Grilled Seared Scallops at Orso Bayside

Grilled scallops can sound ordinary as an entree but this one that we had at Orso Bayside is just at different level.

Grilled Seared Scallops

 The green part is finely cut deep fried seaweed – and the little cubes around the base are crouton. At the base of the scallop is the scallopini potato cut.

The shot

We were quite happily seated in the corner right beside the window so plenty of lights for taking a photo. The corner wall also acted like a big reflector on the opposite site – you can see that there is virtually no hard shadow on the shot.

The Editing

I did something different with the editing on this one. I make a photomatix-tonemaped copy of the original (the so called pseudo-HDR) and then overlay it back on top of the original with around 75% opacity. The tonemapped copy is by itself a bit too unnatural – that’s why I overlay it back to the original.

In addition, only the part that is in focus is overlayed with the tonemapped copy – the rest is masked out. I think the out-of-focus part looks a bit weird when tonemapped. I mean pseudo-HDR tonemapping is about enhancing details and local contrast – so there is little point to apply it on the blurry part of the image.

Finally I add the vignette effect along the plate diagonal to make the scallops “pop” out more.

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