Food Photography | Showing Off New Work

Food Photography | Showing Off New Work

The last few months we at Fulcrum Imaging have been busy shooting delicious new food drink and product self assignments, meeting great people and continuing to learn both in the studio and in the kitchen. I am sure you will agree our work has improved measurably over the past year and we want to showcase the best of our recent images. We have also updated our website with a new look and we love to show it off, so stop by www.fulcrumimaging.com to see what we have to offer and in the meantime enjoy the sampling below.

Food Photography | Fulcrum Imaging

We love burgers! And we ground our own mix of beef and pork shoulder to make this one. 

Product Photography | Fulcrum Imaging

Lighting is important for any product and we continually try new ideas to bring out the best in any item. And Bourbon is a favourite.

Food and Beverage Photography | Fulcrum Imaging

Our portfolio was lacking some drink photography so we teamed up with talented stylist Marianne Wren http://foodstylist.org to create this summer look lemonade.

Food Photography | Fulcrum Imaging

What more needs to be said, muffins don't last long in the studio as you can see. 

Product and Beverage Photography | Fulcrum Imaging

I'm a wine lover, so I chose to do a shot that would challenge my lighting skills. And what better way to celebrate a successful creation than with a glass of Vino. 

 It looks like spring is on its way and we still have spots left in March and April so book your food product or corporate shoots soon for the summer season. Call or email we would love to talk to you and discuss how we can help solve your problems, 647-408-6354 or rob@fulcrumimaging.com.

Cheers




As usual our images are copyrighted . We love sharing with credit but using our work for your own gain or profit is not cool.

Photography Self Assignment: Staying Ahead of the Competition

Photography Self Assignment: Staying Ahead of the Competition

As I ended out 2014 I was thinking about my business and also my artistic goals for the coming year. So I produced this image that allowed me to do a a few things.

The first was shoot for a story/theme: Staying ahead of the competition. So the way I shot this (yes these are self portraits) and composited it was was to show how a business needs to stay ahead of its competition even though they may look and act like your business. Regardless of how similar we are there always differences and finding what makes you unique and marketing what makes you unique is the key to separating yourself in a competitive business market.

Number two was to try some different lighting techniques. For the base shots I used a three point lighting technique with two strip boxes behind and to the sides of the subject to provide rim/side lighting and a high front light and a low reflector to provide a fill on the front. This is a lighting technique I want to experiment with more in 2015. The goal was to produce an edgy lighting set-up and further enhance that edgy contrasty look in both Lightroom and Photoshop.

And the third goal was to practice making selections and producing a simple composite of blended and scaled the images in Photoshop. I put each image on its own layer and scaled them according to position with the transform tool and added an increasing amount of blur to the images that appear further away to simulate a realistic depth of field.

Competition by Robert Greatrix

If you enjoy my photography please visit my website for more www.fulcrumimaging.com .

If you want to participate in producing some fun and unique images please contact me I am always looking for interesting self assignments in addition to paid work.


All my blog images are copyright and cannot be used without permission.

5 Tips For Working Motion Into Still Photography

5 of My Tips For Capturing Motion in Still Photography

One thing I like to do more often now, is capture a sense of motion in my photographs. It makes an image much more interesting, can lead you in or out of the shot and lends itself to adding more to the story of the photograph. Here's a few tips:

1. If you are not entirely comfortable with all your camera settings shoot in shutter priority mode. It will let you focus on the shutter speed only. Set your camera to high speed burst mode too. 

A Lone Subject Surrounded by Motion Gives An Incredible effect. Timing Can Be Everything.

2. Practice practice practice. You will develop a feel for what shutter speed you need for a situation. Hand held I find 1/60 of a second plus or minus a stop works well. I still want to maintain a sharp image  with the subject blurred or a sharp subject and a blurred background if panning. 

Setting a Shutter Speed, Following the Action and Burst Mode Got This Panning Shot

3. Be prepared to fail. You may not get a great a image every time you try this but when you nail one the reward will be great. 

A Perfect Example Of Getting the Right Shutter Speed. The People are Visible but Just Enough Blur to Give a Sense of Motion. It Doesn't Happen Every Shot or Every Shoot. 

4. Like any photograph pay attention to what when and where you are shooting. All the effect in the world won't help bad light or a uninteresting scene. But like everything in photography there are no set rules, the subject may make the photo. Also be aware of your surroundings and don't get too caught up in the action and put yourself in harms way. 

