Clearly Delicious

Name: Helana

Email:

Web Site: http://clearlydeliciousfoodblog.com

Bio: —– Helana Brigman is the creator of the award-winning blog Clearly Delicious, a food writer, photographer, and chef whose work has appeared in Louisiana Cookin’ Magazine, and her column “Fresh Ideas” for Louisiana’s state newspaper, The Advocate. A doctoral candidate in English, Brigman lives in Baton Rouge, LA, with her dog Eve where she writes, photographs, and eats the best of southern cooking. Her book, The Fresh Table: Cooking in Louisiana All Year Round, will be out this March with LSU Press.

Posts by Helana Brigman:

Horseradish Mashed Potatoes

May 21st, 2013
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Today, I’d like to keep our featured recipe short and sweet.  

Everyone knows mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving and childhood dinners (usually as popular as macaroni and cheese amongst 5-year-olds), but with today’s recipe, Mashed Potatoes get an upgrade with the addition of creamed horseradish.  Horseradish Mashed Potatoes incorporate all of the wonders of good mashed potatoes–butter, cream, and plenty of salt and pepper–but possess a rich, restaurant-quality flavor.  

When done correctly, the horseradish enhances, but does not dominate the dish, and the flavors are familiar, but new.  I love my friend Lydia’s idea to infuse a regular batch of mashed potatoes with something as simple as prepared horseradish from a jar.  I now keep a jar of horseradish around for starchy vegetables that need an extra kick. When cooking, I prepare this side with these Grilled Pork Loin Chops with Pepper Sauce, Roast Turkey, or Spicy Cajun Pork Loin (“Dragon’s Tongue”).

-Helana



Pictured: Lydia’s Horseradish Mashed Potatoes, a creamy, buttery, spicy take on the classic American side dish.

Horseradish Mashed Potatoes

Yields: 8 (1-cup) servings

Inspired by my best friend Lydia’s horseradish potatoes, this decadent side makes ample use of butter, cream, and, well, horseradish.  Always use red potatoes and keep the skins on for extra flavor and texture.  See past recipe (here) for my family’s traditional Mashed Potatoes, or here for a new take with Smashed Cauliflower.  Also checkout Bon Appétit’s version of Horseradish Mashed Potatoes (what they call “Perfect Potatoes,” (here) for a recipe that includes olive oil substitutions.

**Extra Cook’s Note: for my Fat2Fit listeners, let’s discuss how to make a Mashed Potatoes recipe healthier! I’m thinking of swapping out the butter altogether and using horseradish instead.  Please comment with your suggestions and cooking tips and tricks!

Ingredients:

* 2 pounds red potatoes (washed, not peeled)

* 2-3 tablespoons horseradish 

* 4 tablespoons butter

* 1/4 cup cream

* Salt and pepper, to taste

1.) Begin by prepping your vegetables: wash and quarter potatoes (do not peel), cutting into 1-1 1/2 inch cubes.  Place in a large pot filled 2/3 of the way with salted water.

2.) Boil potatoes over medium-high heat until a cube of potato smashes on a fork (around 20-30 minutes, but cooking times may vary due to the size of your potato cubes, stove, and/or cooking temperature).

3.) Strain potatoes and add to an oversized/large mixing bowl.  While potatoes are still hot, add horseradish, 1-inch cubes of butter, cream, and salt and pepper to taste.  Using a potato masher (a whisk will also work here), mash down the potatoes until they cream together.  Mix, smash, and repeat until creamy.*

*Cook’s Note: For creamy, perfect potatoes that are restaurant style, use a hand or standing mixer. One of my favorite ways to whip mashed potatoes into a frenzy is to use the whisk attachment on my KitchenAid Mixer.  If you have one, combine all ingredients in attached mixing bowl and set mixer to medium-high speed with whisk attachment (not paddle).  Continue to add salt and pepper until the flavor is just right.  

4.) Continue adding salt and pepper to taste. You may also wish to add a dash more horseradish, butter, or milk.  Personally, I like buttery mashed potatoes that require little else when plated, so mash and taste until you’re happy with the final product.  When I made these, Lydia said, “Yum! I could eat JUST THOSE POTATOES.”  I’d say this is when you know you’re done.

—

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Grilled Pork Loin Chops with Pepper Sauce

May 19th, 2013
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Today’s (not-so-meatless-Monday) post is about pork.

And, pollen.

Since 2008, I’ve come to love Louisiana in so many ways.  Between our state’s year-round growing season, fresh produce, and regularly warm weather, it’s hard not to appreciate everyday amenities like these.  

[ In fact, I'm far too aware that while other food bloggers defrost their car windows each morning, I'm wearing running shorts surprisingly early in the year. Lucky me.... ]

But what I didn’t include in this glowing definition of Louisiana was pollen.

Pollen – that yellow, filmy stuff that gets on your car and makes you sneeze.

Louisiana has her fair share of ligustrum trees with their influential weather channel “high pollen alerts,” and I’m sorry to say that I’ve been quite under the weather.  Although I’d like to have ushered in finals and the first weeks of May with one late night on the porch after another, I spent most of my evenings in doors with a bad case of seasonal allergies, cursing those beautiful ligustrum trees taunting me on the patio.



Pictured: delicate white flowers bloom each spring in Louisiana as seasonal ligustrum trees cover the LSU campus and Baton Rouge.  Read more about this plant at the LSU Ag Center’s website (here).

And our state’s white, tiny flowers could only assault my sinuses for so long before my warm, but shady backyard beckoned me to return to my not-so-fancy (or super expensive) grill.

I’m fully aware of the irony of allergies and grilling outdoors, but as I get ready to head to Maine for the summer (that’s right – I’m leaving Louisiana for the first “extended” period of time since 2008!), I want to spend every minute I can sharing food and drinks with friends:



Pictured: my best friend Lydia after setting down a plate full of food. I’m thrilled to admit this photo wasn’t actually “staged,” but a practical way to carry your drink outside when you have full hands.  There’s something *very* Louisiana about this image….

