A chicken breast picture

"modom" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

http://i1.tinypic.com/ogf0k6.jpg

I wasn't very hungry this evening. Not feeling 100%, and I'm losing
my voice.

D thawed some chicken breasts in the fridge last night. Well, they
were mostly thawed when I began cooking this evening. I toasted and
rehydrated a pasilla negra chile, the last one in the house. I deeply
love thos chiles. I used the soft flesh (scraped from the skin with
the back of a knife) and the rehydrating water in a marinade. Other
stuff in the marinade included dark soy sauce, minced garlic, lemon
juice, orange juice, Bufalo chipotle sauce, a dash of honey, and some
Dijon mustard.

I seared the chicken in an oiled skillet and set in a 350F convection
oven. And I reduced the marinade on the stove top till it was fairly
thick. That's it on the chicken

The other items are turnip greens (with bits of turnip and some tasso)
and roasted Brussels sprouts. That's a little shredded cabbage on the
chicken. I don't know why that happened, but cabbage is good for you.

D liked it. I was indifferent, but it filled me up.

--
modom

Dear Modom, let me say first, that I love seeing your pictures. I hope you
won't get mad at me if I make one suggestion regarding your plate photos.
When you take the picture, try to stand over it and take it straight down.
I'd love to see what difference this would make. It is the section in the
top (farthest back) that is harder to see.

I just received today an on-line order of a grill
http://www.sharpknives.com/gourmets_toolbox_pages/villaware_classic_table_top_gril.htm
since I can't keep a grill outside because of weather and critters; I'm
looking forward to some grilled chicken and fish.
Your dinners are an inspiration. Thank you for posting your photos.
Dee Dee

Dee Randall said:

Dear Modom, let me say first, that I love seeing your pictures. I hope you
won't get mad at me if I make one suggestion regarding your plate photos.
When you take the picture, try to stand over it and take it straight down.
I'd love to see what difference this would make. It is the section in the
top (farthest back) that is harder to see.

What a sideways, no backbone approach to saying modom's creation looks
like [censored]. This is the most disgusting one yet.

modom said:

I wasn't very hungry this evening. Not feeling 100%, and I'm losing
my voice.

Ahhhh. You've got "the bug". Take it easy, because it hangs on and
it's not fun.
--

Practice safe eating. Always use condiments.

Sheldon said:

What a sideways, no backbone approach to saying modom's creation looks
like [censored].

Well, it's actually not a question of food photography but a question of
food creation. It looks like modom tends to stir fry anyhing mixed in
the same pan which certainly optimizes washing up but ends up in a color
coordinated spectrum of brown tones of all food.

It's hard to get a nice photo on this basis but it would at least help
to choose less impossible colors of the plates. Basically, with very
few exceptions, plates have to be white and that's it.

So,

Step 1: Keep the different food apart from each other while preparing
and cooking it and try to accentuate its own color instead of roasting
it to death in a pan or casserole.

Step 2: Arrange it neatly on a neutral colored (i. e. white :-) plate
and look what additional colors could make the arrangement more
appetizing. In this case, I would have left the turnip stuff away and
added some small potatoes. Their yellow would nicely harmonize with the
brown crust and (hopefully) rose inside of the chicken as well as with
the fresh green of some carefully steamed Brussels sprouts. I'd also
add some tasty decoration in red, maybe two cherry tomatoes cut in half
with some very simple oil/vinegar/chopped onion dressing poured over it
(but not flooding the whole plate).

Step 3: Take a nice photo, having some professional hints like in
http://www.foodportfolio.com/blog/#blog in mind.

Step 4: Take the tomato salad away from the plate again and warm the
whole stuff in the microwave, as its probably cold after you produced at
least one usable photo. Add the tomato salad again and eat, trying to
imaging how good it would have been eating it freshly prepared :-)

Quoted message said:

This is the most disgusting one yet.

It's at least still capable of some improvements.

Modom, how about installing a webcam in your extractor hood and
announcing the broadcasting (i. e. cooking) hours here? I bet we would
have many more advice you never wanted to hear :-)

Jens

Dee Randall said:

I just received today an on-line order of a grill
http://www.sharpknives.com/gourmets_toolbox_pages/villaware_classic_table_top_gril.htm
since I can't keep a grill outside because of weather and critters;
I'm looking forward to some grilled chicken and fish.

