Food Photography

Paid to learn

2012-01-13T16:06:00.001-05:00

These days I try to get paid to learn new technology. 18 years ago I was being paid to learn digital photography. I was one of the first and therefore have more digital experience than most. This time my beloved cheese client asked for a video for their new Cello website. We had been shooting still images for many days when the request came up. I went to Unique Photo, my local photo superstore and rented a Nikon D7000. I prefer Nikon because I have a large number of Nikon lenses and the D7000 can use them all; the manual and the auto focus. The set up for this shot involved locking a large 4 sided grater into 2 C-stands. The lighting was strobe modeling lights (that's right Speedotron modeling lights only) and the rest was just a matter of using a 300mm lens (450mm on the D7000) using my assistant to fake grate some cheeses, and me pouring 3 different cheeses down the grater while shooting 1080p video.
We shot a lot of "footage" and the rest was post production using Adobe Premier®, Adobe Flash®and Adobe Dreamweaver® to combine still images and video into a final .swf flash file for the website.
It took me longer then a real video pro to get this job done, so I am billing my client for only one day instead of the 2 1/2 days it actually took. I didn't want to bill my client for the time as I learned these new programs... Here is the video:

My busiest month yet!

2011-12-26T14:00:00.002-05:00

December has been super busy. I am still grateful for my cheese client who has continued to need photography despite the continuing worldwide recession. Their Cello brand is working on a new website and requires many images for support. We have been shooting new product shots and other supporting objects, but the real fun is the many recipes that need to be shot. The team included the client Melissa, the food stylist Marie Haycox, and me. The three of us make a terrific team. Melissa brought all of the props and art directed the shots, Marie made each of the recipes look awesome, so all I had to do was light and focus each different shot. I believe that I am done for 2011 but have already been booked to shoot more in 2012. We are even going to shoot video (a first paid video shoot) so I've got an editor ready to go. Maybe things are beginning to turn around....

Yum

2011-07-29T22:21:00.000-04:00

I am very grateful for the cheese folk that I have been shooting for this year. So far they have been by far my best client. Not only do I get to create pretty images but I also have lots of cheese to share with friends and relatives. This is all working out to be tons of fun. It's a yummy win win!

Bringing the past around again

2011-05-21T18:37:00.005-04:00

Back in the mid 1970's, as I was trying to leverage my feeble relationship with Eileen Ford into a fashion photographer's career, I had a style that involved underexposing film by over 3 stops and then pushing the processing the same amount. I did this with 3000 ASA (ISO) police recording film for black & white, and Ectachrome 200 for color. The resulting film was so contrasty that I had to shoot with a #4 Tiffen fog filter. The result was an image that was basically of normal contrast but super chunky grainy with puffed out highlights. I have fashion and beauty images still from that era. My engagement to Barb (we are still together) made me end pursuing my career in fashion (since I had never seen a faithful fashion photographer) but now, over 30 years later I am trying to replicate that style digitally. I'll keep posting them as a find some that I like.

Pretty shots are more fun

2011-04-19T10:57:00.005-04:00

I picked up the product for this shoot while on location for another client. That's exciting! My client/friend Nick had this to shoot and gave me an Italian booklet of the kind of images he wanted. The Italian images were soft and beautiful: just the kind that I love to shoot so I used a Nikon D700 with a 55mm macro lens almost wide open. The lighting was an optical spot from the back right and then just a large overhead light to fill in the shadows. That's it. I like it a lot. Like I said before, pretty shots are just more fun!

Photoshop to the rescue

2011-03-30T13:44:00.003-04:00

As a current full-time commercial photographer and an adjunct university photography professor, I always tell my students that Adobe Photoshop is a super important part of our photo arsenal. This recent image is an example. I was hired to shoot a salad for a cheese client. I was directed to use multi-colored lettuce, as well as tomatoes, croutons and oh-yes cheese.

I shot two different examples and sent them to my client to pass on for approval. Low and behold, the client says they are looking for an all green salad because the red lettuce looks like "olives". Well, I set everything up again and shot 2 more salads, this time with all green lettuce. Just to see if I could, I also selected the red lettuce in one of the first shots and changed them to green. Now the client had three choices and guess what? They chose the retouched salad. Like I said, Photoshop to the rescue!

Been busy

2011-02-28T15:57:00.004-05:00

Life isn't as busy as it was maybe three years ago but this year so far has been far busier than last year. I spent 2 full days shooting cheese for Arthur Schuman. Beyond that I have been retouching others images for my clients. Morgan Design has kept me busy at night retouching images from stock companies. I strip parts, add them to others and end up with what Clint (my client) wants. He sends me an InDesign file with the parts all together and notes as to what he wants. I can just export the .indd file as a pdf and add it as a layer to my .psd files. It all makes things go very quickly. I just strip things, clean them up, assemble them and send them out via ftp. It has kept me pretty busy and nicely filled in spaces between my own shoots. It's so important to know Photoshop. It helps to keep everything busy and earning money. There you go. It's still nothing but fun!

Food Styling with Photoshop!

2010-12-03T10:21:00.007-05:00

This was quite an involved job. The lighting was pretty typical for me. I use an optical spot strobe from the back to cross light toward the front. This light is moved slightly from shot to shot to bring out the most contrast and detail. Next a large light bank goes overhead to fill all of the shadows so the images can be printed. Like I said, the photography part of this job was normal for me and all three shots could have been done in a quick day.

However...

I offered to do the food styling. Adding tricky food styling to shooting turned this into a 2 day job.