I shared my first summer grilling experiences here last week with a recipe for BBQ Chicken Pizza.  This week, I’m using some of the leftover Stubb’s BAR-BQ Sauce over marinated pork loin chops from my local Albertson’s (have you seen those crazy, “Buy 1 get 3 Free” deals? Yeah, they’re sort of worth it).  



Pictured: some summer Pork Loin Chops on the grill, marinated in Stubb’s BAR-BQ Sauce (spicy-sweet) and a few splashes of  Puckett’s Boat House Pepper Sauce.  Did I mention these (plus 3 more pounds) were about $10 at Albertson’s?

Grilling pork chops are just one of the many ways to bring out natural flavors hidden within the fat and meat, but the real trick is to avoid overly marinating or brushing the loin when it’s on the grill.  Here, I use a mildly spicy-sweet BBQ sauce from Stubb’s that’s brushed on before and after flips (usually about two brushes during the entire process).  Then, I splash a few drops of  Pepper Sauce on both sides right as the chops come off the grill.  You’ll be rewarded with a subtle, but spicy heat that pairs nicely with a cold beer.



Pictured: Puckett’s Boat House Pepper Sauce, a lovely (but serious) condiment that I use as a final ingredient right as the chops come off the grill.  Sprinkle the sauce on meat, potatoes, or barbecue for sophisticated and quick heat.  In some cases (marinades and grilling), I’ve been able to use it as “liquid” pepper.

In January, the Gumbo Goddess and I received these small samples of Pepper Sauce from Puckett’s Boat House in Tennessee at Food Blog South.

Typically, I don’t review many (if any) of the freebies I receive at conferences or speaking events, but this sauce really stood out.  I like the idea of using an almost “liquid” pepper when grilling, although many would treat this sauce as a distant cousin to BBQ sauce (if not a version of BBQ sauce itself).  

For my taste, the Puckett’s Boat House Pepper Sauce is too spicy for marinade use only, but works great as an add on to other marinades, homemade or otherwise.

But, before you grill and dress those pork loin chops, here are some key tips: 

1 – Use a Charcoal Grill.  The flavor is unrivaled and the cooking is fun.

2 – Cut Pork Chops at Home.  Although this is a new concept to me (introduced to me by my friend Heather’s father), one of the best ways to save money, is to buy a tenderloin and butcher it at home.  See this tutorial for cutting tips, steak sizes, and other FAQs. 

ALSO – checkout minute 16 of Alton Brown’s “Tender is the Pork” episode (here) for more tenderloin cutting tips and tricks.

3 – Use Quality Ingredients.  You may have a great discount price for your summer grill meat, or, you may not have access to a great butcher.  With a quality marinade (and pepper sauce, if you have it), low-quality meats can be brought to life.  I discuss other techniques (as with tenderizing) in my article on “How to Tenderize a Steak” here.

Since I only have two weeks before I leave Louisiana for a much-needed summer vacation in Maine, I’ll continue to get as much grilling in as possible and I’ve got big plans for this little jar of peppery sauce.  If I have any left, I may try to share it with my family in New England, but I don’t believe their palates are quite used to southern spicy heat like mine….

Grilled Pork Loin Chops with Pepper Sauce

Yields: 3 servings (or, 3 (1/3-pound) pork loin chops)

Calories: 363.2 calories per servings (full nutritional facts here)

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

New to grilling? Checkout “How to Grill Perfect Pork Chops” at Serious Eats (here).  Although I love the detailed “Perfect Chops” and “Double Dose of Grilling” sections, I think the “Brine Time” can easily be skipped (sometimes, the pork just gets way too salty).  Also, note that the author, Joshua Bousel, grills Pork Chops with the bone in.  Here, I use Pork Loin Chops, a far more tender cut of meat.

So, skip the brine if you can help it.  In the past, I’ve followed Bon Appétit’s rule to brine before you pan fry or grill your pork chops (and I did so when reading up on this article earlier this spring).  But, 4 out of 5 times, the pork ends up too salty no matter how much I cut back on the salt or follow the directions closely.

Ingredients:

* 3 (1/3-pound) pork loin chops (1 1/2-inch thick, ideally)

* Salt and pepper, to taste

* Stubb’s BAR-BQ Sweet and Spicy Sauce (or like sauce), to taste

* Puckett’s Boat House Pepper Sauce (or like sauce), to taste

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT NEEDED:

* Charcoal Grill

1.) Rub pork loin chops with salt and pepper beforehand and rest (covered) in the fridge (preferably overnight).

2.) Brush pork loin chops in Stubb’s BAR-BQ Sweet and Spicy Sauce (or like BBQ sauce) on both sides.  One good slathering on each will do.

3.) For the grill: prepare coals for charcoal grill and warm to medium heat.  Depending on the size of my crowd, I use a “direct fire” or “two-zone” fire for grilling.  With direct fire, the coals are evenly lit and heat is equally disbursed.  With “two-zone,” one side of the grill is covered in burning coals and a few burning coals are sprinkled on the other side.  

4.) When grill is warm, grease clean grates (I use a paper towel dipped in vegetable or olive oil before I add the meat).



5.) Place cuts over high-heat and close lid.  Any fat produced may ignite the fire more and allow necessary blackening.  You’ll want the cuts to sit on each side for at least 5 to 6 minutes before flipping and brushing in another round of Stubb’s.  When the bottom has started to take a char, flip the pork loin chop, then brush all over with Stubb’s.  Close lid and cook until the bottom has also charred slightly and the internal temperature is at 135-145F.  135F is medium to medium-rare and 145F is well-done; cook pork loin chops based on your preferences for levels of done-ness.  

6.) Plate pork loin chops and dress in pepper sauce to taste.  