When cooking inside, I use a very simple traditional wrought-iron pan
from one of the oldest blacksmith shops in the area (est'd around 1500,
http://www.hammerschmiede-badoberdorf.de/impressionen.htm). That's fine
for me until the outdoor season will begin again.

For inside use, I would always prefer a contact grill that is preparing
both sides of the maet or wahtever at the same time with a minimum of
2,000 W. My experience with single-sided electrical grills with a low
or medium wattage is that the meat gets warm and dry but not anything
like grilled.

Jens

Jens Arne Maennig said:

It's hard to get a nice photo on this basis but it would at least help
to choose less impossible colors of the plates. Basically, with very
few exceptions, plates have to be white and that's it.

Interesting point. I just went flipping through some of my cook books
and although there ARE a lot of white plates in the food pix they also
use different colour plates, platters, bowls etc.in some of the pix -
and the food still looks good.

Cheers
Cathy(xyz)

"Jens Arne Maennig" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Dee Randall said:

I just received today an on-line order of a grill
http://www.sharpknives.com/gourmets_toolbox_pages/villaware_classic_table_top_gril.htm
since I can't keep a grill outside because of weather and critters;
I'm looking forward to some grilled chicken and fish.

When cooking inside, I use a very simple traditional wrought-iron pan
from one of the oldest blacksmith shops in the area (est'd around 1500,
http://www.hammerschmiede-badoberdorf.de/impressionen.htm). That's fine
for me until the outdoor season will begin again.

For inside use, I would always prefer a contact grill that is preparing
both sides of the maet or wahtever at the same time with a minimum of
2,000 W. My experience with single-sided electrical grills with a low
or medium wattage is that the meat gets warm and dry but not anything
like grilled.

Jens

Thanks for your time for your response.
Much appreciated.
Dee Dee

modom said:

http://i1.tinypic.com/ogf0k6.jpg

I wasn't very hungry this evening.

Understood.

Quoted message said:

D liked it.

Not understood.

I have seen the red plate.

cathyxyz said:

I just went flipping through some of my cook books
and although there ARE a lot of white plates in the food pix they also
use different colour plates, platters, bowls etc.in some of the pix -
and the food still looks good.

Yes, of course. If you are being sponsored by the Rosenthals and
Riedels of the world and have a kitchen in the size of an airship
hangar, it's nice to have full sets of different colors available for
any situation.

If you are, however, a person of an average income suffering from a
small-sized European post-war kitchen, it's easier to KISS (keep it
simple & stupid) and stick to white tableware. It nearly *always* fits,
whereas colorful stuff just sometimes fits.

Pastel shades normally work out better than stronger colors, black
plates can look nice on pictures but I personally hate eating from them.
I have 5 different plate sizes in constant use, and there are 12 of
each. The whole thing for 8 different pastel shades plus black and
white would be 600 plates, not to mention the different bowls, cups,
etc.

Looks a bit oversized to me, so I'll stick to white :-)

Seriously: Food on color plates can look nice (http://tinyurl.com/om7bw)
or less nice (http://tinyurl.com/mkon7).

Jens

Jens Arne Maennig said:

Well, it's actually not a question of food photography but a question of
food creation. It looks like modom tends to stir fry anything mixed in
the same pan which certainly optimizes washing up but ends up in a color
coordinated spectrum of brown tones of all food.

Many pictures of stir fried foods.
<http://usa.stockfood.com/results.asp?key=ST3991>

Quoted message said:

It's hard to get a nice photo on this basis but it would at least help
to choose less impossible colors of the plates. Basically, with very
few exceptions, plates have to be white and that's it.

Sorry. No. Look through any reasonably modern cookbook with pictures and
look at what the stylists have done. When I do food styling, it's to
accentuate the food, obviously, and putting the food on a background
that will enhance it's eye-appeal is item one. Everything from clear
glass to pewter and silver. Solid-color to wildly painted plates and
trays. Even putting the food on things not intended for the table -
slabs of stone, pieces of wood, metal sheets.

Here's an alternate view
<http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2004/09/15/food_photos.html>

Here are many pictures, only a few of which use white plates.
<http://usa.stockfood.com/results.asp?key=ST3996>

Quoted message said:

So,

The information below is all about making a photograph, not about
photographing a real-life dinner. While the ideas may be good, this
changes the whole point of what and why the pictures have been being
posted. It hasn't been about photography; it's been about the food.

