Friday Faves – mycameraeatsfood
Today I’m very excited about the featured Friday Fav. I stumbled upon Jessica’s blog, mycameraeatsfood, late last year and was instantly drawn in to the beautiful photographs. As a freelance photographer, she definitely knows her stuff. And how cute is that blog name! I hope you guys enjoy this post about a favorite blogger topic, food photography.
Thanks to Jen, this is my first official guest post on another blog! I run mycameraeatsfood, a small site specializing in food photography, and I am also a contributing photographer and videographer for a larger blog called Serious Eats. Today’s post was inspired by a recent post we ran on Serious Eats about food blog photography. — Jessica
If you’re a food blogger, odds are you’ve staged more than one meal for your readers. What goes into a food photograph? Props, location, and lighting are some of my most important ingredients…after the pretty food, of course.
Here are four different setups I styled and considered during a recent location scouting. Which one do you like best?
We began in the kitchen. I grabbed some leftover strudel, a shiny knife, and a wooden cutting board, and set up shop. Please note: the remaining crumbs are intentional. I often find that a few artfully chosen crumbs improve a photo tremendously. However, I did not love the kitchen lighting. Moving on…
I found a nice whitewashed brick wall next to a window, and tried a few shots here. My flatware and tableware additions improved the photo, but I was still not satisfied; the trapped brick looked too random to me.
Us food photographers love that natural window light. Upon discovering a bigger, unobstructed window with a wider windowsill, my perfect lighting search was complete. Throw in some flowers and a bird hungry for some strudel, and we’ve got our shot. Or do we…?
I tried one final shot of the strudel in a gorgeous old bowl I found in the cabinet…but that darn window vent snuck in and ruined the whole thing. This bowl would do better on a wider, unobstructed surface.
Which shot do you like best? And what are some of your favorite food styling props? Despite the prop-heavy third shot, I often find that less is more…a few crumbs can go a long way.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I am of two minds on this post. On the one hand, my OCD really kicked in when I read that you had not followed Mark Bittman’s recipe but still decided to write about it. Seemed a bit sloppy for a nerd and an engineer. On the other hand, that is how Pasteur discovered Penicillin. Bittman is such a great cook, that I think he deserves better treatment; so I plan to do him the honor of making his recipe. I am not going to make the other two though!
Oops! Senior moment that – it was the Scottish scientist and Nobel laureate Alexander Fleming in 1928. Apparently, the Pasteur Institut ignored the work of a French physician, Ernest Duchesne, who in 1897 discovered the curative properties of the Penicillium Glaucum, a different mold than the one Fleming discovered, but in the same genus. Gotta love Wikipedia.
There are two tapioca recipes on the Minute Tapioca box. I always use the one for Fluffy Pudding, which calls for 2 cups milk and whipping the egg whites separately from the cooked milk with tapioca and egg yolk. I think you will find the pudding much improved over the basic recipe.
Also, the quality of the vanilla makes a huge difference in something like tapioca. Cooks Illustrated likes McCormick and I found this on amazon and at Sam’s Club in large bottles for very reasonable prices.
One other note: I find that CI has a sweet tooth: their recipes are sometimes too sweet for my taste, though they are a go-to source otherwise.
This is an interesting discussion. I tried the Kraft recipe today. I threw everything (except the vanilla) in the blender before putting it on the stove. I also added 1/2 tsp. salt and a bit more vanilla. I actually thought it was sweet enough already, though. However, I agree with your overall conclusion that it’s a bit boring. Well, at least it was easy. Anyway, next time I may a recipe using large tapioca. 🙂
Thanks for the comparison.