For the pizza, I bought a Digiorno frozen pizza. I pulled off most of the cheese but left the sauce and slightly under cooked it. I then added my own cheese (the client) plus wedged tomatoes and black olives and broiled the pizza to carefully melt the cheese. Finally I ran downstairs to the studio and shot the slice. After I uploaded the image to my client, I used Photoshop to extend some of the cheese over the edge to the exact amount that the client desired.

The panini sandwiches was styled in a similar way to the pizza since it also needed melted cheese. Before I sent an image to the client, I cut the top bread off each piece and lowered it since my bread looked too fat for a panini.

Finally there was the salad. This shot was difficult because the NYC area was super windy and rainy so everything was slowed down considerably. I would email my salad image (shot on a tiny saucer) to the client for approval but have to wait an hour for a response. Salad wilts while it waits. In the end, I combined an early lively salad with the front of one that showed the cheese very well and the result was approved! It is wonderful to work with a client who appreciates Photoshop and knows what it can do.

If you are a photo student or enthusiast in this digital age, a good handle on Photoshop is absolutely necessary. In this case it helped me make more money as a photographer/food stylist.

Crazy busy

2010-10-26T11:02:00.004-04:00

I am fond of saying that commercial photographers are crazy when they are super busy and crazy when they are super slow so they are always just plain crazy! While I have been busy shooting products and jewelry for a catalog printer, I have been super busy shooting for my own clients as well. This is an image of a round of Romano for a label that will be applied to the whole rounds and most likely wedges that would come from them. The cheese is imported from Italy so I tried to give the image a painterly renaissance feel. This is one of maybe 8 different images that I have done lately for this client and that has kept me crazy busy during the summer season which is normally slow. Crazy busy is much better than crazy slow. Making money with a camera is just wonderful.

Pretty Cheese

2010-07-21T14:42:00.003-04:00

Once again it is wonderful to have clients that come back to you time after time. That is really the only way to stay in business. These two shots were images for packaging for the Arthur Schuman cheese company. For this company I am often the food stylist as well as the photographer as I was for these shots. After so many years of shooting food for different companies, It just takes a little courage to go ahead and try styling the food. My favorite stylist Alyssa Alia is usually booked when I need her. I would always prefer that we let her do the food and let me control the focus and light but when we can't I am happy to step in. I think these shots are yummy and help make you hungry. That's always my goal in food packaging. So thanks Melissa, this job was fun to do!

Somebodies watching over me

2010-07-17T16:45:00.003-04:00

I have a good friend who just lost almost half his billings because one of his clients was bought by a private Japanese company who needs no annual report. This is a typical situation I have seen in my last 2 recessions. Companies buy companies and the artist is often the loser. Having just learned about my friend, I was informed that one of my favorite clients had just been bought by another company as well! I was all set to see a huge chunk of my income go away when I got a call from said client and was booked for a job! Wow! That was close. The company I just shot for was Sensible Portions. I have written about them before. I just love them. They have been bought by Hain-Celestial. Hain-Celestial is one great company. The owner seeks out healthy companies, buys them and leaves them alone to do what they do best. Trust me: a company like that is very rare. If my year turns around I may just have to buy stock in this rare, awesome company. It's always better to work for nice people. I'm thankful Sensible Portions is still a client.

Recession

2010-06-07T10:25:00.007-04:00

This is the third recession I have endured as a commercial photographer in the NYC area. I came to NYC directly after college in the midst of my first recession. I left NYC and took a job with Nabisco in NJ in the midst of my second recession and now I am living through the third. It is during these times that you need to have all of your overhead cut to the absolute bone and have clients that you have cared for over the years to keep giving you work. I have done both. I really appreciate Arthur Schuman for giving me work of different kinds especially during this difficult economical time. All of these jobs require the ability to light well, retouch and then assemble the images in Photoshop.

I have to laugh a little when an article about a photographer crows about how they have lasted for over 10 years! That's funny to me. I often said that a commercial photographer's career usually lasts for 20 years. The first five years is for developing and growing the business. The next ten years are spent shooting, building relationships with creatives and making money. The last five years are waining as your art directors become creative directors or leave the business. Each recession has seen art director friends get fired or laid off. A recession as deep as this one effects everyone above us. I have a friend who just lost a big client because the company he did the annual report for was bought by a private Japanese company who doesn't need an annual report. If he loses a client, then I lose work as well. The way I have lasted for so many years is that at time like these, my overhead is cut way down and I have clients that still use me. I just have to hold on and realize that "this too shall pass".

Wife as food stylist

2010-05-04T14:23:00.007-04:00

I have a favorite food stylist that my clients are very comfortable with but she is VERY good and VERY popular so when my clients are in a hurry, we have to look elsewhere. My wife Barb has been married to this food photographer for many years so between the two of us we had no problem creating three salads that would show off the client's cheese. Barb slightly undercooked the pastas so they would hold up, cut up the veggies into tiny pieces and then we carefully hid them among the different pastas. You would never know it but the pastas are sitting on a pile of paper towel to keep it from weeping onto the plate. I now have a happy client and my talented wife got to find one more thing that she is good at. Once again, nothing but fun.

Happy Easter

2010-04-02T09:02:00.002-04:00

Just a note to say Happy Pesach (Passover) and Happy Easter to everybody out there. This is not a new image but one I did for a 1993 calendar. Doing a calendar or recipe book is always an enjoyable time because it usually involves a writer, art director, prop stylist, food stylist and me! That kind of group working long hours late into the night can get crazy and that is when the fun begins. I won't go on here. I just wanted to wish you all a happy holiday and eat some chocolate and Easter bread for me.