-Helana

—

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Food Photography Tips for Bloggers

May 17th, 2013
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When I started the Clearly Delicious Food  Blog in 2008, I could not have anticipated the role photography would (then) play in my life.

The dedication to quality, useful images and expensive equipment would be a year or two down the road.  In fact, it wouldn’t be until late 2009 (or was it early 2010?) that I began to take capturing pictures seriously.

Amateur Gourmet Adam Roberts explained the “Beautiful Recipe Post” in his “10 Posts that Will Get You Traffic” talk at this year’s Food Blog South 2013.  It was smart and clever, with plenty of notes about how 99% of bloggers are regularly publishing beautiful pictures without the express worry of producing “quality” content.  

Basically, if you can afford a DSLR camera (Nikon or Canon), you’re good to go.  Just learn to point and shoot before uploading those images.

[Case in point here: "Healthy Nutella Rice Krispy Treats."  Terrible Writing + Beautiful Images = "Pinnable" Content; But, I digress....]



Pictured: “Healthy Nutella Rice Krispy Bars” by Chocolate-Covered Kate: The Healthy Dessert Blog: a great example of beautiful, “pinnable” content without the writing chops.  But, I have to admit the DSLR skills are pretty great here.

For several weeks now, I’ve been telling the Writing and Editorial Interns I would show them exactly how a dish goes from photo to blog.  It’s a process of plating, conceptualization, and a ton of other techy skills. My logic was this: it may be hard to understand even 10% of food photography based on one photoshoot.  But, simply witnessing the labor-intensive process behind a magazine or food blog might do them some good (especially if they go into publishing as Meredith Quinn has been want to do).

Last Friday, we bundled up on the patio to shoot a gluten-free Fallen Chocolate Cake from Bon Appétit:



Pictured: me standing on the patio table explaining to interns Erica deVeer and Meredith Quinn how the right angle and lighting mean everything.  Photo by Food and Writing Intern Tara Hebert.

Although we spent only 20-minutes styling and shooting this dessert (really, pennies compared to the hour-long shoots you’ll witness at major magazines and print pubs), I showed a few of the crazy antics that happened “before” a dish could be shot.  Whether we were tweaking a dish’s arrangement by half an inch or balling up a piece of paper to substitute for a fresh scoop of ice cream (that is, to test our settings before a real scoop of ice cream would could begin to melt), it was all quick and informative, emphasizing the labor that goes behind the cover images of those glossy food publications.

But, what I didn’t have time to get to was “post.”  

“Post” is an industry term that refers to what you do with an image once it’s shot.  Since most professional food bloggers shoot in .raw format, it’s easy to manipulate an image with expensive photo-editing software like Photoshop or LightRoom. Honestly, just learning one platform can be a bit of a chore (I still don’t know how to do half the things I’d like to do in Photoshop), but it’s a worth-while extra-curricular if you want your images to come alive.


Example: Erica deVeer’s Easter Sunday recipe for Chocolate Truffle Cake:



Pictured: “Before” and “After” shots of a Chocolate Truffle Cake .  Notice the enhanced saturation, sharpness, and clarity on the right? Although these changes may be subtle, they’re what transforms a “good” image into something that’s “great” and can be published in a variety of platforms.

Below, I’ve itemized 5 essential tips I cannot live without when editing an image in post, especially when using Photoshop.  Since including each tip in full creates a really long blog post, I’ve given you the tip, feature, and overview below with a link to the longer tutorial on a separate page here at the website.

For more tips, tricks, and photo inspiration, please follow me on Pinterest and my “Food Photography Ideas” board.

Tip #1: Exposure

(full tutorial here)



Exposure is one of the most important tips I can give anyone when they start working with a photo in post.  I won’t detail the more high-tech skills you’ll need to know when working with apertures / f-stops and how the numbers really don’t make any sense (the lower the f-stop the higher your aperture? Or in the words of Hélène Dujardin, “It’s just crazy!”)

But here’s what I can tell you when working in “post”:

Exposure Levels.

Follow the link here for the full 5-step tutorial where I explain how the “Levels Feature” on the Adjustments Panel makes all the difference in Photoshop.  

For this tutorial, I’m using images in .raw format and Photoshop CS12.1 x64,  iMac on OSX 10.6.8):



So, why does exposure matter? Well, here’s a (somewhat frustrating) food blogger tip: the number one reason my images have been rejected from FoodGawker in the past is “low lighting” or “under-exposed.”  

Tip #2: Blow Outs

(full tutorial here)

Fixing exposure is important, but it also creates (or encourages) some lighting problems—blow outs.



“Blow outs” is a slang term that refers to an area where whites and exposure are so bright, they’ve literally been “blown out” and no data is shown (just white, bright light).  Sometimes this looks pretty cool and you might be aiming for an over-exposed effect, but most of the time (as with visible, useful food photography), it poses a problem.  Why?

Well, blow outs are particularly troublesome if you were to go to print.  Not only would there be no digital information to be printed in this part of the image, but it also messes with white balance and photo composition.

Here’s an easy fix in Photoshop: correcting blow outs using the “Layers” Feature.

Again, to see how to use Photoshop’s “Layers” Feature, read up on the process here in a separate post.

Tip #3: Filter -> Gaussian Blur

(full tutorial here)

Two filters I always use when editing a food photo in post are 1 – “Gaussian Blur” and 2 – “High Pass.”  

In Tip #3, I discuss Gaussian Blur.



Photoshop’s filters serve a wide ray of functions and have infinite variables you can play with and fix.  For now, we’re just enhancing color and sharpening the image.  With Gaussian Blur, you can add a layer of sophisticated saturation that truly brings your image to life.  To read how to add, overlay, and adjust this filter, read the full article here.

Tip #4: Filter -> High Pass

(see full tutorial here)

The second of two filters I always use when editing photos in post is High Pass.  In LightRoom, this filter functions more under “clarity” and “sharpening,” but here, it’s all one function.



