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Open fire cooking in a restaurant in Cape Town South Africa. A chef fires up whole fish and seafood on an open fire. He knew exactly what he was doing as the fo...
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Open fire cooking in a restaurant in Cape Town South Africa. A chef fires up whole fish and seafood on an open fire. He knew exactly what he was doing as the food was delicious.
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cameraCanon EOS 5D Mark III

settings Aperture f/2.8 ISO 100 Shutter 1/60 Focal Length 70/1 

upload_dateJun, 2017

Views

4738

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Awards

Contest Finalist in Hats And Caps Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Interesting People Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Lifestyle Marketplace Project
Contest Finalist in The Lifestyle Project
Contest Finalist in Cultures of the World Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Social Exposure Photo Contest Vol 9
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Peer Award
gerhardprinsloo richardeaton_9707 davidjprosser Vorster TARPAPERHAVEN2020 TonyGuzmanG herbafittheoherbots@gmail.com +219
Top Choice
James-Evans RachelNiquette dusantizic petercundill BuckPhotography ajaysharma_0199 razzberrywyne +6
Absolute Masterpiece
michelepalomba Paul_Joslin Devanpayne mariadel PiaScuro Confalonieri StasysZakas +1
Superb Composition
timostrander larryollivier Ideameus edandaniphone deanmelbourne
Outstanding Creativity
sallyG11 ChrisHPhotos hardwick Down2Earthtravelinspirer
Magnificent Capture
Freeuser2010 PennySlacke jeanettealejandro
All Star
jennypotterphotography ackmaui
Genius
Malex
Superior Skill
rachelhelenhudson
Virtuoso
xburdgyx

Emotions

Impressed
veusa_cirrus raybridges bigintrovert TARPAPERHAVEN2020

Top Ranks

My Best Capture Photo Contest vol2Top 20 rank
My Best Capture Photo Contest vol2Top 20 rank week 1
Distinctive Expressions Photo ContestTop 10 rank
The Contributors ProjectTop 30 rank
The Contributors ProjectTop 30 rank week 1
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At Work Photo ContestTop 20 rank
My Amazing Portrait Photo ContestTop 10 rank
My Amazing Portrait Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Looking At Faces Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Looking At Faces Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Portraits And Depth Marketplace ProjectTop 10 rank
Portraits And Depth Marketplace ProjectTop 10 rank week 1
The Selfie Photo Contest 2019Top 30 rank
The Selfie Photo Contest 2019Top 30 rank week 1
Portrait Galore Photo ContestTop 20 rank
Portrait Galore Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Creative Visions Photo ContestTop 30 rank week 1
Inspiring Portraits Photo Contest get inspired magazineTop 10 rank
Interesting People Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Interesting People Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Lifestyle Marketplace ProjectTop 10 rank
Lifestyle Marketplace ProjectTop 10 rank week 1
Portraits With Depth Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Portraits With Depth Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Moody Portraits Photo ContestTop 20 rank
Moody Portraits Photo ContestTop 20 rank week 1
Expressive Faces Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Expressive Faces Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
The Lifestyle ProjectTop 10 rank
The Lifestyle ProjectTop 10 rank week 1
Anything People Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Anything People Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
In Uniform Photo ContestTop 10 rank
The Fluid Self Photo ContestTop 10 rank
The Fluid Self Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
In Uniform Photo ContestTop 20 rank week 1
Male Portraits Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Male Portraits Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 2
Male Portraits Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Cultures of the World Photo ContestTop 10 rank
People At Work Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Compositions 101 Photo Contest vol4Top 30 rank
People At Work Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Compositions 101 Photo Contest vol4Top 20 rank week 3
Strong Foregrounds Photo ContestTop 20 rank
Strong Foregrounds Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 3
Compositions 101 Photo Contest vol4Top 20 rank week 2
ViewBug Photography AwardsTop 10 rank
ViewBug Photography AwardsTop 10 rank week 1
Strong Foregrounds Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 2
Compositions 101 Photo Contest vol4Top 10 rank week 1
Strong Foregrounds Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Once Upon A Time Photo ContestTop 20 rank
Once Upon A Time Photo ContestTop 20 rank week 1
Gazing At The Camera Photo ContestTop 30 rank
Perfect Casting Photo ContestTop 30 rank week 2
Gazing At The Camera Photo ContestTop 20 rank week 2
Perfect Casting Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Gazing At The Camera Photo ContestTop 30 rank week 1
Artificial Light Photo Contest 2017Top 20 rank
My Best Shot Photo Contest Vol 3Top 20 rank
Artificial Light Photo Contest 2017Top 20 rank week 1
My Best Shot Photo Contest Vol 3Top 20 rank week 2
My Best Shot Photo Contest Vol 3Top 20 rank week 1
Creative Compositions Photo Contest Vol4Top 20 rank week 1
A Sense Of Touch Photo ContestTop 20 rank
A Sense Of Touch Photo ContestTop 20 rank week 1
World Photography Day Photo ContestTop 10 rank
World Photography Day Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 2
Covers Photo Contest Vol 40Top 30 rank
World Photography Day Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Covers Photo Contest Vol 40Top 20 rank week 1
Humankind Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Humankind Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Social Exposure Photo Contest Vol 9Top 10 rank
Social Exposure Photo Contest Vol 9Top 10 rank week 1

