landarc
somebody shut me the fark up.
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2009
- Location
- sAn leAnDRo, CA
I figure this is a Q-Talk subject, since we all like to see photos of food, and we all like to see ones that are, at least decent. I recently had the chance to shoot some food for an event that Matt and Charlotte were doing at Phat Matt's BBQ in Oakland (and yes, they are Brethren). I was quite pleased witht the shots.
All of these shots were set with the white balance on my camera set for incandescent lighting. Although the restaurant is primarily lit with fluorescent lighting, the area I decided to shoot is under the warming lights and it has a redder overall tone.
This shot had a couple of great elements, because the background of the shot is more than 8 feet from the subject matter, I was able to get a fairly dark background, the actual subject sat on a glass sheet, this created the reflections, which grounds the shot. I was shooting with the camera aperture wide open, which gives a smaller range of focus, blurring the unfortunately placed cornbread, making it just a little fuzzy actually lets it add interest to the image.
Same basic setup as the prior image, since I was using such a short depth of field, and was trying to shoot an entire plate, I opted to focus on the front of the plate, moving the most interesting element forward, letting the other element fuzz out a bit. There has to be at least some area of a shot in a shot that is clearly focused, but, you can let other parts of is become a little more vague, this actually gives the image depth.
If I were to use these images for a blog post, or to tell any story, it is always good to get some working photos, especially since we are as much about the cooking process as we are about the eating. Showing a little of the background of the production makes the story more complete. These images were edited some, as I found that with the smoker shot, the actual presence of smoke and overall darkness threw the details a bit, by adjusting the contrast and lightness, I was able to bring forward a little more detail. The stove shot presented the opposite issue, the stainless wants to push the exposure to be too light, by adjusting the lightness down, and pushing the contrast up, the stainless is muted and the bacon story is more focused.
A very simple shot, the entire idea here is to present the food as the primary element. I tried to create a similar sense of depth, while bringing the food to the eye as the focal point. The issue here, dark background, dark foreground, dark meat, the plate and the brightness aided greatly in creating the necessary contrast, making the meat pop. Other than cropping, there were almost no adjustments made to this photo.
I think this is one of the best images I have ever shot, pulling every element and technique I have shown to the fore. I did try to get the top of the bun composed into a parallel line with the sandwich, so as to hold a sharper focus on the entire sandwich, the peppers are really quite blurry, but, work much like the reflections, in setting the foreground, they actually create the depth for the image, making it seem more real.
All of these shots were shot with a Canon EOS 40D, 50mm f1.8 lens, lighting as existed, no supplemental lights or reflectors, hand held and during service. Focus was autofocus, but, I tend to use the screen that has the little diamond indicators to show what is focused on, then I focus first, then compose in the lens, this allows me to control what is focused while still choosing composition. I do try to limit cropping and shoot full screen.
All of these shots were set with the white balance on my camera set for incandescent lighting. Although the restaurant is primarily lit with fluorescent lighting, the area I decided to shoot is under the warming lights and it has a redder overall tone.
This shot had a couple of great elements, because the background of the shot is more than 8 feet from the subject matter, I was able to get a fairly dark background, the actual subject sat on a glass sheet, this created the reflections, which grounds the shot. I was shooting with the camera aperture wide open, which gives a smaller range of focus, blurring the unfortunately placed cornbread, making it just a little fuzzy actually lets it add interest to the image.
Same basic setup as the prior image, since I was using such a short depth of field, and was trying to shoot an entire plate, I opted to focus on the front of the plate, moving the most interesting element forward, letting the other element fuzz out a bit. There has to be at least some area of a shot in a shot that is clearly focused, but, you can let other parts of is become a little more vague, this actually gives the image depth.
If I were to use these images for a blog post, or to tell any story, it is always good to get some working photos, especially since we are as much about the cooking process as we are about the eating. Showing a little of the background of the production makes the story more complete. These images were edited some, as I found that with the smoker shot, the actual presence of smoke and overall darkness threw the details a bit, by adjusting the contrast and lightness, I was able to bring forward a little more detail. The stove shot presented the opposite issue, the stainless wants to push the exposure to be too light, by adjusting the lightness down, and pushing the contrast up, the stainless is muted and the bacon story is more focused.
A very simple shot, the entire idea here is to present the food as the primary element. I tried to create a similar sense of depth, while bringing the food to the eye as the focal point. The issue here, dark background, dark foreground, dark meat, the plate and the brightness aided greatly in creating the necessary contrast, making the meat pop. Other than cropping, there were almost no adjustments made to this photo.
I think this is one of the best images I have ever shot, pulling every element and technique I have shown to the fore. I did try to get the top of the bun composed into a parallel line with the sandwich, so as to hold a sharper focus on the entire sandwich, the peppers are really quite blurry, but, work much like the reflections, in setting the foreground, they actually create the depth for the image, making it seem more real.
All of these shots were shot with a Canon EOS 40D, 50mm f1.8 lens, lighting as existed, no supplemental lights or reflectors, hand held and during service. Focus was autofocus, but, I tend to use the screen that has the little diamond indicators to show what is focused on, then I focus first, then compose in the lens, this allows me to control what is focused while still choosing composition. I do try to limit cropping and shoot full screen.
