Burning Marshmallow

I don’t know any guy who doesn’t enjoy setting things on fire. I’m no exception. I love watching things burn. Mix this with my affinity for food, photography and well … things that are sugary … and this is what you get.

Additionally, while there may be a debate about the optimal roasting of a marshmallow, I prefer my burnt.

What I enjoyed finding in the stills was the puffs of smoke that burst out like little smoke rings. Air, sugar and fire. What a fun combination with very interesting results.

This video is a series of stills from my experiment. Each marshmallow burn was about 15-30 seconds. I was grabbing an image/frame about every second.

So, next time you’re at a campfire roasting marshmallows, think of all the little things happening that we usually don’t see with the naked eye.

Hmmm … what to burn next? Any suggestions?

-Kyle

Nashville Arts ~ Valentine Food

The February issue of Nashville Arts Magazine just hit the stands this week. The creative team lead by Paul Polucarpou and Katie Sulkowski make for a fun group to work with.

This particular feature was driven by poetry from Alimentum: The Literature of Food and written by Paulette Licitra.

On the photography side of things our A-team lineup in the studio was fabulous food stylist Teresa Blackburn, innovative recipe developer Nancy Vienneau, and trusted first-assistant Rory White.

There’s probably a lot that could be said for chocolate truffles, berry cobbler, lemon cake, kiwi tart, chocolate banana parfait and tiramisu, but I’d prefer to let the images do the talking.

Berry Cobbler

Tiramisu

Tiramisu (outtake)

Chocolate Banana Parfait (outtake)

Chocolate Truffls

Chocolate Banana Parfait (outtake)

Lemon Cake with Lemon Liquor

Kiwi Tart

This was a fun assignment. Thanks to everyone involved.

- Kyle
“Yum … that was good!”

Food from across the pond

Following are images from an editorial gig for Home Life magazine which is a title produced by Life Way in Nashville. A fun project. Always a pleasure to work with my assistant Rory and food stylist Teresa. And, the art director was great to work with. Thanks Susan for an all around a fun assignment.

Feature Opener - British Food

Chicken Pasties

Bangers and Mash

Potato Wedges

Pudding Cake

There you have it … or as they’d say in the UK … “Bob’s your uncle!”

-Kyle

Mega Megapixels

In a world of “more is better” I often find myself fighting for the “less is more” concept. (see Mr. Critical’s prior post) But today, I’m here to tell you, that more megapixels IS better … at least when you couple that with a medium format Phase One digital back, a Hasselblad camera and a superior lens.

First, let me say that not all megapixels are created equal. I’ll go into detail in a subsequent post. The main point is that a bigger sensor size makes for happier megapixels.

So, wanna see what comes from a 31.6 megapixel digital back?

Here’s the final image which is cropped close to full frame.

Here are a few images taken from the image at actual (1:1) size.

Can you see what I mean?

Stay tuned for more happy thoughts and opinions about megapixels.

-Kyle

Whisky Business

I couldn’t resist the pun. Forgive me.

Sometimes objects themselves serve as inspiration for me. I’m a sucker for anything old … for the most part … old cheese isn’t top of my list. Anyway, I found this old whisk on a recent outing were I end the day with a car load of photo props I use in my food photography.

So, here is what was in my head the day I purchased said whisk.

Until next time …
- Kyle

Wine Pour – Photography Style

In the commercial photography industry there is a specialty known as a “pour”. This is a test I did yesterday. I think I went through about a dozen or so glasses of wine … shooting, not drinking.

The challenge is stopping motion but at the right time. There are certain equipment limitations which prevail … the most prominent is flash duration. Normally you’d think you can just set your shutter to as fast as you can but flashes to do not sync well when shooting fast than 1/250 of a second … hence the black half of an image … the shutter curtain.

The other factor that plays into this type of photography is the depth of field. The more detail you want to retain aka broader depth of field, the more you have to stop down the aperture, then the more light you need, then the longer the flash duration … leading to more motion blur.

The trick? Many small strobes with very short flash duration. This image is my second test. In my next test, I will be pushing the limits with greater depth of field. Maybe I’ll choose a Riesling next time.

Until then, cheers.

-Kyle

Splash Photography

Well, today was a testing day. Needless to say, the studio is a little more wet than … well … it’s never this wet. It’s been a fun day of red wine, whipped cream and strawberries … not all in one shot.

