food photography
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specialman
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I know at uni one of the things we had to focus on was studio work and I did a bit of food stuff using 5x4" cameras to do all that Schiemflug, tilt 'n' shift stuff where you create really interesting DoF. A shedload of lights also helped, as did some good food. We tended to stick to abstract stuff in the end because being students all we could cook was Pot Noodles 
Did have a talk from a food togger and he said to keep food look fresh under lights, spray with hairspray to give it a shine and also have an atomiser handy for adding moisture droplets.
Did have a talk from a food togger and he said to keep food look fresh under lights, spray with hairspray to give it a shine and also have an atomiser handy for adding moisture droplets.
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wilsnunn
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I know at uni one of the things we had to focus on was studio work and I did a bit of food stuff using 5x4" cameras to do all that Schiemflug, tilt 'n' shift stuff where you create really interesting DoF. A shedload of lights also helped, as did some good food. We tended to stick to abstract stuff in the end because being students all we could cook was Pot Noodles
Did have a talk from a food togger and he said to keep food look fresh under lights, spray with hairspray to give it a shine and also have an atomiser handy for adding moisture droplets.
Ah cool thanks, i was wondering what lens(es) to buy at christmas to do this king of thing, i have around £600 to spend so i was thinking 50mm 1.4 and SB-900
nikon but i was worried that the 50 might not focus cloes enough? any ideas? thanks for replying, good to see at least one person cares, intresting point about the hair spray, never heard that before, but yeah i have used water lots before!Thanks
Daniel
I did some work experience in a food photography studio and it was all digital large format tilt shifty stuff. Also more lights than you can shake a stick at. I'd say a couple of flashes, some reflectors, softboxes and things like that would be a wise investment. Also stop by ever charity shop you see to look for interesting plates, cutlery etc...
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A nice macro lens might help.
^^^i agree^^^,and a macro lens will focus to within a few inches,although you won't get the DOF of the 50 1.4.
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wilsnunn
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So overall i need lots of lighting, and a macro, How about a 60mm macro? that has an aperture of 2.8 so no, not as shallow DoF but still can be shallow. Will 60mm be close enough? il be on a DX format camera so 1.5x crop making it a 90mm lens, would possibly the 105 macro be advantageous over the 60 if the price isnt too different?
Daniel
itsdavedotnet
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the tamron 90mm macro is meant to be dead sharp
other than that, lots of light (a cheap studio set might be a better buy than an sb900), nice white surfaces, and more white plates than you can possibly imagine, is probably the way forward
other than that, lots of light (a cheap studio set might be a better buy than an sb900), nice white surfaces, and more white plates than you can possibly imagine, is probably the way forward
specialman
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Have a look at Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Meat book; awesome images, a range of focal lengths used (from about 17mm through to 100mm+) and hardly a spot of articifial light in sight - it's sumptuous and just makes you want to eat meat all the time
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wilsnunn
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Yeah i was looking at photos with no artificial light, but i bet they were all taken on a nice shiny full frame camera which can have a HUGE iso with no noise, all i have at the moment is a D40, not the best for low noise 
Unless your food is still running around you can use long exposures rather than high ISO.
Achieving really good results with food is far, far more difficult than you might think. That's why there are so many glossy food-photo cookbooks with photos ranging from the poor to the awful (and also a lot that are superb).
You can use a macro lens, or any lens you like with tubes or even diopters, if needed. You can light it with ordinary tungsten bulbs as long as you set your WB properly. Like most things in photography, there are expensive, dedicated, branded solutions and there are cheap work-arounds. I've done it both ways and some of my best sellers to this day were done on the cheap (canon 300D, table lamp and white paper). It is all about creating an illusion.
Achieving really good results with food is far, far more difficult than you might think. That's why there are so many glossy food-photo cookbooks with photos ranging from the poor to the awful (and also a lot that are superb).
You can use a macro lens, or any lens you like with tubes or even diopters, if needed. You can light it with ordinary tungsten bulbs as long as you set your WB properly. Like most things in photography, there are expensive, dedicated, branded solutions and there are cheap work-arounds. I've done it both ways and some of my best sellers to this day were done on the cheap (canon 300D, table lamp and white paper). It is all about creating an illusion.
Hairyduck
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When I used to do it for a living all we used to use was 10x8, very occasionally we'd use a 5x4 if it was a cheapo shoot. Flash wise generally big softboxes connected to 10k strobe packs, we'd quite often add some tungsten lighting too with a 1/2 daylight correction filter to warm the image up a bit. I'm guessing that they're all using large format digital stuff these days though.
By the way, there is no need to strive for shallow DoF, you get it anyway, so forget f1.4 lenses. It is more of a problem getting enough in focus, even shooting at f11 or so, depending on the lens.
Your choice of focal point is as critical as the lighting and the composition. The use of tilt would have been to increase the apparent DoF, I don't think it is worth it for digital food shots and it is also quite restricting. The large format cameras produced much greater DoF than a full frame DSLR, let alone a crop format.
Your choice of focal point is as critical as the lighting and the composition. The use of tilt would have been to increase the apparent DoF, I don't think it is worth it for digital food shots and it is also quite restricting. The large format cameras produced much greater DoF than a full frame DSLR, let alone a crop format.
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wilsnunn
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ah ok, so it is ok to use long shutter speeds as long as it is on a tripod and im not sure that getting it in focus is going to be the hard thing, more the composition. i have a lighting solution sorted, although it will do good with a flash so i think i shalll be getting a SB-900 and a 60 or 105mm macro over the festive period.
Daniel
Daniel