Tag: food photography

WYSINWYG

What you see, is not what you get. While I enjoyed my Mee Cha Long at The Chaiwalla Restaurant in Banting, Alex Wong MF ordered a salmon steak. Who can fault him? It looked so tempting on the menu (inset). What arrived looked drastically different. I think we should all call out restaurants who use pictures of meals on menus that are overwhelmingly different.

Fast food companies always hide behind a disclaimer that states pictures shown are for illustration purposes only or that it may not represent the actual product. The salmon steak didn’t have the criss cross griddle lines or heat searing marks seen on steaks. Furthermore, it is thickly crusted.

Alex was quite happy with the salmon steak though. I guess in the end, that is what matters.

Mui Choy Kau Yoke 梅菜扣肉

For Chinese Only.

Alex is Chinese. Thus it was not surprising his eyes light up when the boss at the restaurant suggested Mui Choy Kau Yoke (梅菜扣肉) or braised pork belly steamed with preserved mustard greens – a kind of Chinese cabbage or bok choy.

The dish will always make a Chinese drool not just because it is a delicious porky dish but because it is from an ancient recipe. People are always happy to make a connection with tradition or heritage, I think.

The traditional Hakka dish is normally slow or home cooked and not always available at any restaurant. The total amount for all three dishes, Lala fried with bee hoon, Oyster Omellete (Oh Chien) and Mui Choy Kau Yoke came up to a reasonable RM 63, according to Alex who bought. Thanks, Alex.

I was telling Alex that I appreciate the restaurant for not pushing pricey dishes such as fish and prawns, unlike so many others.

Restaurant Seafood New Hock Heng Huat Tg Sepat. Address in previous post.

#chinesefood #pork #muichoy #kauyoke #tanjungsepat

La La Land Again

He correctly noted that the original image of Lala or clams fried with bee hoon or vermicelli from the Asus phone (on Facebook) could do with more DOF or depth of field. It was his polite and tactful way of saying it was not perfectly focused. Nice guy. 🙂

I looked at the image back home on a big screen and try to figure out what went wrong. We sat at a table at edge of the restaurant, where there was too much sun spilling in. While the free lighting was appreciated, it also meant one thing.

The Lala Fried Vermicelli’s image on the phone was glared out on the screen. It was near impossible to judge focus. Good thing, I took a shot with the GM-1. This GM-1 image had better depth as it was running with a smaller (deeper) aperture, plus the camera has an array of audio and visual focus confirmation.

It was still not ideal as the GM-1 has no viewfinder either, only LCD. I was using the 12 to 50 mm OM-D 5 kit lens and the lens is still crazy sharp considering the abuse it received. In comparison, the phone was running at f2 and was too shallow for its purpose.

Panasonic Lumix GM-1, ISO 320, f6.3, 1/250 sec.

Restaurant Seafood New Hock Heng Huat Tanjung Sepat.

#clams #lunch #lala #seafood #tgsepat #m43 #dof

Honey Honey – A Look At Selective Focus Selection

Also an opportunity to discuss a little known post-production technique for photographers.

I was using a wide angle lens and too much background was in focus. What do I do? Many may not be aware but Photoshop has a select by focus function.

You can let it choose the focus area and then use Gaussian blur to defocus a zone. Only disadvantage is that a huge image such as the 36 MP image from the A7R can be back breaking for the PC.

Sometimes the auto selection if off target and you may need to trim the depth manually.

A slowed down processor can be frustrating as it is hard to fine tune, A smaller GM-1 image was manageable. A glass object is tricky for the algo and much time was spent cleaning up garbage matte leftover. Don’t do it when you are in a hurry. It is not yet a perfect solution for blurring backgrounds and it cannot be applied to all subjects. Use it sparingly.

Panasonic Lumix GM-1, ISO 200, f6.3, 1/320 sec

#farmville #cafe #sekinchan #honeylemon #lemon #drink #focus #blur #foodphotography

Penne For Your Thoughts

The bistro is the non-halal offshoot of famous Dave’s Deli. David ordered me a seafood pasta of penne with luscious tomato sauce. Was very good and delicious!

Was there for a discussion with David to explore the possibility of me doing new photography to update their long standing menu as new items were added over the years.

#foodphotography #davebistro #lunch #pasta #penne #seafood #tomato