the whole Buzznet thing. Related Groups:
Camera Shy
Photos:
Posted on 08/01/2008 1:14 PM Comments (7)
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