Tocolo Cantina is a modern Mexican restaurant on Long Island. It is situated in the heart of Glen Cove with another location in Garden City. The restaurant focuses on delivering an upscale experience in a way that’s fun and inviting. The bar is fun and lively with cocktails to match the vibe. And the menu is refined but full of comfortable food that will leave you feeling satisfied.
The colors of this menu are bold and vibrant. And my approach to shooting their photographs helps the colors pop even more. The lighting that I use is dramatic without being too overly dramatic. I don’t want the lighting and camera craft to distract from the food. That really is the star of the show and not my own talent as a photographer. But I will push my main light source to come slightly from behind. This gives the food an edge light to help it pop off of the background. It also helps to shape the food and make it appear more three dimensional in the two dimensional photograph plane. For these photographs I’m also using my ring light turned down real low. I want it to be there but just subtly. This way I can fill in the shadows and make the colors pop more. And then when I edit the photographs I make sure that the contrast between the highlights and shadows is boosted but still within range. I don’t want to lose any details in either range but the more that I can push it the more the colors will appear to burst off the page. Or these days off the smartphone screen.
This food is fortunately relatively slow to die. And will hold up for a while before the greens start to wilt. Or the beans will become hard and grow a skin. But it’s still important as a food photographer to work quickly. Still life photographers have all day, sometimes even a week to perfect their shots and move their lights an inch to the left, two inches to the bottom. But anytime food is the subject speed is essential. And knowing how to achieve the desired results quickly with experimenting and trying different techniques. Frequently I can and do ask a chef to remake a dish or just replace a garnish. But everything takes time and often we don’t have the time to remake every dish twice and get through the shot list. Acting fast and thinking quick on your feet is essential.