Categories

Submitted to Photo Contests

Tags

#chef #food #cooking #break #barbecue #open fire #fire #grill #seafood #restaurant #culture #people #south africa #cape town #flames
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Behind The Lens

Location

There are days that you head out with all your camera gear with the sole purpose of capturing some amazing images. Sometimes you win, sometimes you dont. Then there are the days where you happen to have your camera with you but you havent really been seeking out shots. This was one of those days. My girlfriend and I had decided to take her mom out for dinner. I'd been snapping a few images here and there on the beach front of Muizenberg, Cape Town, when we decided to grab an early dinner at a seafood restaurant on the strip. I took this photo at this restaurant.

Time

By the time we sat down at the restaurant, it was 5:30pm. The sun sets on average at 6:30pm in April in cape Town so magic hour was approaching.

Lighting

The lighting was a combination of soft artificial light, light from the flames and natural diffused light coming through the large windows. The diffused natural light was largely due to the sun reflecting of the ocean and beach. The restaurant has high ceilings and an entire window front. I noticed this soft natural light coming through and new this would make for a great photo. I just didn't have a subject at that point in time as we were sitting further to the right of our subject and hadn't noticed him yet.

Equipment

Normally for portraits I'd use my 24-105mm or if I can hire in a Canon 50mm I'd use that, but this day I only had my 70-200mm lens and had to make it work. I also used my trusty Canon 5D MIII. There was enough ambient light so I didn't need a tripod.

Inspiration

I think the lightining inside the restaurant was a trigger. I knew there was a photo to be taken somewhere. I noticed this chef in the middle of the restaurant cooking over live coals. Every now and then the flames would flare up. At this point in time we were sitting further right of the subject and I didn't have a great composition. Suddenly the window we were sitting at flew open. The wind was quite violent and although waiters tried to keep the window closed it kept flying open. It was then that we decided to move.This was quite lucky as we landed up sitting right in front of the chef. It was then that I noticed the brick texture of a pizza oven behind him. Orange flames could be seen behind him and in front of him. I watched him for awhile and he noticed I was itching to get a photo of him. I asked and he agreed to me taking some snaps. Although there were a few of him not looking down the lens this one captured him perfectly.

Editing

Very little post-processing was done on this photo except for adjusting contrast. I dropped the exposure by a bit more than half a stop and then increased the carity and pulled down the saturation slightly.

In my camera bag

My Canon 24-105mm lens is always in my bag, but very often I take my 70-200mm Canon with as well. I love this lens although it being quite bulky. The speed is great and the images are always amazing. I also carry around some extra batteries, cards, a polarizer, a tripod and an intervalometer. You never know when you need to quickly setup a timelapse, or long exposure.

Feedback

Sometimes it is difficult to find a shot. Everything needs to come together but if you persevere and break your surroundings into smaller and smaller subjects, you'll find a shot in any and every situation. Take a square meter in your garden or outside in the street, try and find a subject in this small space. Then compose and expose it. Try different angles. Low angles on the ground. High angles with a top down view. Tilt the camera slightly. Over expose, under expose. Try different lenses, try at different times of the day, or even different seasons in the year. Try long exposures and if you can try with some ND filters. Think out of the box and be creative. The wonderful thing about knowing your camera and the rules of photography is that you can break them. The rules that is, dont break your camera! Practice, practise, practise. Review your work and then start all over again. You'll be amazed at your results and this forces you to see subjects where previously you thought there were none.

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