Conrad Foto - Seattle Food Photographer

Edible Arts

2009-11-02T12:25:00.000-08:00

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder but how food looks actually affects our perception of how it tastes:
http://www.helium.com/items/1435535-how-sight-affects-the-way-food-tastes

Vertical flights of whimsical edibles & swirls of olfactory essences are used to create plates that are more than mere sustenance for of bodies. Food can be prepared and presented in ways that raise the qualify of a dish to the level of a work of art, but only in the culinary arts are these fleeting creations actually consumed.

The IACP (International Association of Culinary professionals) was in town and holding their annual convention a photography whose theme was “Edible Arts”. We created this series of images to illustrate the concept of ‘Edible Art’ and entered it into IACP’s photography competition where it won the ‘People’s Choice’ award!

Seafood Packaging

2009-10-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

Beautiful seafood images for packaging and sales sheets involve more than meets the eye. It takes planning, precision and professionalism to create a clean, attractive image. First, a pre-production meeting is set with the client to establish goals. Then the perfect pieces of seafood have to be chosen, transported and handled carefully. Chris will develop a lighting and set strategy to showcase the product best. Next, a professional food stylist will trim and treat. Lights, camera, shoot! After the shoot, each image is retouched, retouched, and knocked out to create the perfect image for the client, as seen above.

Screen shots

2009-10-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

It's the details that matter in photography. We only captured the screen image on this T-Mobile phone, but doing so well is quite difficult. Cell phone displays are almost always 'simulated' because cell phones screens work at a low resolution and have a slower 'refresh' rate and the image most cameras capture are so poor they can't be used in advertising. Using our special equipment & photographic techniques and we were able to capture this screen's actual image which was then used for both POS and billboard displays for T-Mobile's campaign.

Puyallup Fair animation project

2009-09-22T09:31:00.000-07:00

As a follow-up to a previous post, this is the completed video spot created for the Puyallup Fair. We had a great time shooting the still images!

Talking Rain Water Splash

2009-09-15T09:42:00.000-07:00

Capturing water drops is a lot harder than you'd think... Most high power studio flash systems have a duration of between 1/500 and 1/5000th of a second. This simply isn't fast enough to "stop" water droplets that are flying through the air. In creating a series of "slash" images we rented special equipment and built a unique set to freeze the water in motion and capture the images of fruit splashing through cold crisp water.

Clear Ice Creation

2009-09-08T10:42:00.000-07:00

With our "transparency" technique we use with our Talking Rain bottle images, we were asked to create a series of frozen fruit positioned perfectly within blocks of ice. Actually freezing individual pieces of fruit in ice was discussed, but we were able to create incredible images of beautiful cubes of ice with all the facets, internal reflections, interferences and unique clarity that makes ice "look" cold. We photographed over 100 images of ice cubes, water drops and puddles and used elements from each to create a new line of photo-illustrations for Talking Rain's new line of ICE soft drinks.

Transparent bottle Photoshop trick

2009-09-04T09:47:00.000-07:00

One of the advantages to working with digital images are the amazing effects you can create. But sometimes these effects are so subtle that they go overlooked. One example is an effect we've used extensive for Talking Rain and the images of their bottles. Most often these images are knocked out and placed on a myriad of backgrounds, but with a transparent neck or in the case with their water products, entirely clear bottles, a typical knock out would show only white behind the water or through the neck. The problem occurs when this image is placed on a gradient or colored background, it becomes obvious the shots were stripped in. We have developed a technique for making plastic or glass "transparent" thus allowing them to be placed on any background and look as if they were shot on that gradient or color.

Puyallup Fair animation project

2009-08-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

As a food and product photographer I don't usually venture out of my studio. But when offered the chance to shoot "animatic" element photos for the new Puyallup Fair television commercial, I just couldn't say no. Working with Modern Digital and Big Bang, we spent two days capturing roller coasters, ferris wheels, and other amusements. Along with the background elements, we also captured images of clowns and crowds, of flying pigs, horses and goats, and even a bit of food photography in creating multiple images of the famous Krusty Pup. Every shot was captured using a motor drive to create a series of still images that would be to create an animated story.

Benefits of editable drop shadows

2009-08-04T09:29:00.000-07:00

It's the little thing that are important... Many times when product photographers shoot product that is isolated (or "knocked out") onto white is the ubiquitous and often ignored "drop shadow". Without this shadow the item looks clipped out and floats on the page, and if a shadow has been created, typically it is an effects layer style which is un-editable and rarely looks realistic. With every KO image we create we build a two layer drop shadow that is fully editable and creates a realistic footing for any product.