Naughty Babe Dirty Duck - Abundant Porky & Duck Meat Goodness

Last Sunday, Jackie, Jaslyn and myself decided to get together to celebrate Jaslyn's belated birthday, and after a long discussion on where to eat for lunch (typical Malaysians) we went to Naughty Babe Dirty Duck. I think the name instantly won me over, sometimes branding is crucial and in this case it worked on me. Not only was the name playful, but it tells clearly what kind of dishes to be expected from the restaurant. I thought this would be a fantastic opportunity to give the OM-D E-M1 Mark II some work out since it is not doing much these days, and I brought along the M.Zuiko 12-40mm PRO since it was Sunday and I was in a very lazy mood. 

Here is a video (click) that I did sharing about some practical food photography tips. This video was made a few months ago, in April if I remember correctly, during the full lockdown period in Malaysia. I was stuck at home, so I filmed the whole thing (my talking head shots) at the balcony. Situation now is not that much better either, though we are allowed to move around, I am still hesitant to do street photography or shoot if it was not a paid job. How I wish things can return back to normal soon. I thought sharing this video here would be appropriate since this post is about food photography, and you will find a lot of my previous food shots all compiled into that short video. 

Coming back to the Naughty Babe & Dirty Duck adventure I had with my friends last Sunday, the food was scrumptious! If you love pork and you love duck, this is a good place to explore within Selangor/KL area. I am no food expert, so I am not the best person to describe the taste of the dishes, or give a full review of the restaurant (I see a lot of "reviewers" trying so hard I cringe every time), so I shall just share what I can do the best - shooting some shots of the food that we ordered! 

Pork Tomahawk
Sous Vide Sakura Pork Tomahalk with Roasted Corn & Bacon Ham

Duckie Burger
Special Duck Meat Burger with bacon, cheese, blueberry mayo and potato confit

NBDD BBQ Pork Ribs 

Dirty Duck Linguine
Sautéed with onion, garlic & basil, with smoked duck breast sliced and truffle oil

I am not sure about you guys, but I love shooting food, especially when they are so well presented! It has become a ritual to shoot food before I eat them, which I think would be an annoyance to some people, but I am mindful not to take too much time. Of course it helps if you dine with like-minded people who also are as crazy as photography as you are, after all, if you truly are passionate about photography you will want to shoot everything and anything. The inner curiosity and appreciation toward anything beautiful and photo-worthy - food definitely qualifies. What better way to appreciate food, by taking a beautiful shot of it?

I have always shot my food pictures with M.Zuiko 25mm F1.8 and 45mm F1.8 lenses, and I still prefer to carry them around since they are so small and tiny. However, I got to admit, I seldom use F1.8 wide open when I shoot food, and I found myself stopping down to F4 or narrower to achieve more depth of field - I want more parts of the food in focus and look sharp in my images. If I was shooting so close up to the food and have the aperture set to wide open F1.8, it will only be that 2 strands of noodles in focus, and everything else is blurred! That is not how food photography works, you want to reveal the texture, the glossiness of the oil, every little detail counts. It makes sense to shoot food with M.Zuiko 12-40mm PRO lens, and if I do need that isolation and shallow depth of field effect, at 40mm zoomed in all the way, with aperture at F2.8 I can still get pretty blurry background. 

Do you enjoy shooting food as much as I do? I know the best part is to devour the delicious meal after the camera exercise. Do share your thoughts!

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