Uncommon Books:
Nathan Mervold shares insights from his book, “The Photography of Modernist Cuisine,” highlighting its unique features and distinguishing it from other photo books.

Market Research:
Market research revealed a surprising lack of photo books dedicated to food despite the popularity of photo books in various categories like cars, horses, mountains, dogs, and naked women.

Features of the Photo Book:
The book showcases large, full-page photos and covers a wide range of food-related subjects. It utilizes cutaway shots to provide a detailed look inside dishes and cooking techniques.

Cutaway Shots:
Cutaway shots were initially intended for pedagogical purposes, with annotations explaining the processes depicted. The book presents cutaway shots as standalone artistic photographs, allowing viewers to appreciate their aesthetic value.

Challenges of Cutaway Photography:
Mervold initially considered illustrations but opted for photographs for their realistic appeal. Achieving the right exposure was a significant challenge, requiring techniques like combining multiple exposures.

Hamburger Cutaway:
The hamburger cutaway was created using a Weber barbecue cut partially in half. A team member used tongs to replace any coals that fell out during the photoshoot.

Key Principle:
A key principle in capturing these photos was the willingness to create a mess, as the primary goal was to capture visually appealing shots within a short time frame.

Cutaways:
Nathan Mervold and his team cut pots, pans, and jars in half to reveal the inner workings of cooking processes. They discovered why you should not cook in half a wok – the oil can catch fire and cause accidents. A centrifuge bottle was used to separate Hungarian goulash into seven distinct layers based on density, with ground pepper being the densest and oil being the lightest.

Close-ups:
The mission of the photography project was to show people new perspectives on food, both through cutaways and extreme close-ups. Close-up shots of tomatoes, cabbage, grapefruit, popcorn, peas, and rice reveal hidden details and textures that are often overlooked. The close-up of unpopped popcorn resembles dinosaur eggs, while the grain of rice highlights the process of removing the brown coating to make white rice.

Unexpected Perspectives:
The extreme close-ups challenge viewers’ assumptions and perceptions of everyday food items. The less obvious reference points in these close-ups make it harder to identify the subjects, creating a sense of curiosity and wonder. The photographs encourage viewers to appreciate the beauty and complexity of food in new and unexpected ways.

Rice:
Rice is coated with a dust of ground rice, which is milky when rinsed. Forbidden rice is black and maroonish, revealing the outer coating of rice.

Strawberries:
Strawberries have seeds on the outside, technically making them not a fruit. Up close, strawberries are shiny and have a different texture than expected.

Raspberries:
Raspberries are covered with fuzz, making them appear matte-colored from afar.

Vitamin C:
Vitamin C crystals are colorful and birefringent, giving them a variety of colors under polarized light.

Muscle Fiber:
Muscle fibers are shiny and fibrous, resembling woven cables. Muscles work through small changes in the length of these cells, magnified by their weaving.

Potato:
Potato starch granules love iodine, staining the potato and creating a Hubble Space Telescope-like image.

Trichinella Parasite:
Trichinella parasites are tiny, coiled worms that live in muscle flesh. Despite being disgusting, they can look visually appealing under a microscope.

Bay Leaf and Onion Skin:
Plants have integrated their skeleton into every cell, resulting in stiff cell walls. Cooking plants softens these cell walls, making them easier to digest.

Exploded Diagrams:
Exploded diagrams show a device taken apart, revealing how its components come together. One of the earliest known exploded diagrams is from Leonardo da Vinci’s notebook.

Exploded Diagrams:
Exploded diagrams of sandwiches, pad thai, salads, and ice cream cones provide a clear visual representation of their ingredients and assembly. This approach is particularly useful for complex dishes or those difficult to photograph due to layering or construction.

High-Speed Photography:
Using a high-speed camera with a ring buffer allows for capturing fleeting moments and studying rapid processes. Examples include the popping of popcorn, zesting an orange, and ballistics gelatin experiments.

Action Shots:
Action shots capture the dynamic nature of cooking, such as cutting a Viking stove in half, grinding spices, playing with liquid nitrogen, and deep frying an onion.

Splashes:
Splash photography, often triggered by lasers, highlights the visually appealing and action-packed moments of cooking.

Focus on Food:
The book emphasizes keeping the focus on the food itself, avoiding cluttered backgrounds, and using white or black backgrounds to highlight the ingredients and dishes.

Behind-the-Scenes:
A section of the book is dedicated to explaining the techniques and equipment used to capture the stunning images, including lighting, studio setup, and splash shot techniques.

Cutaways and Blender Shots:
The author, Nathan Mervold, shares how they created cutaway shots for their cookbooks. He cut various foods, like broccoli and tomatoes, and arranged them with toothpicks to hold them up. For blender shots, they cut a blender in half and used sewing needles to hold the tomato pieces in place. Mervold emphasizes that it’s important to capture the image within 1,000th of a second to get the desired effect.

Focus Stacking:
Mervold introduces focus stacking, a technique used in digital photography to achieve wide depth of field. He explains how focus stacking involves taking a series of photos of a scene, identifying in-focus pixels, and combining them into a composite image. This technique allows for sharp focus throughout the image, including both close-up and background elements.

Shallow Depth of Field vs. Wide Depth of Field:
The author discusses the difference between shallow depth of field, where only a small portion of the image is in focus, and wide depth of field, where most or all of the image is in focus. He mentions that shallow depth of field is often used in food photography to emphasize certain elements, while wide depth of field provides a more comprehensive view of the dish.

Blueberry Macro Shot:
Mervold highlights a macro shot of a blueberry, showcasing the intricate details of its seeds and texture. He emphasizes the importance of focus stacking in capturing such detailed images, allowing viewers to appreciate aspects of food that are often overlooked.