Desserts

2010-02-23T15:08:00.005-05:00

This was a very long day....

In the end we had 137 final images but we shot a lot more than that. This job took one full day to shoot (on location at the Baker's Perfection offices) and then an additional 2-1/2 days to strip out and retouch. In the end, I think all of the finals look great. I try to light these desserts with an optical spot for a hard kick coming from the back side and then a front light that I either bounce off the ceiling or the wall depending upon how much contrast and direction I feel I need from the main light. Since my Fuji won't tether to CaptureOne Pro, I use Fuji's Studio Utility® software to tether the files to a folder on the computer as I shoot and then Adobe Lightroom® to watch the folder and display them large on the screen. It's not as fast as CaptureOne but it works pretty well. I backed all of the files to a 250GB external drive as I shot and made a quick flash website in Lightroom® for the client once I had selected the finals.

So there you go: to do this job I needed to know Fuji's Studio Utility®, Adobe Lightroom® and Adobe Photoshop®. That's what it takes to be food photographer today. Tomorrow afternoon we leave for Pennsylvania for a pharmaceutical shoot. I guess I'll write about that in the other blog. See you then. Remember: this is supposed to be fun!

Why I love Shooting Food Packaging

2010-01-18T11:52:00.010-05:00

I've been shooting food packaging for many years now. These boxes are my latest example from the Sensible Portions company. I worked with an art director friend who is a principal at One Flight Up Design. There are images on 2 or three sides of the packages and I think they look great. Now here is why I love shooting food packaging: I need to shoot a couple days per week to live comfortably. That means that I need clients who require original images. In the world of art directors with digital cameras and the ever lower cost of stock photography, we who make our livings from photography need to find clients who need a continual supply of original images. Food packaging fills that need for me. Since food packaging represents a companies "in the home" advertising, a renewed packaging version becomes a new advertisement for a company. Therefore food companies re-do their packaging on a regular basis and I get to shoot often. Add to that the satisfaction of shooting beautiful images that help a company grow and you have a win - win situation. Repeat business, good money and constant work = one happy photographer and that's why I love shooting food packaging! By the way, when you shoot food, you get to eat the yummy food. My current favorite is the Sensible Portions Apple Straws!

Bobby

2009-11-24T10:04:00.006-05:00

This is the second time that we "shot" Bobby Simmons. The last time we were in a conference room full of people at the Javits Center. We shot there because he had been upstairs signing autographs for the food company that he helps out. This time we set up in a tiny locker room at the Nets home offices. 1/2 a white seamless gave me a head start for stripping him off the background. Bobby is amazing! He actually remembered me (sports stars usually don't pay attention to the photographer), the date we last worked together and remained patient and kind for this second shoot. We covered every possible pose and now we can match Bobby to Ahmad and Leon (the foot-ball players) in a series of ads and billboards. By the way, Bobby is actually palming the basketball. No Photoshop needed there!

New Clients

2009-09-08T11:40:00.003-04:00

I have a new favorite client.
His name is Nick and the company is Baker's Perfection. They are well named. I haven't eaten anything of theirs that I haven't loved!
Not a bad job when you can shoot and eat. We even "had" to test some yummy products during the shoot. I use the photo gurney and we shoot on location at their facility, bringing all of the equipment in. It's a fun day. The real work begins the next day as we strip and retouch all of the cakes. You always need new clients to add to your base of established clients. It's awesome when their personalities fit so well within the whole group. I just love all of my clients. They keep me busy and help keep the kids in college. La vita loca! I wouldn't have it any other way.

I couldn't do it if it weren't for food...

2009-08-28T22:21:00.003-04:00

These guys are Ahmad Bradshaw and Leon Washington, players for the Giants & Jets . I met them while shooting (photographing) them for a food client. They were both very professional and worked hard to get the work done quickly even though it was late. We shot about 140 images, got done by 11PM and had a web site up for the client by early the next day using Adobe Lightroom. No word on picks yet, but there were more than enough to meet the clients' wishes. I have turned my raw files into DNG's using Adobes' DNG converter, so all of my raw edit metadata is now included in each single DNG file. When the client makes the final picks, these images will be made into a billboard and header cards. See? Food photographers have to know how to shoot everything well.

This is only a test...

2009-08-14T14:56:00.003-04:00

This is a test for a new client. They make desserts that are sold all over the place. Nick (the new client) is related in some way to the owners of one of my other food clients. This is how my business works. I work hard to keep my current clients happy and feeling safe so that they will bring me new work and new clients that they know. Nick has no idea what my dessert photography looks like so we agreed and he dropped off one dessert for me to use for a test. I shot the yummy cake with lots of detail, stripped it off the background and then put it on 4 different backgrounds so he could see what is possible.
This is how we survive in this crazy business. We go beyond to impress and win over new clients and work just as hard to keep our current clients happy. You need them both: happy current clients and happy new clients. It's the only way to stay in business this long.
When I say work hard, realize that it's not like digging ditches (I've done that too). No, it's staying focused on perfection while enjoying the people involved.

Too busy...

