Still Stylin'

More for the same money... That seems to be the mantra these days. Once again I have been the grocery shopper, food stylist (I baked the burger and faked the grill marks with a hot skewer), and photographer. 

The product is cheese, and I think it stands up pretty well. The burger looks yummy and the whole grilling experience seems to be there.

You can't have shot with food stylists for so many years without having learned something. My apologies go out to my food stylists. Let's hope things turn around soon.

Photographer as Food Stylist

More and more these days it seems that clients expect food photographers to act as food stylists. I'm not talking about the really difficult jobs like ice cream or packaging shots but smaller clients will hand you a job and expect it to just get done. The image above was one such job. I was duplicating something that someone else had shot with new product. My first job was to go grocery shopping. I needed to hit 2 or three stores before I found similar breads to the original image. The only thing I could not find was the third from the left. The original was some kind of cheese bread. I thought that baked shredded parmesan would look better so I made some. The rest of the job was made up of selecting, slicing and daubing until things looked good. Of course, the final work to be done was all in Photoshop. My client asked me to bend the herb around the salami: Photoshop. She asked for less fat and more meat: Photoshop. Thicker almond slices: Photoshop and corrected angles for the pecans: Well, you get the idea.

In the end this job required a food stylist, photographer and retoucher. All me. I did get paid well though. And it was all just fun!

Belmont Foods

Belmont Foods is rapidly becoming my favorite clients. Not only have they been sending me jobs to shoot but all of the food they send to photograph is absolutely yummy!

The hardest part is making sure that I have enough product to shoot before I eat it all.

I just kind-of fell into food photography 25 years ago but it's got to be the most fun of any photography out there...

It's nice to be a food photographer

One nice thing about shooting food is that you get to eat products that are absolutely yummy. These new products are called Sweetzells. They contain chocolate, caramel and salty pretzels. They must make giant pans of this combination and then cut them into yummy rectangles. My biggest problem was not eating them all up until I had final clearance from the client. It won't be long now... 

New Client

It's as nice as you can imagine when a new client comes to you because they love the way you light food. These images are for a company called Buenos Angie. They will go on the boxes of cookies and show how good they really are. Angela was a 2014 Martha Stewart finalist. She makes traditional Argentine cookies. One is shortbread with Dulce de Leche centers and coconut, the other is with chocolate cookies enrobed in yummy chocolate. Ummmmmm. By the way, Angie is a great client who makes great cookies.

Bye Michael Harris

I guess I'm getting old...

All of the photographers I used to assist have now passed on. The last to go (I assume) was my great friend Michael Harris. I can't find him anywhere. We were friends long after I was his assistant.

Gary Gross died in 2010, Jimmy Moore died in 2009, Joe Toto 1998, Tony Petrucelli in 2010 (I still have one of the Gitzo's I bought from him). I guess Bill King was the first to go back in 1987.

Well, Michael, I miss you. God speed where ever you find yourself. 

Bye

5 days of cheese

Ah the life of a food photographer. Most of my clients have come to realize that in addition to my lighting skills, I also have some food styling skills (after watching them style for the last 25 years). That is why for 3 days of this 5 day shoot I was both the photographer and food stylist. For the last 2 days I had Marie Haycox do the really difficult food and all I had to do was light, focus and shoot (just like a photographer). Doing so much is still nothing but fun. I have dug ditches for a living so I know that photography is a much better way for me to go. If you desire to be a commercial photographer, know that fashion photographers need to know how to steam clothing and food photographers have to know something about styling food. 

Hard Light

It really is all about the light. Way back in the late 70's I fell in love with realistic hard light. I loved the way sunlight broke through the trees and bounced off the sidewalk. I began experimenting with a bare Calumet strobe tube. Back then it was tough. Most of my shots were on 8X10" film and with the head maybe 6 feet from the subject I had to pop the strobe 6 or 8 times to get the right exposure. Polaroid helped but I never really knew what I had until I saw the first test sheet of film. 

Back then commercial lighting was all about soft shadows made with light banks. A product sitting on plexiglass back lit by a light bank was all the rage way back then. Nobody was experimenting with hard light back in 1980.

I was fortunate to have some younger art directors at some of the larger ad agencies who were willing to give me a chance. You see above an ad I did for Weight Watchers, one for ABC TV's North & South mini-series, a Gold Toe sock brochure and a Black Book self promotion piece. 

