Note to DPC/SC: My camera's date/time is set to UTC; I had this approved by the SC when I first joined dpchallenge.
I was VERY excited about this challenge, and had this basic composition in mind from the beginning. I ended up having to wait until the last minute, though, and my lighting SUCKS. The sun was going down, and I ended up carrying the entire set outside (on the foam core, like a waiter carrying a try) and using a large diffuser. I tried several indoor lighting set ups, but none really "worked out" the way I wanted.
In short, I'm VERY HAPPY with my food preparation -- and I'm VERY SAD with the technicals of how this shot turned out.
"Just submit it."
Shot handheld (ugggg); on foam-core in direct (setting) sun with large diffuser; 50mm/1.8 lens, at iso 100, 1/40 and f/11.
RAW/NEF -> Lightroom
Basic:
WB custom (6500K, tint 0)
Exposure +0.50
Recovery -> 50
Fill Light -> 6
Blacks -> 22
Presence:
Clarity -> 50
Vibrance -> +42
Saturation -> +5
HSL:
Sat Orange +5
Sat Aqua +100
Sat Blue -30
Lum Orange +15
Lum Aqua +100
Lum Blue +100
Sharpening:
Amount -> 110
Detail -> 90
Masking -> 15
Crop (custom aspect ratio)
Export:
JPEG, 70 quality, sRGB, constrained 640x640
The recipe:
[ I'll flesh this out a lot after the challenge; I'm getting this in just under the wire and need to get this submitted before the deadline! ]
Sushi Rice
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Dressing:
100mL Su (rice vineger)
1/4 cup sugar
23mL salt
Combine dressing in small pot; stir until dissolved over warm heat.
Rice:
4 cups (as measured with rice-cooker cup) sushi rice
water as indicated by rice-cooker bowl
Cook in rice cooker (follow manuf. instructions)
Combine rice and dressing SLOWLY, over a large area (I use a large roasting pan). Using a wide spatula (I use a rice spatula, designed for this purpose), slowly "work" the rice and dressing together. Never crush the mash the rice. Throw the rice back and forth across the pan to encourage cooling, and mix dressing.
Once sufficiently mixed, allow rice to cool to approximately 98 degrees. Transfer rice to one or more bowls, and cover with damp towel.
Sashimi
-------
Cut up the fishies. Serve with some rice... or not. I'll give more details on this later. It's just raw fish over some rice -- how hard can that be to explain? ;)
Nigiri Zushi
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Cut up your fishies with SHARP SHARP SHARP knives. Did I mention they knives need to be sharp? Sharp knives are the key to eye-pleasing sushi. I will add more specific details here later.
Prepare a small bowl of a small amount of rice vineger ("a squirt") in a small bowl of water. You will use this water to coat you hands and fingers while you work with the rice. Otherwise, the rice will stick to EVERYTHING.
Work small balls of rice into oblong/oval shapes, as you see fit (this is some of the artistry of sushi preparation). Combine the rice with cut pieces of fish. If you wish to add some spice, dab a SMALL amount of wasabi between the fish and rice.
I like to wrap some whitefish nigiri-zushi with nori (seaweed) for added flavor, as whitefish is more about texture than flavor -- so I like to add some flavor with the nori.
Chirashi-Zushi
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Put some sashimi and other goodies on top of a bowl of rice. How hard can it be? ;) Again, more details here later...
Final Preparation
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The most artistic part of the meal -- present sushi as is pleasing to the eye. Combine with various other ingredients as you see fit. Here are some extras I added to mine:
- shredded carrots
- chopped chives
- alphalpha sprouts
- basil
- dill
- mint leaves
- organic greens
Statistics
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Love this layout. So fresh and festive. Of course you must be proud of the preparation. The technicals are good too. The whites could pop just a bit. Without disturbing the overall contrast, try the Selective Color dialog trick.. open the dialog, select whites from the top and slide the whites slider at the bottom to the right(or left, dont remember but you'll see the effect).
This is too sharp (bet you thought you'd never hear that one...huh?).
The current style of food photography rarely if ever has everything in focus. If the food image is being used to idendentify specific product such as, a spice, an herb, a fish or utensil, etc. only then is sharp focus necessary. Otherwise full dof food images went out with Betty Crocker Cookbooks in the 1970/s/80's. Cheers!
Having said that, this will probably place better than my shot.
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