Grass Roots Video

Today’s photo is for my entry into a contest hosted on another blog – www.strobist.blogspot.com.  Or simply, “Strobist.”  This is the second in a contest series that David Hobby calles “Boot Camp 2.”  Each assignment is given with specific guidelines as to what is to be shot and as always there’s a deadline.  The deadline for this assignment is Saturday.  And I must say that I’m pretty proud of myself for getting the assignment done before the day it is due.

As you can see this assignment was to photograph some food.  And apparently there are more obstacles than I had originally thought when it comes to shooting food.  I really did think, “It’s just like a table top still life… but I can eat it when I’m done.”  Oh, how I was wrong.  Let me ’splain, Lucie.

I read several different articles on-line about food photography and a couple of blogs by food photographers, let alone the updates on Strobist.  It seemed pretty straight forward, but really – a food STYLIST!?!  Who has even heard of such a job title.  I mean, anybody can put a piece of pie on a plate… right?

As it turns out, there’s a bit more to it.  Who knew?  Apparently you have to be able to cut the piece of pie perfectly.  Don’t chop the crust or drag the knife through the filling, because if you do… you’ll be cutting another piece.  Then  lift it out of the pan without putting your finger in the center and leaving a big div-it – not that I would know anything about that.  And once you place the pie on the plate at in the right position, you have to  balance the lime pieces perfectly on the quickly melting whipped cream.

Once all of that is done – perfectly – you swap out your real piece of pie for the paper towel stand in that you used to set up your lights.  But wait… the actual pie is taller than the “stunt pie.”  Let’s reposition a couple of lights and raise the camera accordingly before the whole thing loses it’s appeal.  Snap a couple more frames and then realize that everything else in the frame needs adjusting now, too. 

QUICK!! The whipped topping is MELTING!!! 

Lime down!  I repeat… Lime Down!

Reposition the lime wedge and try to mask the crevasse created by it’s slow and glacial decent.  Snap a few more frames. 

Then my wife, Jessica, /#1 photo assistant/ stylist says casually, “Hey, did you notice there’s whipped topping on the side of the piece of pie?”

WHAT?!?

Let’s clean that off right away and snap one more picture.  Then the whipped topping starts to drip.

Shoot’s over.

Yup, just like a table top still life… only with a lot more stress and working against rising tempuratures.  And no… I didn’t buy the dry ice like the two articles I read suggested.  Why would I need dry ice?

Any comments or critiques are welcome.