Medium and rare

[David Kilpatrick]

Gosh, I love the A55. I can hold a 128-LED video light in my left hand, and hold the A55 with 16-80mm in my right hand, and not even worry about ISO - just set the aperture (here f/7.1, a good one for maximum sharpness) and fire on auto. My bit of the fillet steak (sold I suspect as a portion for one person, but we don't really want much more than 100-125g each) is medium - 2-3 minutes each side, nice gradation to pink in the middle. Shirley's is rare, 1 minute then turn over and 1 minute, pretty much pink all through. Olive oil, some mushrooms, and some herbs bought in Grasse which the steak had been squished into a wee bit before.

It's no exaggeration that I left this camera's raw prefs set to 25 megapixel ACR output, and never realised. I have been saving 70MB files from it and they are as sharp as my A900.

[Greg Beetham]

Nice looking steak David, isn't it a no no too eat rare meat though, I thought they made some new discovery about it being a risk? then again they're always doing that I guess.
Greg

[pakodominguez]

Rear for me, please.
Nice pic BTW...

[David Kilpatrick]

It's not clever to eat pork in any state except fully cooked, lamb does not work well rare, same with goat. Any poultry is deadly when not fully cooked. Any type of offal (liver, heart, whatever) needs to be fully cooked. Any minced or mixed meat the same, no such thing as a safe 'rare' beefburger!

Tuna meat (more a meat than a fish in my view) is best just seared and almost raw in the middle. Top quality steak can be eaten raw, quite safely, even if it's a month old - providing it has been correctly butchered and handled. Both steak and tuna can be cooked pretty effectively without using heat, just as a carpaccio, using lime or lemon juice and a little time. A lot of (fresh!) shellfish are safe to eat raw or with absolutely minimal cooking but I think you have to know their history. I will trust our local North Sea fishery, D R Collin, as I know the stock has been caught the day before or overnight and brought straight to their fishmonger's shop in town - a half hour journey.

As for other things, like rabbit or venison or ostrich, they might well be safe in theory - unlike pork, which has parasites you can't see, or chicken which nearly always has a high level of bacteria. But they generally don't work well rare. Give me a Turkish kid goat stew or a Spanish rabbit salmorejo any day over a burger in a bun!

Of course Shirley's steak had not been turned when the photo was taken, she didn't eat it looking exactly like that. The picture was taken to show the technique of cooking two pieces of steak for different times to suit different tastes.

I am really very pleased with the results of the 128-LED light source. These shots are around 1/80th at f/7.1 at ISO 250, with the A55 set to auto ISO, Aperture priority, AWB, SSS on, CZ lens. I was able to shoot front, side, and even backlit (like this one) examples of this and another food shot without having to set up a flash and the originals are critically sharp. I also took some other stock shots by the same technique. Being able to move the video light round freely, and see the exact effect on the live view finder including any exposure and contrast issues, makes these close-up shots effortless and gives them a look which I would find hard to match even in the studio.

These shots are destined for Alamy; despite the fall in values of licences, I'm seeing some very rewarding activity - over 12,000 images there now. Once again breaking into four figures of dollars per month, hope to get back to $2000+, and some good uses including a magazine cover yesterday.

David

[Greg Beetham]

Yes I've thought about getting one for some time myself, I was just a bit dubiuos about the light level and whether the spectrum was properly covered.
Greg

[pakodominguez]

It's not clever to eat pork in any state except fully cooked, lamb does not work well rare, same with goat. Any poultry is deadly when not fully cooked. Any type of offal (liver, heart, whatever) needs to be fully cooked. Any minced or mixed meat the same, no such thing as a safe 'rare' beefburger!

Well, there is a reason Jew don't eat pork (at the time they wrote the book, people had lot of chances to die) I don't know about goat, but I like my lamb chops pink. And the magret (duck breast) also pink...

Tuna meat (more a meat than a fish in my view) is best just seared and almost raw in the middle. Top quality steak can be eaten raw, quite safely, even if it's a month old - providing it has been correctly butchered and handled. Both steak and tuna can be cooked pretty effectively without using heat, just as a carpaccio, using lime or lemon juice and a little time. A lot of (fresh!) shellfish are safe to eat raw or with absolutely minimal cooking but I think you have to know their history. I will trust our local North Sea fishery, D R Collin, as I know the stock has been caught the day before or overnight and brought straight to their fishmonger's shop in town - a half hour journey.

Have you ever tried a good Ceviche? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceviche) It is not my favorite Peruvian dish, but you can tell at the first bite if the fish is good and fresh or not -seafood Ceviche can be tricky. I've tried to make Ceviche here in NYC, but we don't have the Peruvian Lime (the Lime we get here is from Mexico or California and it is not as acid as the Peruvian, 'cooking takes longer and texture is not he same)

When I was a kid I used to go with my mother to the market on Saturdays. She did the shopping for the whole week and always got fish for the same day or the day after. Since then, It is hard for me to order fish at a restaurant. I prefer to buy and cook it myself.

