Monday, January 31, 2011

You The Designer

You The Designer


Food Styling Tips and Tricks that are Curious to Know

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 03:04 AM PST

a glycerin apple

If you want to make some spark or add some bright effects to a photo – use appropriate decorate accessories. Nowadays it’s not a problem and you can use various additional things related to different fields of art to enhance the quality of your photo and make it really bright and outstanding. Food photography is an obligatory element for any company that deals with beverages and food. The main reason why marketing and advertising companies use food products in their campaign today – is that the restaurants that utilize photos in their menus sell more dishes than those who use only its titles and written descriptions. To make an excellent shot is not so easy as it seems, food photography is considered to be one of the most difficult specialities for photographers. Sometimes an artist has really less time to make two or three pictures before the food is no longer at its best look. Nowadays we live in such advanced age that photographers can achieve really impossible results. They get off such amazing shots that viewers find them more than particularly tempting. To ensure effective food and beverages that entice a craving from viewer, follow these simple but really wholesome tips and tricks:


Fake ice cubes

Fake ice cubes can be different shapes, sizes and made of various materials, the most popular of them are acrylic and plastic. Acrylic ice cubes are, as you understand :) , not real and can be used only for merchandising or photography purposes. Of course they can not be frozen or used for chilling, but they make beautiful items of display, provide a glitter to the decor and you can utilize them as aesthetics props when taking photos. Plastic fake ice cubes are also good helpers in the process of photography. They have some kind of non-toxic gel inside, you can freeze them and pop into drinks and they won’t sink to the bottom of whatever you’ll put cubes. These cubes come in various funny forms, such as balls, animals, fruits, hearts, cherries, shells ans etc. A great advantage is that plastic cubes can be re-used, wash them and fresh tempting ice cubes are ready.

Fake ice cubes are highly demanded in photography and even in film production, because real ice melts quickly and is difficult to work with. Some production companies sell fake ice cubes, you can find these accessories in Trengove, a special effects store in New York. They are not cheap, often costing up to 30$ for a single cube. Fake ice is very handy to use and it doesn’t melt under the hot photography lights, so by using it you can really simplify your work.

Classic ice cubes

Drink with lemon and refreshing ice cubes. The composition looks so seductive that it’s hard to resist the temptation to empty this glass.

ice cubes

Love won’t drown

Two ice cubes in the glass. The picture creates an impression as if ice is melting and transforming into water.

love won't drown food photography


Glycerin

What is it and why do photographers use it? It is a neutral, sweet-tasting, colorless, thick liquid which freezes to a gummy paste and which has a high boiling point. Glycerin can be dissolved into water and alcohol. Many things will dissolve into glycerin easier than they do in alcohol or water. So it is a good solvent. This thick liquid has a variety of uses, it can be used in prints and inks, lotions, preserved fruits and it can be used as a lubricant, due to its antiseptic qualities glycerin is applied in scientific specimens. It can be also used to make a dynamite, but of course it is not explosive alone, so don’t be afraid to hold a glycerin soap :) Photographers also like to decorate their photos with beautiful details and to make these details more outstanding, prominent and natural they utilize glycerin. In the pictures we’ve showcased below you can see the examples of their work.

Bella Sera

A bottle of wine with two glasses which look like they have been already filled in. The artist achieved such effect using glycerin and water spray for a lasting and controlled condensation look. These fresh palatable drops will stay on for about 15 minutes.

bella sera

Take a bite

In order to make this apple seductive and appetizing the photograph also have applied a water-glycerin mixture. It gives a fruit a juicy, glistering and so tempting appearance.

a glycerin apple


Glue

Photographers use glue instead of real milk for cereal photos, for hot chocolate photos and for pie repair shots. It’s a good way to make the food as appetizing as possible. White multi – purpose glue prevents flakes from becoming soggy too quickly and the bowl with glue won’t slosh around during the photography process and won’t become discolored after a long period under bright hot lights. If the artist delicate spread more glue among the flakes they will look really natural and mouth-watering on the photo.

Spilled milk and cereal

Of course it isn’t milk, it’s glue with variegated round corn flakes. They can’t be eaten, but look really cute and appetizing.

spilled milk and cereal

Cereal Photography

This composition was made using clamp to hold the spoon firmly in the place and placing glue on the spoon. Then the creator of this artwork with the help of tweezers added flakes and more glue between the greased flakes with toothpick. The last step – the artist added natural oiled strawberries. Oh, I want to eat it right now :) .

spoon with corn flakes

Chocolate caliente

This beautiful cup is filled with genuine chocolate glue. The author of this shot has used chocolate bars. He melted them and stuck in a cup then mixed with glue and the result is in front of your eyes. A palatable hot chocolate without messing with powder and milk. The only shortcoming is that this beverage can not be drunk. Would you like a cup of tempting hot chocolate? :)

chocolate fakephotography

Thursday, January 27, 2011

You The Designer

You The Designer


35 Cool Free Fonts to Add to Your Collection

Posted: 26 Jan 2011 03:20 PM PST

Fonts are integral to communicating your message through. If chosen wisely, fonts could help convey your message easily. And yes, the choice of which font you use could either make or break you. Gone are the days when people use one font for every correspondence or design they make. They choose much more carefully, as if life itself depended on it. Today, people value fonts more than ever and many designers have a growing collection of fonts to fit their every design requirement.

We have previously showcased several great fonts that are free for the taking, and yes, we are not stopping there! we know that each font has its own voice, and strangely enough, there is not one font that you can use in all of your design projects. To help you out, here are 35 Free Fonts that you can add to your collection. Enjoy these cool new fonts!

Fungal Rounded

fungal rounded
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Cappuccino Serif

cappuccino serif
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Ubuntu

ubuntu
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Clean

clean
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Pinstripe Limo Updated

pinstripe limo
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Now! Grotesk Typeface

grotesk typeface
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Practique

practique
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Arvo

arvo
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Denne Shuffle

denne shuffle
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Four Free Type

four free
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Matilde

matilde
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Original Font 2

original font
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Lato

lato
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Arimo

arimo
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Vado Free Font

vador free font
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Null Free Font

null free font
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Dezen Pro

dezen pro
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St. Ryde

st ryde
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Jacobine

jacobine
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Hero Free Font

hero free font
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Tipografia Gratis Spatha Serif

tipografia gratis
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Capsuula

capsuula
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Color Lines a Free Font

color lines
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Thunder Ball

thunderball
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Fr. Hopper

fr hopper
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Mobivus

mobivus
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Josefin Slab

josefin slab
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Nikaia

nikaia
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Calluna Sans

calluna sans
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Saf Free Font

saf free font
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Piquance

piquance
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Coda

coda
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Alt Lautus

alt lautus
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Roke 1984 Free Font

roke
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Copse

copse
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