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Food Photography tips please

D

Dan Santoso

New member
Hi All,

I need some tips from you guys because I rarely shoot food.

With IQ 180 it is safe to shoot tilt down and correct the perspective with auto in C1?

My understanding is that food usually need backlight specular light + some mirror for fill. Am I correct? I probably use broncolor optical snoot.

I know some people shoot with window lighting but I find it to soft to my liking.

Can someone direct me to some nice reference (top food photographer) and some technique to use?

Thanks,
Dan
Dan Santoso photography
 
wryphotography

wryphotography

New member
Dan Santoso said:
Hi All,

I need some tips from you guys because I rarely shoot food.

With IQ 180 it is safe to shoot tilt down and correct the perspective with auto in C1?

My understanding is that food usually need backlight specular light + some mirror for fill. Am I correct? I probably use broncolor optical snoot.

I know some people shoot with window lighting but I find it to soft to my liking.

Can someone direct me to some nice reference (top food photographer) and some technique to use?

Thanks,
Dan
Dan Santoso photography
Click to expand...
Hi Dan,
I would recommend checking out Kirk Tuck's blog, The Visual Science Lab / Kirk Tuck
I really like the style of food shots he's done, he also shows his setup whenever he does food posts. I believe he also has a book thats also covers food lighting.

personally i just use window lighting and a hot light with diffuser opposite the window, but I'm not pro food photographer. I just like to photo my fiances and I's food for our blog, that we havnt started yet.
 
Bildifokus

Bildifokus

Member
I like backlight, but also natural light and reflector. Also think about the color in the food and try to implement it in the composition. A good food photographer is David Loftus.
 
S

studio347

New member
When using strobe lighting, if you are not careful, the food might look not delicious.
A good food lighting makes the food to look delicious, showing right mood of the setting.
It shows well the moisture on food, colors, and textures of food. The textures and colors of food( raw or cooked) can be very amazing.
Showing moisture on food well is important. Otherwise, the food would look dry and old. This happens when the light source is too small and placed at a wrong angle.
Window light can be very good light if...you can control the sun, clouds, time.. :) when using strobe light, it becomes more difficult. Obviously, you are controlling a kind of sun, clouds, time.. :)
Think over the relative size of light source(diffusion size, the position in relations of strobe, diffusion, subject) for the food(sometimes bigger is good as long as you maintain the directional quality of light and interesting tone variation in an image.. not always of course..), directional quality of the light(you need some directional quality to show the textures well. Avoid too thick diffusion material..). ALso test for the right angles in relationship for camera, subject, and the lighting.
At a some angle, you can feel that it is the best for the specific food subject. For some cases, you need some flare effect? on food( a certain back lit angle to make the food reflect light...delicious..). Sorry for the vague answers. But unless you go deeper with lighting and testing various angles, light quality, you can't make it interesting. Think about this situation when in a very early morning on the street, when you are walking, and the sun is rising in front of you at a certain angle, you can see the asphalt surface of street is flaring, melting with light in a mysterious and beautiful way...Also did you see the light green leaves of a tree, are melting with sun light?... where the leaves becomes light. There are no boundaries between them.. This is one of most beautiful visual sighting you can experience. You need to understand this light quality(light-size, directional-softness quality, angles..) and need to create this with strobe light to lit the food well.
 
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D

Dan Santoso

New member
Thanks for the link. I check his work I dont really like the soft lighting, maybe it is just not me :)

Anyone else can recommend reference? Thanks


Bildifokus said:
I like backlight, but also natural light and reflector. Also think about the color in the food and try to implement it in the composition. A good food photographer is David Loftus.
Click to expand...
 
