The process I decided to photograph for this assignment was me making brunch for myself this past Saturday. Initially, it was intended to be eaten with my roommates & a few of their friends(with masks and socially distant measures in place outdoors) but plans fell through. I discovered this in the midst of my meal, but it was still a great day out and I enjoyed brunch by myself on the front porch.
The process I took to photograph my entire cooking process was to focus on the ingredients. There wasn't anyone else around to help take photos of me chopping up the food I was going to use, so I made sure to document the food at every stage of the process(pre-chopped, chopped, cooking, and made together). I realized that while having someone else to help take photos would've helped, I looked at it as a challenge and got creative in other ways to complete the assignment.
The edits I mainly focused on were Brightness/Contrast, Exposure, Shadows, and Saturation. My colors turned out pretty well during this project and I noticed I shot in a bright spot(the sunlight was coming through my kitchen windows). I really wanted to have a good balance of lights and darks.
To be honest, I only took 7-8 photos and choose from all of those instead of taking 10/20/30+ and picking from them. In past assignments, I'd just rapid fire on the photo button and see which came out the best regardless of the angle I shot from. This time, however, I really wanted to practice my photography skills and focus on getting exactly what I wanted along with where I wanted it on the first or second try. I ended up with 8 photos because while the photos I took may not be "perfect" to a professional's standard, I really really liked each photo that I got. I took an 8th one just in case I didn't like one of the 7.
What was challenging about the assignment was figuring out how to shoot the process without capturing chopping motions of me cutting up ingredients. How I accomplished this was by photographing the uncut, cut, cooked, and finished dish. It was a fun spin I got to add to the assignment and I liked how it came out.
Below is the order in which I made my brunch and took the photos.
Brunch prep begins. The ingredients are set on the table, light is pouring in through the windows, and I was pretty hungry. The scene is light and there are a fair amount of shadows. Photo is an establishing shot.
Aerial horizontal shot of what I've got.... cut out for me?(puns are an important part of any cooking process). I've got a yellow bell pepper, two grape tomatoes, two apple cherry sausages, one cucumber, balsamic vinaigrette dressing, onion bagels, chive cream cheese, mostly pulp orange juice, unsalted butter, and a cutting board and knife. Lettuce is just barely showing as it got almost cropped out in the upper left corner. Photo is black and white and cropped to the same aspect ratio.
Another aerial shot of all the ingredients I listed in the above photo but this time it's vertical. Ingredients are: cucumber, tomatoes, sausage, orange juice, butter, an onion(I forgot to grab it when I took my first two photos and remembered that I wanted it), salad dressing, bagels, lettuce, a knife, and a cutting board. This time, the coffee grinder is visible on the table. Photo is cropped to a square.
A vertical shot of the ingredients I have on the table, now chopped. Lettuce is placed in a bowl, bagel is sliced and toasted, orange juice is poured into a glass, sausage/cucumber/tomatoes/onions are now chopped, and I'm ready to start cooking. Photo is taken to center cutting board with chopped ingredients.
A picture of me cooking my chopped up sausages for my salad. Sausages are sizzling in the pan, while my hand is flipping them with a spatula. Cutting board is slightly visible under my right arm, and random pan lids and plastic containers are in the background on the counter. Photo is taken from medium distance.
Angled right side shot of my salad, juice, and bagel sandwich. Salad is in focus(it contains lettuce, cucumbers, bell peppers, and cooked sausage along with balsamic vinaigrette dressing). Glass of orange juice is behind it slightly out of focus, and bagel sandwich is out of focus to the left(it contains chive cream cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, everything but the bagel seasoning, sriracha, red pepper flakes all on a toasted onion bagel). Photo is taken for a close up of the salad.
Angled left side shot of my salad, juice, and bagel sandwich. Bagel is in focus(it contains chive cream cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, everything but the bagel seasoning, sriracha, red pepper flakes all on a toasted onion bagel), orange juice is behind it shining in the sun, and salad is in focus on the right(it contains lettuce, cucumbers, bell peppers, and cooked sausage along with balsamic vinaigrette dressing). Photo is taken for an off-center shot of the entire meal.
This is the photo that I didn't go with. It was hard to not choose it, but I didn't like it as much as the others. The goal was to get a shot of the stove I was using but I feel like I got a better photo of that while cooking the sausages. This is a photo of the pan I used sitting on top of the stovetop with a drying towel hanging on the oven handle.
This is the before photo of the black and white cropped to have same aspect ratio photo
This is the after photo of the black and white cropped to have same aspect ratio photo
Hi Graham,
ReplyDeleteI was hoping to see a cooking and/or baking process from one of us. You certainly had a lot of ingredients and seem like you eat well. I like the placements you chose for your ingredients and/or objects as it seemed intentional where you had certain items within your photos. In some of the beginning photos, having the food products and objects spanning the table and take space throughout the photo was an appealing touch to showcase everything involved in the process. Also, the natural light flowing from the windows certainly adds to the background while also illuminating the food. On a side note, the food looks pretty good. I have never tried sausages with salad before, but you make it look tempting.