seattlechronic
Forum Enthusiast
Anyone shoot any food photos? Here are a few that I created and took photos of...These were all taken with the D30 - Cooking and Photography are my two passions!--Seattle Chronic - D30
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Food Photography
- Thread starter seattlechronic
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seattlechronic
Forum Enthusiast
Chris Maddock
Senior Member
Typical!
I just succeed in fighting the pangs of hunger and some so-and-so goes and posts something like this and doesn't even include the recipes ;-)
Nice pics, thanks for sharing. Now, about those recipes?
KRs,
Chris
F
Folkert
Guest
On the cook page of my wife you find many cook pictures. Everything with my D30 taken up. Greeting Folkert.
http://www.marions-kochbuch.de
http://www.marions-kochbuch.de
I have a chance to some photos with cakes and some Chinese dishes, please comment.
Peter
http://www.fototime.com/inv/B9B8891EEE31CB8
Peter
http://www.fototime.com/inv/B9B8891EEE31CB8
What a combo! I, too, love cooking and photography. My cooking is less on the artsy side and more on the rustic side, but I do appreciate the fine art of presentation. You've really done some nice work here on both accounts. You might want to get some more light on the subjects, though. That'll really help those colors to jump out at you.
P.S. Seeing as you are in Wash state, can you point me to some good restaurants and fish markets in the Tacoma area? I may be going there next year.
Stew
P.S. Seeing as you are in Wash state, can you point me to some good restaurants and fish markets in the Tacoma area? I may be going there next year.
Stew
aaron53665
Senior Member
at least in visual presentation you are, and i assume it all tastes as good as it looks! however the photos can be improved. as they stand now the colors are beautiful and the food looks great, but with a little tweaking you can be a top class food shooter and that's a high paying specialty. believe me you have most of the battle won by being able to create such beautiful dishes on your own. it's like an aspiring fashion shooter having naomi cambell and kate moss as girlfriends to practice on!
i don't know if you want to hear all this or not, but i'm going to ramble for a while anyway just in case you have aspirations
your lighting is fine for showing the details and color in the food, but it could be more atmospheric with the use of cookies or tricks like using faceted glass as a gobo. also warming the light with filters and lighting from a low angle to simulate early or late light is nice.
aside from the lighting i really like the current trend towards very selective focus in food photography, it might be jumping on a bandwagon, but it's just so gorgeous!
lastly i'd say you need to put as much thought into the "presentation" of the whole frame as much as into the presentation of the food, the smoked chicken comes the closest to that on the pages you have there.
ok, it wasn't lastly, the other issue is the camera format, using the d30 will be great for working out your lighting techniques, but to really do this right a view camera is the right tool. you could also get a tilt/shift lens but you still won't have the range of movements and versatility of a monorail camera. plus you can buy a nice used 4x5 plus a lens or two for less than the cost of one tilt/shift lens. this is what will give you the control over focus and perspective you need to fine tune your food shots. alternatively you could use a bellows or extension tubes to help with the selective focus thing, or even just using a fast lens wide open from the right distance can help there, but not with the degree of control, nor the perspective end of the deal that a view camera will do.
you have a GREAT opportunity open to you, many people use assisting as their "school" and entree into commercial photography (or do it after going to photo school) but with your talent you can work as a food stylist for top food shooters and learn the some of the same types of things a photo assistant would learn about shooting food. but instead of making between $100-$200 a day for assisting while you learn, you'll be able to make $600-$1000 a day while learning! (last i heard that was a typical range anyway, could be a little off or diff depending on your local market)
going to the asmp page http://www.asmp.org/index.html i found 13 seattle shooters who list food as a specialty, go to find a photographer and type in food and seattle (wouldn't let me link directly to the page) a few of them have sites linked and have some very nice stuff (you might need to look under still life or product to find some of the food shots in their sites). anyway, what i would do is contact all those people and show them your work. ask for advice, offer your services as a food stylist, see if they will do any tests with you for their book (and yours of course), ask for references for existing food stylists in town who you might assist or contact for advice. (you already have the food talent, but seeing exactly how a food stylist works with a photographer once or twice will put you on your way) you can also contact any local magazines that feature food shots and make yourself known, but you might want to wait until you have some jobs or tests under your belt first so you can show them some top notch work.
by the way i happen to be free on those next nights when you'll be making the filet soy ginger or muscovy duck !
i don't know if you want to hear all this or not, but i'm going to ramble for a while anyway just in case you have aspirations
your lighting is fine for showing the details and color in the food, but it could be more atmospheric with the use of cookies or tricks like using faceted glass as a gobo. also warming the light with filters and lighting from a low angle to simulate early or late light is nice.
aside from the lighting i really like the current trend towards very selective focus in food photography, it might be jumping on a bandwagon, but it's just so gorgeous!
lastly i'd say you need to put as much thought into the "presentation" of the whole frame as much as into the presentation of the food, the smoked chicken comes the closest to that on the pages you have there.
ok, it wasn't lastly, the other issue is the camera format, using the d30 will be great for working out your lighting techniques, but to really do this right a view camera is the right tool. you could also get a tilt/shift lens but you still won't have the range of movements and versatility of a monorail camera. plus you can buy a nice used 4x5 plus a lens or two for less than the cost of one tilt/shift lens. this is what will give you the control over focus and perspective you need to fine tune your food shots. alternatively you could use a bellows or extension tubes to help with the selective focus thing, or even just using a fast lens wide open from the right distance can help there, but not with the degree of control, nor the perspective end of the deal that a view camera will do.
you have a GREAT opportunity open to you, many people use assisting as their "school" and entree into commercial photography (or do it after going to photo school) but with your talent you can work as a food stylist for top food shooters and learn the some of the same types of things a photo assistant would learn about shooting food. but instead of making between $100-$200 a day for assisting while you learn, you'll be able to make $600-$1000 a day while learning! (last i heard that was a typical range anyway, could be a little off or diff depending on your local market)
going to the asmp page http://www.asmp.org/index.html i found 13 seattle shooters who list food as a specialty, go to find a photographer and type in food and seattle (wouldn't let me link directly to the page) a few of them have sites linked and have some very nice stuff (you might need to look under still life or product to find some of the food shots in their sites). anyway, what i would do is contact all those people and show them your work. ask for advice, offer your services as a food stylist, see if they will do any tests with you for their book (and yours of course), ask for references for existing food stylists in town who you might assist or contact for advice. (you already have the food talent, but seeing exactly how a food stylist works with a photographer once or twice will put you on your way) you can also contact any local magazines that feature food shots and make yourself known, but you might want to wait until you have some jobs or tests under your belt first so you can show them some top notch work.
by the way i happen to be free on those next nights when you'll be making the filet soy ginger or muscovy duck !
John M. Poster
Well-known member
Grasshopper,
Learn from my words...
Your food is out of focus. Greater depth of field is needed for greater whetting of appetite.
Learn from my words...
Your food is out of focus. Greater depth of field is needed for greater whetting of appetite.
M
Matt Kim
Guest
I'd like to see you get depth of field with your Gimp lens! Let's
see what you can do.
Matt
see what you can do.
Matt
aaron53665
Senior Member
au contraire my friend, this is what the cutting edge food shooters are doing these days, the ones making the most money at it:
http://www.steveadamsstudio.com/food.shtml
http://www.noelbarnhurst.com
http://www.cookestudio.com/food/index.html
http://www.michaelhaskinsphoto.com/food.html
http://www.jpellegrini.com/foodthumbs.html
http://www.philipsalaverryphoto.com/portfolio/food/index.html
just a sampling of people i found at workbook.com
often, if not usually, only a small portion in focus, and certainly appetite whetting!
B
Bill(y)
Guest
All you food shooters are killing me. My stomach is growling, it's 11:AM and I am starvin' marvin'.
BTW, I heard this style of food shooting refered to as GastroPorn a while back. Gotta love that term.
I've never thought much about shooting food. While my own concoctions [divine in taste] aren't so attractive, I do have a gallery of kitchen icons.
http://flatarts.com/pastexhibits/whb/dining/1/index.html
But I do attend both the NRA (Ntl. Restaurant Assoc) show and the Fancy Food Show each year here in Chicago. There must be a HUGE market out there for GastroPorn, and excellent work being done too. Packaging, POP signage, menus, adds, promos and then these conventions...!
