|
Got my first taste of food photography today. I do photos for a night life company that just picked up a venue that is both a restaurant and a night club, so we did some food shots for advertising purposes. Here's a few shots: O Dining by Ben Semisch, on Flickr  O Dining by Ben Semisch, on Flickr  O Dining by Ben Semisch, on Flickr Lighting: B-800 to the back left of the dish (about 2:30) and a 430exii to the camera left, making for nice cross lighting. I'm pretty happy with the results considering it was my first time. Really relieved that the owner knew how to style a dish to make it look sweet, which made my job pretty easy. It got me really interested in doing more, so I think I might team up with a good friend of mine who loves to cook to make some photos for stock or maybe a food blog/youtube cooking channel or something.
|
#
?
May 27, 2011 15:38
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 18:28 |
|
|
This is just a natural light snapshot of my dinner, but I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to improve the processing: My spinach is too dark I think, I like the natural shape of the chicken, although the edges between it and the risotto is really weird. I also tried a different angle, but I don't like the focus here at all - am I right?  I haven't really processed this one yet.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2011 17:07
|
|
|
I think some kind of reflector (even an improvised one made from a sheet of tin foil) would go a long way to improving that shot.
|
|
#
?
May 28, 2011 08:47
|
|
|
Greybone posted:This is just a natural light snapshot of my dinner, but I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to improve the processing: I would give it a good contrast boost - maybe play around with some blend modes like soft light or overlay. The picture simply needs more punch, it's just grey to me. Also as mentioned, a reflector to put some more light on the spinach for instance. Try taking pictures with the light coming from behind also, and then a reflector in front of. Lastly, the picture is very centered, remember the rule of thirds. AtomicManiac posted:Very nice and dramatic lighting, works very well with the dish and the night club feel. I think your second picture is the best - good focus and composition! But the glass/crystal thingy needs to be seperated from the dish, it looks like they are blending together. Also it is very centered and dominant in pic. 2 and 3, it steals to much attention - move it back and more to the side. Food photography is ALL about the hero of the dish - so be carefull that there isn't to much else going on. Also I would brighten the food on the last picture a touch. But I really like the pictures, and for a first timer you pretty much nailed it! Keep it up.
|
|
#
?
May 29, 2011 22:10
|
|
|
A quick shot from a shoot I did today, this I took while I was setting up a new lighting setup. 
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 03:36
|
|
|
I am not seeing anything in the OP- are there any must-have books on food photography/presentation ?
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2011 21:41
|
|
|
Cross_ posted:I am not seeing anything in the OP- are there any must-have books on food photography/presentation ? This is the book to get for food styling, nothing else comes close, but it is more aimed at full on commercial shoots with assistants and dedicated stylists and chefs. http://www.amazon.com/Food-Styling-Art-Preparing-Camera/dp/0470080191/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308104501&sr=8-1 There are a number of books dedicated to food photography, the best one I have read is http://www.amazon.com/Plate-Pixel-Digital-Photography-Styling/dp/0470932139/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1308104501&sr=8-3 It is written by a successful food photographer and is also aimed at people who shoot on a low budget, so is full of useful ideas. The best books to get are actually just recipe books, they have the best food photography and you learn more by seeing what makes an image work rather than being shown how to make it. Good examples are Noma Cookbook Alinea The Fat Duck Cookbook Momofuku Cookbook Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide India: The Cookbook I also recommend Saveur which has great photography, if a bit heavy with one photographer (Todd Coleman) though his stuff is still really good and I think having a specific style is very important. Food & Wine magazine is also okay, but less interesting photography. Also magazine such as Cooking Light have notable photography, most of the successful commercial magazines are worth a look for their food photography and you can get an annual sub for $10 or so.
|
|
#
?
Jun 15, 2011 03:39
|
|
|
I like Bon Appetit's photography the best (mostly because of Craig Cutler). Although so far I am not a fan of their new creative director... Donna Hay magazine always has great photos and by far the best styling/props, but it's like $120 for a subscription if you don't live in Australia. Sunset also runs good stuff. Besides that one book I don't think there is anything else in print on food styling, it is an apprentice type job that you would learn by assisting. If anyone is in SF, there is an APA lecture this Thursday (6/16) with a food stylist at the Apple store. brad industry fucked around with this message at 21:55 on Jun 15, 2011 |
|
#
?
