I'm an avid reader of strobist, written by David Hobby. If you want to kick your photography up a notch, it's a good blog to read. Lately, he's been sending his readers through boot camp, and this weeks assignment was to photograph food. "Perfect," I thought.
This post isn't about how to make the food, but how to photograph it, if you're into that kind of thing. The first part is novice friendly. I'll then add more for the intermediate shooter, then add more for the bit more advanced shooter.
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I took the above photograph for the Strobist Boot Camp II assignment. I can't imagine it winning (there's already better ones in the running), but it was fun, I learned, and to date, it's holding it's own in the submission pool. It just isn't the best. For some very basic simple pointers on shooting food, read on.
For The Novice
This photo of choux buns was taken with a camera on a tripod. The main light source is coming from above and behind the choux buns. In a nutshell, that's it.
Some tips:
Use a window as a light source, just place your food so the window is above and behind it. The light should be either straight behind, behind and to the side, or maybe even directly to the side in some cases, but not in front. The back and/or side light helps show texture. The food will be between the camera and the window. Raising or lowering the food in relation to the window will give different results. Experiment a little.
Set your camera to shoot on timer mode. Even with the tripod, pushing the button will give a little camera shake, which the timer mode will prevent from affecting the photo.
No tripod? No biggie. Handheld can produce fair enough results (albeit almost always a little blurry). Or you can set you camera down. Put it in a bean bag to allow you to angle it downward toward your food. If your food is on a table, set the camera on a higher table, or stack books up so you can set the camera to look down on the food.
Don't use the on-camera flash. Turn it off. Let the window do the lighting work. Because it's bigger than your flash, and comes above and behind your food, it is a better quality of light for your food.
If you're a full auto shooter, this ought to get you decent results. If it turns out too dark, or too light, and you know how to tell your camera to make a brighter or darker photo, make the adjustment to your camera, and shoot again.
For The Intermediate Shooter
Set your camera to full manual if you can. Second option is to set it to Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority. Each of these should be able to allow you to adjust your camera settings to make a darker or brighter photo. Consult your camera's instructions on how to use these camera modes.
Full manual isn't so scary. It's simple once you give it a shot, and it gives you greater control of your results. If you're not familiar with how to use your camera's manual setting, consult your camera's instructions. For a beginning setting, set the camera to f/5.6 and your shutter speed to 1/30. If the photo is too dark, do one of two things. Slow down the shutter speed (e.g. 1/15) and/or open up your aperture (e.g. f/4). If it's too light, do the opposite: speed up your shutter (e.g. 1/100) and/or close down your aperture (e.g. f/8). Note that changing your aperture will also change your depth of field, so that more or less of your food is in focus. Keep that in mind as you shoot. You may also change your ISO. A higher ISO will make the photo brighter, but will also introduce more noise the higher you increase the ISO.
For The Advanced Shooter
For the settings aficionado, this was shot at f/6.3, 1/15, 100 ISO, at 200mm. A speedlight fired into a silver umbrella was above and behind the food. The food setup was on the floor. Two windows in the kitchen provided daylight for the fill. (I could have gotten similar lighting without the speedlight and umbrella if I placed the food close to a window so that the window light came from above and behind.)
I toyed with the aperture, and at 200mm I liked the depth of f/6.3. The 1/15 shutter speed allowed for the ambient window light to create a shadow brightness to my liking, but I could have gone a little slower/brighter, or even placed something reflective in front to bounce back the strobe light.
I also stood up a piece of paper between the flash and the mug, to knock down the light hitting the milk, as it was too bright otherwise.
And that, as they say, is that.
.................................
This post isn't about how to make the food, but how to photograph it, if you're into that kind of thing. The first part is novice friendly. I'll then add more for the intermediate shooter, then add more for the bit more advanced shooter.I took the above photograph for the Strobist Boot Camp II assignment. I can't imagine it winning (there's already better ones in the running), but it was fun, I learned, and to date, it's holding it's own in the submission pool. It just isn't the best. For some very basic simple pointers on shooting food, read on.
For The Novice
This photo of choux buns was taken with a camera on a tripod. The main light source is coming from above and behind the choux buns. In a nutshell, that's it.
Some tips:
Use a window as a light source, just place your food so the window is above and behind it. The light should be either straight behind, behind and to the side, or maybe even directly to the side in some cases, but not in front. The back and/or side light helps show texture. The food will be between the camera and the window. Raising or lowering the food in relation to the window will give different results. Experiment a little.
Set your camera to shoot on timer mode. Even with the tripod, pushing the button will give a little camera shake, which the timer mode will prevent from affecting the photo.
No tripod? No biggie. Handheld can produce fair enough results (albeit almost always a little blurry). Or you can set you camera down. Put it in a bean bag to allow you to angle it downward toward your food. If your food is on a table, set the camera on a higher table, or stack books up so you can set the camera to look down on the food.
Don't use the on-camera flash. Turn it off. Let the window do the lighting work. Because it's bigger than your flash, and comes above and behind your food, it is a better quality of light for your food.
If you're a full auto shooter, this ought to get you decent results. If it turns out too dark, or too light, and you know how to tell your camera to make a brighter or darker photo, make the adjustment to your camera, and shoot again.
For The Intermediate Shooter
Set your camera to full manual if you can. Second option is to set it to Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority. Each of these should be able to allow you to adjust your camera settings to make a darker or brighter photo. Consult your camera's instructions on how to use these camera modes.
Full manual isn't so scary. It's simple once you give it a shot, and it gives you greater control of your results. If you're not familiar with how to use your camera's manual setting, consult your camera's instructions. For a beginning setting, set the camera to f/5.6 and your shutter speed to 1/30. If the photo is too dark, do one of two things. Slow down the shutter speed (e.g. 1/15) and/or open up your aperture (e.g. f/4). If it's too light, do the opposite: speed up your shutter (e.g. 1/100) and/or close down your aperture (e.g. f/8). Note that changing your aperture will also change your depth of field, so that more or less of your food is in focus. Keep that in mind as you shoot. You may also change your ISO. A higher ISO will make the photo brighter, but will also introduce more noise the higher you increase the ISO.
For The Advanced Shooter
For the settings aficionado, this was shot at f/6.3, 1/15, 100 ISO, at 200mm. A speedlight fired into a silver umbrella was above and behind the food. The food setup was on the floor. Two windows in the kitchen provided daylight for the fill. (I could have gotten similar lighting without the speedlight and umbrella if I placed the food close to a window so that the window light came from above and behind.)
I toyed with the aperture, and at 200mm I liked the depth of f/6.3. The 1/15 shutter speed allowed for the ambient window light to create a shadow brightness to my liking, but I could have gone a little slower/brighter, or even placed something reflective in front to bounce back the strobe light.
I also stood up a piece of paper between the flash and the mug, to knock down the light hitting the milk, as it was too bright otherwise.
And that, as they say, is that.
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