My own sense of aesthetic is that selective focus works when the focal point is decisive, not ambiguous like many of the confection examples. And this current trend is not limited to fancy food shots.
Good luck all.
Bill
http://www.flatarts.com/
BTW, I heard this style of food shooting refered to as GastroPorn a while back. Gotta love that term.
I've never thought much about shooting food. While my own concoctions [divine in taste] aren't so attractive, I do have a gallery of kitchen icons.
http://flatarts.com/pastexhibits/whb/dining/1/index.html
But I do attend both the NRA (Ntl. Restaurant Assoc) show and the Fancy Food Show each year here in Chicago. There must be a HUGE market out there for GastroPorn, and excellent work being done too. Packaging, POP signage, menus, adds, promos and then these conventions...!
My own sense of aesthetic is that selective focus works when the focal point is decisive, not ambiguous like many of the confection examples. And this current trend is not limited to fancy food shots.
Good luck all.
Bill
http://www.flatarts.com/
a person
Senior Member
Food shots are awesome. How about those city shots?
Is the moon real, or was that pasted in? Regardless, the shots are incredible. Same with the motorbike shots. Makes me want to get a D30 right now.
-Ken
jcwphoto
Leading Member
These two points together really affect the atmosphere of the picture, and as you probably know, atmosphere is actually almost as important as the food itself. As aaron said, the smoked chicken picture really stands out from the rest, not because of the food, but because it makes me feel like I would want to be in those surroundings. Don't get me wrong, the food looks wonderful, but in the other pictures, it just looks like pictures of food, whereas if you put more work into the background, it would feel more like presenting the whole course, the restaurant, the ambience, etc.
Some foods may lend themselves to more adventurous feel, some may lean toward the more romantic, some may be calling for a feel of sophistication. I think if you can create surroundings and lighting to reflect the different moods inherent in each dish, your composition would be completely awesome.
Just my opinions as I munch on a lunch of leftovers.
j
jcwphoto
Leading Member
Just thought I'd add, the tuna tartare actually looks good with that background and lighting for some reason. Maybe it's the sparseness of the dish itself that dictates the sparse and dark background.
Mathias Tornqvist
Well-known member
Oh, I beg to disagree. Good food photography needs a touch of art and mystery to it. Remember, we're not documenting crime scenes here.
Mathias Tornqvist
Well-known member
Very nice stuff! Here's a different (not better) take on things, from a calendar I shot with different recepies each month.
seattlechronic
Forum Enthusiast
Thanks you guys very much....The smoked chicken is the only pic done with extenal lighting. ( My first try with a 500w light ) All of the other shots are done on the fly in the kitchen before the food goes to a customer. I am trying now to do outside shooting to work on my tech. The worst oart is the reflective counters in the kitchen and poor lighting but what the heck...I think it coming along...You guys are all great and really appericate your comments,,,
P.S. Most of these shots are done with an epson pc3000z. I am now working on getting some more lens for my d30 to use with food.
Thanks
P.S. Most of these shots are done with an epson pc3000z. I am now working on getting some more lens for my d30 to use with food.
Thanks
seattlechronic
Forum Enthusiast
Great shots guys....As far a DOF goes most shots were taken with that Epson PC3000z at 7mm....Selective DOF is a very wild trend and can be used to highlight the subject, but a lot of people( not photog's or chef's ) always say the same thing” that’s nice but why is it out of focus?" Once you explain to them people understand. Food Arts mag is a great publication that uses the selective DOF quite a bit in their photos.
I really notice how much lighting makes a difference and really can't wait to set up some studio lights ( soon ) Like I said in an earllier post, The smoked chicken is the only shot I did with Lights ( one 500w halogen ) and realize that I needs some lights BAD! Thanks guys for the great comments....I LOVE my D30...Just need some more lens!
I really notice how much lighting makes a difference and really can't wait to set up some studio lights ( soon ) Like I said in an earllier post, The smoked chicken is the only shot I did with Lights ( one 500w halogen ) and realize that I needs some lights BAD! Thanks guys for the great comments....I LOVE my D30...Just need some more lens!
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