Jun 15, 2011 03:56
|
|
|
Cookbook wise my favorite is Paul Food by Paul Cunningham, other than that I like Jamie Olivers magazine, but that is really expensive - so I flick through it at work where we keep it. Blogs can also be a very good way to keep you inspired. I follow these among others: http://whatkatieate.blogspot.com/ http://cannelle-vanille.blogspot.com/ http://sweetpaul.typepad.com/my_weblog/ http://souvlakiforthesoul.com/ For newcomers a good site to check out is http://www.learnfoodphotography.com. It has a lot of interviews, how-to and guides.
|
|
#
?
Jun 15, 2011 08:59
|
|
|
I love browsing on Tastespotting, just not when hungry...
|
|
#
?
Jun 15, 2011 18:20
|
|
|
mysticp posted:There are a number of books dedicated to food photography, the best one I have read is
|
|
#
?
Jun 15, 2011 21:12
|
|
|
Cross_ posted:I take your word for it- just ordered it. While you wait, check out her blog http://www.tarteletteblog.com/
|
|
#
?
Jun 15, 2011 22:10
|
|
|
I posed a while back about Modernist Cuisine (http://modernistcuisine.com/) which is an outrageous book with some amazing food photography. Here is a couple of behind the scenes blog posts covering the photographer and some of his methods http://seattlefoodgeek.com/2011/04/behind-the-scenes-with-modernist-cuisines-food-photographer-part-1getting-the-shot/#more-1454 http://seattlefoodgeek.com/2011/04/behind-the-scenes-with-modernist-cuisines-food-photographer-part-2photoshop-magic/#more-1483
|
|
#
?
Jun 15, 2011 22:25
|
|
|
Hey, this food photography thing is fun. Can't wait to eat the hero..
|
|
#
?
Jun 19, 2011 09:38
|
|
|
Cross_ posted:Hey, this food photography thing is fun. Can't wait to eat the hero.. That looks amazing. I would eat the hell ouut of that. I'm still on training wheels when it comes to food photography - my main problem is getting some kind of background that isnt my messyass apartment. Oh, and being a half decent cook would help too   Chocolate martini jelly shots by joelalexanderwright, on Flickr  risotto by joelalexanderwright, on Flickr BrosephofArimathea fucked around with this message at 17:29 on Jun 20, 2011 |
|
#
?
Jun 20, 2011 13:42
|
|
|
For the last 9 months I have been covering the creation of a beer by Garrett Oliver at Brooklyn Brewery specifically for Eleven Madison Park in New York. As part of this beer launch, which was on Sunday, they also published a magazine that is specifically about Beer. I also shot everything for the Magazine. Here is the front cover of the magazine  Garrett Oliver in the barrel room where the beer was aged for 6 months  Barrel sampling  The brewery  Garrett and Daniel Humm (the chef at Eleven Madison Park) in the barrel room  All the beer was hand labelled by the staff at the restaurant  I have a ton more shots, they just got picked up by Food and Wine for an article that is being written about the whole thing.
|
|
#
?
Jun 28, 2011 19:53
|
|
|
That is awesome! Beer making is so much fun. Were you able to make some awesome portraits? I've always wanted to shoot in a room full of casks.
|
|
#
?
Jun 29, 2011 00:55
|
|
|
mysticp posted:I have a ton more shots, they just got picked up by Food and Wine for an article that is being written about the whole thing. I covered an event by some local chefs not too long ago, they focus mainly on in-season on local produce - like everybody should  Obviously there is stuff I am not super happy about, but given circumstances and low lighting I think I managed quite okay. Also, I want a camera with better ISO performance (:read 5D)       
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2011 13:58
|
|
|
LAchristus posted:Woah congrats, that's awsome! Looking forward to seeing them. These are lovely! I shoot at events sometimes and man can it be all over the place as far as light is concerned! Nice work!
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2011 11:18
|
|
|
Thank you! Yes event are ludicrous, luckily the apartment was in 2 levels, so I had a pretty quit place to take the pictures. They are all done with natural lighting except the last, which is a diffused speedlight. Also, I would kill for a camera with better ISO performance than my Canon 40D. That limited me quite a bit.
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2011 11:53
|
|
|
LAchristus posted:Also, I would kill for a camera with better ISO performance than my Canon 40D. That limited me quite a bit. I'm still muddling along with the original Rebel xt. It's a workhorse but drat, wouldn't I love an upgrade! Some of these restaurants are so drat dark. Thank the lord for the 1.8 50mm or else I don't know what I'd do!
|
|
#
?
