Maria's Bakery

So I did some tests yesterday for a new client. The wonderful thing about shooting food is that you can eat it. All the food had sat out for a while but the cannoli was just yummy! So was the sfogliatella. Maria's Bakery in Saddle Brook NJ is awesome. Anyway, I did something dumb. I had 2 of my Godox V1 flashes in the 48" octabank and one from behind for "sparkle". I turned off the camera but left all of the light on over night. I was delighted to see that after 12 hours on, the ones in the bank (on full) were only 1/3 down in battery and the sparkle light (on 1/64th power) was still on full charge. I know that I should expect the flashes to hang out when not being used but Profoto doesn't. These cheap little Godox V1's are just... Awesome!

Godox Testing, Testing 123

 

Well I didn't know if this would all work out but it has and better than I ever thought.

Since 1989 I have lit my commercial images with massive 2400w/s Speedotron strobes. I own 6 packs and numerous heads including 2 optical spot lights. I often had to shoot recipes with a 2-stop ND filter since I like to shoot wide open for limited focus. 

This year I bought a terrific Nikon D850 as well as 3 Godox V1 strobes and a Godox 48" octabox. I wondered if I could fully replace my Speedotrons with the Godox strobes for studio food shooting. I shot a number of food product jobs in my own studio with 2 Godox strobes in the Octabank and a straight stobe from the back for sparkle. I was very pleased with the f/16-22 I was getting @1/250th and ISO 100. 

2 days ago I packed my car. Just in case I brought one 2400w/s Speedotron and a box full of heads. I also brought a leather bag full of 3 Godox V1's, some Godox accessories and one Xpro trigger to control it all. 

The images above were shot with 3 Godox flashes. I was able to go between f/32 and f/16 @ 1/250th and everything was great. I go back to shoot more next week and all I'll bring are the Godox flashes. I'll just have to remember to charge the batteries but they lasted all day. I shot 75 images and they never complained.

Never Say Never

Before 2019, I had not shot photographic tests since the 1980's. That's because I have been very busy shooting for clients. I love being paid to shoot. I haven't seen a need to shoot tests in quite a while.

What changed? Well, maybe it was Martha Stewart, Instagram or maybe it's that I am older but I have been told that my images looked old fashioned. I asked around and was told that while I was busy making clients happy, people had begun to shoot food straight down. This makes little sense to me. Most people don't stand on a chair and look at their food. So that's why, after many years, I shot these tests. My website now has three images that were shot straight down. I like them but I don't really get them. Yikes! I AM old!

billtruran.com/recipes

Cheese Glorious Cheese

These images look simple enough but they actually took a full day and then some. It's not worth it to use a food stylist on these so I went to the grocery store to buy food. I came back and learned that my client had requested a dark background. My home kitchen just happens to have dark granite so I shot there (I have a very patient wife). That fact became moot after my client requested slate (as opposed to granite). So in the very end, I swapped out the granite for an image of slate that I already had. I set the shots up but actually shot all of the grapes, nuts and dried apricots separately. I stripped the cheese off the granite and added a shadow since slate doesn't make reflections. In the end we had three different versions of each of the two shots for a total of six images. My client was happy, the images were uploaded, the bill has been sent and approved. That's how a simple shot and take a full day to create.