High Pass is fairly intuitive after you’ve gotten the hang of Gaussian blur.  Follow the steps for tip 3 and read the full tutorial for how to sharpen even the smallest details here.

Tip #5: Internet-Ready

(see full tutorial here)

Although this tip comes last, I think it’s one of the most important: saving files so they’re Internet and Print ready.  Honestly, discovering this feature took a lot of trial and error after slaving away on my images and just hitting “save as.”  In the generation that grew up using Microsoft Word, we all know that “Save As” updates a file with all of the new changes and features, right? Well, not in Photoshop.  In Photoshop, in order to (truly) save all of your adjustments, layers, tweaks, and filters, you’ll need to use the feature, “Save for Web and Devices.”



In this tutorial (full version here), I discuss preserving all of your data, but without saving the image as a Photoshop file.

—

As always, you can “hit the books” as they say to learn more about these five tips and tricks. Here are three of the food photography books I cannot live without:

1 – Hélène Dujardin’s Plate to Pixel (and here blog: Tartlette) 



*great for learning about nuanced lighting, natural lighting, and plating.  Dujardin has a great section on f-stops/aperture, ISO, and how to get creative in a traditionally mechanized field.

2 – Denise Vivaldo’s Food Stylist’s Handbook



*great for learning about industry tips and tricks, how to handle a professional photo-shoot, and what to have on hand.

3 – Nicole S. Young’s Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots



*worth the less than $14 purchase if only for her discussion of Photosshop. Young is a certified Photoshop specialist, and it shows with her screen shots and tips and tricks.

Or, checkout these Useful Blogger Articles:

1 – “Tasty Food Photography” by Pinch of Yum

2 – “Photography on Simply Recipes” by Elise Bauer

3 - Lynda.com by Lynda Weinman

-Helana

—

Directory:

Or, See: Tip #1: “Fixing Exposure”

Tip #2: “Fixing Blow Outs in Photoshop” 

Tip #3: “Filter -> Gaussian Blur”

Tip #4: “Filter -> High Pass” 

Tip #5: “Saving Images for the Internet”

—

Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/helana/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DancesWLobsters

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Clearly-Delicious/103136413059101

Tumblr: http://clearlydelicious.tumblr.com/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/helanabrigman

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Saving Images for the Internet in Photoshop (Photo Editing Tips for Bloggers)

May 17th, 2013
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Tip #5: Internet-Ready

Although this tip comes last, I think it’s one of the most important: saving files so they’re Internet and Print ready.  Honestly, discovering this feature took a lot of trial and error after slaving away on my images and just hitting “save as.”  

For the generation that grew up using Microsoft Word, we all know that “Save As” updates a file with all of the new changes and features, right?

Well, not in Photoshop.  

In Photoshop, in order to (truly) save all of your adjustments, layers, tweaks, and filters, you’ll need to use the feature, “Save for Web and Devices.”

What it does: saves updated image in a .jpeg file that preserves your changes.  It’s fairly straight forward, but much more complex in terms of data nuts and bolts.  For a more comprehensive view of what the “Save for Web & Devices” command really does, checkout Joshua Johnson’s article here.*

*Note: pay special attention to Johnson’s discussion of “image size,” something I don’t get into in the steps below.

1 - Click on File -> Save for Web & Devices:



2 - Photoshop will prompt you and ask if this is what you really want to do because the file size will be much larger (3 to 4 times larger in most cases).  Select “Yes”:



3 - A funny screen will pop up with a ton of features.  Although I won’t go into what each drop-down box means here, they’re a great way to adjust settings for a jpeg (or other file types) and maximize the data you save.  For now, simply make sure you’re saving the file as “JPEG” and that the box, “Convert to RGB” is selected.  Hit “Save”*:

*Note checkout Johnson’s article on image size.  In most cases, you’ll want to adjust your pixels settings found in the bottom of this screen.



4 - Of course, save the file wherever you’d like.  It’ll be far larger than the original, and I always put my documents in an “Edited” folder with a .2 or -2 after it to indicate the change.  Hit “Save”:



—

As always, you can “hit the books” as they say to learn more about these five tips and tricks. Here are three of the food photography books I cannot live without:

1 – Hélène Dujardin’s Plate to Pixel (and here blog: Tartlette) 



*great for learning about nuanced lighting, natural lighting, and plating.  Dujardin has a great section on f-stops/aperture, ISO, and how to get creative in a traditionally mechanized field.

2 – Denise Vivaldo’s Food Stylist’s Handbook



*great for learning about industry tips and tricks, how to handle a professional photo-shoot, and what to have on hand.

3 – Nicole S. Young’s Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots



*worth the less than $14 purchase if only for her discussion of Photosshop. Young is a certified Photoshop specialist, and it shows with her screen shots and tips and tricks.

Or, checkout these Useful Blogger Articles:

1 – “Tasty Food Photography” by Pinch of Yum

2 – “Photography on Simply Recipes” by Elise Bauer

3 - Lynda.com by Lynda Weinman

-Helana
—

Directory:

Or, See: Tip #1: “Fixing Exposure”

Tip #2: “Fixing Blow Outs in Photoshop” 

Tip #3: “Filter -> Gaussian Blur”

Tip #4: “Filter -> High Pass” 

Tip #5: “Saving Images for the Internet”

—

Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/helana/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DancesWLobsters

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Clearly-Delicious/103136413059101

Tumblr: http://clearlydelicious.tumblr.com/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/helanabrigman

Google+

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Adding Filters & High Pass in Photoshop (Photo Editing Tips for Bloggers)

May 17th, 2013
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Tip #4: Filter -> High Pass

The second of two filters I always use when editing photos in post is High Pass.  In LightRoom, this filter functions more under “clarity” and “sharpening,” but here, it’s all one function.