2009-06-05T13:39:00.003-04:00

I often say that photographers are crazy when they are not busy and then crazy when they are busy. Therefore, we're always crazy!
I have a dungeon full of product for my friend John and World Gourmet Marketing. I have three different bowls and maybe 4 or 5 different products. I'm not sure exactly what to do with it all. I would be picking on John for direction, but Revlon has kept me pretty busy so I just kind of look over to the boxes of product over there. Since Revlon takes the weekends off, I was able to get 4 shots done for 4 packages for one of the products. John is in Dallas for work so I don't actually know if these are perfect or not. At this point, I don't think I'll have to reshoot, maybe just do some Photoshop work to make them fit perfectly. In this economy, I guess it's just good to be busy.

The Cheese goes on

2009-04-26T21:35:00.006-04:00

This job began over a week ago. This day we shot in the Split Image studios in Fairfield NJ. And now, it is slowly drawing to an end. I think there is one more day left and it will be the least fun (but still fun). Least fun because the final day will be alone in the dungeon. Fun because hey - photography is fun! Not as much fun because a lot of the fun comes from shooting with friends. I am grateful for the work and when the job is done I can bill it. Thanks Melissa!

It's not all glamour

2009-04-05T16:50:00.005-04:00

What I mean by the title is: shooting 170 different sku's (stock keeping units) of cheese wouldn't be considered glamorous by any means, but spending 2 days with a great client/friend in an office set up as a "studio" was nothing but fun. The people in the cheese warehouse were all very nice or at least very interesting. So far we've done 86 images so there is one day left for the Split Image studios, and I'll finish up the balance in the dungeon. It all good.

People shots are food shots too!

2009-03-21T19:34:00.004-04:00

This is John. John is my client for World Gourmet Marketing. I spent 2 days shooting pictures of real people with John at The Split Image Studios in New Jersey. The days were long but I had a great time. We all had a lot of fun, the shots (20GB) all got done and when it was all over everybody was very happy. I am including this in the food blog because John is holding a cookie. Every person we shot was holding a cookie. So you see, in the wide world of food photography, sometimes you have to photograph people, or animals or even food.

Food Packaging

2009-02-11T12:07:00.014-05:00

For this job, (done for my friend and client John at World Gourmet Marketing), I was given a jpg image (the little one). and asked to duplicate it with my own special light (the bigger one). The product is Apple Cinnamon flavor, so my color is correct. I was given a case of product and sorted through to find the best crackers. I then shot images of 81 different crackers at different angles in raw. I balanced the color and exported each image to tif and then stripped them out and saved them as 81 psd files. We shoot raw because it is a camera's un-tampered pure file and allows us to use programs like Photoshop's Camera Raw processor to make little corrections to reach perfection for our clients. After I had the final psd files I blew up John's original jpg file to 300dpi (I didn't care what it looked like) and used that as a background layer. It was relatively easy then to just pick my files and move them in layers over the original in the background until my crackers replaced all of the originals. Finally, I made shadows below the crackers that needed them and I ended up with a final file that made John happy. I'm going to drop the job off today and pick up another one. It's cookies next! This job is still fun.

Working with friends isn't really work.

2008-12-17T18:17:00.009-05:00

One day in a studio shooting and one day in the office retouching. This is a great way to make a living. This day was a shoot for World Gourmet Marketing with my friend John Moran. We shot at the Split Image studios in Fairfield NJ, and used the lovely Marie Haycox as food stylist. I haven't work with Marie for a large number of years, but once we met up again, it was like no time had passed at all. She reminded me of the many days of oatmeal packaging we had done. You have to remember: Marie had to bring everything (food-wise) that you see here. Food stylists have to be prepared for anything and Marie certainly was. John was the perfect client. He was calm and easy going, but made all of his opinions and desires known clearly so we just cruised through the day. These images will appear on packaging for this Pita cracker product in two flavors. The disks have been UPS'd to John, and the job is complete. On to the next!

More Cheese

2008-10-22T14:56:00.005-04:00

There is really nothing better than a long day spent with friends shooting food shots for a companies packaging. My client was Melissa, my food stylist was Alyssa and we got six different images done for six different packages. I uploaded files to the agency that had 2-5 different versions layered one under the other. They will be able to discuss which image they prefer. Options are always good. It's sweet. Having fun while making a living. I highly recommend it.

Photographer as Food Stylist

2008-09-03T15:37:00.004-04:00

Here comes another "different" job. This time it was packaging for another one of those clients who is a friend. John brought me this job and wanted the icing to "pop". As soon as I saw the product, I knew that I needed to ask for some product to be sent un-iced. This allowed me to do a few of things better. #1: I was able to sort for the best base product without worrying about the icing, #2: I was able to light the base cake nicely without the icing getting in the way and finally #3: I was able to create my own, better looking icing in the cinnamon and s'more flavors (food styling).
Okay, do you see why you need to know Photoshop? For this shot I needed to light and shoot various base cakes and then light and shoot the different icings. I then (using paths) cut the icing off the one base cake and merged it onto the better lit cakes. I used an eraser with a soft brush to help the icing sit on the base and then added a layer as a separate shadow. The shadow layer related to the base layer via "multiply", and the icing just sat on top normally. So there you go: one day to create and style the icings and then two days to shoot, strip and merge the icing, shadow and base cakes. All that work on each X 20 and you have packaging photography! I was paid well and I worked for a friend. What could be better than that?

