Beginner Food photography

Mad-Photographer

Mad-Photographer

Suspended / Banned
Messages
63
Name
Ann
Edit My Images
No
Got a good few hours spare today so I am going to try to photograph some food. I have tried this before only to be very disappointed, as everything was really flat. I am going to 'create' a stage on the kitchen table which is next to the patio doors ( throws plenty of light) And all the equipment I have at the moment is camera, tripod and reflectors ( no lighting - but a few table , spotlights around I could use)
Any tips would be most gratefully received. :help:
 
Oh, and flatness could be over-lighting. Depth comes from the shadows, so as well as reflectors you can also use flags to control the ambient when using a large daylight source like a patio door.
 
Alastair said:
Oh, and flatness could be over-lighting. Depth comes from the shadows, so as well as reflectors you can also use flags to control the ambient when using a large daylight source like a patio door.
Click to expand...
That.

We start as photographers obsessed with exposure, which creates an 'enough light' mentality, which is the opposite of what a good photographer obsesses about. It's 'the right light' direction, colour and intensity.
 
Mad-Photographer said:
Excellent site Alastair. Thanks. After all that I didn't manage any photography today - just ended up ( as usual) jumping from one site and ( utube ) to another. Lol!
Click to expand...
You'll get the time another day ;)

If you want some inspiration, I took this one the other week. Lit pretty much as you intended to do with big patio door to the right and a reflector to the left. I know it has flaws, but it was an illustration to the recipe rather than anything else..



I had to diffuse the direct light, as once I had the exposure right for the light bounced from the reflector I ran into the "It all looks a bit flat problem". Taking the edge of the direct light kept enough shadow for a bit of depth.

It's easier faking natural light than using it, there's no dimmer switch on the sun.
 
Tastes great too, not that there a lot left of it right now ;)

Time to start planning what do make next..

The flaws I see are mostly in the presentation. The string tail at the left, the dimple at about 5 o'clock on the cut face where I pulled out a stray peppercorn, the pepper/spice crumbs on the cut face. All easily fixed if I'd taken the time to cut a fresh slice for the photo.

Useful tip.. the surface I've used is a 600x600 ceramic floor tile in a fine grained slate effect. I picked it up cheap as a second because one corner had a slight chip. With some thick felt pads on the bottom so it doesn't scratch the table it's an easily cleaned surface for food photography. You just need to be careful to flag room reflections.
 
Alastair said:
Tastes great too, not that there a lot left of it right now ;)

Time to start planning what do make next..

The flaws I see are mostly in the presentation. The string tail at the left, the dimple at about 5 o'clock on the cut face where I pulled out a stray peppercorn, the pepper/spice crumbs on the cut face. All easily fixed if I'd taken the time to cut a fresh slice for the photo.

Useful tip.. the surface I've used is a 600x600 ceramic floor tile in a fine grained slate effect. I picked it up cheap as a second because one corner had a slight chip. With some thick felt pads on the bottom so it doesn't scratch the table it's an easily cleaned surface for food photography. You just need to be careful to flag room reflections.
Click to expand...

I though it was a tile, I have exactly the same thing. I could see the reflection. Not a bad thing imo.
 
Mad-Photographer said:
I though it was a tile, I have exactly the same thing. I could see the reflection. Not a bad thing imo.
Click to expand...
But what you can't see is the reflection of the dining room wall and picture frame - that I had to flag off with a velvet backdrop on my table-top background frame* so that the reflection in the tile was of the backdrop, not the wall behind.


* it's amazing what you can make out of odd-ends of push-fit pipe and connectors.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top