ConnedswiftyisNOTevil writes, "I have recently become obsessed with the BBC Three show 'The Real Hustle' - personally, I think of it as a 'How To' show for aspiring con artists."
Have you carried out a successful con? Perhaps you hustled a few quid off a stranger, or defrauded a multi-national company. Or have you been taken for the wide-eyed, naive rube that you are?
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chthonic, Thu 18 Oct 2007, 13:02)
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Food PhotographyI've had the, uh, "good fortune" to work with some food photographers, and was privy to some of the tricks they used. (Yes, those pictures on the front of your Totally Authentic Indian Meal (Made In The EU) are faked! Shock horror!))
Some of the more interesting ones:
The steam rising from the food? A wet, microwaved tampon. Not used, of course.
The mayonnaise appealingly splooging from the sides of the burger? PVC glue.
Wood blocks and wire used to prop things up, ranging from scenery, to the plate, to actual things on the plate.
Pasta placed on a bed of mashed potatoes to make the meal look bigger and fuller.
The oily, glistening sheen over meat? Sprayed on glycerine – though, this is understandable, as food left under 1200w worth of lighting does dry out quickly.
Another understandable one is wood glue substituted for milk when photographing cereal – it doesn’t make it go soggy.
Probably the biggest con of all is that a lot of the time, the food being photographed isn’t actually from the factory, but prepared fresh on set by a food stylist, with the best ingredients.
(, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 18:46, 2 replies)
SooooThe best ingredients being pvc glue, wood and glycerine?
Sounds like a typical Big Mac to me!
(, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 21:05, closed)
One of my friends is a food stylistAnd she said that they've started cracking down on styling food for photography (Trading Standards yadda yadda, food in picture must be real food, completely edible yadda yadda). So now they spray everything with oily water (to get the glistening effect - it's still edible, even if completely disgusting), stick stuff in the freezer for a few mins to stiffen it up and stop it losing its shape or slumping in any way...
The worst job she had to do was styling burgers for a DcMonalds shoot. She had to cook 100 burgers and 100 buns, simply so they could get the best angle possible. Of course, when one actually goes to that fine establishment to purchase a burger, do they cook 100 of them until you get the perfect one? Nope!
(, Thu 25 Oct 2007, 9:53, closed)
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