1 – To apply the High Pass Filter, repeat your steps from Tip #3 (create new background layer copy).  Then, click on Filter -> Other -> High Pass:



2 – When the High Pass dialogue box pops up, set the Radius / Pixels to 10.0.  Click “Ok”:



3 – Like the Gaussian Blur filter, you’ll want to select “Overlay” for the properties.

4 – Select a manageable Opacity (here, 61%):



The opacity here is all about personal preference.  In some instances, dishes require as much sharpening as possible.  In others, they’ll require very little.  And, if you’re doing other kinds of photography–landscapes, portraits, or more creative work–sharpening will, again, come down to personal preference.  I chose “61%” because the image was fairly sharp to begin with, but I’d like to see the tulips in the background have a little more pop, some more texture in the cookies and the window pane:



From here, so long as the image is sharp enough and colored the way I’d like, I’m ready to hit “save,” but with the Photoshop feature, “Web & Other Devices.”  Read about this final tip here.

—

As always, you can “hit the books” as they say to learn more about these five tips and tricks. Here are three of the food photography books I cannot live without:

1 – Hélène Dujardin’s Plate to Pixel (and here blog: Tartlette) 



*great for learning about nuanced lighting, natural lighting, and plating.  Dujardin has a great section on f-stops/aperture, ISO, and how to get creative in a traditionally mechanized field.

2 – Denise Vivaldo’s Food Stylist’s Handbook



*great for learning about industry tips and tricks, how to handle a professional photo-shoot, and what to have on hand.

3 – Nicole S. Young’s Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots



*worth the less than $14 purchase if only for her discussion of Photosshop. Young is a certified Photoshop specialist, and it shows with her screen shots and tips and tricks.

Or, checkout these Useful Blogger Articles:

1 – “Tasty Food Photography” by Pinch of Yum

2 – “Photography on Simply Recipes” by Elise Bauer

3 - Lynda.com by Lynda Weinman

-Helana
—

Directory:

Or, See: Tip #1: “Fixing Exposure”

Tip #2: “Fixing Blow Outs in Photoshop” 

Tip #3: “Filter -> Gaussian Blur”

Tip #4: “Filter -> High Pass” 

Tip #5: “Saving Images for the Internet”

—

Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/helana/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DancesWLobsters

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Clearly-Delicious/103136413059101

Tumblr: http://clearlydelicious.tumblr.com/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/helanabrigman

Google+

1 Comment "

Adding Filters & Saturation in Photoshop (Photo Editing Tips for Bloggers)

May 17th, 2013
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Tip #3: Filter -> Gaussian Blur

Two filters I always use when editing a food photo in post are 1 – “Gaussian Blur” and 2 – “High Pass.”  Here, I discuss Gaussian Blur.

PhotoShop’s filters serve a wide ray of functions and have infinite variables you can play with and fix.  For now, we’re just enhancing color and sharpening the image.  With Gaussian Blur, you can add a layer of sophisticated saturation that truly brings your image to life.  

To add filters:

1 - Click on the bottom layer, “Background” and drag it to the second icon from the right, “Create New Layer.”  



You’ll have a “Background Copy” popup in the layers history:



2 - Once you’ve added a new layer, you can apply a filter.  I usually start with Gaussian Blur to enhance colors first (I’ll sharpen the image afterwards).  Making sure your “background Copy” layer is selected (you can tell by whether or not it’s highlighted, as with the image above).

Click on Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur.



The blur pre-sets will pop up, and you can keep them at 1.0 Radius/pixels or adjust it to higher numbers like 10.0 or 50.0.  For this image, I changed the sets to “50″ (not pictured).

When you click “ok,” your image will be a glossy blur:



3 - You’ll want to change the filter to an overlay, so you can see through the blur and enhance colors seamlessly.  Click on the first drop-down box under the Layers History Panel (your Opacity drop-down box will be to the right).  Scroll down to “Overlay” and click to select this feature:




The image will darken and be super saturated:



4 - To tone down the saturation to a manageable amount, adjust the percentage of your opacity (drop-down box in the upper-right corner of your Layers History Panel).  Right now, the set value is “100%.”  Usually, I adjust to somewhere between 20-30% depending on the image.  For this picture, I dropped down the Opacity to 29%:



Now, it’s time to sharpen the image and make any final alterations before we save it for the Internet.  See Tip #4 Filter -> High Pass here.
—

As always, you can “hit the books” as they say to learn more about these five tips and tricks. Here are three of the food photography books I cannot live without:

1 – Hélène Dujardin’s Plate to Pixel (and here blog: Tartlette) 



*great for learning about nuanced lighting, natural lighting, and plating.  Dujardin has a great section on f-stops/aperture, ISO, and how to get creative in a traditionally mechanized field.

2 – Denise Vivaldo’s Food Stylist’s Handbook



*great for learning about industry tips and tricks, how to handle a professional photo-shoot, and what to have on hand.

3 – Nicole S. Young’s Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots



*worth the less than $14 purchase if only for her discussion of PhotosShop. Young is a certified PhotoShop specialist, and it shows with her screen shots and tips and tricks.

Blogger Articles (useful):

1 – “Tasty Food Photography” by Pinch of Yum

2 – “Photography on Simply Recipes” by Elise Bauer

3 - Lynda.com by Lynda Weinman

-Helana
—

Directory:

Or, See: Tip #1: “Fixing Exposure”

Tip #2: “Fixing Blow Outs in Photoshop” 

Tip #3: “Filter -> Gaussian Blur”

Tip #4: “Filter -> High Pass” 

Tip #5: “Saving Images for the Internet”

—

Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/helana/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DancesWLobsters

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Clearly-Delicious/103136413059101

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Instagram: http://instagram.com/helanabrigman

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Fixing Blow Outs in Photoshop (Photo Editing Tips for Bloggers)

May 17th, 2013
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Tip #2: Blow Outs

Fixing exposure is important, but it also creates (or encourages) some lighting problem—blow outs.

