Food Photography
I’ve begun dabbling a little more seriously with staged shots after my better-half asked me to take some promotional photos for the cake business she’s started.
I’ve not done much, if any, food photography before and the first attempts taught me a great deal about getting the lights too close to the food (butter-cream icing does *not* like heat!) along with little things like the importance of props and setting up the lamps so that the light catches things in the background for a bit of interest in the bokeh.
I’m still very low-tech in terms of the ‘studio’ – this shot was taken in the living room on a coffee table with a table cloth over it and some white drapes up at the windows for background. I used my brilliant Nissin Di622 flash (cheaper than the Nikon SB-800 but seems just as good) with an Ikea halogen angle-poise lamp off to the left of the shot to give a warming glow.
I’d like to experiment more and no doubt I will do as time goes on, I’ve never really ‘got’ lighting so having a practical reason to learn should probably help. We’ve been scouring charity and antique shops for cheap props and I’ve been scrutinising books (especially the Hummingbird Bakery book) for ideas.
Never thought I’d enjoy this kind of photography but its really quite rewarding ‘seeing’ the shot in your head and then being able to reproduce it using something you’re staged yourself.
A few more shots are over on my Flickr page