As for other things, like rabbit or venison or ostrich, they might well be safe in theory - unlike pork, which has parasites you can't see, or chicken which nearly always has a high level of bacteria. But they generally don't work well rare. Give me a Turkish kid goat stew or a Spanish rabbit salmorejo any day over a burger in a bun!

Ah! Conejo! (rabbit) was my Spanish grandmother's specialty! She told me laurel was her secret. All my uncles try to reproduce the recipe, with moderate succes -my Spanish family lives in the Basque country, with a strong male-cooking tradition, all of them, and my cousins too, are members of a gastronomic society.

I lived in Argentina for 7 years and I learn how to grill meat in the Argentinean way (slowly, far from the heat, in order to cook all the meat and keep it juicy) and when I went to Europe, I learn the French way: Saignant (bloody!). Here in the USA we have wonderful meat. I specially like Bison meat, and I miss the Boucherie Chevaline, Rue Lepic in Paris (you can see it in the Amelie movie), but asking here for Horse meat is like the worst sin you can make... I don't like the way they cook the steak here, most of the times too cook (for my taste) and dry. I understand that it is challenging having a rare steak that is bloody/juicy AND warm.

I am really very pleased with the results of the 128-LED light source. These shots are around 1/80th at f/7.1 at ISO 250, with the A55 set to auto ISO, Aperture priority, AWB, SSS on, CZ lens. I was able to shoot front, side, and even backlit (like this one) examples of this and another food shot without having to set up a flash and the originals are critically sharp. I also took some other stock shots by the same technique. Being able to move the video light round freely, and see the exact effect on the live view finder including any exposure and contrast issues, makes these close-up shots effortless and gives them a look which I would find hard to match even in the studio.

I've been thinking about having one of those light for the NEX too -not for video but for stills. I'm still thinking... In the meanwhile, I got the Metz 28 CS-2 that work quite well.

Time for lunch!

[bossel]

Is this about photography or steaks? I suppose what David bought in Grasse (10km from here) are 'Herbes de Provence', spices from the provence. It's ok for a quick bbq but not considered suitable for 'bonne cuisine'. There was a cooking competition on TV during the last few months (really impressive!) and one of the participants in the top 10 was seriously told off for having used this for one of the meals.

In general, for me it's best to cook things well, with the exception of beef which has to be 'à point', i.e. a bit pink/red in the middle (but not rare). The better the meat, the less you need to grill it!

And they do sell 'Tartare' down here, that's raw minced meet mixed with mustard, I think. Haven't tried though in the 11 years I am here and I don't plan to.

Concerning photography, I think food is one of the most difficult subjects. The reflections of light often make it look bad. We also can see some of them in Davids photo. I don't say I could do better, but I'd prefer with less reflections

[Dusty]

Somehow, seeing that photo makes me hungry!

Dusty

[David Kilpatrick]

Bright reflections are very popular now in food shots - as are generally very bright, light images and defocused backgrounds. Of course this light is pretty harsh and a 40cm or 60cm source would be better, but in this spot I can only just manage to fit the LED light into the chimney - it's an Aga cooker housed back in an old range chimney nook.

Pako, yes, I've had ceviche - tuna and prawns, two dishes - in Yucatan. I do not know how it would compare with Peruvian. It was very elaborately presented by a boutique restaurant in Playa del Carmen, but the light was very poor and I didn't get a shot. Pity, because I nearly always pay for all our food by photographing it, when travelling. We even pick things which are unusual, or local, or photogenic, which we know will sell as travel guide pix. I prefer to eat outside, partly for that reason - the light.

Generally, when we did food photography all the time at a serious level for major food producers and packagers, we worked with hardly cooked dishes. We would cook a chicken or turkey so little it would be inedible - very dangerous. Just enough to change the colour, and then glaze it with colour (gravy powder) to complete the impression of cooking. Otherwise, the food shrinks, or looks too dry, or too dark in colour, or loses colour.

Thomas, the herbs were actually a mix 'pour grillade' not just Herbes de Provence. I do use those but not very seriously. For example, potatoes might get some butter and tossed around in a pan after cooking, with a pinch of those or English mixed herbs.

My main worry is that any food pix I take are too dark. Today the demand is for intense and bright glowing images, in backlight, with a very narrow zone of focus. The fashion will pass. My shots generally are not styled enough to be marketable in any advertising context, but realistic. They sell to textbooks, newspapers and travel guides.

David

[bossel]

Btw, this reminds me of the roman 'The Parfum' from Patrick Süsskind, playing in Grasse. I read the book (I liked it) and saw the movie (I liked it) - just the village in the movie is not the real Grasse but it's true there are lots of parfumeries.