Clear stuff 2

2008-07-26T13:36:00.008-04:00

When you are a food photographer, you need to know how to shoot many other things because the companies who hire you to shoot their food will also hire you to shoot supporting images that help sell their food.
Here is a case in point:
This is one of a series of images that I captured for Pinnacle Food Corporation. I have done food packaging photography for this company, but also shoot actual products for coupons and web sites. It's all part of keeping your clients happy.
The TEAM:
These shots involved just me. The clients ship me the products and I usually can shoot them at my leisure (within reason). I like these jobs because they help keep me busy between the larger food jobs.
The FOODSTYLIST:
Ah - the lonely life. These jobs need no assistants, no food stylist and no prop stylists. Like I said, it was just me. I have a small studio in my home so I can even shoot on weekends.
The LIGHTING:
This image differs from the last one because we couldn't blow out the lid like we did the topping on the gelatin. This time I had a small bank light high and to the left to light the details on the front of the bottle. I just look at the product and move the light around until I like the reflections on the front. Next, I lit a white card that was placed behind the bottle and tilted to one side. I lit the card with an optical spot so that I would just hit the card and not the bottle. Finally, it's just a matter of balancing the front light and the back light. That's it. Two zones of light, each controlled individually until perfection is reached.

Clear stuff 1

2008-07-11T10:51:00.010-04:00

The "trick" to shooting transparent or translucent drinks is finding a lighting balance between the light hitting the front (for detail) and the light coming through the back to accentuate the clear nature of the subject.
The TEAM:
The usual suspects on this one. There was an art director who understood that limited focus and blown out highlights can actually make food look more appetizing. There was a food stylist to make and garnish the gelatin, a photo assistant to keep everyone happy and a photographer who knows how to light clear stuff.
The FOODSTYLIST:
I'm not positive but Vicky Hayes or Kate Jackette probably styled this one. I like it. It takes an artist to suspend fruit in gelatin for photography. You probably never noticed, but most times the fruit just settles to the bottom. So careful attention was paid to the suspended fruit, making the two layers stay separate, treating the bananas so they wouldn't turn brown, and the beautiful happy mint. Many food stylists have their own pots of mint so they always have adorable cutting available for garnish.
The LIGHTING:
Because red gelatin is translucent and not transparent, we sprayed the back half of the glasses with dulling spray and used one optical spot strobe high up and back to light throught the gelatin, blow out the highlights on the top and light the fill cards. We finished the lighting by bringing in white cards on either side of the camera lens, and moving them in and out until the balance was just right. Digital once again, helps alot because we can instantly see the lighting and adjust it as needed for perfection. It's a lot faster than shooting, waiting for a poloroid, making changes and shooting another test. That's it. One light, two fill cards, limited focus, great food and you end up with a cool shot that can sell gelatin.

The Grill 2

2008-07-03T11:04:00.012-04:00

This is a shot of a piece of grilled salmon sitting in foil on a really hot grill. NOT!
Yes there is a piece of salmon on foil, but the truth ends right there. This was an image for the back panel of a steak sauce bottle.
The TEAM:
This was a fun time for me. We rented Doug FInley 's studio so he was there and helped me a lot. I had an assistant named Steve Berg who was responsible for the nice flames. We had a food stylist, Eline the hand model, a client and me.
The FOODSTYLIST:
Alyssa worked on this shot. We did both salmon and a big chicken leg, both with and without a model brushing on steak sauce. While the food is almost always cold when we are shooting, things like water on vegetables and oil on fish and meat make them look hot and yummy.
The LIGHTING+:
The top grill grate is about 3x4 feet in size, and is sitting on saw horses. Below that is a smaller grill which is covered with charcoal briquettes which have been lightly sprayed with white paint to look charred. Below that is a few layers of gel and a strobe head pointing up. But what about the flames?
Here is how we did them:
It was all about Steve Berg. As Steve and I were driving to the studio, we were discussing the shot. Steve, who is a photographer now but was my assistant back then said; "stop at Kmart. I need to pick up some rubber cement. This will blow your mind." He was right. After we had the whole shot, food and all, set up, Steve painted rubber cement on a few of the briquettes and lit them up with a cigarette lighter! The flame was limited and very controlled, and we played around until the flames were just where we needed them for the shot. That was a new one for me and I stored it away so I could look smart at a later date. So that's it. A fresnel spot overhead for sunshine, and you have a hot looking grill including flames, in the studio!

The Grill 1

2008-07-02T11:49:00.009-04:00

This image was created in a studio for a mustard company. We kept our camera close so that we didn't have to build a whole yard (but we've done that).
The TEAM:
On this day we had our favorite hand model Eline, we had a food stylist to make the chicken, a prop stylist to find the grill'in props, an assistant to help build the set, an art director to represent the client and me, the photographer.
The FOODSTYLIST:
The food stylist for this shot had to cook the chicken so that it looked great to the camera. This often includes using a small torch to perfectly brown the chicken. Once it looked right, the stylist took a skewer and heated it until red hot over a stove flame. She then presses the skewer onto the chicken in a regimented manner to create (fake) the grill marks. She would actually measure the distance between the real grill bars, and copy those onto the chicken. Add a little light oil and it looks hot and yummy.
The LIGHTING:
Here is how we light a grill shot. The sunlight which lights the hand, grill and background is one of the fresnel spots dialed down to a softer, yet directional light. Under the charcoal on the bottom of the grill is a bare strobe tube. The cord for the light snakes up and out the right side of the grill which is outside the crop. Above the strobe tube is layered red and yellow gel sheets until the proper color glows up from the bottom of the grill. A few large fill cards coming in from the left, some appropriate props, some astroturf on the floor and you have an outdoor grill shot inside a studio.

