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| Food Photography | Rate Topic |
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| Posted by moonlight1811: Thu Jun 7th, 2012 21:12 | 1st Post |
| Hello everyone! I love to bake and cook and would like to take nice pictures of some of my creations. I even have a little cake business that I operate out of my kitchen. So here is my first attempt at a little food photography. They're some taco cupcakes I made for dinner tonight. Camera was set on A mode. No flash. No tripod. Had trouble getting it to focus. Dislike the way the shadows are falling, but couldn't get my lights to really help me out very much. I tried to make the colors more vibrant in iPhoto (all I have), but I couldn't achieve the vibrancy I wanted without making everything look fake and abnormal. Still a lot to learn! Any suggestions on how to improve are welcomed. As always =] Attachment: taco.JPG (Downloaded 75 times)
____________________ -Melissa |
| Posted by moonlight1811: Thu Jun 7th, 2012 21:13 | 2nd Post |
| Oh dear. Did not mean for the picture to appear that large! I even scaled it down. So sorry!
____________________ -Melissa |
| Posted by jk: Fri Jun 8th, 2012 03:37 | 3rd Post |
| No problem. Picture is great viewing on the ipad! Food photograhy is very difficult to do convincingly so that is a good start. The pictures done in the studio are very evenly lit so it is almost shadowless! This takes a lot of setting up. 
____________________ Still learning after all these years! https://nikondslr.uk/gallery_view.php?user=2&folderid=none |
| Posted by Robert: Fri Jun 8th, 2012 05:13 | 4th Post |
| No problem with the image size Melissa. If you do want to control the output from iPhoto, select the image(s) you want to export, select Export, Then select the size button. Mostly 800 Pixels on the long edge is good enough.  That gives an image this size:  My boys and I in my new bedroom! Regarding your question... Several points with this. Firstly, you should have turned the plate so the two cakes were next to one another, that would have halved the out of focus problem instantly. Remember the cans? Secondly you were presumably using artificial lighting, but the camera will have been set to Automatic White Balance. There is a setting in the Camera Menu to alter the White Balance, experiment with these, there are lot's of options. Artificial light is a big problem. Flash is better. The flash on your camera is of limited use. OK in emergencies but far from ideal. You can improve it by taping some white tissue or paper over the flash to diffuse it a lot.  For food I used two flash guns both off camera. One high up to one side and a smaller one, lower at the other side. Both my flash guns are old, an SB 28 and a little SB22. Many small cheap flash guns will do the job. You will need some way to trigger the flash guns, I use a little Nikon SU4 relay triggered by the (diffused) on camera flash. Using Flash has many advantages, very controllable, predictable white balance, reasonably powerful, being reasonably powerful it allows smaller apertures, so increased Depth of Focus. This is one I did earlier! Has been used on many brochures and posters by the Pizza shop chain I worked for.  Two flashes as described taken in a busy kitchen. D200 and the same lens you see on my D200 above, my 55mm f2.8Micro. The reflections of the flashes can be seen on the cherries.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by jk: Fri Jun 8th, 2012 08:24 | 5th Post |
| As Robert says using flash is much more reproducible and images look/are sharper. This image is a hand held snap from my Fuji XPro1. I must do some studio shots soon. Attachment: XP1-1-0256.jpg (Downloaded 72 times)
____________________ Still learning after all these years! https://nikondslr.uk/gallery_view.php?user=2&folderid=none |
| Posted by blackfox: Fri Jun 8th, 2012 09:34 | 6th Post |
some good pics and fantastic advise there lads ,i love this forum and the way its developing ,no matter how advanced you are in one field of photography its always good to learn new tricks about another .
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| Posted by TomOC: Fri Jun 8th, 2012 13:31 | 7th Post |
| No question...food photography (like most photography) is ALL about light. But it is also all about taking lots of photos. Use your iphone if need be and start shooting a shot of every meal you have in front of you... At some point you will have a number of "Ah-HA's" and then you will have your own style. Cheers, Tom
____________________ Tom O'Connell -Lots of people talk to animals.... Not very many listen, though.... That's the problem. Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh |
| Posted by moonlight1811: Fri Jun 8th, 2012 14:23 | 8th Post |
Robert wrote: No problem with the image size Melissa.Thanks for telling me how to adjust image size. That will really help! I do remember the cans and I guess I understand the technical concept of aperture but not the set up concept. If saying it like that even makes any sense at all...they were set next to one another, but I decided that I wanted one of them to be behind the other in the picture cause I wanted the back one to be a little out of focus so your eyes would be drawn to the front one. I guess I just didn't set it up right. I was using artificial lighting. My apartment is very small and really doesn't have a lot of opportunity to let natural light in. It's quite frustrating. I didn't use a flash because most of the sites I visited that were about food photography said not to because it makes food look "unnatural". I guess they were wrong. I'll have to try the diffuser idea next time though! White Balance. I am aware of that setting, but have not yet played with it. I increased my ISO and exposure for the picture, but didn't think of white balance!