This is one of the successful splashes. Just like any other day of test shots, today was a learning experience and I’m excited about testing more next week.

You’ll have to wait for the wine and whipped cream …

-Kyle

Food Photography for Puckett’s

The good folks at Spring Sprang in Franklin, TN did a bang up job on designing a wonderful site for Puckett’s Grocery. I was fortunate enough to be hired to do some food photography to help in the effort.

Now, Spring Sprang has just released a little behind the scenes video of the making of the site. You’ll find I have a small appearance.

Enjoy, if you please.

http://vimeo.com/6209607

- Kyle

Food. Test. Shoot.

I’m long overdue for a post to the bog, but things have been beyond busy.

I am very grateful for abundance of work these days, particularly with the news that airs nightly. Honestly, I think this is a great time to be in business for yourself … despite the unfair taxation. I digress.

Today I was putting together a few test shots for a potential client. This is probably my favorite way to shoot … loose parameters, flexible deadlines, and food. (disclaimer/confession: I did not sample the subjects, however I was highly tempted … these pepper jellies smell awesome.)

Raspberry Pepper Jelly, Blackberry Pepper Jelly and Strawberry Pepper Jelly.

Blackberry Pepper Jelly

Blackberry Pepper Jelly

That’s all for now.

-Kyle

Food. Photography. Red Pony.

I’ve recently shot a number of dishes for Red Pony Restaurant in downtown Franklin, TN. Here are a few of the shots. There are others but I have yet to fully process them.

Sushi from Red Pony - Franklin, TN

Shrimp - Red Pony - Franklin, TN

My only disappointment was that I didn’t get to taste what you see. It sure was tempting though. I can, however, vouch for their creme bruleé … and I’d be thrilled to vouch for it again, and again, and again.

If you’d like to see more see my food photography section of my portfolio.

You can also track me via my FaceBook Nashville Commercial Photographer page.

Cheers.

- Kyle Dreier

Mexican Food – SOL (sun) Style

Having grown up in Texas I’ve long searched for the perfect enchilada here in the Nashville, Tennessee area. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it. My wife and I have been here since 1998 and have yet to find what we would say is the perfect Mexican food experience.

In all honesty, it’s really not fair to any establishment here. Even if the food were equal to or better than that which we grew up on it’s likely it wouldn’t be “as good” since it’s not being served/consumed in the Lone Star State.

What’s all this have to do with my food photography? I was pleased to experience the tastes of SOL Restaurant while on a recent shoot in historic downtown Franklin, Tennessee … where I now call home. Franklin, not SOL Restaurant.

Herein are a few shots from our day … and the benefits for being a food photographer.

Shrimp Appetizer at SOL

Tamales from SOL Restaurant

Fresh, handmade guacamole made right at your table.

Mexican dessert - Churrros.

Once again, enjoy!

- Kyle Dreier

Seared Tuna Nachos, Oh My!

I’m not sure any words I can say would do this dish justice. It was a pleasure working with the chef and crew at SOL Restaurant in Franklin, TN on this food photography assignment. Franklin is a historic town just south of Nashville.

Seared Tune Nachos

Enjoy.

Kyle Dreier

Espresso Shot

What you see here in this one espresso shot is an espresso shot and three chocolate espresso cookies. So I guess that means this is a shot of four espresso shots … one way or another.

shot of espresso and chocolate espresso cookies

The Fun of Shooting Food

Well, I feel I have to kind of apologize for not having more frequent entries into my blog. Truth be known, I’m finding that I’d rather spend my time shooting then blogging. I suppose there’s probably a balance. But for now, I’m going to lean toward shooting and let the blogging take second chair.

This is a shot I began yesterday and completed today. I’m certainly enjoying what I do and only hope for more of it. Maybe then I’ll have more reason to blog.

Look for more soon.

– Kyle

Food Revamp …

Well, I’m in the process of revamping my site … one section at a time. I’ve just completed the food photography section. While many of the images are the same as the previous version you will notice I’ve increased the sizes … the bigger the image the better. I’ve also changed the groupings to be more reflective of the job/project.

Food Photography

Stay tuned as I work through the remaining sections (and possibly a new section) over the coming weeks.

– Kyle Dreier