Each one was lit using the bare strobe tube.

In 1989 I joined Nabisco as a photographer and made them buy me optical spots. By 1994 we were digital and the combination of optical spot strobes (which replaced the bare tubes), and digital's instant imaging so I could tweek the lighting on the fly, made this light perfect. I would say that today, I shoot 80% of my work in this same hard light way. Most of my clients hire me for just that reason. The chicken parmesan is one I did recently.  I guess the lesson here might be that if you stay with what you like, eventually it just might be popular.   

Fun with friends... I mean clients!

Another great day. Life is so much better when working with friendly people. Aren't they more fun than jerks? This day was a job at Split Image Studios in Fairfield NJ. The guy in the hat is Dwight, art director for B&G Foods and the gal in the apron is Marie Haycox: awesome food stylist. We did a lot of shots that day, salads with trail mix sprinkled on top, salads with croutons on top and then three trail mix bars. Still because everyone is an expert in their field, we ended at a very reasonable hour. Making money with a camera and playing with friends is a great way to make a living.

Another new client (yea!)

Here comes another new client: Panos Brands. It brings to mind the thought that any money made with a camera is wonderful. What I mean by that is that while this is a food company, these are not exactly food shots. No fancy light, no food stylist, no props. No, they were a lot of product shots to be lit, stripped, retouched and assembled into groups. It's working well so far. You never know where a client like this will end up. My cheese client began with shooting product shots but now we do many beautiful recipe images. 
While this is a new company for me, the woman I am working with is someone I have known. That is why it's good to shoot for friends because you never know where they will work next.

New Clients!

2014 so far is one strange year! My favorite beloved clients have been pretty slow. What is saving me is that I have new clients! You all have to know that I don't actively promote Bill Truran Productions. I have always depended upon my clients loving me and my work enough to keep me busy. Each of these new clients came as a result of a recommendation from one of my normal clients. It's a good thing. I know that every freelance person is having a rough time in this economy. I spent 4 days shooting for Daisy's Bakery. They had a very bad experience with a different photographer (he sprayed baked goods with water). Well, we had 4 great days and shot a lot of products. Let me tell you, the stuff is absolutely yummy! Hey, new clients... who expected that?

Photo studio location packing kit list pdf

When you rent studios to shoot for big clients you need to bring everything to the location that you just might need. In this economy we rarely have assistants to run out and pick up forgotten items. This Big Red Nabisco Crate travels with me on the photo-gurney and has saved me many times. 

Here is all it holds:

Here it is sitting strapped to the gurney:

While some of the things in the the Big Red Crate are used on a regular basis, fill cards and mirrors come to mind, some have been a special savior for a special time. For instance; as I walked into a rental studio in New Jersey just after super storm Sandy, the power went out. Total darkness for over an hour. The LED flashlight was right there so I had light for my food stylist to unpack while we waited for the power repairs. Wire ties have been extra handy shooting outside on location to secure wires and weights against the wind. I was on location shooting fashion in a very expensive house. I put the light bank up high on a stand and when I took it down, the location scout was terrified to see black marks on the white ceiling! Magic Eraser to the rescue. A few wipes, a little scrubbing and the marks were gone and a pristine white ceiling remained. 

I guess the Big Red Crate is just filled with all the little crazy things I've come to realize I sometimes need when I shoot.

You can download the list here: PDF List Download

Hey, it's just this photographer's experience talking.

Nice Prize!

This image was for a contest that Arthur Schuman was holding where you would enter a recipe and maybe win a cool panini grill. It was a challenge to create something pretty with a huge metal machine to fit in but the team and I work well together and I think this one turned out nicely.

Groceries

This one was a shot for Nestle Products. I set up a 1/2 white seamless in a hallway at their corporate offices, lit the shot with a huge shoot-through umbrella and spent the bulk of the time stripping out hair and tiny bars on the grocery cart. Soon it will be a giant framed images within the corporate offices. Too cool!

Defensive Line Desserts

This video now up on YouTube and the Cello Cheese Facebook page once again shows Marie Haycox doing her part to create the beautiful recipes I shot for Arthur Schuman. We shot video with a Canon 60D and stills with a Fuji S3 during the downtime waiting for the food to arrive on the set. The actual recipe stills were captured with my beloved Nikon D700. 27.5 hours of Adobe Premier Pro and we have three adorable videos that combine video and stills and help pave the way for some great recipes. 

