A few weeks ago we got an assignment to photograph a dim sum table scene. The task was easy enough: our client needed a top-down photo of a selection of Chinese dumplings. We headed over to Joyale Seafood (Google Maps) for the shoot. The restaurant staff was easy to work with and very accommodating. We cleared a large round table and set up our gear in a quiet section of the restaurant.

Who says you can't put a tripod on a table? Here's a look at our setup for the dim sum shoot.

The kitchen steamed up some fresh har gow (shrimp dumplings), siu mai (pork-shrimp dumplings), barbecue pork buns, Chinese broccoli, egg tarts, sticky rice wrapped with lotus leaf, and a pot of hot tea. This is the result:

All in all, we were very happy with how the photos turned out and it looked even better in print: