Entering the Canon Expo

I spent today at the once-every-five-years Canon Expo in New York. As expected, the hot topics on the seminar agendas were related to shooting video with DSLRs.  I attended sessions with Steven Poster (president of International Cinematographers Guild and Director of Photography for a slew of feature films from Blade Runner to Cats and Dogs), Shane Hurlbut (Director of Photography for Terminator Salvation and upcoming Acts of Valor), and other HDSLR mainstays such as Vincent Laforet.  I was particularly impressed with the work Shane has done with the upcoming Acts of Valor, an action film about the Navy SEALS. He shot all the main action shots with Canon 5Ds and 7Ds, and the results were stunning. Even more interesting, when the (more…)

chocolate lava cake and cappucino

I’m currently working on a new web site for Cafe On The Green, a fine restaurant at Richter Park in Danbury.  Richter has been rated among the top 50 public golf courses in America.  Built around some reservoirs, it is extraordinarily scenic and rather hazardous for hacks like me.  This is where I play (*cough* shank) most of my golf, so I have a Pavlovian happiness whenever I head over there… even if I’m not pulling out my golf clubs.

It had been several years since I ate at Cafe On The Green, but I remembered it having good food, and probably the most scenic setting in Danbury.  I knew that the new web site needs to capture these two important elements, so photography was going to be an important part of the project.  You can’t capture taste or smell, but with vivid photographs, you can provide some powerful suggestions.

So last week I spent a few hours at the restaurant, shooting a bunch of photos.  Photographing food presents its own challenges.  Often you have only a couple of minutes to capture the food before it looses its fresh appeal.  By dinner time, the restaurant is lit very dimly, so I had to setup my key and fill lights.  I shot mostly with an open aperture, using my 50mm 1.4 lens, grabbing very narrow depth-of-field shots.  This was my first shoot for fresh, hot food, and it was lots of fun!  I learned some new lessons, but for the most part, I’m pleased with the results.

The best part is that after the shoot, I got to eat the food!