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Hello, I'm Dalia Colon, and 
this is "WEDU Arts Plus."

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if you eat an amazing meal,

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but you don't post a pic on 
Instagram, did it even happen?

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In this first segment, 
we'll learn hacks

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for taking better food 
photos from south Tampa

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based photographer Chip Weiner.

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(upbeat music)

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- My name is Chip Weiner. I am 
a photographer here in Tampa.

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I have been a photo journalist 
and a food photographer,

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photographer in general, 
probably for 30 years.

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So way back in the days 
of film is when I started.

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I think I was 
given a film camera

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for high school graduation.

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It's such a typical story, 
and a lot of photographers,

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older photographers 
will tell you this,

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that they've taken some pictures

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and then they go in a dark room.

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This photograph appears 
on this piece of paper,

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and fell in love like that,

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which eventually 
led into shooting

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for Creative Loafing 
newspaper here in Tampa

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for the last 12 years,

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doing everything 
from photo journalism

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to food photography for them.

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They had a food critic 
who would go in and eat

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and then they would send me in

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to take food photos 
of what he ate.

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There's kind of a 
share generation now,

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that people are around and 
they want others to experience

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what they have experienced.

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That is relatively new,

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especially with the 
advent of Instagram.

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Some tips as far as 
taking some better photos.

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First thing is put a little 
extra effort into it.

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Pay attention to what you're 
seeing through the camera.

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Desserts tend to 
photograph the best,

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because restaurants put 
a lot of time and effort

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into making them 
just look awesome.

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If you're going to 
shoot in a restaurant,

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don't be afraid to ask for 
a table next to a window.

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If you don't have a 
large light source,

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so if you don't have 
that large window,

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there are other ways.

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Listen, I've seen people 
light food photography

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with their phone.

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A lot of the photography that 
I do at least on social media

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is I call it run and gun,

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no special consideration 
from the kitchen,

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no special consideration 
from the restaurant.

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I want to show in my photography 
and I want to experience,

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if you go into a restaurant

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and you sit down and eat this 
dish, what does it look like?

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- The cool thing about Chip

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is that he doesn't let 
you know he's coming.

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Now that's a good thing 
'cause then you're not

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running around, you know, 
pulling out gold lobster tails

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out of the freezer 
and making it happen.

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You know, he's a customer 
just like anybody else,

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but it's very impactful.

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- What we're looking at is 
these are some of the photos

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that I've seen on Yelp.

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I looked at an egg sandwich 
at a restaurant recently,

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and what I like to do first 
is sometimes go online

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to see what they're serving, 
which is what I did.

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And there, I saw some 
photos and I went oh, okay,

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it's shot in a styrofoam box.

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It's a good looking food, 
but it gives it no context.

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So as I went in there, 
I'm looking around,

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how can we set this up so that 
you get a feel of the place?

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'Cause it's sort of 
a nostalgic place.

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And I went in and 
reshot the egg sandwich

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and it looks very different

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from what I originally saw on 
Yelp, not criticizing Yelp.

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They have a lot of good 
food photos on there,

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but there are some on there

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that could certainly 
be improved.

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So what I wanted to do 
with the egg sandwich

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is I wanted to show what the 
context of the place was.

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Again, it's a 
nostalgic restaurant.

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It's been around for a long time

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and they had a lot 
of nostalgia around.

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So I put items on the table.

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One of the things that I 
encourage in food photography

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is give food a presence.

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Instead of shooting it from 
above, shoot it from the side.

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If something is tall, let it 
be tall in your photograph.

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Then show what's 
in the background.

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So this was at a brand 
new restaurant in town.

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Believe it or not, 
that's grouper.

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Brown food, by the way,

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is really difficult 
to photograph.

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So what I did with 
that same dish

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was I put it on a plate, I put 
something in the background.

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I lit it a little different.

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I added some color 
and some candlelight,

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and it's same dish just 
with a very different view.

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So that is a meat 
dish served right here

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at Factory 4914, which can 
be a beautiful photograph.

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Unfortunately, that one, there's 
just not a lot of lighting

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or composition consideration.

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So I saw that and I 
came in and again,

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wanted to add some color, 
wanted to add some background,

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wanted to show this 
is what it's like

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to sit in this restaurant 
and eat this dish.

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It's got some candlelight,

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it's got a nice drink 
in the background.

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I typically will 
put some flatware in

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so that you get some scale.

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Everyone knows the 
size of a fork.

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They don't always know 
like the size of a scallop,

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which can be small or large.

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And I think the last 
one that we'll see there

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really speaks to color.

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How do you use color?

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And you can go on any 
retail website online

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and buy a color wheel 
for a couple of bucks.

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Learn what complimentary 
color is and use that.

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Even if you're in a restaurant,

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if you've got something blue,

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a lot of times something 
brown will go with that.

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If you've got red,

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a lot of times something 
green will go with that.

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So here's some tips 
for people at home,

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because one of the cool 
things about cooking at home

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is you control the whole place.

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You're not waiting for 
someone else to deliver food.

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Go to a secondhand store

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and find some different 
kinds of dishes.

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If you spend $10, you're 
spending too much.

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One tip that I will use strongly

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is never shoot on a red plate.

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Red does not render well 
in digital photography

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unless there's an 
absolute reason to do it

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and you know what you're doing.

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White, light blue plates 
tend to work well.

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Darker plates are a 
little tougher to render.

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Put those muffins, stack 
them up or cut them.

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I love cutting food and 
seeing the inside of it.

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- Food only stays for 
maybe a couple of minutes,

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if not maybe an hour, but when 
you get a fantastic photo,

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that's a memory, that's 
something that you can share

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and project to other people 
that can last a lifetime.

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- One of the things that I 
like putting food on Facebook,

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for example, is to 
encourage people.

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If you're out taking 
photos, make it better.

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Take a little extra time to 
really make that shot delicious

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and make people want 
to eat it and try it.

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And when you're ready,

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look online and learn 
about two things,

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aperture and shutter speed.

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Those two things 
interact on most cameras,

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and if you learn 
how to adjust those,

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your food photography is going 
to improve significantly.

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(relaxed music)

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- For information on Chip 
Weiner's photography classes,

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check out chipshotz.com.