Playing With Your Food (Photography)

This week is very exciting for me.  I finally moved from natural lighting and a do-it-yourself lighting rig for food photography to the world of flash photography.  Thanks to the generous donations for my recent book “Craig’s Grape Adventure – Loving Life with a Skillet and a Corkscrew” I was able to upgrade my lighting kit.

Before making my purchase of the Yongnuo YN560 flashes and the Yongnuo RF-603 wireless flash triggers I researched flashes, talked with photography friends, read reviews, and shopped for best prices.  I first concluded that with food photography as my principle use for the flashes, I would not need to go to the expense of purchasing TTL flashes.  With static photos, a manual flash is the best choice giving you full creative control over the quantity and quality of the light.  TTL flashes can be used in manual mode, but why pay for something you don’t need?  In essence, you set up your shot, set the power and zoom on the flash after a couple of test shots (or triggering the flash and using a light meter to set power and exposure), and you are ready to go.

From my experience with testing various lighting configurations for my food photography, I wanted a three light kit.  Two lights for side lighting, and a third for backlighting.  Why? By applying light from three angles, you are able to wrap light around the subject and bring greater dimensionality to the photograph.  I also knew I wanted to use radio frequency remote flash triggers.  When I shoot food photography, it is real food – that I eat.  Using the RF triggers, I am able to quickly set up a shot, get the work done, and quickly move the gear to the side so our dinner party can enjoy the creation.

My decision to go with manual flashes also saved a boatload of cash.  The Yongnuo YN560 flash sells for $75 on Amazon.  The RF triggers sell for $35 a pair.  In total, I have about $300 invested.  Compare this to $450 for a single Canon 580EX II.  When I decide to move to more dynamic situations (i.e. moving subjects or situations in which I cannot take the time to set up the shot in a controlled situation) I will likely purchase the 580EX II, but for now, the manual flashes are completely adequate.

The photographs you see here are test shots and not the end of the story.  I was not at home when I took these shots and did not have umbrellas or other diffusers to shoot through.  In other words, these are all bare bulb shots.  I was able to use a little trickery by bouncing the light, but the addition of diffusers will result in softer light, controlled specular highlights, and even greater flexibility with the quality of the light.

As I play more with my food, and my lighting setup, I will be sure to share my results.  If the food you see here is making you hungry, head over to Craig’s Grape Adventure for hundreds of recipes, wine pairings and more food photography.

Have fun, and go make some great photography.

Craig

Do It Yourself Light Box for Food Photography

Earlier this week I posted a related article titled “Do It Yourself Lighting for Food Photography” that discussed inexpensive and easy to construct light diffusion panels and lighting along with some tips for using this equipment to best effect for food photography.  In this post we will look at a table top light box (or light tent).

The previous photograph shows my tabletop light box setup that cost about $10 to construct (reusing the sheet and spring clamps from my diffusion panels, and using the same lights).  I made this a bit larger than the commercially available light boxes and constructed it from two square frames (25” per side using 3/4” PVC) with a single tube on the back connecting the two side panels.  Commercially available light boxes are generally smaller and range from roughly $30 to $100.  Commercial light boxes are essentially a cube of translucent material stretched on a wire frame with one side of the cube open (think of a box with an open top which is set on its side).

I prefer my setup over a commercial light box for several reasons:

1. Low cost
2. Larger (better dimension for food photography)
3. Greater flexibility (I can choose to close the top by draping another sheet or leave it open, I can choose to drape the material across the bottom of the box (or not), or could choose to expose any side of the box (or cover it).

So the real question is “why use a light box?”  Also, why would you want to use a light box rather than the diffuser panel set up I discussed in “Do It Yourself Lighting for Food Photography?”  One reason is convenience.  The light box setup is quick and easy…a slight advantage over the diffuser panels.  Second, the flexibility I noted above.  Third, the light box gives me the opportunity to light from the rear (either blowing out the background or controlling the light to add further dimensionality to the subject).  These advantages apply equally well to product photography.

