Motor Oil on Pancakes?

Today's class was a very educational experience on cooking and food photography skills. The Wofford photographer Mark came in to discuss taking pictures of food. He has done food photography professional and was very knowledgeable about the subject. He talked about using appropriate angles when taking pictures. For example, a pie may look best from a straight down angle while a layered piece of cake would be best captured looking up at it. As well, the lighting is extremely important and can affect the coloring of the food. He showed us how using shadows can make food look more dimensional and deeper in color. It is important to turn off your automatic flash on your camera so that you can stay in control of the lighting. He is also good about playing with the background of the picture. The background can help highlight the food or atmosphere.

It was surprising to learn all of the tricks to professional food photography. The point of the picture is to make the food look good. It doesn't matter if the food doesn't taste good. As a result, photographers will use substitutes to get better pictures. Shortening is used instead of ice cream since it won't melt as quickly under the hot camera lighting. As well, motor oil is used as syrup on pancakes to get a better color and consistency. Perfectly browned turkeys will often be completely frozen on the inside and only torched on the outside. I will not look at a picture of food the same again or feel bad when my food doesn't look as good as the picture did. It's actually a good thing that my food didn't turn out as good as the picture since the picture is not real food.

We also watched a video on knife skills. I have never worked with truly professional knives, so it was interesting to learn about all the different kinds and the proper way to cut. The main thing is to always cut at an angle and to cut in a fluid motion. This will help prevent you from having to press down too hard. I can hopefully put these new skills into action during the upcoming cooking days!

Our class also included the daily chocolate and cheese tastings. The chocolate tasting was all white chocolate today. I do not hate white chocolate, but I definitely prefer milk or dark chocolate. This was not my favorite tasting as a result. The Green and Black Organic White Chocolate had somewhat of a vanilla flavor, was very melty, and was also the sweetest. El Rey tasted the most like milk chocolate due to not all of the cocoa bring removed. It tasted a bit sour though and I didn't really enjoy it. The Michel Cluizel and the Amedei were both very similar in taste. The Michel Cluizel tasted better as it melted and did not have too strong of a flavor. Both were buttery and creamy. The Amedei was a bit nutty too.

The cheese tasting was my favorite so far. I enjoyed all four of them very much! The harvati cheese was not a pressed cheese, so it was airy. It was very flavorful though and kind of salty. The gouda was the creamiest, melty, and sweet. The manchego was the hardest of the cheeses and was my favorite. It is a Spanish cheese and has a smokey, nutty flavor. The fontina was probably my least favorite since it tasted a bit like normal provolone sandwich cheese. It was just too mild and unexciting to get my attention or make me want to serve it at a dinner party.

Tomorrow, I get to go eat a fabulous lunch cooked by the other half of the class. I'm excited to try all the recipes that incorporate chocolate in some way!

An example of some food photography: