Torching the Crème Brûlée

[Mike Buckley]

My friend Kathleen made this crème brûlée to help celebrate my 65th birthday, my wife's 57th birthday, and the 34th anniversary of when we met on her birthday. We had 7 people at the dining room table last night and Kathleen had 8 ramekins. So, she made this extra serving for me to photograph today.

It was so fascinating to see all the details involved with making the dessert. I'm not much of a baker so I had no idea about all of the precision and special techniques required to make it.

Everyone absolutely raved about the dessert, which really was fabulous. We paired this bottle of wine with it, which I bought eight months ago and set aside in anticipation of this truly special way to end our meal.

My wife had to go away on a business trip today, so guess who gets to enjoy eating the last bit of crème brûlée used to make the photo!

Setup
The background is black velvet and the tabletop is black glossy acrylic. A speedlight was in the front left and slightly above the scene. A white reflector on the right side bounced light into that area of the scene.

[Shadowman]

Nice, good reflection and capture of the colors.

[John 2]

The image is excellent, well why wouldn't it be. More importantly, Happy birthday to you both.

[mknittle]

The image is excellent, well why wouldn't it be. More importantly, Happy birthday to you both.

+1 from me

[DEAN01]

Beautiful shot, Mike, happy birthday!

[Wavelength]

Very nice image..and very many happy birthdays and anniversaries to you both

[Bobobird]

Firstly the pic (most important of course). Well up to your usual high standards. My lower standards might have made the topping sugar a bit more noticeable. Probably "corrector" to say that the topping needs a bit more texture.

With that out of the way - happy birthday's, anniversaries, etc, etc young man!

[travis4567]

Mike, just celebrated my 65th in October.. Great shot as always...many more shots from both of us.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, everyone!

Bobo: Your idea of emphasizing the sugar is certainly a viable way to make the photo. Just not my choice.

Travis: Happy belated birthday!

many more shots from both of us.

I'll toast to that!

[Rita]

An interesting image. You don't sound too upset about getting the extra dessert
Happy Birthday.

[IzzieK]

I am not into sweets as much but I like this shot...looks very simple and showy...Happy birthday, Happy Anniversary and all the rest of it...Don't you just hate it when events in your life comes too close together -- you receive only one present for the year...

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Rita and Izzie.

After torching the sugar, it didn't look the same when I did it as when my friend did it the night before. That could be because she used a different sugar and/or that I didn't use the proper technique. It could also be that this particular dessert doesn't remain at its peak desirability for an entire day. As a result, I ultimately decided to throw away the dessert rather than eat it. That's because my memory of the dessert that was served to everyone the night before was so good that I wanted ensure that my last memory would be such a great memory.

[Dave A]

Nice image Mike and Happy Birthday.

Dave

[bnnrcn]

Happy Birthday Mike The image looks very nice.

[NorthernFocus]

Congrats on all of the special days. And the image is awesome.