“Blow outs” is a slang term that refers to an area where whites and exposure are so bright, they’ve literally been “blown out” and no data is shown (just white, bright light).  Sometimes this looks pretty cool and you might be aiming for an over-exposed effect, but most of the time (as with visible, useful food photography), it poses a problem.  Why?

Well, blow outs pose a particular problem if you were to go to print.  Not only would there be no digital information to be printed in this part of the image, but it also messes with white balance and photo composition.



Pictured: blow outs are the areas of extreme lighting or “white” in the image above.  I’ve pointed out a few areas where the blow outs are especially harsh.

Here’s an easy fix in Photoshop: correcting blow outs using the “Layers” Feature:


1 - Add a solid color or “fill layer” – right click on the “Fill/Adjustment Layer” icon at the bottom of your screen – this looks like a half black, half white circle:



2 - Scroll to the top of the box that pops up and select “Solid Color”: 



3 - When the box asks that you “pick a solid color,” select the brightest red with your icon (merely click on it and hit “ok”):



4 - Now, you’ll see an entirely red screen because you’ve simply placed a layer of red on top of your image:



5 - From here, you’ll want to adjust fill levels.  Right click on the top box under your layers history that represents the red colors layer you just added.  You’ll know you’re right clicking on the correct layer because the box next to your cursor will be red. Select “blending options” at the top of the drop-down box:



6 - In the new box that pops up, look at the bottom (“Blend If”) section.  Here, you’ll want to reverse the black and white sliders in the “underlying layer” section.  Note that your “start point” includes a white tab on the right and a black tab on the left:



Reverse the two sliders for “underlying layer.”  Here’s what they will look like when reversed (notice the sudden red spots in your image below?).  

Now, click “ok”:



7 - At this point, PhotoShop is highlighting where all of the blow outs occur, and you can fix these spots by adjusting your “levels” layer in the layers history panel.  To do so, right click on the “Levels 1″ layer and select “blending options”:



8 - A new box will pop up that looks similar to the red layer’s blending options.  Like this solid color layer, you’ll want to adjust the “underlying layer” using the arrows at the bottom of this box.  

Take the white arrow tab on the righthand side and move it all the way to the left until as much fo the red “blow outs” disappear as possible (note: some blow outs may not be capable of being resolved):



9 - Then, hit “option” and click (or, “option” + click on Mac, “alt” + click on Windows) on the white arrow.  The arrow will divid into two pieces.  Drag the right-side of the arrow tab all the way back to the righthand side of the underlying layer bar.  The image will suddenly become clearer, keeping fixed blowouts in tact and softening harsh edges that may have occurred in the last step.



10 – Now, click the icon next to the top “Color Fill 1″ layer in your layers history panel.  This hides the layer and turns off the red highlighting.



Your image’s exposures and blow outs are now fixed.  Time to add color pop filters and enhance sharpness.  See tips #4 and #5 for these tutorials (links below).

—

As always, you can “hit the books” as they say to learn more about these five tips and tricks. Here are three of the food photography books I cannot live without:

1 – Hélène Dujardin’s Plate to Pixel (and here blog: Tartlette) 



*great for learning about nuanced lighting, natural lighting, and plating.  Dujardin has a great section on f-stops/aperture, ISO, and how to get creative in a traditionally mechanized field.

2 – Denise Vivaldo’s Food Stylist’s Handbook



*great for learning about industry tips and tricks, how to handle a professional photo-shoot, and what to have on hand.

3 – Nicole S. Young’s Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots



*worth the less than $14 purchase if only for her discussion of PhotosShop. Young is a certified PhotoShop specialist, and it shows with her screen shots and tips and tricks.

Blogger Articles (useful):

1 – “Tasty Food Photography” by Pinch of Yum

2 – “Photography on Simply Recipes” by Elise Bauer

3 - Lynda.com by Lynda Weinman

-Helana
—

Directory:

Or, See: Tip #1: “Fixing Exposure”

Tip #2: “Fixing Blow Outs in Photoshop” 

Tip #3: “Filter -> Gaussian Blur”

Tip #4: “Filter -> High Pass” 

Tip #5: “Saving Images for the Internet”

—

Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/helana/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DancesWLobsters

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Clearly-Delicious/103136413059101

Tumblr: http://clearlydelicious.tumblr.com/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/helanabrigman

Google+

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Fixing Exposure in Photoshop (Photo Editing Tips for Food Bloggers)

May 17th, 2013
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Exposure is one of the most important tips I can give anyone when they start working with a photo in post.  

I won’t detail the more high-tech skills you’ll need to know when working with apertures / f-stops and how the numbers really don’t make any sense (the lower the f-stop the higher your aperture? Or in the words of Hélène Dujardin, “it’s crazy!”)

But here’s what I can tell you when working in “post”:

Exposure Levels.

When working in Photoshop (or LightRoom), it’s easy to adjust exposure levels using the “Levels Feature” on the Adjustments Panel.  Here’s how:

1 - Open your image in .raw format using PhotoShop (pictured: CS12.1 x64, using iMac on OSX 10.6.8):



2 - Click on the icon for “Levels” (an exposure histogram that resembles mountains or spiky hills):



3 - When the histogram pops up, you’ll have three sliders placed along the left, middle, and right of the histogram.  You’ll also see where “Levels 1″ has been added to your layers history:



4 - Now, click on the slider on the right and slightly nudge it to the left until the image has brightened as much as you like.  For me, I want the dark spots to reveal texture in the frosting that’s currently missing.  I also want to be able to see the ridges in the cookies that encircle the cake.  Fixing exposure helps make this possible.  

And, to track how far you’ve adjusted exposure, the data in the box below will change numbers (for me, it’s moved from 255 to 215).  Watch as the numbers change and your image brightens:



5 – Great – step 1 (fixing exposure) is really that simple.  You’ve brightened the image, and the cake is more visible in dark spots. If you wanted to increase darkness or brighten highlights, fiddle with the sliders on the lefthand side and the center. Really, being comfortable with exposure means playing around with these settings and knowing what looks good to you.  

