point & shoot pretties

Montessori & tech

Dr. Maria Montessori's writings were the basis of my education till I was twelve and a half. Montessori isn't the right approach for every kid, but it was certainly the right one for me.

And it's the right approach for my son. One of the guiding principles of Montessori is competence in one's own environment. For example, Dr. Montessori introduced children's furniture, believe it or not--it was a huge innovation to have desks and chairs for small bodies a hundred years ago. Similarly, small pitchers and toaster ovens for food prep are standard as a temporary aid. But the goal is always an adult level of competence, not cuteness. Age 4-5 is the right time to start kids cooking, and we have.

But my kitchen is a lot different than that of late 19th cent. Italy. For one thing, there's this woman with a camera in it. And my boy, naturally enough, wants to take pictures, wants his own blog (he's been online since he was 4), and just read my book on food styling. And his 5 yr. old sister is reading and learning to cook now.

So our latest project is that while I'm cooking with my daughter, my son gets to learn some food photography. He holds the camera over carpet in the dining room ('cause my kitchen's too small for 2 people, much less 3), I get pictures of stuff that takes both my hands, and my daughter doesn't have to share the whisk with him. Of course, that means I'm teaching 2 completely different things at the same time, but so far, my head hasn't exploded. I'm also starting slow, only having him shoot one or two steps.

This isn't homeschooling, btw. I fully support the homeschooling movement, but my kids are in an alternative school (Montessori's not available). Their school is based on a theory of the human person very similar to Montessori's, so they don't get theoretical whiplash. I'm not sure how a Montessori purist would react to this use of technology, frankly--electric toys are a big no-no. But it is competence in his environment. That's his photo on top, SOOC.

a foodstyling resource

So two weeks ago, the New Books section of the library had Food Styling: The Art of Preparing Food for the Camera by Delores Custer, 2010. I grabbed it, and I recommend it.

I notice good photography on the food blogs I read, and my blogroll reflects this. But I've shied from food styling. It's pretentious in person-- I hate desserts that have architectural elements. Fancy plating doesn't impress me at all. But shouldn't a picture of food look good?

I recently googled the wonderful, not-pretentious bakery that did our wedding cake. I'm a fan for life. They do beautiful French pastry and beautiful cakes, and their website is just terrible! By terrible I mean that my December shot of finished baklava was better than any picture on their site. It's a thousand+ miles away and I'd gladly shoot their whole bakery free just for the joy of it. Well made food deserves to be well represented.

And when I made Tom's Chicken Under a Brick, the kitchen shots were, um, barely tolerable. But when I did the whole menu with the leftovers, I felt bad that the chicken didn't look good. Not only did it not look delicious, but it looked greasy even though it wasn't. So I flipped through the book to the right chapter and tried again. It's not professional quality, but still a zillion times better.(see below)

The book is well worth reading even if you don't want to take nice food pictures--my 7 year old thinks it's cool to know all the sneaky tricks used to get some of the pictures you see. But nice food pictures are the whole point of Custer's Food Styling. She taught food styling for decades, and her teaching experience really shows. It's very well organized, clear, and mostly jargon-free (glossary in the back, too).

The immediate target readers are aspiring professional food stylists. It's very practical--what tools to have with you, what skills can diversify your income, etc. She doesn't cover photography, color, or formal elements of composition. But just about everything else you can imagine IS covered. The effects of different lighting and different props are excellent. Contrasting photos illustrate her points very well throughout the book. And there are great sections for "challenges"--meaning stuff that's hard to shoot. Everything is about getting it right at the time of the shoot, not fixing it later in a digital editing program. There's also a good bit of business advice.

The part most valuable to me so far has been all her practical tips for emphasizing certain ingredients or characteristics. For a blatant example:

Hot off the pan--looks greasy!

Slightly warm, from the same batch of chicken.

A nicer example of what I've learned is this:

This shot doesn't stress one element of the soup, and the olive oil on top is nicely visible. The lighting needs work, and a bit of cropping. But this is basically the sort of shot you'd see at the beginning of a recipe.


This shot stresses the artichoke hearts' unique texture and minimizes the olive oil. The strong symmetry of the vegetables and the bowl are at odds with the lemons & stripes at the top. In both shots, a piece of artichoke heart has wandered and some thyme has scooted up the bowl; for a more professional look, both of those would have to be fixed.


A very casual reading of the book has improved my photos a lot (given my limitations in lighting and equipment, I need all the help I can get). I've also learned how they could be further improved toward a professional standard. I don't aspire to a career in food styling or food photography. But if I were an ambitious food blogger or aspiring to do my own cookbook, this book would be extremely valuable for getting the quality of photo AND the right type of styling for the target audience.

The author, who has never heard of me, has her own professional web site here.

contestant

So, there's a food photography contest at the Pioneer Woman's site. I'm not aspiring to win, but I signed up, and am I ever glad! Because if you join the photo pool, you can see all the submissions.

A wise friend gave me a good piece of advice a couple of years ago about a peculiar community I'll be part of for the rest of my life. (yeah, peculiar communities are kinda a habit with me.) She said if you make a habit of thanking people and telling them when they do a good job, people are always glad to see you coming. So when I scoped out the photo submissions, I complimented the ones I liked. None of these folks know me from Adam's house cat, but who cares? Complimenting the photographers only takes a minute & made my viewing more pleasant.

Macro abstract: light at the end of the tunnel

Winter Light

My lighting conditions have radically changed since I got started. What I've discovered is that the lighting in my house, while energy efficient, really stinks.

Upon further investigation, I've found that on dark days (which is nearly all of them for the next few months) and at night, the best light in the house is actually on my stove top. It's going to take some work, and obviously, after I've just cooked something it's not likely to be clean/cool enough for a shooting surface. It's flat, 'cause I have a glass top electric.

I'm also discovering my south wall window is too much on sunny days, especially now that the ground is covered with snow. So I'm experimenting: diffusing the light with the extremely high-tech solution of taping white tissue paper over the window.

And today I've just figured out how to turn off the flash, which pretty much doubles my knowledge of the thing.

Eureka!

My point and shoot did this! Gratitude galore to Donna of Funky Junk Interiors for the step-by-step here.

Hat tip (wooden spoon wave?) to Sofya at Girls' Guide to Guns & Butter for inspiring the subject.

This is why I love the Internet, even though I'd still be writing with my fountain pen if I could get ink for it.

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Navajo rings, Kingman turquiose and onyx, both signed by the same artist. Bought in San Antonio, TX, 1982.