And some more Grasse: We went to the mediaval village 'Le Castellet' close to Marseille last weekend, a meeting organized by someone from the french forum, and I met someone from Grasse! And he works not far from where I work And one of his collegues is an ex-coworker of mine - isn't the world small sometimes

[pakodominguez]

Bright reflections are very popular now in food shots - as are generally very bright, light images and defocused backgrounds. Of course this light is pretty harsh and a 40cm or 60cm source would be better, but in this spot I can only just manage to fit the LED light into the chimney - it's an Aga cooker housed back in an old range chimney nook.

Lensbaby works quite well for this.

Pako, yes, I've had ceviche - tuna and prawns, two dishes - in Yucatan. I do not know how it would compare with Peruvian. It was very elaborately presented by a boutique restaurant in Playa del Carmen, but the light was very poor and I didn't get a shot. Pity, because I nearly always pay for all our food by photographing it, when travelling. We even pick things which are unusual, or local, or photogenic, which we know will sell as travel guide pix. I prefer to eat outside, partly for that reason - the light.

I order Cebiche once at a fancy Mexican restaurant in Paris, and I couldn't finish with it: No offense but the way they make cebiche in Central America is unacceptable for Peruvians (or anybody else that ever had a good Peruvian cebiche), specially now that Peruvian New Cuisine is national proud and one of our top products. I know a couple of Peruvian restaurants in Paris that have acceptable cabiche. In Madrid there is Astrid y Gaston restaurant, and here in NYC you can go to "Panca" (they got a Michelin's star) or "Kion"

My main worry is that any food pix I take are too dark. Today the demand is for intense and bright glowing images, in backlight, with a very narrow zone of focus. The fashion will pass. My shots generally are not styled enough to be marketable in any advertising context, but realistic. They sell to textbooks, newspapers and travel guides.

The steaks' pic is good: it is quite hard to render a piece of meet (far from photogenic) "interesting" and yours is interesting -a couple of potatoes and different kind of mushrooms, and probably asparagus next time, I'll bring the wine

[David Kilpatrick]

Instead of lensbaby (which I do have) I've got the 58mm f/2 Helios on a tilt adaptor for NEX - that's got extreme funky bokeh!

Thomas, I have 'Parfum' waiting to be read on my bedside table. We saw the movie, it is one of the masterpieces. I have not yet opened the book and it's hard to imagine how it will read in English, to match the narrative and images of the film.

In your area, we once bought herbs and dried ceps from a roadside place called Le Roi Tarascon, south of Les Baux, I think. We have a superb painting in ciré dur by Guy Fauville, called The Journey, on the wall - bought from an art dealer in Tourettes. It shows two small figures, very vague, but represents the journey of the soul. £25 in 1979... and from Les Baux, a very early leather mask-ornament, 1979, and from Aigues Mortes Shirley has a quite incredible pair of silver jewellery things - one is a life size cat's claw which mounts on her arm and appears to be clawing the hand, the other a cat playing a fiddle on necklace which is so large it's almost like armour.

Les Baux remains one of my favourite places in the world. If Sedona can claim to have Vortexes, then I believe the Alpilles and Les Baux also have the same centres of energy. It's very commercial now but it's impossible for tourism to remove the spirit from the rocks and landscape.

David

[Greg Beetham]

Well having chased down this novel 'Perfum' and read the outline of the plot and I must say I'm a fair bit underwhelmed. He Grenouille 'distubes' others because he lacks any odour himself? I ask you, how plausable is that in 1738, everyone smelled so much themselves, the sewers ran down the street, how would anyone detect somone had no smell? His mother was in her mid twenties had had four prior children and still had most of her teeth, some hair on her head, had a touch of gout, syphilis and tuberculosis...kaf kaf, yet still looked quite pretty?
There was a whole batch of other strange characters as well (had a brief glance), but sorry that's as far as I got...I think I'll pass.
Greg

ps. Oh I forgot to mention he grows up to be a mass murderer, murderes 25 young women trying to find the ideal 'scent' for himself...hmmm he's a man? why would he want a female 'smell, odour' whatever anyway? The whole thing is loopy.

Give me lines like 'We'll get the other drop-ship from the Zuvako and nuke the place from orbit' anyday.

[David Kilpatrick]

You need to see the film. It is beautiful, gothic, horrible and could almost have been made as a silent movie. It is also pure fantasy, and the lead character looks nonhuman. It's in the same tradition of fantasy-gothic horror fairytale as 'The Company of Wolves' or 'Pan's Labyrinth'. Amazingly good cinematography which any photographer will be fascinated by.

This is the reason I've not yet looked at the book. Shirley bought it to read. Sometimes, books can fail where exceptional film-making works. Also, the locations and imagery of the film resonate if you have spent time in that area. We once camped next to a stream which the Grasse perfumiers dumped waste water into - one night with all those scents rising from the water was enough!

David

[aster]

Indeed a nice shot with some good lighting with the A55, David. : )

Also, the thread has evolved into interesting discussions on kinds of meat and authentic cooking as well as films and towns that specialize in perfume making...

Some very favourable remarks on A55 also is pleasing. I think it handles your photography nicely, David.

Delicious looking steaks, by the way! : )

Yildiz