For me, the most important advantage of the light box is the ability to control reflections.  Because nearly all my food photography includes wine, controlling reflections from wine bottles and wine glasses can be a serious challenge.  The light box is an elegant solution.

Glass reflects – you can’t cheat physics.  However, you can control what is revealed in the reflection.  A light box goes a long way to giving you the tools to exercise some measure of control.

If you want to see the full coverage of the wine and taco photos featured here, go to Craig’s Grape Adventure tomorrow for the article on wine pairing with DC food trucks, and next week for a report on Casino Royale night including the 1998 Jacquart Blanc de Blanc Brut.

Have fun, and go make some great photography.

Craig

Do It Yourself Lighting for Food Photography

As many of you who follow my other blog, Craig’s Grape Adventure, where I write (and photograph) about food and wine pairing, I have put a good amount of energy into building my food photography skills since the first of this year.  In pursuing this type of photography, I quickly learned that I would not be able to rely on the natural lighting I prefer for the rest of my photography.  Not wanting to blow a mound of cash to set up a good food photography lighting rig (yet), I decided to go the DIY route as an interim measure.

I followed a three step process:

1. Constructing two PVC diffusers.
2. Finding the “right” amount of light.
3. Experimenting with the direction of the light.

First, I constructed two diffuser frames from PVC.  I constructed a large free standing unit that consists of a 42” square frame with support legs that bring the diffuser frame to table height.  This is a simple matter of cutting PVC to length, and connecting the joints with elbows and tees.  I constructed a second 30” diffuser frame for table top use – short legs so the unit could sit on the table.  Next it was a matter of draping bed sheets over the frame and securing the sheets to the frame with spring clamps.

Continuing with the budget theme, I used halogen work lights I’ve had for a number of years.  Note; using lights that are not white balanced will require you to adjust your in-camera white balance or adjust in post (possibly both – I manage color correction in post).  Not a big problem, just something to be aware of.

Getting the “right” amount of light was a matter of experimentation that involved moving the diffusers varying distances from the subject and moving the lights varying distances from the diffusers.  I don’t have a magic formula for this.  There are a number of variables, including the amount of ambient light, so I encourage you to experiment until you get the lighting effect you are looking for.

The last step is the most important – the direction of the light.  The key to good food photography is giving the subject a three dimensional feel (the zucchini and red pepper above are good examples).  In other words, straight on lighting (from the direction of the camera) will result in a flat image.  As you move the light source to the side and back of the food, you begin to manage the light and shadow resulting in the addition of depth and dimension to the subject.  I spent the better part of an afternoon experimenting with this.

Because all food is not created equal, the location of your lighting can vary from subject to subject.  Said another way, food is not all the same shape, and adding depth and dimension to a banana is different than a piece of toast, a bed of rice, or an apple.  Through my experimentation, I found that to bring depth and dimension to the composition, the lights were never in front of the 3 o’clock and nine o’clock positions.  Using a two light set up, I frequently have one light at the 3 or 9 o’clock position and another further behind the food at say 10 or 2 o’clock.

If I don’t have time to play with the lighting for a particular dish (i.e., people are waiting to eat), my default is 3 o’clock and 10 o’clock.  This may not be “perfect",” but it yields solid results without much thought or effort.

You don’t need to spend a bunch of your hard earned cash to get satisfactory lighting for food photography.  After pulling the work lights from the garage, I invested about $20 in this lighting set up.  The real challenge in this rig is taking the time to experiment with light intensity (distance and more/less layers of sheets) and lighting location.  You can do it.

Too see more of my food photography and some mouth watering food and wine pairings, please visit Craig’s Grape Adventure.

Have fun, and go make some great photography.