____________________ -Melissa |
| Posted by Robert: Fri Jun 8th, 2012 14:46 | 9th Post |
WAY too much to think about at once!  You need to get into autopilot on the basics. Wanting the arrangement that way is fine, it just makes the photography side more difficult. Not just from the Depth of Focus but lighting too. What you read probably referred to a single on camera flash, which is pretty lame. When you have two (or three) off camera flashes you have tremendous control over your lighting. Another tip is to have a spray bottle with water in and just before you take the photo give the food a quick gentle spray, it gives the food a little sparkle and helps lift it. With some food a little oil spray can help. 
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by moonlight1811: Fri Jun 8th, 2012 14:51 | 10th Post |
Robert wrote: WAY too much to think about at once!lol But I enjoy a challenge! :)
____________________ -Melissa |
| Posted by moonlight1811: Fri Jun 8th, 2012 15:53 | 11th Post |
Robert wrote: Wanting the arrangement that way is fine, it just makes the photography side more difficult.Oh. So I didn't necessarily arrange it wrong...I just made it harder on myself. Good to know lol I have a "Photography Wish List" and an extra flash is on it. I just need to save the money first! =] A spray bottle with water?! Then I can't eat it when I'm done taking pictures! :P I wouldn't want to waste the tasty food I've made.
____________________ -Melissa |
| Posted by Robert: Fri Jun 8th, 2012 16:28 | 12th Post |
moonlight1811 wrote:A spray bottle with water?! Then I can't eat it when I'm done taking pictures! :P I wouldn't want to waste the tasty food I've made. It's never stopped me yet! 
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Eric: Fri Jun 8th, 2012 18:13 | 13th Post |
| Food photography can be the most challenging subject. Light is very important but don't use direct flash. Bounce it, or diffuse it ..better still use natural daylight. Shoot in front of a window with reflectors to even out the light. Strong side lighting can be effective in showing texture. Get the right, stress right WB for the product. Perfect WB may not be best for the food to look appetising (cooked meat must be more red than blue to look 'right') Make sure you have contrast between the food, it's plate and background. Rather than using f32 get in close and use dof to focus attention on an area of the meal. Have some props....knives and forks, flower poise, knapkin, condiments, etc. use them to add more contrast to the set. Food deteorates rapidly, when sat under lights or warm rooms. Be prepared to cook up several dishes! We once cooked 15 bowls of rice for a 2 hour pack shoot of Uncle Bens rice....arranging the grains of rice to look perfect!!? To make things glisten, brush with veg oil...we even used glycerol one time....which made the product ....err ....in edible afterwards. There are lots of tricks that can be employed to make food larger than life. It's all a question of looking at what makes the prepared meal look good...then try to make the camera see it like that too. I once had to experiment with different organic solvents to get the right combustion flame colour /intensity of a flamb© meal. Trust me ....no one ate those meals afterwards.
____________________ Eric |
| Posted by jk: Fri Jun 8th, 2012 18:45 | 14th Post |
| My image looks distinctly dark after posting to the forum! It doesnt look so dark on the same laptop before posting. Yes I did adjust the colourspace to sRGB so it showed correctly on web. I'll see if I process through Photoshop and save for web makes any difference.
____________________ Still learning after all these years! https://nikondslr.uk/gallery_view.php?user=2&folderid=none |
| Posted by Robert: Fri Jun 8th, 2012 18:56 | 15th Post |
| I noticed that JK, I wondered if you had been afflicted as I was the other day. My answer was to do a Shift+Command+4 screen capture of the original and post that. I am sure it's in the forum processing because the output from Lightroom is fine. I think every now and then it garbles a setting during the compression process.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by ttreppa: Tue Jun 12th, 2012 10:12 | 16th Post |
| Melissa, I've been doing some food photography for a local restaurant. I bounce the flash off of the ceiling. I do a little color enhancement (curves) and sharpening. The restaurant uses the photos on their menu. To do this the printer or who they have do the layout, crops the photos so that only the plate and the food are displayed. It works out very nice for a menu. Terry Treppa
____________________ "It's about the photo!" |
| Posted by moonlight1811: Mon Jun 25th, 2012 22:08 | 17th Post |
ttreppa wrote: Melissa,Sorry! I didn't see your post until now for some reason. How do you bounce a flash off the ceiling? Trying to imagine that but not sure how that would be done.
____________________ -Melissa |
| Posted by Robert: Tue Jun 26th, 2012 03:05 | 18th Post |
| Many flashgun heads can be turned sideways or tilt up, this is so you can bounce the light off a wall or ceiling. You loose a little power but it diffuses the light and reduces the harsh effect of the flash. Beware of coloured ceilings or walls, white is best.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Doug: Tue Jun 26th, 2012 19:26 | 19th Post |
| This video is worth a watch, it shows one or two of the tricks which are used in food photography LINK
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