tanabutler

Ellen, those two photographs are just so perfect, in composition, framing, color, subject, everything. What kind of lens, and what was your aperture in the second one? (I'm probably not asking the right questions, or enough about the technical stuff.) Agreed with the first sentence, except for when it's supposed to be documentation of an event at which eGullet team members were included (exclusives, for example), and the shots look amateur. Not everyone with a camera is a photographer. I completely agree with most people wanted to see the information, and I'm in that boat, too: show me your dinner! Sometimes bad photographs still give good information. But if the photography at an exclusive event, or one in which an eGullet team member has a privileged or unique view, and the shots are out of focus, motion-blurred unintentionally, badly composed, or just awful, it compromises my ability to praise the extremely high level of professionalism and knowledge in this forum. (And praise I do, because I am just flummoxed with how much the eG team knows and has access to.) Ellen, I just wanted to see this again (and I broke up the paragraph so I could read and memorize it more easily). This is REALLY good information. HERE IS ANOTHER SUGGESTION FOR CAMERA SHAKE: get a tabletop tripod. My ex-husband (also a photographer) gave me one that he hates because he does nature shots. It's changed my photography. I'm still fine with using existing objects or surfaces as a brace, but the tripod rocks. There: you have my big secret. I had a problem this morning with handheld focus, and I wish I'd saved one of the pictures--oh well, I can describe it. A toddler, backlit by morning sunlight through a window, was reading a book to himself. I set him off-center, to practice with that whatchamacallit on my camera that allows for off-center focus. But alas, the larger pictures revealed little Aidan to be a pink blur, with the plum tree outside in perfect focus. Good-bye, thirteen photographs! Toliver, your suggestions have been so helpful that I think anything you want should be The Rules. Type of camera = make, model and megapixels? Okay? Hillvalley: aren't those cotoneaster berries, and not cherries? Helenas: I knew it was eggplant. All is not lost. Your greens photograph is just beautiful. Hillvalley: About fruit? Cherries are already out of season here, at least at my farmers' markets. I agree with the matter of photographing dinner, since that is the biggest (and weakest, visually) thread in eGullet. I had to deal with a bunch of photos from two different restaurant visits. I am just flummoxed that one shot, under seemingly identical conditions in distance from the camera, lighting, etc., doesn't respond to Toliver's Auto Levels trick. Maybe because the plate has so much golden food on it.

Wow, our TJ's has a whole reach-in cooler stocked with fresh fish and meat. I mean, the works. Niman Ranch and a bunch of other stuff. Where are you?

The book may be merde, especially since it's been resurrected from its crypt a year later. But just because someone who can't write well sets her book in a restaurant kitchen with profanity oozing off the walls, doesn't mean she's a Bourdain copycat. I doubt we will ever know what inspired her. "I know! I'll do Bourdain, but with tits!" "Fuck those guys! I'm short and I've got tits, but I can, too, cook!" "I'm short and I've got tits, but I can, too, cook! And if they think they can fuck me in the walk-in, and boost all my coke, they're dead! No, wait. I'll write a book. Then they're really dead!" Or sadly, it might have been, "I know! I've got tits and I can cook! And if I write a hot book, Bourdain'll fuck ME!" Her mileage may vary.

Shot #4 ("Egg Wash")--what a witty title. It's also the most interesting, visually, because of the retro feel of it: "A housemaker uses her Kenmore for making salads!" I love the composition, and it's interesting as hell. Every bit of it is clever, or mysterious enough to make me think of it as clever, even though you might have felt quite pedestrian when you did it. Note: this is the only photograph that is in focus. The first shot: the wall is in focus, not the bottles. If it were the other way around, I would love it. The red bottle is just gorgeous. The varied heights are also compelling. Egg yolks: completely out of focus. Sorry to say, ditto shots #3 and #5. I don't know what to say. Focus is elemental. Without it, what is photography? I have 20-400 eyesight, which means I'm nearsighted (sighted for what is near). But I am a little worried about the collective eyesight of eGullet. I know I ruined my eyesight from reading in poor lighting. Ask my Memaw. (Use a Ouija board.) I still have decent contact lenses (Acuvue dailies, pretty cheap but also thin and comfortable); I've worked on a computer for close to two decades. My work requires me to be able to discern a pixel three feet away. I can do it. This isn't equipment or technique or anything. Things are either in focus or they aren't. I took a bunch of stuff tonight, trying to learn the complex buttons and dials on my camera. Let me come up with a few samples of what did and didn't work. The things that are blurry do not work. Surely this isn't some wild theory? Don't good photographs have to be in focus?

This is the kind of thing that I love reading about. You're seeing something with new eyes, which makes us see it that way, as well.

Jason, I do think your dinner shot was better panned back some. Without the plate to give it focus, the textures, in my opinion, were a little gruesome. I have a question, and I mean this very respectfully. Do you wear glasses or otherwise have impaired vision? Because the beans and other shots aren't really in focus--a very slight camera shake might also be the culprit. I've got better than 20-20 for up-close vision (and good contact lenses, by golly), and I'm just distracted by things that aren't crisp, just as I'm distracted by fingerprints on my monitor or my eyeglasses, when I wear them. There's no way to ask that question without seeming callous, but it's an honest and valid point that, to me, is really important. I've seen a lot of photos on eGullet where people use a macro to no avail. I never know if it's because they're just willing to show their dinner for the sake of showing it, which is fine in a casual thread like "What we ate for dinner." Or is it because they believe the shots are in focus? There was a thread recently doing some kind of important documentation of an event, and so many of the pictures had either a motion blur or were just plain not in focus. I anguished. I can't bring myself to post photos that are out of focus or otherwise marred unless I note the condition and apologize for it. Does that make me anal, or just an asshole? Anyway, it might seem trivial, but it's deceptive. Any lack of focus should be deliberate and artful. Just my .02. P.S. It's pure torture to have to scroll by all that BBQ when this thread loads. I'm starving. You people are meeeeeeeeean.

