dayranch Loc: Douglasville Georgia

Hello Fellow Photographers!

I am getting ready to do a photo shoot on food that had already been cooked and on the plate and ready to eat. I never took a Image of food at this level, but I have a ideal on lighting and composition, but I'm sure their's more to it to get a award winning Image of food on a plate. If someone out there who had done food photography, I would greatly appreciate your insight on this photography food contest shoot. Thanks to all.

Laroy Lindsey.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Laroy, any food photo that will win awards will be of food that is not going to be edible.
--Bob

Quixdraw Loc: x

I can't agree - though I can't claim to have won prizes or entered Food Picture contests. Cooking is something of a passion of mine, near to photography. I will often take a few photos of a new or attractive dish just before we sit down to eat. Results, good pix, good meals.

Iron Sight Loc: Utah

Searching the perfect Relleno.

(Download)

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

If you can, avoid harsh lighting. Lights tend to get hot and could otherwise over cook food. Imagine if you will Sushi rolls under hot light. After the shoot, I wouldn't want to have that California Roll.
It is important to limit the time the food is in front of the camera/lights for a very short time. You will also need food props. Try to photograph a bowl of vanilla and chocolate ice cream. I doubt you wil get two shots before it melts. Opt for mashed potatoes and food dye. How about a bowl of cereal. The cereal will manage the shoot. But the milk will become cheese. At this point you would have to use white paint.

In all you must be creative just as much as cooking. In the foreground use silverware and glasses of wine with the bottle off to the side. Candles do nicely. Backgrounds do better if out of focus such as Bokeh. Have a short depth of field and have another couple or two at tables in the background out of focus.
You can even use a star filter to enhance the candle light. It creates an interesting effect.

Happy Shooting!

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Here’s two samples from my Fuji cameras.
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Turkey Melt with onion rings

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Italian Beef

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jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

Food photography can generally be divided between shooting served food you eat at a table and food you shoot for specific reasons like commercial. There can be quite a few different approaches to how you compose and style food, from using inedible replacements, liquids, etc. to having a free dinner afterwards.

Shooting food for the photograph means using different techniques than cooking the food to serve. For example, you might use a hot iron to make grill marks on a steak for appearance, having vegetables par boiled and iced to stop cooking process and maintain the fresh green coloration, having a gravy or sauce applied judiciously instead of smothering the entrée into a big glop of (add you description here) Even if you cook for yourself, you may plate with an idea about how it will look on camera when you are a photographer.

Professionals will spend the bulk of their time composing, lighting, accessorizing with stand-ins before preparing for the hero to be shot. Plated food does not maintain it's quality appearance for very long, so you better have all your ducks in line before you shoot.

First photo is a test shot for composition and the second was during a vacation lunch. The last 3 were taken while a chef prepared the plates for a stand up dinner. Brought to a pre-lit countertop where I quickly arranged and shot and then out to the table.

Lamb ribs


filet mignon stuffed with lobster

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

This doesn't sound very Kosher to me. Food on a plate ready to eat makes for awful photographs. And the longer it is on a plate the worse it looks. I've worked on both sides of the camera - as a food stylist and photographer. You are right to recognize that it is more involved that it seems.

There isn't much I can tell you, other than get your hands on a copy of Food Styling: The Art of Preparing Food for the Camera by Delores Custer. I did a few jobs with her when I lived in NY - she knows her stuff and she makes some clear distinctions between Editorial, Documentary, and Advertising styles that you probably need to be aware of before you do this. She started in the industry when food stylists were almost all home economics teachers and had little vision on how to make food look amazing on a plate. Her book is the definitive, comprehensive treatment of the subject of styling.

If you are looking for a good example of editorial styling - any work done by Australian Donna Hay is a great way to start. Also look in Fine Cooking and Saveur, and older issues of Food and Wine when they were focused on food and not food and travel. There are two books that may or may not help - Lighting for food and drink photography by Steve Bavister, and Food Photography and Styling by John F. Carafoli.

I would expect these would be available in most libraries.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

There is a vast difference between taking a snapshot of your dinner and producing a photograph for a food photograph contest.
--Bob

Quixdraw Loc: x

I photograph food cooked for my family's pleasure, because I enjoy doing it, and to share with a few friends. I have the advantage of familiarity with the fine natural light in my kitchen and dining areas. The investment is in the quality of both productions, without the "ruffles & flourishes" I appreciate in fine restaurants. A few recent dishes I could find relatively quickly. Never had much interest in production work, though I did quite a bit in past years.

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

As usual, Gene has excellent info for you. There are whole volumes on food styling, lighting and creative composing. Not necessarily in the same book though. Delores Custer's book is more of a bible to me on styling. The lighting book by Steve Bavister is a must have but out of print as is Food Shots by Roger Hicks. Teri Campbell also has a good book, but geared more to the commercial aspect of business and shooting. (You may or may not want to be pursuing a career in food photography, but food lighting and techniques in these books aren't just for food. You will learn about lighting in general you can apply for tabletop or small object shooting)

Definitely look at food magazines, look for shots you like and try to deconstruct the lighting and what makes the shot appealing to you. I take the pages out of my subscriptions and file the photo styles AND the recipes... a win-win use of a great source.

PS: I wanna be like Gene when I grow up!

dayranch Loc: Douglasville Georgia

Thanks Iron Sight! Thank really look tasty!

dayranch Loc: Douglasville Georgia

Subject food is salmon, the plan is to shoot fish doing cooking, and shoot fish after fish is Ready to eat, and shoot dish 10 minutes after fish cool down.

dayranch Loc: Douglasville Georgia

Food really looks good, how long did it take to prepare and complete food shoot?

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)