Craig

Pouring Wine Sideways–Defying Gravity

The first photograph in this post is the title photograph from my other blog – Craig’s Grape Adventure.  If you have not visited yet, I encourage you to do so.  On Craig’s Grape Adventure I share my experiences with food, wine, and pairing along with some phenomenal recipes and plenty of food photography.  There are thousands of food blogs, wine blogs, and pairing blogs meandering about the internet galaxy.  Craig’s Grape Adventure is distinct among this large group because each pairing comes with a story, the “why” of the pairing, extensive photography, and I discuss the failures as well as the successes.

Several people have asked that I talk about how I made this shot, so here we go.  The setup was pretty simple.  First I set up a light stand with a crossbar and clam to hold the glass upside down as shown in the next photograph.  I used a large white reflector as the background which also served to bounce light back through the glass and pouring wine.  I used an Elinchrom 250 light (modeling light and strobe) at the 8 o’clock position with a bounce off the rear reflector and a second reflector at the 4 o’clock position.  The light was triggered wirelessly using the Elinchrom wireless system.

I used a Canon 24-70 f/2.8L mounted on my Canon 5D which was all mounted on a tripod and triggered using a cable release.  The cable release is an important part of this setup because this was a one man operation.  In other words I had to make the pour and take the shot at the same time…left hand operating the camera, right hand pouring.  The next shot shows that my coordination was further challenged by having to accurately aim and land the pour into a pot (rather than deal with a big mess).  For all you wine lovers, don’t worry, no wine was sacrificed in the making of this photograph.  I used water.

The final challenge to this shot was capturing an “interesting” stream of water.  Every time I poured, the stream looked a bit different.  The result is that I took a bunch of shots then settled on the exposure I liked the best.

Finally, in post processing I rotated the image 90 degrees, cropped to capture the relevant parts, and hiked up the highlights to washout the background. Voila!  Overall this was a fun and creative exercise.  Now my mind wanders to “what else can I do with spilling wine?”

Have fun, and go make some great photography.

Craig

Food Photography Tips (11-15)

This is the third and final installment of food photography tips resulting from what I have learned during my recent period of dedication to food photography.

In Food Photography Tips (1-5), I presented the first set of tips:

• Tip #1:  Shoot Low – Angle Matters
• Tip #2:  Composition Rules Work for Food Too
• Tip #3:  Fill the Frame
• Tip #4:  Find Some Action
• Tip #5:  Eat Well

In Food Photography Tips (6-10), I presented the second set of tips:

 

• Tip #6:  Shoot with a Shallow Depth of Field
• Tip #7:  Shoot with a Long Lens
• Tip #8:  DO NOT Use the Flash Installed on Your Camera
• Tip #9:  Add Color
• Tip #10:  Capture the Textures

And now for the final 5.

 

Tip #11:  Use Props Judiciously

 

Props are good if used with a bit of restraint.  All the normal things you might find on a table (silverware, glasses, linens, flowers, wine bottle/decanter, cooking utensils, kitchen gadgets, etc.) are all fair game.  The thing to remember is that the food is the star.  If you go to heavy on the props, the star will not shine so brightly.  Also be conscious of distracting colors, patterns, or shapes of props.  Props should provide context, set a mood, and support the star of the show.  They should not compete for top billing.

 

 

Tip #12:  Think About Plates and Plating

 

Bonus! Two (or maybe more) tips in one!  Selecting the right plate is an important decision that has a number of implications including how you “plate” the dish.  First, I recommend staying simple.  If your plate is too cool for school, you draw attention away from where you want the viewers attention.  Second, I recommend small rather than large.  Small plates make the food look bigger.  A lot of empty space on a big plate can be distracting.  This is where the plate affects the plating (how you setup the food on the plate).  If the plate is too small, you may be limited in staging the food attractively.  If you have too large a plate, the food can look lonely.  Somewhere there is the plate that is “just right.”  If you don’t have the “just right” plate, err on the side of small. 

 

 

Plates also very with respect to the lip height.  Higher plate lips can hide the food.  I recommend sticking with a simple plate with a low lip height as a general rule.

