Monday 8 September 2014

Hot Pepper Season

Hot Pepper Season: 

Toronto Food, Commercial and Corporate Photographer Robert Greatrix 


It's that time of year when all the spicy goodness is ripening up in a an explosion of red, orange and green. I was worried earlier in the year that an extremely persistent raccoon was going to successfully destroy my rooftop garden but as it turns out I think I have more peppers this year than ever. So I thought I would highlight some of my food photography portfolio and showcase my hot pepper crop. 


A selection of my peppers on a rustic white board surface, Jalapeño, Habernero, Cayenne or Chilli, one I don't remember and the dreaded Ghost Pepper. 


Some sliced Habernero with a diffused backlight. I love the aroma and vibrant colours of these fresh peppers. A couple thin slices is all I need to add some kick and intense flavours to a breakfast egg scramble. (Maybe a breakfast themed blog in the future)


The challenge comes some trying to use so many hot peppers as they seem to all ripen at once. Here I made a Spicy Salsa, a Habernero Mayo and a Fiery Red Sauce. I adapted the Fiery red Sauce recipe from an article in a recent Chatelaine magazine which always a great source for inspiring recipes. 




A couple more shots with the bottom one including some Guacamole, Tomato Salsa with Corn and Salsa Verde. I honestly never remember seeing Tomatillos before but saw some at the local Riverdale Farmer's Market and had try some of this somewhat unusual fruit. I roasted the Tomatillos over a light smoke on my Big Green Egg Grill and the sauce reflects it with a hint of smoky aromas. 

For more food photography visit www.fulcrumimaging.com and please visit your local farm markets and enjoy your harvest season. More food photography and more blog posts coming up.

Fulcrum Imaging is Toronto Photographer Robert Greatrix who is available for food, commercial and corporate photography as well as time lapse video creation. Please let us provide you a quote for all your photography needs by emailing a request to info@fulcrumimaging.com. We would love to hear from you.

Copyright 2014.



A little behind the scenes shot of my photo set-up, its a lot more work than one imagines and the worse part is the clean-up :-). Cheers. 

















Monday 2 June 2014

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. 

Toronto Photographer, Street, Urban Landscape, Night, City, Motion, Blur
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