And since the food is paramount, the photo technicalities have rightly
taken second place. It's a record, not art. A snapshot to preserve a
moment in time rather than to have an independent life beyond its subject.

Quoted message said:

Step 1: Keep the different food apart from each other while preparing
and cooking it and try to accentuate its own color instead of roasting
it to death in a pan or casserole.

Quoted message said:

Step 2: Arrange it neatly on a neutral colored (i. e. white :-) plate

Right hand side... red plate.
<http://usa.stockfood.com/results.asp?key=ME1416>

Quoted message said:

and look what additional colors could make the arrangement more
appetizing. In this case, I would have left the turnip stuff away and
added some small potatoes. Their yellow would nicely harmonize with the
brown crust and (hopefully) rose inside of the chicken as well as with
the fresh green of some carefully steamed Brussels sprouts. I'd also
add some tasty decoration in red, maybe two cherry tomatoes cut in half
with some very simple oil/vinegar/chopped onion dressing poured over it
(but not flooding the whole plate).

Step 3: Take a nice photo, having some professional hints like in
http://www.foodportfolio.com/blog/#blog in mind.

Step 4: Take the tomato salad away from the plate again and warm the
whole stuff in the microwave, as its probably cold after you produced at
least one usable photo. Add the tomato salad again and eat, trying to
imaging how good it would have been eating it freshly prepared :-)

And this is precisely the point of modom's pictures. Not to wait and
fiddle with the food for the sake of some deathless image. But to pause
for a few seconds to take a picture, then get to the real business at
hand. Eating.

Quoted message said:

Modom, how about installing a webcam in your extractor hood and
announcing the broadcasting (i. e. cooking) hours here? I bet we would
have many more advice you never wanted to hear :-)

How silly.

Pastorio

In article <[email hidden]>,

Bob (this one) said:

Sorry. No. Look through any reasonably modern cookbook with pictures and
look at what the stylists have done. When I do food styling, it's to
accentuate the food, obviously, and putting the food on a background
that will enhance it's eye-appeal is item one. Everything from clear
glass to pewter and silver. Solid-color to wildly painted plates and
trays. Even putting the food on things not intended for the table -
slabs of stone, pieces of wood, metal sheets.

Personally, I prefer to avoid plain white plates!
It's been my experience with both scanning and photographing digital
images for ebay sales that white is a very, very poor background for
digital imaging. It tends to wash out or over-brighten the subject
matter. I'm not sure why, maybe the scanning software is overwhelmed by
all that bright?

Blue or black has worked best for me. I'm now experimenting using a
crystal plate on the black background. The black background used for
most of these is the top of my black glass top stove. <G>

Nice flat surface and good lighting.

The colorful oriental soup bowls I have also seem to photograph well
without detracting from the subject.

These are pics that I've been taking for the other list,
alt.binaries.food

If you like taking or viewing food pics, it's a fun list and there are
several members from here over there. :-) I thought that Modom's pic of
the chicken breast was just fine for color and simple composition, but
do agree about the angle. A flatter picture would give a clearer
presentation of the entire plate. That can be tricky tho', not even any
of mine are really totally flat on. I'd have to stand on a chair or
something and I'd rather not!

Anyhoo, here are my humble offerings. Some preps and some completed
dishes:

Oddly enough, the single one I made an effort on to "decorate", (the
grilled chicken platter) did not elicit a single comment on the binaries
list! <sigh> I gave up after that and just kept it real. <G> I did eat
those basil leaves with the avocados tho', and they were delicious.

http://i1.tinypic.com/oh689z.jpg
http://i1.tinypic.com/oh69ee.jpg
http://i1.tinypic.com/oh69o1.jpg
http://i1.tinypic.com/oh6bnt.jpg
http://i1.tinypic.com/oh6bys.jpg
http://i1.tinypic.com/oh6cf4.jpg
http://i1.tinypic.com/oh6crb.jpg
http://i1.tinypic.com/oh6czl.jpg

