Some Food Photography

During the past Christmas holidays, Denise baked some delicious cookies and I took the opportunity to take some shots.

Baked stuff is a favorite of mine when getting to food photography, and since I had bought a few different kind of breads, I shot those as well. Finally I am posting some of those pictures!

You might notice some have not been color corrected, but I liked the blue dominant and I left it. The first batch of pics has been shot in natural light, using some white reflectors in the front to redirect the back-light from the window. The last ones, on black background, have been shot with artificial light.

               85mm f/4.5 1/10sec ISO200

               85mm f/4.5 1/10sec ISO200

               85mm f/5.0 1/10sec ISO200

               85mm f/5.0 1/10sec ISO200

               85mm f/5.0 1/10sec ISO200

               85mm f/5.0 1/10sec ISO200

               85mm f/5.0 1/10sec ISO200

               85mm f/5.6 1/6sec ISO200

               85mm f/11.0 1/100sec ISO100

               85mm f/11.0 1/100sec ISO100

               85mm f/9.0 1/100sec ISO100

Photographing Food

I like food photography, particularly of cakes and baked stuff, and if the setting is a country or rustic one, that's even better. It's an area that is much more difficult than what it seems and when done professionally, food photography is as time demanding as taking pictures of live models in a studio: Lights, reflectors, props and a food stylist preparing and placing the food, like it would be for live models the air stylist or the make-up artist. How important is a good photo for a recipe book! If you like the photos, you will tend to think that that is a delicious food for sure!

Well, on a very amatourial level – and in a rush  (the guests were already waiting for their share of sweets) – I started experimenting, taking advantage of the holidays and of the fact that during this time Denise is using her terrific baking skills more often.

I like to use natural light, usually coming from the window, behind the subject. I use a simple poli-plat (or carton plume, a slice of foam material in a sandwich with two sheets of white cardboard) as a reflector in front of the subject, just below the lens, to redirect the light from the window and make the front shadows less harsh. I mount my 5D Mark III on a heavy tripod because some of the exposures are long, and it's also much easier to frame my subject correctly. I like to experiment with little depth of field, so I try to use a focal length of 70mm and up, with a large aperture (unless I am shooting from a vertical point of view where I want everything sharp). The trick is to focus the correct point that will give a nice, interesting look to the photo.

Up to you to decide if you would eat these, after looking at these shots! By the way, if you were wondering... chocolate and hazelnut cookies, coffee cookies and apple bars. Yummy!

Happy New Year to everybody!

              EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM@73mm f/7.1 1/25sec ISO 400 +0.67

              EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM@58mm f/11 1/13 sec ISO 400 +0.67

              EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM@80mm f/5.6 0.5 sec ISO 100 +1

              EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM@32mm f/4.0 1/8 sec ISO 400 +0.67

              EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM@75mm f/4.0 1/5 sec ISO 400 +0.67