Ice Cream 3

2008-06-28T16:20:00.010-04:00

This entry isn't pretty, but it shows the "secrets" behind the best ice cream photography. The image on the left shows the huge reflector on the regular strobe head and the big fill card. The middle shows the foil covered dry ice scoop under the layer of ice cream and the image on the right shows RJ Rowley as he grinds up the dry ice in preparation of the dry ice scoop.
The TEAM:
This day the studio held a designer from the agency, RJ the food stylist and me.
The FOODSTYLIST:
RJ Rowley styles ice cream in the same way that Nir Adar does. Like this: Put dry ice into a meat grinder. Grind it up and let it fall into a bowl. Next line an ice cream scoop with foil. The next part is tricky because dry ice is dangerous and can cause burns so heavy work gloves are called for. Begin to fill the lined scoop with the dry ice until it is brimming over the top in a gentle mound. Now fold the foil over the dry ice, turn it over, put it on the floor and stomp on it. What you should be left with is a compacted half foil covered ball of dry ice. Put the half ball on the saucer and ready the ice cream. Lock down a 1/2 gallon ice cream container and cut it in half. Use a flat scoop and pull across the ice cream so that it gives you a layer of great looking ice cream and lay it across the foil ball. Finally arrange bits of ice cream in a beard around the ball, and you have your first ice cream scoop! Now do it 50-60 more times, and you'll have a day of ice cream styling. I really haven't gone into detail here, but this is a good overview of what a stylist goes through on an ice cream shoot.
The LIGHTING:
You can see in the picture above my ice cream setup. I shoot on a tiny table so that I can get in close with the camera lights and fill cards. The light and fill card is just as it has been for the former two entries.

Ice Cream 2

2008-06-28T15:45:00.011-04:00

This shot varies from the former in that it is packaging for frozen sherbet. We did three flavors during the shoot day. This is rainbow sherbet. It took a strong armed Nir Adar to do these shots. I include the small shot in the corner so you can see how we did the shot and then how it looks in the packaging.
The TEAM:
Like I said, this job used Nir, an artist in food and a man with arms strong enough to scoop ice cream all day. We had a client (Andie) who worked as art director as well and me. No assistant this time. It was a fun day.
The FOODSTYLIST:
Nir Adar, in addition to being strong enough to scoop ice cream all day, is also patient enough to scoop sherbet all day. While high fat content ice cream scoops beautifully, sherbet is sort of gooey and sticky and it can be frustrating to be the sherbet food stylist. In the small inset shot, you can see the rig that Nir built for this job. He hot glued a small saucer onto a mug and that became the table for the sherbet. I think that Nir invented the dry ice scoop method of ice cream styling. I'll go into more detail on that in the next entry.
The LIGHTING:
This shot was lit in exactly the same way as the former entry with the cone. A regular strobe head with a huge, translucent covered reflector, was positioned overhead and a little bit back. The front was filled, and that's it. I just move the light around until everyting looks great.

Ice Cream 1

2008-06-28T09:36:00.009-04:00

I think I've come up with three entries for ice cream. This image looks like an ice cream shot, but it is really a packaging shot for the cones. That being the case, the ice cream is fake. When we shoot for ice cream packaging, it has to be real ice cream. When we shoot for cone packging or any shot where the ice cream is not the product we're selling, fake ice cream is okay. It requires a massive arm to style real ice cream. My favorite stylist Alyssa is not massive in any way. Therefore, she doesn't do real ice cream, but she did do this shot and has a great recipe for fake ice cream.
The TEAM:
The day we did this shot, we had a client, designer with a layout, food stylist and photographer. We are all friends and it was a great day.
The FOODSTYLIST:
Alyssa does a great fake ice cream. It's a matter of confectioner's sugar and a few other ingredients and it looks great. It's her job to scoop it in such a way that she gets the nice ridges on the ball, and then pieces the "beard" around the ball. It looks natural and sells the cones.
The LIGHTING:
Okay, it's not so much about the lighting this time. We light ice cream with a regular strobe head with the huge reflector which is covered with translucent material. That and a fill card is basically an ice cream light. No, for this package job, we needed 4 different cones, but we only had the original tan one. What do we do? Why, we're expert retouchers as well since we've been digital since 1994 so we just changed the color of the tan cone and made it red, brown and green as well. This is modern day food photography.

Cold drinks

2008-06-27T17:59:00.004-04:00

This shot was another recipe, this time for a healthy shake. The set had to include "healthy" looking props and the drink had to look refreshing. I think it worked out well and this is how we did it.
The TEAM:
We did more than this one shot this day, so we had a food stylist working on all of the recipes, prop stylist to bring in a selection of healthy props and glasses, an assistant to do a lot and a photographer.
The FOODSTYLIST:
On this shot, the foodstylist had to create the actual drink, affix the drops to the glass and ready the fruit to put on the edge of the glass. If this was the only shot for the day, I might have attempted to style it myself, but it was a busy day for her.
The LIGHTING:
This image was lit with a regular strobe head with a very large reflector, covered with diffusion material. This creates a pleasant blend of hard yet soft light. It also lights the drops on the glass. The wall behind the glass was lit by an optical spot with a cookie shaped like a venetian blind inside. The optical spot allows us to control how focused the "blind look" will be. A little soft seems to be right.
Put it all together and you have a shot that sells the products that are needed to make the recipe.