 

Finally, plating a dish is an art in itself.  Without getting into the realm of food styling where all the Hollywood tricks are used, there is a lot you can do to make the food look appealing.  Plate it fresh. In other words straight from the pan, onto the plate, and in front of the camera while everything is juicy, steaming, melting, bubbling, or whatever your food might be doing.  Garnishing in a restrained manner can also add a good bit of appeal (see tip #9:  Add Color).

 

Tip #13:  Don’t Forget Your Color Balance

 

When I am shooting any of the great food I write about at Craig’s Grape Adventure, I generally run up against the challenge of shooting with several different light sources.  The lighting in the kitchen is different from the lighting at the table.  And to make things worse, the light may be coming through a window, halogen lights, fluorescent lights, or incandescent lights…all at the same time.  With all these different light sources, the photograph can become cast with a blue or yellow hue.  Suddenly, your cheese cake looks more like key lime pie…not good.

 

The next photography is one that needed a good deal of color correction…still not confident I got it right.

 

 

There are plenty of options to deal with this.  On the high tech end, there are gizmos and gadgets that you can photograph and have some magical piece of software do the correction in post processing (a great example is the X-Rite Color Checker Passport).  You can rely on your camera’s auto white balance (not always reliable), you can manually adjust the white balance settings in your camera (a bit better than auto white balance), or you can just deal with it on the computer.  Personally, I take care of it on the computer.  Adobe Lightroom does a great job of handling white balance, and where it misses slightly, I can adjust it to match the tones and hues I want.  However, when I have a few spare coins, I will definitely be purchasing the  X-Rite Color Checker Passport.

 

Tip #14:  What to Shoot, and What NOT to Shoot

 

What luck!  Another two for one tip!  Here is the big secret – shoot the things you find appealing and attractive.  If it is not attractive and appealing, don’t shoot it.  It really is that simple, but let me elaborate a bit because there are a couple of important points in these simple statements.  Food photography is not photo journalism, and you shouldn’t feel compelled to shoot a disaster as it unfolds.  Just last night I photographed one of my wine pairings for  Craig’s Grape Adventure.  A wonderful 2006 Ledson Zinfandel paired with my interpretation of Shepherds Pie as an homage to Saint Patrick’s day.  I’m not saying it is impossible to make shepherds pie look good, but it is not easy.  Some food (like shepherds pie) takes a great deal of effort or creativity to make it look good.  And some dishes, while absolutely delicious, are better left to senses other than the visual.

 

 

The other category of things that fall into the “do not shoot” category are the details you may have overlooked like the spots on the wine glass, the little sticker on the decanter, the price tag on the bottle of wine, the drippings on the plate, and so on.  My point is to pay attention to the details and be conscious of not only the things you want IN the photograph, but those things you don’t want in the photograph.

 

The photograph above is a good example of not paying attention to the details.  The sticker on the flowers and the pepper grinder should not be there.  Pepper grinder!!!  Am I admitting that my food is not perfectly seasoned???

 

Tip #15:  Pay Attention to the Light

 

I saved the most important tip for last.  Unfortunately, this is the most complicated aspect of food photography (or any photography for that matter).  I intend on writing a separate post (or series) on lighting food, but for now I will talk about some generalities.  First and foremost, photography is all about light and shadows, and forming the right balance between the two.  While having sufficient light for a good exposure is important, that is only the first step.  Once you have enough light for a good exposure, you then need to think about where the light is coming from and what kind of light it is.  More so than other types of photography, lighting for food photography is more about defining shape and texture.  Proper lighting adds depth and makes an orange appear more as a sphere, a hotdog as a cylinder, and a steak as a cube with depth and dimension.  Improper lighting makes each of these shapes flat and therefore less interesting and less appealing.

 

 

I still have much to learn about lighting food.  But I promise you I am working hard at it and will pass along the benefit of my research and experimentation when I have something substantial to offer.

 

Have fun and go make some great photography.

 

Craig