Fusion sea food fried rice from William’s Corner. The food is yummy but their greyish plastic table tops and fluorescent lighting aren’t exactly ideal for photography. So set your white balance to daylight or until the table turns a nice blue. I used the LED flash light from two Samsung Galaxy S3 phones to light this shot taken with the OM-D.
Instagram is the social photo sharing media that is app based. I post pictures from my OM-D (via the PenPal bluetooth accessory) to my Samsung Galaxy S3 phone or Sony S tablet. The device then uploads the pics by 3G or wi-fi to the Instagram servers on the web.
There are pro and cons like, everything else. The Instagram format is square (1:1), whereas I shoot mostly in a wide (16:9) ratio previously. Some pictures that were composed for the wide format are almost impossible to crop and have to be masked and reduced to fit the square.
The good thing is I have set up this blog to automatically pull content from my Instagram account, whenever I upload a new pic. This will not only bring fresh content but also make it easier for people to view the pics and accompanying stories without using any app.
Nevertheless, if you have Instagram, you may want to follow me under tvsmithmy
The Instagram series begins from the next post onwards. And as before, you can click on each pic to see a bigger version.
Lemon Soda Can Be Sublime. Back-lit with single ML240 light panel from bottom.
Samsung Galaxy S III, ISO 100, f 2.6, 1/465 sec with -1.5 stop compensation
In Part 2 of this series, we’ll cover food, glorious food. Since your Galaxy S III will be next to you most of the time, you will probably use it when you come across an interesting dish or drink. Whether you a blogger, foodie or a compulsive Facebook poster, here are some alternative methods to get better pics out of your phone cam.
Secret Recipe’s Chocolate Mud Cake. Using the GS3’s built-in LED light as fill light.
Samsung Galaxy S III, ISO 100, f 2.6, 1/100 sec with +0.5 stop compensation
The best light is natural light. If you can, find a table near the window during the day. Directional light always makes food look good. If you are dining out at night, the Galaxy S 3 has a sufficiently bright LED ‘flash’. The LED light is also good for fill light against a brighter background in the day. But the biggest limitation of a built-in flash is that it is always positioned near the lens. This makes the lighted scene look flat. Since I can’t move or remove it, I carry a couple of tiny external LED lights in my bag.
Lammeya’s Chee Cheong Fun with Sesame Seeds lit from side with LitePanel’s Micro.
The ML-240 was used to rim the back of the plate very subtly with its level control.
Samsung Galaxy S III, ISO 100, f 2.6, 1/17 sec
With the pair, I can shape and style the dish without touching the food. The lights, when properly angled, can make the food “pop” visually. The idea is to create a window light source, even when there is none or where the restaurant is very dark. Whichever method you choose, remember you are at a restaurant. You are not in a studio, so avoid styling the food itself. Style the light instead. Get it done fast and do not hold up your dining partners for too long. Bon Appétit!
Edible Contradiction: Lameeya’s Healthy Fried Tofu. ML240 used as angled top light to bring out the texture of the fried bean curd.
Samsung Galaxy S III, ISO 100, f 2.6, 1/15 sec with -1 stop compensation
Dashing Duo: American Litepanel LP-Micro and Italian Manfrotto Mini-24 (ML240). You can see how tiny both these self-contained lights are. Both have variable output and have precision calibrated colour temperature, handy for video or stills tabletop work on any location.
Olympus OM-D EM-5, ISO 200, f 1.4, 1/160 sec
See also Part 1. Look out for PART 3.
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Or read and look at more pics starting from the main page of this blog.
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