Ok, so I took extra time with this next one too... <G>
Dad was pleased:

http://i1.tinypic.com/oh6d6h.jpg

http://i1.tinypic.com/oh6xrb.jpg

This next one I had to tweak to bring the colors back in.
The white background washed it out initially. Fortunately,
I'm reasonably skilled with Photoshop CS:

http://i1.tinypic.com/oh6xyt.jpg

And last but not least, please pardon the oak cutting board. <G>
It needs bleaching and sanding, but well used boards are not usually
very pretty. The subject matter is another story! Top round. ;-d

http://i1.tinypic.com/oh6yyu.jpg

Cheers! :-)

And Modom, keep it up!
I'm an amateur at food photography, but I can see how it can become an
addicting hobby!
--
Peace, Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-[censored]." -Jack Nicholson

On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 13:24:11 -0500, "Bob (this one)" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Jens Arne Maennig said:

Well, it's actually not a question of food photography but a question of
food creation. It looks like modom tends to stir fry anything mixed in
the same pan which certainly optimizes washing up but ends up in a color
coordinated spectrum of brown tones of all food.

Many pictures of stir fried foods.
<http://usa.stockfood.com/results.asp?key=ST3991>

Actually, among the pictures I've posted were breaded and fried
sausage balls which were finished in the oven, not stir fried (imagine
stir frying a meat ball). I suppose the fact that I put the sausage
balls on a bed of soba noodles and sauced them and put other items on
them as well, led Jens to his error.

There was also a bowl of soup. I didn't fry it either. Several
pictures involved strips of beef steak which might have been mistaken
for stir fried stuff, but I tried to indicate in a brief narrative
that the meat had been either pan seared or grilled and rested before
I cut it that way for serving. I do this frequently because I'm
cooking for two and it helps me portion larger cuts equitably. Also
if there's a reduction sauce, as there were in some dishes, slicing it
this way allows the sauce more surface contact. I don't think any of
the images so far have been of stir fried food.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

It's hard to get a nice photo on this basis but it would at least help
to choose less impossible colors of the plates. Basically, with very
few exceptions, plates have to be white and that's it.

Sorry. No. Look through any reasonably modern cookbook with pictures and
look at what the stylists have done. When I do food styling, it's to
accentuate the food, obviously, and putting the food on a background
that will enhance it's eye-appeal is item one. Everything from clear
glass to pewter and silver. Solid-color to wildly painted plates and
trays. Even putting the food on things not intended for the table -
slabs of stone, pieces of wood, metal sheets.

Here's an alternate view
<http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2004/09/15/food_photos.html>

Here are many pictures, only a few of which use white plates.
<http://usa.stockfood.com/results.asp?key=ST3996>

And I think the red plate -- so roundly despised by some -- are
amusing. Funny, even. An artist I'm interested in named Sophie Calle
once spent a week eating only food of one color each day and
photographed her meals. It was silly, but amusing.

Quoted message said:

The information below is all about making a photograph, not about
photographing a real-life dinner. While the ideas may be good, this
changes the whole point of what and why the pictures have been being
posted. It hasn't been about photography; it's been about the food.

Yup.

[snip]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

and look what additional colors could make the arrangement more
appetizing. In this case, I would have left the turnip stuff away and
added some small potatoes. Their yellow would nicely harmonize with the
brown crust and (hopefully) rose inside of the chicken as well as with
the fresh green of some carefully steamed Brussels sprouts. I'd also
add some tasty decoration in red, maybe two cherry tomatoes cut in half
with some very simple oil/vinegar/chopped onion dressing poured over it
(but not flooding the whole plate).

We don't eat potatoes chez modom, and I like baked Brussels sprouts
and turnip greens. We had no cherry tomatoes in the house.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Step 3: Take a nice photo, having some professional hints like in
http://www.foodportfolio.com/blog/#blog in mind.

Step 4: Take the tomato salad away from the plate again and warm the
whole stuff in the microwave, as its probably cold after you produced at
least one usable photo. Add the tomato salad again and eat, trying to
imaging how good it would have been eating it freshly prepared :-)

And this is precisely the point of modom's pictures. Not to wait and
fiddle with the food for the sake of some deathless image. But to pause
for a few seconds to take a picture, then get to the real business at
hand. Eating.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Communication is possible.
--
modom

"My baby's got no clothes
'Cause she's makin' chicken soup."

-- Chuck E. Weiss

OmManiPadmeOmelet said:

Anyhoo, here are my humble offerings. Some preps and some completed
dishes:

Cool pix, Om. Well I guess that shoots the "white plate" theory out of
the water...

Cheers
Cathy(xyz)

On 24 Feb 2006 11:30:19 -0800, "cathyxyz" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

OmManiPadmeOmelet said:

Anyhoo, here are my humble offerings. Some preps and some completed
dishes:

Cool pix, Om. Well I guess that shoots the "white plate" theory out of
the water...

Cheers
Cathy(xyz)

I liked them too.
--
modom

"My baby's got no clothes
'Cause she's makin' chicken soup."

-- Chuck E. Weiss

Bob (this one) said:

Jens Arne Maennig wrote:

Quoted message said:

Look through any reasonably modern cookbook with pictures and look at
what the stylists have done. When I do food styling, it's to
accentuate the food, obviously, and putting the food on a background
that will enhance it's eye-appeal is item one. Everything from clear
glass to pewter and silver. Solid-color to wildly painted plates and
trays. Even putting the food on things not intended for the table -
slabs of stone, pieces of wood, metal sheets.

And don't forget about wood. It can be a wonderful backdrop.

Quoted message said:

Here are many pictures, only a few of which use white plates.
<http://usa.stockfood.com/results.asp?key=ST3996>

Sorry for the misunderstanding: I explained in
<[email hidden]> why 2plates have to be white".
The reason is not a photographic or design one, it's pretty pragmatic.

Quoted message said:

Right hand side... red plate.
<http://usa.stockfood.com/results.asp?key=ME1416>

If I would get that in a restaurant, I would kindly ask the waiter if it
is possible to transfer the food to another plate (white? :-).

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

and look what additional colors could make the arrangement more

Quoted message said:

And this is precisely the point of modom's pictures. Not to wait and
fiddle with the food for the sake of some deathless image. But to pause
for a few seconds to take a picture, then get to the real business at
hand. Eating.

Right. There might have been an ironic factor included in step 4.
However, a quick, bad photo of some nicely arranged and nicely colored
food would be very okay.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Modom, how about installing a webcam in your extractor hood and
announcing the broadcasting (i. e. cooking) hours here? I bet we
would have many more advice you never wanted to hear :-)

How silly.

When are you going to have your humor module fixed? Already out of
warranty, I guess?

Jens

OmManiPadmeOmelet said:

Personally, I prefer to avoid plain white plates!

Personally I love white plates, white walls and ceilings, white bedlinen
and white bathrooms. If you have complete chaos in your head, it makes
sense to surround yourself with some clinical ambience :-)

Jens

In article <[email hidden]>,

cathyxyz said:

OmManiPadmeOmelet said:

Anyhoo, here are my humble offerings. Some preps and some completed
dishes:

Cool pix, Om. Well I guess that shoots the "white plate" theory out of
the water...

Cheers
Cathy(xyz)

:-)

Danke dear!
--
Peace, Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-[censored]." -Jack Nicholson

In article <[email hidden]>,

modom said:

On 24 Feb 2006 11:30:19 -0800, "cathyxyz" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

OmManiPadmeOmelet said:

Anyhoo, here are my humble offerings. Some preps and some completed
dishes:

Cool pix, Om. Well I guess that shoots the "white plate" theory out of
the water...

Cheers
Cathy(xyz)

I liked them too.
--
modom

Thanks luv!

I've done literally _hundreds_ of scans and photos for ebay sales.
White works for a few things, but it's been my least favorite color to
work with as a background.....

It often (but not alwayss) detracts unless you use a transparancy, do
hours worth of erasing by individual pixel and set up a "matte"
background.

I have actually used a piece of white fur as a backdrop, but it has
variations of shading to make it attractive. Here is an example of a
scan from my webspace:

http://home.centurytel.net/Katraslink/4mmGFJumprings.jpg

And another:

http://home.centurytel.net/Katraslink/4mmCelstialbeads.jpg

The fur is a nice texture imho!
--
Peace, Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-[censored]." -Jack Nicholson

modom said:

An artist I'm interested in named Sophie Calle
once spent a week eating only food of one color each day and
photographed her meals. It was silly, but amusing.

I like the idea. I'd propose Sunday as transparent day:

- Adam's Ale Soup
- Jellyfish On A Bed Of Glass Noodles
- 100% Pigment-Free Jell-O

All served on glass tableware, of course. Who'll take the photos?

Jens