Photography Trick: Invisible Black Backdrop

I had a fun little shoot using a technique I learned from this YouTube video. It involves making use of a small aperture to create a black frame, then using a speedlite to light up the subject.

Learn a super fast and super easy technique to add a black background into your pictures no matter where you are...indoors or out! In this short video I show you how to use your camera to create a black background in any location and your flash to light just your subject/model.

It was a fun little shoot, and the result was alright. However, I shouldn't have done this in a hallway where the speedlite would light up the walls and hallway as well. Great thanks to my friend MW for helping me out being my subject :)

Next time would be to use a multiple light setup to give her a rim light so her hair won't just blend in with the background as much.

Hallway Shot - Had to stop down the sides to make it black.  Otherwise the hallway was slightly visible. — Hallway Shot - Had to stop down the sides to make it black. Otherwise the hallway was slightly visible.

Wall Backdrop - Tried using a narrowed beam for a little bit more moody shot.  The light got reflected due to the close proximity of the wall in the back, Also messed the focus a little bit. — Wall Backdrop - Tried using a narrowed beam for a little bit more moody shot. The light got reflected due to the close proximity of the wall in the back, Also messed the focus a little bit.

Food How-To: Chocolate Affogato

Affogato is a coffee based drink where hot espresso is poured over ice-cold ice cream. I tried a variation where I used a shot of salted hot dark chocolate with cookie dough ice-cream. Since the ice cream and the chocolate shot were sweet, the result was slightly over sweet, but an amazing combination of flavours between the vanilla and dark chocolate flavour makes up for it.

Next time, darker chocolate shot + vanilla ice cream instead. Definitely more experimentation to come. Very simple to make if you have chocolate and ice cream at home

The Ingredients - a scoop of cookie dough ice cream, a shot of 60% dark chocolate.

Ingredients List

A Shot of strong hot chocolate

Melt Dark Chocolate (~60-70% dark chocolate) mixed with a small amount of milk in the microwave, mixing every 10 seconds to ensure the chocolate/milk won't burn.
Once melted, added a pinch of salt.

A Scoop of Ice Cream (I just took what I had at home, Haagen Daaz cookie dough ice cream)
Pour and Serve!

Final Product

Emma Watson Fanatic... Check!

I have no idea what his obsession about Emma Watson is, but a friend of mine decided to turn his obsession into a blog. He is including some hilarious material as well. Definitely worth a quick scan if you are into Emma Watson as well.

http://hermionethehottie.tumblr.com/

Meaningful Song

There are songs which I listen to for the good music, songs which I listen to for the head thumping beats, and finally songs that I listen to for their meaning.

The first image that came to my mind when I heard the song is one from my street photography endeavors. I love the meaning of this song from C-allstar :)

Hanabi Japanese Restaurant Review

I have had many friends of mine ask me about Japanese food in and around Toronto and Markham. Right in a little corner in First Markham Place is a restaurant called Hana-bi, there are "classier" and more innovative places downtown, however, this little homey Japanese restaurant had me going back more often than not.

I went back because of great food, reasonable price and most important of all, welcoming service. In my opinion, the most off-putting thing is when you have great food, and horrible staff that just makes the food have a horrible aftertaste. The first thing you notice is the smiles and acknowledgement from the staff and sushi chef. On the off chance were you enter and the waiters happened to in the kitchen or busy, the sushi chef would not hesitate and welcome you in. Service is top notch and rivals many of the restaurants I have been to downtown. On one of our normal family visits, we tend to order their combo which has a variety of stuff. For the three person set, you are looking at around $60. However, this actually feeds 4 people with the relatively large portions.

The following is the first appetizer we received, its is a teriyaki skewer with fried tofu and dumplings. The appetizer was lackluster, it was properly seasoned. It felt clunky as the appetizer since it was relatively heavy, but it was decent nonetheless.

Vegetable-Chicken Teriyaki skewers with Fried Tofu and dumplings

The next dish was a tempura medley. The tempura you get from other restaurants are typically very dense and feels no wear near as fluffy as the ones I have had here.

Tempura Medley, The shrimp tempura is extremely fluffy and nice.

The next part of the meal was the amazing sushi/sashimi. One thing that the restaurant likes to do is provide something on the house every so often, this time we had the most amazing Botan Shrimp Sashimi on the house. The fish was fresh and the rice had the right amount of seasoning. The most impressive was the uni, it is very easy for improper preparation of uni to showcase a very fishy taste instead of a clean and fresh taste, but it seems like they put just the right amount of seasoning to bring the best of the uni.

The final dish was a combination of Salmon/Chicken/Beef Teriyaki with a bowl of rice. Similar to the teriyaki skewer, it was decent, but lackluster in terms of innovation.

Overall, the combination of a reasonable price and decent food quality makes this a very welcoming restaurant to go back to. 8/10