D

Dan Santoso

New member
Thanks very good explanation although very broad :)

studio347 said:
When using strobe lighting, if you are not careful, the food might look not delicious.
A good food lighting makes the food to look delicious, showing right mood of the setting.
It shows well the moisture on food, colors, and textures of food. The textures and colors of food( raw or cooked) can be very amazing.
Showing moisture on food well is important. Otherwise, the food would look dry and old. This happens when the light source is too small and placed at a wrong angle.
Window light can be very good light if...you can control the sun, clouds, time.. :) when using strobe light, it becomes more difficult. Obviously, you are controlling a kind of sun, clouds, time.. :)
Think over the relative size of light source(diffusion size, the position in relations of strobe, diffusion, subject) for the food(sometimes bigger is good as long as you maintain the directional quality of light and interesting tone variation in an image.. not always of course..), directional quality of the light(you need some directional quality to show the textures well. Avoid too thick diffusion material..). ALso test for the right angles in relationship for camera, subject, and the lighting.
At a some angle, you can feel that it is the best for the specific food subject. For some cases, you need some flare effect? on food( a certain back lit angle to make the food reflect light...delicious..). Sorry for the vague answers. But unless you go deeper with lighting and testing various angles, light quality, you can't make it interesting. Think about this situation when in a very early morning on the street, when you are walking, and the sun is rising in front of you at a certain angle, you can see the asphalt surface of street is flaring, melting with light in a mysterious and beautiful way...Also did you see the light green leaves of a tree, are melting with sun light?... where the leaves becomes light. There are no boundaries between them.. This is one of most beautiful visual sighting you can experience. You need to understand this light quality(light-size, directional-softness quality, angles..) and need to create this with strobe light to lit the food well.
Click to expand...
 
K

Ken_R

New member
The absolute key to food photography is food styling and art direction. You really need someone that knows how to prepare food that photographs well. It does not have to taste well or even be edible. It needs to look good and also needs to last a bit so you can work with it. The food stylist also helps enhance the food once it is plated so it looks fresh and appetizing. The art direction is also paramount. The plates, settings, accessories, surfaces etc all make the image.
 
S

studio347

New member
If you want more masculine and traditional style...
Check out_mitch feinberg below.. At this level, you can make a lot of money too :) But for that, your whole mind have to be into it in addition to the mastery of lighting.

Mitch Feinberg - Photographers - Mitchell Feinberg - Food 1

But to understand this kind of hard core food photography, you need to understand Irving Penn's food images which were published mainly 70s and 80s in Vogue magazine. His images have been a big influence...He doesn't have website since he passed away a few years ago. I mean when he was still active in NYC, he doesn't have a website:) You can check out google image_"Irving Penn Food". (imagine that the real printed images either magazine or books, are much better...quality in color and sharpness compared with what you see through google image. His images were shot 8 by 10 inch Chromes and printed beautifully. )His style is only a certain style of food images, but still a very important one... If you can understand his sculptural(formal) and emotional quality, it might be helpful to any kind of food images. Also_http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc7HsdLmNsY

For more feminine and environmental_
http://www.judycasey.com/photographers/maria-robledo/food
http://art-dept.com/photography/anita-calero/food-floral
 
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FoodShooter

Member
I've shot food professionally and exclusively for 20+ years and while styles have changed in that time, the one constant theme in my lighting is 'back light with a fill card'. Depending on the specifics of the food product though, I use a variety of lighting tools to achieve my goal; bank lights, fresnels, gridded reflectors, mirrors, white cards, silver cards, gold cards, etc. as it all depends on the specifics of the product and what the final image will be used for. I shoot with a view camera btw to control focus and perspective/distortion.

I do very little 'editorial' work, but prefer natural light for that as it's simply easier to make a pleasing image and in that world I typically don't have an art director's input making very specific demands....but I agree with you that it's typically too 'soft' for my personal tastes.

It's difficult to give specifics, as so much depends on the food itself. I agree with the recommendations about a food stylist, btw.

The best lighting in the world won't make an unattractive plate of food look appetizing and at the very same time, poor lighting will make a great plate of food look unappealing. imo.
 
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