I love corn on the cob. In the fairs and street markets in Mexico I would always eat elotes con mayonesa y queso, a classic street food down there. When you walk down the street and see a long line in front of lady (usually) standing next to a big steamer and a table with containers of mayonnaise, cheese and chili powder, then that’s the place to get your elotes.
Last summer I wanted to recreate that delicious street food from my memories, but when I was getting the ingredients ready I wondered how the mayo would turn out if I spiced it up a little. So I chopped one chipotle adobado pepper and mixed it with 1/2 cup of mayo. The result was delicious! For our camping trip last year I also added some Parmesan cheese and packed it in the cooler for easy transportation.
For a while I have been wanting to post this simple tip to make spicy mayonnaise. I finally decided to do it when I was reading an article online on how to photograph steam and realized that a picture of steamy corn would look great. I spent two and a half hours today playing with my food to capture the elusive and ghostly steam with the camera. And here I share with you what I learned:
- First you need to realize that it would be almost impossible to photograph steamy food. I spent about 10 minutes setting up the lights, props, and taking the test pictures. By the time I was ready to start taking the “real” pictures the corn would’ve been cold. Besides, mayo on hot corn would melt and look nasty so I used a clothe soaked in boiling water between the two cobs as my source of steam. Other options would be to use a cappuccino machine, a small piece of dry ice or steam chips sold at photography stores.
- My first test shots were taken against a white background, which didn’t work at all because, unlike other white subjects (eggs, for example), steam doesn’t have defined edges and therefore it will visually blend with the white background. That’s why you need to have a dark background.
- To photograph steam you will need a backlight. Without this, it will be very difficult to capture the true effect of steam. It’s the light coming through the steam that lights it up. For the first shot above I used 2 flashes. The master flash was attached to the camera with the head tilted at 90° to bounce the light off the ceiling. My backlight was a slave flash to the back and left of the subject shooting through a white umbrella. I also had a mirror to the right and front of the subject to reduce shadows in the front of the picture. Sadly, my slave flash died in the middle of the session so I had to change my strategy. My master flash became an off-camera flash shooting through a white umbrella from the left of the subject and I used a lamp on the right and a mirror in front of the subject to reduce shadows. As you can see in the picture below, the steam is not as prominent because of the lack of a backlight.
Somethings to keep in mind: The bigger the clothe the more steam you will get, but the more difficult it would be to hide it behind your food. Also, you will probably spend a lot of time setting the food and taking pictures, so you might want to keep a pot with boiling water on the stove in order to get fresh steam quickly. Be patient and try different settings and angles. Like I’ve always said, the best way to get the perfect shot is to get your camera out and play with it and your food as often as you can.
I still have a long way to capture steam like a pro, but I think this was a good start and there will be a lot more opportunities to practice, what do you think?
¡Buen provecho!
28 Replies
this is so cool, Ben! Amazing photography and tips!
Posted on July 13th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
I love your steamy photos! Thanks for the tips!
Posted on July 13th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Interesting tip with the cloth! And, your mayo and corn look delicious.
Posted on July 13th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Great photo tips, but I love me the chipotle in adobo. Can’t wait to try that Mayo with the chipotle.
But I’ve never heard of Mayo on corn. But I’m up for it! We have some corn on the counter waiting to be steamed with some shrimp.
Posted on July 13th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Interesting flavour, using mayo to top the corn. As for the steam, you can always use cotton wool soaked in water and then microwaved!
Posted on July 13th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
That is so clever of you to use the cloth!! I have no umbrella, no lights, no props, .. just an old camera so i figure i can’t do much:-( Fantastic!
Posted on July 13th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
cool entry…love that sauce bowl behind the steam…
I caught the steam by putting the dish before the window, and lower the white curtain a bit, just lower enough to avoid extra light and sun….
There’s small set of white umbrella and stand sell here….maybe…maybe I should just get it…
Thank you Ben, for sharing this great tip….would love to learn more about tricks and tips on photographing…
tata
Angie’s Recipes
Posted on July 13th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
Thank you so much for this post – it’s really informative & I hope I’ll be able to use some of these tips. It worked gorgeously!
Posted on July 14th, 2009 at 6:04 am
One is never too old to learn, that’s for sure!!! Amazing, Ben! Thx for sharing!!
Posted on July 14th, 2009 at 7:20 am
Great idea Ben … love the cloth between the cobs creating that effect! The mayo sounds fantastic–I remember eating corn on the cob in a restaurant here that had spread it with a creamy mixture of cheese and I’m not sure what else. It was delicious!
Posted on July 14th, 2009 at 8:31 am
Wow, that looks so cool. Great little cheater tips there with the cloth!
Posted on July 14th, 2009 at 8:39 am
Thanks for the photo tips… it makes perfect sense to me that the background has to be dark, but you still need plenty of light. It’s some mad scientist photography
Remember in cartoons when the steam and smell would pick up the characters and carry them to the food? This reminded me of that
Posted on July 14th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Really cool photos and tips, Ben!
Posted on July 14th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Hola, Ben, me hiciste extranar mas mi pais, muchas felicidades por tu comida y tus fotografias
Posted on July 14th, 2009 at 10:48 am
The steam lesson was excellent! Your corn looks fab!!!
Posted on July 14th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Neat trick! I gave up taking steamy food because the steam just fog up my lens and i often end up with foggy images. Great shots!
Posted on July 14th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Chipotle mayo is so good and I like the sound of using it on corn. Nice tip for the steam!
Posted on July 14th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
The pictures with steam are lovely… very good for a newbie
Posted on July 15th, 2009 at 4:05 am
MMMMMM,..this dish looks so delectable & thanks for those usuful tips!
Posted on July 15th, 2009 at 4:12 am
Ben! What a great post!! I love photographed steam!!!! The corn on the cob looks fantastic and that mayo… well, perfect!
Posted on July 15th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Sometimes I capture steam and smoke…I think it’s luck with me but now I have some more tips…love spicy mayo with fries.
Posted on July 15th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Thx for the photo tips. It is always interesting to see how the photos are taken and look so real.
The spicy mayo sounds delicious – the corn is just coming in here in New Jersey.
Posted on July 16th, 2009 at 7:29 am
Oh, I forgot to tell you that I love the layout changes you’ve made tot he blog, it makes it much more easy to navigate
Posted on July 16th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Great photos and thanks for all these tricks and tips. The corn looks delicious with the spicy mayo.
Posted on July 16th, 2009 at 10:22 am
So this is where the spicy mayo comment came from! Of course, we like any kind of mayo you have, so we’ll take this whole plate with an extra sprinkle of lime.
Posted on July 16th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Great advice Ben! I’ve not really done any “steamy” photos yet, but your tips are great so maybe I should try it out soon! Corn looks delicious!
Posted on July 17th, 2009 at 2:08 am
ben justo ayer me comi un elote con queso y mayonesa, pero no habia entrado aqui asi que para la proxima lo preparo con chipotle, se ve deliciosssssssssssso
Posted on July 17th, 2009 at 3:02 am
Awesome write up!! I am definitely going to have to give this a shot. I would have never guessed the cloth was the source either.
Posted on July 19th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
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