A Scrumptious Sushi Shoot with Rick Sammon

Words and Photos by Rick Sammon, A Platypod Pro
Editing by Eryka Bagwell

"Hey sushi – and Playtpod – lovers. Here’s the short, behind-the-scenes story of our most recent food photography photo session – inspired by our dear friend Larry T., inventor of all the Platypod gear and avid photographer."

"Our goal was to photograph one of our delicious sushi dinners – keeping it very simple, yet striving for creative and dramatic lighting. So, we decided to use our iPhones (RAW mode), along with the Platypod eXtreme, Handle, and Grip. For lighting, we chose to use a small flashlight, with a piece of tissue paper taped to the light for a soft-box effect." 

"The picture that opens this post is a result of that process, after applying two filters in DXO’s Nik Color Effects Pro: Vignette (to draw more attention to the main subjects) and Duplex (to soften the scene)."

"Here’s a behind-the-scenes photo of Rick with the set up in our studio. FYI: Rick was snacking on the sushi during the entire shoot! Let's be honest, it's hard not to snack when you are shooting such a delicious treat!"

"Check out this available-light shot of the sushi dinner. The photo falls flat due to the even – and flat (no contrast) – lighting."

"This is a closer look at the Playtpod Gear we used for our shoot, pictured with our sushi. It was Susan’s idea to add the flowers. A nice touch! FYI: The sushi was going fast, as Rick kept on snacking!"

"Susan took this shot of Rick with the room lights turned off. Shooting in near total darkness was the key to creating the dramatic lighting, created by the $5 flashlight."

"Speaking of shadows, here are four of my Sammonisms about shadows:"

'Light illuminates, shadows define.'

'Shadows are the soul of the photograph.'

'Shadows are your friend.'

'Shadows add a sense of depth and dimension to a photograph.'

For more of Rick’s Sammonisms (speed learning advice for making great pictures), check out my KelbyOne class, Sammonisms. Here’s the link: https://members.kelbyone.com/course/rick-sammon-sammonisms/

"When Rick emailed Larry some of his shots from our test session (flowers and sushi added with Generative Fill in Photoshop), Larry suggested an additional photo, based on another Sammonisms: 'When you think you are close, get closer.'"

"Larry suggested a photo that showed a piece of sushi about to be eaten, with the blurred sushi set-up in the background. Here’s that image. Notice that we said 'image.'"

"Rick figured the easiest and fastest way to create the image was to take a shot of a sushi roll being held with chopsticks – with the goal of using Object Selection in Photoshop to select only the piece of sushi and chopsticks from the scene. Taking the photo against a plain background made selecting the subject super easy."

"As your saw in the Larry-suggested image, Rick was able to cut and paste the close-up photo of the sushi roll over the original photograph, which he blurred in Photoshop using the Gaussian Blur filter."

"Here is a shot of Rick lighting that sushi roll and chopsticks – right before he popped it in his mouth! Rick activated the iPhone’s self-timer to take the shot."

"Have fun with your food photography and your Platypod gear – and all your photography."

Rick and Susan Sammon
www.ricksammon.com