And, here’s a food blogger tip: the number one reason my images have been rejected from FoodGawker in the past is “low lighting” or “under-exposed.”  

As always, you can “hit the books” as they say to learn more about these five tips and tricks. Here are three of the food photography books I cannot live without:

—

1 – Hélène Dujardin’s Plate to Pixel (and here blog: Tartlette) 



*great for learning about nuanced lighting, natural lighting, and plating.  Dujardin has a great section on f-stops/aperture, ISO, and how to get creative in a traditionally mechanized field.

2 – Denise Vivaldo’s Food Stylist’s Handbook



*great for learning about industry tips and tricks, how to handle a professional photo-shoot, and what to have on hand.

3 – Nicole S. Young’s Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots



*worth the less than $14 purchase if only for her discussion of PhotosShop. Young is a certified PhotoShop specialist, and it shows with her screen shots and tips and tricks.

Or, checkout some Useful Blogger Articles (useful):

1 – “Tasty Food Photography” by Pinch of Yum

2 – “Photography on Simply Recipes” by Elise Bauer

3 - Lynda.com by Lynda Weinman

-Helana
—

Directory:

Or, See: Tip #1: “Fixing Exposure”

Tip #2: “Fixing Blow Outs in Photoshop” 

Tip #3: “Filter -> Gaussian Blur”

Tip #4: “Filter -> High Pass” 

Tip #5: “Saving Images for the Internet”

—

Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/helana/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DancesWLobsters

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Clearly-Delicious/103136413059101

Tumblr: http://clearlydelicious.tumblr.com/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/helanabrigman

Google+

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Grilled BBQ Chicken Pizza

May 13th, 2013
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Last year, when Jim Lahey’s new book, My Pizza, came out, you couldn’t toss a dough ball without seeing an article about it.

Foodies have long been fixated with Lahey’s “no-knead” method (here, here, and here), and with very good reasoning: little effort, fewer ingredients (i.e., yeast), low time in prep., and big results.

As much hype surrounds this bread man, Lahey’s got it right—

Great pizza starts at home. 

But, I don’t believe great pizza should come with a no-knead, super-thin crust.  As Alton Brown explains, it’s all about those gaseous bubbles, creating a “chewy” but “crunchy” dough perfect for piling with the right ingredients:

Pictured: Alton Brown, Season 3 Episode 11, “Flat is Beautiful (PIzza).”  In this episode, he explains why “hard flours” such as bread flour introduce higher levels of protein for agitating with gluten and create that “perfect” crust.

To ensure your pizza attains great status this summer, checkout this basic, no-fail (not, no-knead) pizza dough recipe and some essential tips for making pizza on the grill.  Not only are these tips smart, but they’re also quick and easy to follow for your next pizza party right at home.

[ Want more reading? Checkout The Pizza Lab's Complete (Updated) Guide to Grilled Pizza ]

Rule #1: Smart Cooking



Always cook your pizza dough first before topping with the rest of your ingredients. When the crust begins to take a char, remove it from the grill, flip the dough and start loading up the cooked side with your favorite toppings and sauces. The results yield a perfectly cooked crust every time.

Rule #2: Homemade Dough



Use the recipe below for an effortless homemade pizza dough, or buy premade dough balls from the store for just a few bucks (Whole Foods sells a great one in the bakery section). However, don’t be tempted by those middle-of-the aisle pre-rolled creations that have been vacuum-sealed. For this recipe, fresh is best, and you’ll be grateful you took a few extra minutes to roll out the dough whether you made it or bought it fresh.

Rule #3: Creativity



For this Grilled BBQ Chicken Pizza, I’ve swapped regular tomato sauce for a sweet and spicy BBQ sauce made by Stubb’s and saved a lot of time using a store-bought rotisserie chicken, freshwater mozzarella, and caramelized onions.

Since no pizza is finished without a few crunchy garnishes (green onions, for example), I’ve suggested a few extras that add flavor and creativity to any homemade pie. Try a combination of green onions with blue cheese and basil for a gourmet-style pizza right off the grill.

Rule #4: Grease those Grates

When grilling, be sure to grease the grates beforehand and have a fire that’s hot but no more than medium-high. Use a paper towel dipped in olive oil and run it quickly over the grates with grilling tongs.

Rule #5: Blackened, not Burned



Typically, I use a coal-burning grill and a product called “Flare Down” to keep the flames from scorching the bottom of the crust. Gas grills run less of a risk for burning, but in my experience, the crust simply “blackens,” and will not burn unless directly exposed to a flame the entire time. So, watch your grill.

This May, take advantage of south Louisiana’s extra-long spring by moving dinner outside with this easy Grilled BBQ Chicken Pizza, some shortcuts and grilling tips.

Grilled BBQ Chicken Pizza

Yield: 2 Pizzas (4-6 servings each)

Ingredients:

—Pizza Dough—

* 1 cup warm water

* 2 teaspoons active dry yeast

* 3 cups bread flour

* 2 teaspoons sugar

* 2 teaspoons salt

* olive oil, to coat dough ball

—Pizza—

* corn meal, for dusting

* olive oil, for coating

* Salt and Pepper, to taste

* BBQ sauce, such as Stubbs (I used spicy-sweet)

* 3-4 cups mozzarella

* store-bought rotisserie chicken, picked clean

* 1 cup caramelized onions

* ½ cup cherry tomatoes, halved

* Salt and pepper, to taste

* blue cheese, optional

* green onions, sliced, for garnishing

* basil leaves, for garnishing 

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT NEEDED: 

* Mezzaluna (my favorite, slicing pizza has never been so fun!)

* Charcoal Grill (also my favorite outdoor cooking method – you just can’t fake the real smoky flavor of a grill!)