Aug 5, 2011 11:09
|
|
|
I've been taking pictures of every dinner I cook for about 5 months now, starting with a really ancient and terrible Sony Cybershot. I don't think that thing counts as a camera. The first weeks pictures were horrible because there was no natural light and my dinner lamps are orange, so I tossed all of those away. With the sunlight I actually had some decent results and good enough for just posting on Facebook like I intended. Recently I bought my first DSLR camera (Canon 1100D) and much to my surprise the first pictures were the worst ever. I didn't know how to control aperture, blurring half my own dish, highlights because of glazed ceramics in the sun became more obvious and even though I try to make things look attractive the missing colors came out stronger than ever. I know this is all because of my own inexperience, but the latest batch came out okay and I'm getting more confident. Still a long way to go, but my Plate to Pixel book was delivered today so hopefully that is another step in the right direction. This is a picture from last week I was fairly satisfied with. I took it in my new lightbox, but the background was not installed yet and I used it for the first time so please excuse the ugly black/white fields and the shadows. Didn't have any nice bowls handy either, so it looks a bit sterile. I use two monitors and on one it is a grayish plate with bland colors, while on the other one it is warm and really shines. I like to think the warm one is correctly calibrated, but I haven't checked yet.  Any advice about improving these kind of very basic shots or this one in particular would be very welcome.
|
|
#
?
Aug 5, 2011 13:37
|
|
|
BioTech posted:I've been taking pictures of every dinner I cook for about 5 months now, starting with a really ancient and terrible Sony Cybershot. I don't think that thing counts as a camera. The first weeks pictures were horrible because there was no natural light and my dinner lamps are orange, so I tossed all of those away. With the sunlight I actually had some decent results and good enough for just posting on Facebook like I intended. It is waaaaaaaaaaay too warm, imo.  Also, I'd get rid of the diamond plate. I think it's distracting, as is the fact that you cut off some of the bowl corners randomly. The food itself looks pretty great, though.
|
|
#
?
Aug 5, 2011 21:09
|
|
|
BioTech posted:
Welcome! The styling of the food in my eyes doesn't really work, it seems like the dish is separated, with the meat at the back and some veg at the front. I would try and center the meat more in the middle, so it comes of as one single dish. Does it makes sense? The angles also seems a bit "hey I wanna snap a picture of my meal". I always go either from the top, or get waay down - that way it comes of a lot more interesting in my eyes. Oh and also, if you don't have any decent background or props, try and zoom in on the food and leave all the non-important stuff hidden. Also, try and zoom more in, so the picture doesn't get barrel distortion, the plate seems to bend and seems "out of shape". As you are pretty green, try and check out this blog https://www.learnfoodphotography.com
|
|
#
?
Aug 6, 2011 10:21
|
|
|
Thanks for the advice, both of you. I couldn't center the plate right because my tripod only came in yesterday and I gave up on trying it by hand. I also got the backgrounds yesterday, so that should be an improvement as well. These are my regular plates, but I've been picking up interesting ones at flea markets to use for shots like this, thought I have not actually used them yet. Regarding the styling, I actually did that on purpose. My intention was to show both the meat and the vegetables and every time I tried to mix them together the bright veggie colors just got lost in the (boring) brown meat. I couldn't get them to jump out. If I make this again I'll use a more shallow bowl. That blog looks very helpful. I also started reading Plate to Pixel yesterday, so this will most surely help me out, thanks again!
|
|
#
?
Aug 6, 2011 10:38
|
|
|
By the way. If you aren't sure if your screen shows of colors properly, you can use the info palette in photoshop. There you get the RGB reading of a specific area, so if you hover over a part/plate that is supposed to be white the RGB values should be pretty much equal. I downloaded your picture and gave it a try, and like I supposed your values where around R:200 G:170 B:160 give or take - so if the picture actually is white on your screen you are in bad need of a calibration. Otherwise you can try and correct you pictures with curves or of course in the RAW converter.
|
|
#
?
Aug 6, 2011 14:18
|
|
|
I have my first Food Photography gig. Its for the local Indian restaurant who's site I am building. With the color of curry being pretty bland by nature does anyone have any recommendations for the shoot? I was thinking perhaps some Keema Naan or something to bring some red through, perhaps some salad to help compose a decent image?
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2011 16:08
|
|
|
Curries can look really delicious, if presented correct - work with the chef and help each other a bit. Good idea with side dishes, just make sure they do not steal focus from the hero. And remember the rule of thirds! Good luck, looking forward to see the results.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2011 23:11
|
|
|
Last friday I went to an eat-at-home event, where 3 chefs cooked for about 8 people. The food was delicious and the wines even more so. Here is what I got out of it. I wasn't completely on top of my game that night, but the chefs were pleased with the outcome, guess that's the most important thing. And a link to my mother loving blog http://christonnesen.blogspot.com/         
|
|
#
?