Soft light Shallow focus

2008-06-27T12:59:00.007-04:00

What separates this image from the others is the story it tells. We've been very close and we've backed away. This one (from a recipe card) is kind of in the middle. The light is airy and the focus adds to that (light & focus working together) by being very shallow. Digital helps the food photographer because when we shoot tethered to the computer, we can see a nearly instant response and know full size, what will be sharp and what will be soft. It all makes for a great image to sell a recipe and related products.
The TEAM:
Nothing unusual here. Photographer (of course), prop stylist, food stylist and clients.
The FOODSTYLIST:
This recipe is tougher than it looks. The yogurt needs to be fortified with gelatin (all part of the recipe) and the whole thing is cooled so that the yogurt stays in the cantaloupe. It's up to the food stylists to bring any food that we might think we need during the day so they bring in not only cantaloupe, peaches and yogurt for the recipe, but probably mint, strawberries and other fruit. There's no time on a shoot day to run out and shop, so the stylist needs to bring everything they imagine might be asked for by the photographer and client. This ability is what separates the new food stylists from the experienced ones.
The LIGHTING:
Soft, soft soft! This image needed to be light and bright so we used a scrim off to the right side. Our scrim was a large translucent shower curtain stretched on a 6X6' frame. The scrim was close to the table holding the food. A straight strobe head was next pointed away from the table and into a large "V" of 4X8' foamcore. So the light leaves the strobe head, bounces into the foamcore V, and bounces back through the scrim and onto the set. All this bouncing of the light back and forth tends to make it exceedingly soft but still directional. We finished the shot with fill cards all around the left side of the set, set the camera f/stop wide open, and shot away. That's the way we do it. Light and focus working together to sell a product.

Really far above

2008-06-25T12:58:00.011-04:00

This image was for the cover of a recipe book for Regina vinegar. While it is a valid food shot, the focus of the image is the bottle of vinegar near the center of the table.
There was no layout for this job. There was only a list of recipes and the definition of "Tuscan". The rest was just playing in the camera with the art director until everything balanced and the bottle of vinegar was the hero.
The TEAM:
This job required a great, hard working food stylist to make a full round of stand in food and then the finals. There was and art director who worked with the photographer to get everything set and a prop stylist who brought in a table full of plates, table cloths, flowers and cloth.
The FOODSTYLIST:
It is hard to describe just how difficult it is to create 6 different recipes, provide stand ins and then deliver to the set all 6 (plus cut fruit) all at once. It is a huge undertaking and Alyssa did it perfectly.
The LIGHTING:
We use optical and fresnel strobe spots often when shooting food. The hardness of these lights allow us to break up the lights using cookies which are cards or metal inserts that have holes of various shapes poked in them. The effect then is like the noon sun being broken up by tree leaves. To increase the natural "Tuscan" look of this shot, the tablecloths were crunched to create soft folds, the spot lights made nice highlights and shadows and the cookies made little pools of light just like the sun and tree leaves. I guess that's as far from a plate of food as I would get. Near or far, the food photographer has to be ready to make art in the mane of commerce.

Moving back a little

2008-06-25T11:55:00.012-04:00

I'm thinking about new posts. For the next one or two I'm going to use shots where the food is a little farther from the camera. I usually prefer to be as close-up to the food as possible. It shows better detail and the effect of the light on the texture of the food. However, there are times when the constraints of the layout prevent this and you just have to move back away from the food to allow in some related environment. This image was an easy recipe idea for a healthy school lunch, so the shot had to include other school lunch type props.
The TEAM:
Okay, take comfort in the fact that every good food shot requires the service of a photographer. Who else is there to lovingly control the light and focus? There was an art director or designer who gave us the sketch to try to follow. It's up to them to bring the idea and choose final props. There was a food stylist to make the pita sandwich and provide the choices of fruit, a prop stylist to bring us a huge choice of school lunch type props and a photo assistant to take care of everything so the photographer could concentrate on the shot at hand.
The FOODSTYLIST:
I can't really remember but this shot was probably styled by Vicky or Kate. Because this was an editorial recipe image, the food stylist had some leeway when creating a yummy sandwich. The stylist doesn't cut the pita in half like one normally might. No, each half comes from it's own pita, is carefully cut and picked for texture and only looks like it's one sandwich. Next, the pitas are stuffed with bunched up paper towel to create the "filled" shape. Finally, the front 1-1 1/2" of the sandwich half is filled with the recipe, and the picked and prodded to look "naturally" yummy.
The LIGHTING:
The main light for this shot was an optical spot coming in from the right. By scraping this hard light source across the face of the front sandwich half, the texture of the salmon (I know it looks like tuna) and lettuce is increased and makes the sandwich look 3D. Food almost always benefits from a contrasty, texture enhancing light. The hard light and focus on the front sandwich half is contrasted to the flatter, slightly darker lighting on the rest of the shot. This makes the front half the star and hopefully sells the recipe. The difference in lighting between the front and the back is one way to include an environment while still focusing on the recipe.