Cello Cheese Field Goal Fondue Recipes

Hello again,

        Here is a second video to announce this coming series of recipes using cello cheese. This one combines video and stills to keep things moving throughout. They were captured in 1080p with a Canon 60D on a Linhoff Tripod and edited in Adobe Premiere Pro. Welcome to commercial photography 2013!

    

Cello Slow-Cooker Creations: Behind-the-Scenes

This is a video that I shot and edited for my beloved cheese client Arthur Schuman. It just shows you that while a commercial photographer today has to be an expert at lighting and Photoshop, we now also have to know video shooting and editing. These all have to be an available part of a commercial photographer's tool box today. 

This video shows the "behind the scene" shoot of football/Superbowl recipes that will appear on the Cello Cheese Facebook page and web site this January. I shot the recipes over three days with my favorite food stylist Marie Haycox and in my free time I captured video and stills of the shoot in progress. Under my clients directions I cut the video and stills together into a cute video to herald the coming football season recipes. Enjoy! (thanks Melissa, Brenda, Deb and Marissa)

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I couldn't resist

 

I know i'm not supposed to do it. 

I know i'm not supposed to eat the food I shoot.

Sure, I watched every move that my food stylist Marie Haycox made.

I knew that this sandwich was made with loving care but that was for photography.

Still, my friend Melissa (the client) tried it and and offered me some. I resisted as long as I could but to no avail.

Wow, it was soooo good! 

When this recipe comes to the CelloCheese Facebook page, make it. It really is that good. 

Just look for the Grilled Fontina with Fig Jam Panini.

Sweet, cheesy, crunchy, buttery and crispy. What could be better than that?

My favorite client

My favorite client is absolutely Arthur Schuman Cheese Importers. I have so much fun shooting with Melissa Shore and the best food stylist in the world Marie Haycox. Here are some images from our last 3 day shoot.

Split Image studios is my favorite  rental in New Jersey. John Campos who runs it is a very busy photographer but always makes sure that my clients and I are well cared for. 

Melissa on shoot days becomes art director, prop stylist and client all while answering a never ending stream of emergency emails yet always with a smile!

Ah, my beloved Nikon D700 with it's full frame chip (giant 8.42mu pixels), super sharp 40 year old 55 macro lens and dependable Pocket Wizard.

This job involved shooting recipes for kids. You can see the tables covered in kiddy-type props one of which was a kaleidoscope. So I stuck it on my lens and shot.

Marie Haycox in the kitchen.

Marie Haycox on the set. 

You can also see my optical spot with a small bush to break up the light hitting the set.

Melissa and Deb picking props.

So that it. Three days of hard work and fun with one killer team. Melissa, Marie and Bill. 

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Sneaky Pete

This one is very cool. Sneaky Pete's Beverage contains Heart Healthy Oat Bran but you'd never know it. It's just a yummy drink. I did these shots for my friend John Moran who now lives and works in Florida. It's great when clients become friends. It just makes the work all that much the more fun...

Greek Yogurt Bars

Food Photography? Certainly! 
One of the ways I keep busy is to shoot supporting images for my food clients. My newest client this year is Rickland Orchards. Along with food images, I will be shooting more sports stars for them along with possible upcoming lifestyle shots and fun shots like this one of the CEO carrying an impossible pallet of product. My speciality is lighting food in a yummy way but I would go out of business soon if not for the additional images for my beloved food clients like these.

4 days in heaven

This is the studio I rented for my 4 day shoot with Arthur Schuman Inc. We were shooting recipes for their new Cello website. Most of the images were captured with one Optical Spot and one head with a large reflector off the ceiling.

A few images (mostly pasta dishes) were lit with a medium bank kept far away for better contrast.

These next three images are of Marie Haycox. She is one great food stylist and one third of the team that made these three days so heavenly.

Marie works for all of the NYC television studios as well. Don't think that those famous chefs and actors making their favorite dishes really are... It's usually Marie!

Ummmm, Mascarpone cheese in desserts!

This smiling girl is Melissa Shore. I would tell you what she does but it would take too long (she does so much). She's the art director, prop buyer & stylist, final decision maker and so much more. 

Here are a couple of images from this shoot. You can see how the hard light from the optical spots bring a little snap to the food. Yum!

So there it is. 4 days of fun making art for commerce. Money with a camera. There is no better way.

Paid to learn

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:

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My busiest month yet!

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

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

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

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

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!