Sep 19, 2011 16:14
|
|
|
I need help, I want to sell the hell out of these bowls of ramen soup. Took some quick snaps to get an idea of how they would look, but next time I want to really rock it out.     The things I'm having trouble with is that everything seems to be too shiny, and coming up with interesting angles.
|
|
#
?
Sep 19, 2011 19:31
|
|
|
AIIAZNSK8ER posted:I need help, I want to sell the hell out of these bowls of ramen soup. Took some quick snaps to get an idea of how they would look, but next time I want to really rock it out. You can reduce the "shiny" by diffusing the light, either from the window if it's natural light or use a softbox and a scrim at the same time. The posted pictures are a little flat, I would work on giving them some punch in post. All of these shots have one problem, they just look like a bowl of stuff. You need to spend time organizing the food and not randomly adding whatever is in the bowl. Use a little less broth so the actual ingredients in the ramen show better. Arrange the scallions in a smaller pile, so they are less scattered. Make sure you can see the main protein properly. Don't let the broth sit out too long. I can visibly see a skin on a couple of the dishes. You need some steam to come off the ramen broth. Ramen is supposed to be steaming hot and seeing that adds to the appeal. Also go to amazon and look up the momofuku cookbook. There is a great shot of ramen in the preview you can see.
|
|
#
?
Sep 19, 2011 20:05
|
|
|
mysticp posted:Also go to amazon and look up the momofuku cookbook. There is a great shot of ramen in the preview you can see. You are my hero. Thanks.
|
|
#
?
Sep 19, 2011 20:27
|
|
|
Also I can see the table is dirty and the edges are dirty, you should wipe that poo poo down. Super clean is one way to go, but I think a big part of ramen is context too, so maybe you can push it that way. Get a cute little kid slurping it down or something.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2011 05:09
|
|
|
That light is not flattering at all, I can't figure out what to look at (the egg? the meat? what is the focus?), poo poo is just piled up with no thought to composition, their is skin on top of the broth, if you can't make one bowl look good then putting 5 in the frame isn't going to help, etc. Put your camera on a tripod and build one single bowl of ramen one element at a time and think about the composition and what the person looking at it is actually supposed to look at first. Where and when and how are they going to eat this ramen? A blank table tells me jack poo poo about it. And whatever light you are using, stop it. It's way too broad and it's not doing anything to make the food look good. Stick it next to a window or something and don't overthink it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2011 05:26
|
|
|
Finally a day in the test kitchen. Not been in almost 2 months. Time for more portfolio stuff!    This last one was inspired by your post sk8r 
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2011 03:33
|
|
|
mysticp posted:Ugg that egg is cooked so perfectly I feel so inferior as a cook. :-( Some of these, the burger with pickle and pizza in specific, have too noticeable a light falloff from one side to the other. I know the layman doesn't put 2 and 2 together, but for someone who knows lights, that screams "artificial light" not a natural room or lighting situation. The pizza you could fix with a gradient adjustment in lightroom, but the burger probably needed a 2nd light, or the main to be moved.
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2011 16:22
|
|
|
poopinmymouth posted:Ugg that egg is cooked so perfectly I feel so inferior as a cook. :-( I don't do the cooking for these, I think if I had to cook and shoot everything then I would probably go insane. It's enough to just set up the shot and tweak as it goes. The chef that does is incredibly talented. Thanks for the lighting feedback, it was just one huge diffused light and a reflector to fill. The space I have to shoot in for this stuff is super small, there is only room for that setup. I have a second strobe just can't use it on most other shoots, but I will do some gradient fills and see how that works.
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2011 17:27
|
|
|
mysticp posted:Finally a day in the test kitchen. Not been in almost 2 months. Time for more portfolio stuff! That pickle looks phallic to me.
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2011 19:11
|
|
|
Beautiful thread. I recently picked up a 550D with a 1.8f lens for cheap and want to do some nice photos of food, but all my shots turn out under exposed due to lighting conditions, so the link with the diy lamp and soft box was really helpful. I also need to play a bit more around with DOF as 1.8 is too narrow.
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2011 13:57
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 18:28 |
|
|
My aunt owns a mexican food joint in LA, and I was asked to do some shots for the website.  food by francography, on Flickr How's that look?
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 07:29
|
|