Chocolate Mousse

2008-06-22T18:29:00.001-04:00

Okay, here's a question: What do you think is the product or recipe that paid for this shot?
If you guessed the mousse in the classy glass, you're right! It's not exactly brain surgery. The mousse is the thing that is in focus and has the yummy light. There is a fuzzy nice glass and a fuzzy spoon that add to the environment of the shot. There is also a tablecloth and napkin that is so fuzzy that it's hard to tell what it is but it doesn't matter. The important thing, the mousse, is nicely lit, and sharp. Are you seeing how we use focus and light to control your eyes as you look at our shots?
The TEAM:
Not too different from the earlier examples. There was a client present on this job. The client worked for the company that made the mousse, so she had an opinion that needed to be listened to. There was an art director who had worked with the client to arrive at an acceptable layout. There was a food stylist who created the chocolate curls and styled the mousse so that it would look awesome like it does. Lastly there was, of course a photographer to light the mousse and control the focus.
The LIGHTING:
The quality of a light changes as it is brought closer to, or farther away from a set. A light bank is normally a soft light source but if it sits far from the set, it can become a contrasty harder light source. That all being said, on this shot I used an 8" fresnel spot light. A fresnel spot is usually a very hard light, but for this shot I used the adjustment on the light to make it as soft as possible and then brought it very close to the mousse which made it's effect even softer. That fresnel spot is the main light which came in from above and the left and then just a simple white card close in on the right to fill the shadows. We have a lot of tools at our disposal, we photographers. The trick is to have a definite picture in our minds of how we want our shot to look, and then select the proper lighting tools to make our mental picture a digital reality.

Shallow focus

2008-06-21T14:16:00.003-04:00

Back in the days of film, I used to say that studio photography is all about controlling light and focus. We use those two tools to drive a consumer's eyes to a certain point in an image. That point is usually the product that our client desires to sell. This is a recipe shot for a marshmallow client. They wanted a shot that would help you imagine biting into a yummy, crisp, rice crispy bar, read the recipe included in the ad and then buy the products that were being advertised. This time we used a soft, very well filled back light and super limited focus.
The TEAM:
This shot had an art director who came with layouts for this ad, a food stylist to make, carefully cut, and then clean up the bars, a photo assistant to care for the clients and help the photographer and a photographer to control the light and focus.
The FOOD STYLIST:
If you have ever cut a crispy bar out of a pan, you know how difficult it is to pull out a nice looking bar. The secret here is to lift the whole thing out of the pan, and then trim the edges off until you're left with a nice bar or two. Needless to say, the stylist makes many pans of bars so that she/he can end up with the perfect ones for the final shot. All thats left is for the food stylist to work with the photographer on camera to arrange the bars so they look great.
The LIGHTING:
I don't always do it, but many food photographers light most shots from the back. This shot shows why. The broad bank light scraping light across the top bar brings out details with the shadows toward the front. Each bar separates from the others and looks light and airy. The short depth of focus adds to the soft look of this image and helps to drive your eyes to the front corner and top of the main bar. It's a different lighting that helps make the client's recipe and products the hero!

Lighting for Detail

2008-06-21T10:59:00.002-04:00

This one is different. We begin with the goal which I saw as bringing out super detail in the cookies which were the products. Still, we need an over-all warm, inviting mood.
The TEAM:
For this shot we needed an art director who had the original design, prop stylist to bring choices of plates and tablecloths, a food stylist, photo assistant and a photographer.
The FOOD STYLIST:
I do a lot of work with Alyssa (when I can book her, she's very busy). For this shot, Alyssa spent time selecting and cleaning the cookies with a dental pick. She used the pick to bring out the detail in each cookie. She also brought the raspberries, made the lemon curls and the coffee. Even the coffee is different. We start with very watered down, light brown coffee, and add dark coffee until the color looks right in the camera. Everything is done for the camera.
The LIGHTING:
Most of my work is lit with strobes. I plug in different lights: banks, reflectors or optical spots but this shot is different. I have a disassembled Lowel Omni tungsten light. All that is left is the 500 watt bulb, the socket, AC line and plug. I clamp the bulb into a C-stand arm and bring it down close to the set. The bare bulb, being a point light source, brings out the details in the cookies while spreading light all around the set. A huge 4x8' foamcore is brought over the set to reflect the bare bulb's light into the set, filling the shadows. A shiny gold card reflected warmth back into the shot. This light gives you hard shadows with great detail but fills the shadows at the same time. It's different, but it's awesome.

Welcome to Food Photography

2008-06-20T17:56:00.004-04:00

Okay,
In this blog I plan on choosing different food shots I have done and explaining how they were created. Some people feel that food photography is more difficult than other types of commercial photography. I disagree. Those who know me well know that I feel that photography is all about controlling light and focus. That I feel, is the food photographer's job as well. We control light and focus so that we can manipulate a consumer's eyes to a certain point in an image, usually the product who is paying for the job.
The TEAM:
In addition to the photographer (me), this shot had a photo assistant who did everything photographic except light the shot and shoot the final image. There was a food stylist who made the Oreos®, poured the milk and made the bubbles.
The FOOD STYLIST:
Alyssa is my favorite food stylist. She and an assistant went through many cases of Oreo® base cakes, looking for perfect unbroken ones. After they found enough for the actual shot plus extras, they made a batch of the white filling which they then piped out of a pastry bag in a long, white "rope". They next took the icing rope, laid it around the outside edge of the bottom base cake and then popped the top Oreo® on. Let's see, Alyssa had to create the 10 Oreos® for the shot itself and at least 10 more just in case. Then she arranged the food, poured the milk and placed the bubbles. Food styling is a tough job and Alyssa does it very well!
The LIGHTING:
Oreos® need a broad light bouncing off their tops at a severe angle so this shot had a large light bank off to the left to light the face of the upright Oreo®, the other Oreos® and the milk. There was also an optical spot-light off to the right to carefully light the back Oreo® pile without affecting the milk. That's it. That's how we did this shot. It was made into a poster, and hangs in some very nice offices (including my own).