Be Aware Around Traffic. Staring Through the Lens Can Throw off Your Sense of Balance and Location. 

5. If you find a great location look for something or someone coming into the scene. Previously I would wait and wait to get a shot with no people or distractions now I embrace "distractions". Use the burst mode to your advantage and fire off some successive shots and stay with it until the end. 

Night is Definitely One of my Favourite Times for Motion Blurring Effects. Find the Scene and Wait for Your Subject. 

Here the Motion Of the Skater and Dog Made the Scene But I Needed to Apply Some Nik Software Effects to Bring Some Life to the Overall Image. 

Go out and try this and get creative, motion in photography can make some great artistic expressions and some very unique abstracts. I hope my tips may help and inspire.
Robert Greatrix is the owner and photographer behind Fulcrum Imaging, for more of his work please visit www.fulcrumimaging.com. 

Evergreen Brickworks at Night

As many of you may or may not know I have done occasional volunteer work with the Toronto group Evergreen for a number of years now. To learn more about them just go to www.evergreen.ca they are a fantastic organization. And if you go to either of my websites you know night photography is a major part of my work.

So this past Sunday night the opportunity came up to photograph the lighting of the chimney court at the Evergreen Brickworks. The Brickworks is a former industrial site that has been rehabilitated into an important cultural and natural educational center. Again please visit the Brickworks part of the Evergreen site, you will find it very interesting and you may see some of my photography used there.

I met Terry Queeley who is the technical director of Q ideas. www.qideas.ca. Terry is a lighting guy who provided all the amazing colors to illuminate the Brickworks for the photographs. Although it was frosty night we managed to pull off a few great shots and it was a pleasure to work with him. If you need any corporate or event AV look Terry up.

As a first attempt I am quite pleased with the photos and have gotten some great ideas from this shoot. Please enjoy a few shots from the evening and if you have any questions drop me an email at at robertgreatrixphotography@bell.net or visit my websites www.robertgreatrixphotography.ca or www.torontophotographs.com. Cheers.

Chimney Court in Purple

Chimney Court Rainbow

Chimney Court Red and Green

Teepee and Chimney Lighting

View of Chimney and Buildings

Aerial View of the Brickworks Illumination

Again thanks for the views and for event or corporate photography email me for rates and availability.

Couldn't resist taking a city view while I had the opportunity!

All photos copyright Robert Greatrix Photography 2013.

SS Keewatin Port McNicol Ontario Part 1

I recently had the unique experience of touring the SS Keewatin a veritable floating museum currently docked in the small town of Port McNicol Ontario. The town was once home to a major Canadian Pacific Railway Great Lakes Port and many ships including the Keewatin sailed to and from here. The journey of the Keewatin and its history is fascinating and is best experienced and absorbed in person. To read more about the Keewatin please visit SSKeewatin.com (after looking at my photos of course).

I was greeted on the day by the man instrumental in returning this marvellous vessel to its former home, Eric Conroy. His knowledge of the ship is extensive to say the least , having served as a waiter on the ship as a young man. So here in photos is what I will call Part 1 of my visit to the SS Keewatin as I will be returning again this year to continue my photography of this amazing piece of Canada's sailing history.

Barber Shop

One of my favourite rooms was the retired barbershop. here it is a journey back in history as you can almost experience a shave and haircut in the onboard shop.

Many of the staterooms are decorated with period costumes and items. The photographers suite obviously caught my eye. The Keewatin is a museum in more ways than one as all the items are authentic and are donated by the community and others.

Kitchen
                                                         

       

The galley is as interesting as any place on the ship. The walk back in time is completed with utensils cookware and appliances from the time period the ship was in service.

The grand appearance of the dining room is stunning as one can imagine what it would be like to dine here. My host having worked as a waiter here had some very interesting insights to his experiences and has book based on them, titled "Steak in a Drawer". 

Chopping Block

A well used chopping block resides in the walk-in freezer located just off the Kitchen. One can imagine the activity that used to happen here.

Elegenace

I guess one would call this the main deck. I will try to clarify. One can see the room on the sides of this elegant hall and the beautiful open ceiling letting in light from the upper level. 

An incredible number of the staterooms are decorated in various themes and time periods. This room was occupied by the RCMP when on board and the authentic uniform was donated by them. I was astonished at the level of detail and the staging in each of them

This sign on the door reminds us that the classes were very much segregated in the times of these sailing ships and the paying customers would have little or no contact with those who toiled on the ship. 