Photographic Exhibit:
The author mentions a photo exhibit at the Pacific Science Center featuring 100 of their food photographs, some enlarged to impressive sizes. He encourages the audience to visit the exhibit to experience the impact and artistry of their food photography.

Assembling the Photography Team:
Mervold explains how they assembled their photography team by initially placing an ad on Craigslist for a photo assistant. He shares that the assistant, Ryan Matthew Smith, ended up taking more pictures than him for the first book and eventually became a full-time photographer for the second book.

Focus Stacking Software:
The author mentions Helicon Focus, a software program they use for focus stacking. He praises the program’s capabilities but acknowledges that it can sometimes struggle with certain elements, such as fuzzy or low-contrast objects.

Challenges with Focus Stacking:
Mervold discusses some of the challenges encountered with focus stacking, including difficulty in achieving focus with transparent or translucent objects. He explains how they support such objects with black backgrounds to enhance focus.

Planning Drippy Shots:
The author explains the process of planning and executing drippy shots, ensuring that the various elements are positioned correctly and at the right levels. He mentions that they sometimes shoot mirror perspectives for non-drippy objects to achieve the desired angle.

Cooking and Food Consumption:
Mervold clarifies that they typically ate the food they cooked for the photo shoots. He mentions that they sometimes encountered challenges with cooking on half a pot and used heat-resistant glass glued to the pot to facilitate the process.

Cut-in-Half Photography:
Nathan Mervold and the Pacific Science Center have a collection of cut-in-half objects, including pots with glass glued to the edge. To photograph these objects, they use a matte black card with a hole cut in it to prevent reflections. They then digitally erase the evidence of the glue to create the illusion of a perfectly cut object.

Blender Shot:
Mervold attempted to photograph a blender without using a glass panel, hoping to capture the highlights of the tomatoes inside. However, this proved unsuccessful, and he resorted to gluing glass onto the blender to achieve the desired effect.

At-Home Cookbook:
The at-home cookbook was created as a more accessible version of their first book, which was 2438 pages long. The at-home cookbook features simpler recipes and more straightforward instructions, making it suitable for home cooks.

Nathan Mervold’s Diverse Range of Cooking Books:
The first book covered advanced cooking techniques and appealed to passionate and curious cooks. The home book includes a whole chapter on macaroni and cheese, focusing on ease and simplicity. A photo book was considered, but Nathan’s day job and other projects hinder its realization. Nathan is interested in creating children’s books to promote science and cooking.

Science and Cooking:
Cooking is a practical way to engage kids in science, involving physics, chemistry, and various scientific concepts.

Book Creation Process:
The first book took five years to complete, with three years dedicated to the main team’s work. Subsequent books took one year each to produce.

The Team Approach in Book Creation:
Nathan prefers a small team approach, inspired by his experience at Microsoft. With a small team, members can communicate efficiently and contribute diverse ideas.

The Use of Lenses in Photography:
The Canon 24-105 zoom lens was the most frequently used for its wide range of focal lengths. Nathan utilized various lenses for different shots, including a 24mm f1.4 lens for shallow depth of field and macro lenses. For macro shots, they even created their own lenses and a microscope setup.

Challenging and Memorable Experiences:
Cooking in a half wok was thrilling but risky, leading to one incident where someone burned their eyebrows. Nathan emphasizes the importance of safety precautions in the kitchen to avoid severe injuries.

Missed Opportunities and Future Plans:
The team had ideas for shots they couldn’t execute, such as a rotisserie shot with star trails. Nathan expressed interest in revisiting these ideas for future books.

Hollywood’s Lack of Interest:
Despite positive media coverage, Nathan Mervold received no calls from Hollywood producers when his work was featured in various publications. Upon receiving coverage in the LA Times, Mervold was suddenly contacted by multiple Hollywood figures interested in collaborating. The majority of proposals were for reality shows similar to existing formats, which Mervold found unappealing.

Potential Reality Show:
Mervold is hesitant to participate in a reality show due to his reluctance to engage in confrontational or aggressive behavior typical of many reality TV shows. His team believes in his potential for success in this medium, but he emphasizes the importance of doing it the right way. Television has the advantage of reaching a wider audience compared to expensive books, despite its limitations in depth and complexity.

Inspiration for Recipes:
Mervold draws inspiration from a long line of chefs who have experimented with cuisine and broken traditional rules. Initially, the goal was to document the techniques of these chefs, but the process led to the discovery of new and innovative culinary ideas. Mervold’s experiments aimed to understand the underlying principles behind various culinary phenomena, leading to the debunking of long-standing myths and the development of new techniques.

Challenges in Cooking:
Nathan Mervold highlights two common challenges in cooking: forgetting to defrost steak and achieving a perfectly cooked steak with a browned exterior and a tender interior.

Cooking Frozen Steak:
Mervold introduces a unique method for cooking frozen steak. He recommends using a cast iron pan with high heat oil, such as safflower oil, to sear the frozen steak on both sides. After searing, the steak is placed in a low oven at the lowest temperature (typically 200 or 250 degrees) for 30 minutes to an hour, depending on its thickness and the oven’s accuracy.

Recipe Development:
Mervold emphasizes the importance of experimentation and creativity in recipe development. He encourages chefs to try new ideas and techniques, even if they might not always succeed.

Failure as an Option:
Mervold stresses the need to create an environment where failure is accepted as a part of the creative process. He believes that attempting challenging and innovative techniques can lead to breakthroughs and successful recipes.

Trial and Error:
Mervold shares an example of a recipe in Bonaretta’s cuisine that went through 150 trials before it was perfected. He highlights the significance of persistence and dedication in developing successful recipes.