1.) For the pizza dough: add dry active yeast to warm water (preferably in a Kitchen-Aid mixing bowl) and rest until foamy or “activated” (about five minutes).

2.) Add salt, sugar and flour to yeast and water mixture, using dough hook on low speed. Continue mixing until a sticky dough forms.*

3.) Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to pizza dough and coat the dough ball fully. Rest dough at room tem­perature for about an hour in a covered bowl. When dough has doubled in size, “punch” it down or use immediately. Dough can be refrigerated for up to a month and frozen for up to three months.

4.) For the pizza: roll out one half of dough ball on a well-floured surface. Transfer dough to a cornmeal-dusted baking sheet or pizza stone. Puncture the surface all over with a fork and drizzle with olive oil, then season with salt and pepper.

5.) For the grill: warm grill to medium heat and, working in two batches, transfer pizza crust to greased grates (I use a paper towel dipped in olive oil before I make the transfer).



Cover and cook for at 4 minutes or until crust begins to take a char before returning it to a baking sheet (cooked side up).



6.) For the toppings: spoon BBQ sauce over pizza surface, covering even the edges. Dress with 1 to 2 cups mozzarella per pie, chicken, onions and tomatoes to taste. Season pizza with salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with blue cheese (if using).



7.) Return pizza to grill, cover and cook for up to 4 to 6 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is golden on bottom (make sure to check at 4 minutes). Transfer pizza to serving dish, top with green onions and basil (if using) and rest for several minutes before cutting (this keeps the toppings from sliding off the crust). Slice and share.

*Cook’s Note: a great way to ensure the dough doesn’t rise out of the bowl is to spray your dough hook with non-stick cooking spray beforehand. This step also prevents the dough from sticking to the hook.

-Helana

—

Follow Helana on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/helana/

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Clearly-Delicious/103136413059101

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Healthy Snack Options for Web People

May 10th, 2013
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It’s amazing how much time people spend working at their desks (especially if you’re a blogger, podcaster, or online writer like me).

In fact, studies show that during the day, most people spend more than 8 hours working in front of their computers. After work, they may even spend the remainder of their time relaxing on the couch or sitting in front of the computer playing online video games.  Relaxing is great, but too much time spent sitting or in a stationary position can be risky for your health.  Oftentimes, it’s easy to slip into irregular eating habits and online writers, gamers, and bloggers alike have a higher potential for reaching for those low quality of foods.

In fact, as technology continues to dominate our schedules (both at home and work), many of us will eat at least one meal at our desks each day while many more will mindlessly snack, not counting calories or keeping track of how much they eat.

People working online are at a greater risk for eating two or more meals a day at their desks, and, the downside of this trend is that many opt for unhealthy snack options that are filled with empty calories that pack on the pounds.

To combat these issues, I pack my desk drawers with sliced apples and peanut butter, and large cups of naturally buttery edamame that I season with salt, pepper, and thyme to taste.  

Below are some of my favorite healthy snack options for people who spend most of their time in front of the computer whether they’re avid online gamers, office workers, or bloggers like me.   

Apples and Natural Peanut Butter



Pictured: peeled or sliced, fresh apples make a world of difference when reaching for a snack at your desk.  Skip greasy potato chips for the natural crunch of a sliced Granny Smith (my favorite, pictured here).  

A quick and easy snack that can give you energy and even boost your immune system is apples with peanut butter. Apples are widely known for their ability to boost your immune system while natural peanut butter is a great source of protein that offers an even greater energy boost.

Want a bit of crunch with your snack?

Add a small cup of Cheerios and dip the peanut butter-covered apple piece in them.

Edamame Beans



Pictured: healthful edamame beans are a great source of protein and fiber.  Eat them by themselves or with your favorite herb and spice mixture to taste.  I suggest the quick and easy Edamame with Thyme here.

Another great snack is Edamane beans. These beans are another source of protein as well as fiber, a combination that can help keep you feeling satiated longer. Add some cherry tomatoes to the mix for a tasty and wholesome snack.

Mini-Cucumber Sandwiches 



Pictured: a super-easy, must-try recipe for Spicy Crab Cucumber Sandwiches that makes good use of spicy crab meat and a light sour-cream and mustard base.  I also suggest using lean turkey between the slices for a low-carb fix with seafood or poultry.

I’ve been pinning mini cucumber sandwiches onto my “Finger Foods” board at Pinterest for months now.  Ever since I added crab meat with sour cream,  turned me onto mini-cucumber sandwiches which are essentially two slices of cucumber with turkey and low-fat cheese between the slices. Cucumber is great for Vitamin K, which is good for strong bones and the low-fat cheese is an excellent source of calcium.

Fruit Smoothies 



Pictured: Watermelon juice (or smoothie, here) garnished with basil.  Since watermelon is primarily all juice, it’s easy to pulse in a blender or processor and easy to carry to work.  Drink up at your desk anytime – responding to e-mails  or gaming with friends, smoothies allow you to keep your hands free while staying on task.

As many readers know, I’m a strong advocate for eating fresh fruits and vegetables. Since you can never have enough fresh fruit in your diet, fruit smoothies are just one of the easy ways for you to eat more.

To start, experiment with different flavors such as mixed berries or tropical fruits in order to avoid boredom. Also try convincing some of your co-workers to join you and take turns providing smoothies for everyone in the office (instead of those usual coffee runs). 

Don’t have enough fresh fruit on hand? Try buying frozen berries and pulsing them together with some naturally sweet, low-calorie watermelon any month of the year.

—

The above options are just a few healthy ways to snack consciously (and healthfully) for readers that spend most of their time behind a desk. With a little planning and effort, it’s easy to keep down weight gain, increase energy, and even boost productivity at work all by choosing healthful snack alternatives over processed ones from the store.

-Helana

—

Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/helana/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DancesWLobsters

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Clearly-Delicious/103136413059101

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