Yeah, I don't the extreme close-ups, either, especially when they're not in focus. The one with multiple items is impossible for me to put in context. I can understand a certain kind of art; say you're so close to a strawberry that there are only seeds and red and the shiny, dimpled flesh. That could be pretty, in an abstract but still recognizable way. But beans? Mooshy beans? I like the sesame seeds, though I can't exactly tell what they're on top of. At least they're distinct.

I totally think it's okay to art-direct Mother Nature. Because if you're seeing what I'm seeing, it's like a ghostly finger is reaching up for the berry. Your eye can't help but go there. I took some fantastic shots of Bob's grandson on Father's Day: a baby in the grass with a pile of four kittens. Using the burst mode on the camera was great, but only later did I realize a big blade of grass was sticking up in his face. A distraction, to be sure. Darn it! I saw, "Mow down those distractions."

TJ's briefly had some sliced blue cheese that was some of the best I've ever had, but I haven't seen it again. It was a delicate mess to handle, and worth every finger-licking second. Also good: organic Pink Lady apples on salads with self-same blue cheese, toasted pecans and vinaigrette. Pink Lady apples are my new favorites. They're perfectly crisp, sweet/tart blend, and very fragrant, like an apple rose. I rarely come home without another $4 dose of the chicken enchiladas (foolishly labelled "with garlic sauce" instead of emphasizing the tomatillos, which add everything to the dish).

I was looking at the source code, and "plungercam" came up. I Googled it and found out a little more. If you see the pictures with a very narrow in-focus area, I think it's that lens attachment creating the look. I used to know that photographer back in my Nashville years. I even modeled for him once. He was always a deep and sensitive (and funny) person; the world he occupies now is just beyond my comprehension in terms of depth, subtlety, good humor, and oh, the eye. So much Southernness, too. (In a good way.) I'm just floored. Talk about stuff that can't be taught. Studied, but not taught.

I should have said, "I found this website utterly inspirational in every regard." Not just that one shot. Go inside and look around. The lifestyle and kid sections are superior. The whole thing is. He's working with a new kind of lens.

I found this utterly inspirational in every regard.

Y'all just scared poor Miss Manners, who was lurking here, right out of the joint.

I love my magnetic strip.

One vote here for "ball-by-ball" posting, but not if it detracts you from your work.

Fringale is a good bet. Chef Marc Rasic is going to do another of the Outstanding in the Field farm dinners, and I'd love him to know we came there. Thanks, y'all. I'll let my friend choose.

That's too far. He's got to go back to work.

So where is a nice mid-range place to take my dear (and best foodie) friend for his birthday today? Where could we eat and have a glass of wine and get out for under $50? Atmosphere is nice, but not fancy or dressed up.

To me, this is "BLAH BLAH BLAH Ginger" (for those who know the old cartoon about "what dogs hear"). No, I think I know what you mean, but I can only do that with the manual open and my tongue sticking out of the side of my mouth. Thanks, Toliver.

Berkshire Grown: a good resource. (I Googled, hoping Southfield Store has a website. Apparently not.)

welcome to the world of L-series lens, tana.. its beautiful in here... Yeah, baby! It reminds me of being a very young child, when everything was so bright and immediate and kind of psychedelic. I am having a hard time with these controls, though. Having to carry the G1 around as a back-up to make sure I can get the shots I need. Tonight is a big, professional shoot at a very nice restaurant. We'll see how that goes.

This is the recipe (approximately) for Susan's Garlic Bread. This is the garlic bread that gave my burgeoning catering business its biggest boost, back in the day. Proportions are approximate. 1 stick softened salted butter 3-4 T. grated parmesan cheese (coarse grate) 2-3 minced garlic cloves 1 t. Italian seasoning Mash everything together with a fork. Slather evenly onto bread with a spatula. Susan would either do rounds or slabs (cut the loaf lengthwise, then into sixths or eighths) of Alfaro's 4-Seed baguettes, and put under the broiler until molten and just browning around the edges. I'd stack that garlic bread up with any recipe/technique in the world.

Garlic Bread This is the recipe (approximately) for Susan's Garlic Bread. This is the garlic bread that gave my burgeoning catering business its biggest boost, back in the day. Proportions are approximate. 1 stick softened salted butter 3 T grated parmesan cheese (coarse grate) 2 minced garlic cloves 1 tsp Italian seasoning Mash everything together with a fork. Slather evenly onto bread with a spatula. Susan would either do rounds or slabs (cut the loaf lengthwise, then into sixths or eighths) of Alfaro's 4-Seed baguettes, and put under the broiler until molten and just browning around the edges. I'd stack that garlic bread up with any recipe/technique in the world. Keywords: Side, Bread ( RG1083 )

Garlic Bread This is the recipe (approximately) for Susan's Garlic Bread. This is the garlic bread that gave my burgeoning catering business its biggest boost, back in the day. Proportions are approximate. 1 stick softened salted butter 3 T grated parmesan cheese (coarse grate) 2 minced garlic cloves 1 tsp Italian seasoning Mash everything together with a fork. Slather evenly onto bread with a spatula. Susan would either do rounds or slabs (cut the loaf lengthwise, then into sixths or eighths) of Alfaro's 4-Seed baguettes, and put under the broiler until molten and just browning around the edges. I'd stack that garlic bread up with any recipe/technique in the world. Keywords: Side, Bread ( RG1083 )

What a wonderful, wonderful write-up, enrevanche. I'm so glad you enjoyed yourselves. Delightful all the way around.