As I said in the beginning I plan to return to the Keewatin in the near future and get much more information on this giant of a vessel. It is much larger than I ever imagined so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw her. My next visit I plan to visit more areas of the ship including the engine and mechanical rooms. In the meantime you can also visit my website www.robertgreatrixphotogrpahy.ca and browse under travel where you will find a few more photos of the Keewatin and be sure to visit and check out SSKeewatin.com as well. 

If you are interested in purchasing prints of my images from this blog or would like to license them for commercial purposes please contact me at robertgreatrixphotography@bell.net. 

Night Shots

Part of my portfolio and one of my favourite projects is Urban Night Photography. I find creating long exposure images is creatively rewarding in a unique way. As I look for images I find myself envisioning a scene that will feature rich colors and many times a sense of drama. With the long exposures at one's fingertips at night moving lights can become lasers or streams of color. If you can add in some unusual weather all the better. Rain and wet surfaces reflect colors brilliantly allowing the creation of images that remind me of early painters.

Equipment-wise shooting at night is similar to landscape photography. A tripod becomes a necessity if you want to shoot long shutter speeds and lower ISO's. I use a mid range Manfrottto tripod and ballhead. For triggering the shutter a remote release makes life easier although the same function can be achieved by using the self timer function found on most cameras. I prefer a remote shutter release to both time light trails and in some cases shoot between gaps in traffic to avoid them. Lens choice varies, for me it may be a 12-24mm ultra wide angle, a 20mm prime, a 50mm prime or my 70-200mm. Sometimes I may go out with just one lens, the camera and the tripod.

Nailing the exposure at night can be difficult and requires some practice and learning your camera. I don't get perfect exposures every shutter click but I read my histogram and take my observations from previous shots to judge what compensation is necessary. It never hurts to take several different exposures or bracket shots. I also do this quite frequently.

So when the sun goes down, grab your gear and fire up your creativity the results will surprise you.

Waiting for Your Call

I walked by this phone booth almost daily and it always seemed to grab my attention. Photographed at night/early morning it came alive and you can read a story into it. For me it brings a sense of loneliness and impending danger.

After the Rain Came


                                                       

This shot came about as the tail end of Hurricane Sandy dumped rain on the city. The low angle and the wet surfaces give a lot of depth, color and drama to this image. The lines with the wide angle lens also gives an impression of movement and dynamics.

Rain and Street Meat

Another of my more popular images this was also shot during the same rainy night as above.  This time I used a 700-200 to crop in tighter on this guy waiting at a hot dog stand. I couldn't figure out why he was out on this night getting food but I am sure he might have wondered the same about me out with my camera. The wet pavement reflected the red lights providing brilliant colors and the light from the stand lit the subject perfectly.

No-Karts

Another wide angle shot this long exposure brought out the colors of the different lights in this scene creating a totally different scene than what would be available in daylight hours.

If you enjoy this blog please share and give some feedback. Much more of my Urban Landscape, Street and Night Photography can be seen at www.torontophotographs.com or www.robertgreatrixphotography.ca.

Raptor Experience (Photographing Birds)

As part of a Sony Meet-up Group I got the chance to photograph at the Mountsberg Raptor Centre near Campbellville Ontario. See their website Mountsberg Raptor Centre.

The experience was incredible. The expert handlers at the centre brought out several of their residents for us to photograph and the combination of that and having a great selection of Sony Lenses on hand to demo made for a fantastic day. One thing I found that even though these Raptors were tethered and perched photographing them was still a task that required a great deal of concentration and positioning to get some unique views with little background distractions.

Most of the my shots were taken at around f4.0 so it was necessary to carefully pick focus points to keep most of the body of the birds in focus and maintain a soft non-distracting background. I also chose to shoot at an ISO of 400 to give me a shutter speed that would mitigate the lack of sharpness from movement. For shooting birds I would definitely recommend a faster lens with a focal length of at least 200mm. My shots were taken with a 70-200mm f2.8, a 300mm f2.8 and a 500mm f4.0.

I hope you enjoy these photos,they are what i feel are the best of many, many shots taken that day.

I cropped the shot above in Lightroom to get the version below. 

The last photo of a Kestrel grooming himself has proven to be one of my most popular works yet. I hope you enjoy these examples of Raptors and my photography. Please check back for more blog posts or subscribe to my email list below and please visit my website for some interesting new projects and old favorites.

To get updates on my photographic endeavours and new blog posts please subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required

Email Address *

Email Format

• html
• text
• mobile