"Food" picture thread

[d2mini]

Who had the spray bottle???

Me. Glycerin and water mix.

 

[Reef Bass]

Dog food?! That looks like Reef Bass food to me. Did I miss an invite in the mail? d2Mini, now that's a food shot! I think it's neat how you got it to suspend in mid air like that over an all white background.

As usual, all great entries! As much as I wanted to choose the meat bus, I have to say that Reef Bass' picture is mesmerizing, and stood out most to me, so that's my choice.

Thanks. Jesse's meat bus was also my hypothetical choice (that just sounds wrong). The ambiguity and brightness of the colors in my entry to me made it unusual in a "food" theme, which is why I submitted it. I admit technically it's not a great photo.

Very nice. Congrats on the win!

When my kids were little I'd make a custom cake for bdays. One year the request was for a butterfly cake. You wouldn't believe how many butterflies it takes to make a cake!

So where is the 'after' pic?

Thanks John. Your line about the butterflies has me laughing, and I haven't even had much coffee yet.

As far as an after pic, imagine a macro of a plate with lots of Technicolor crumbs and frosting smudges. It was surprisingly tasty. My youngest's cousins wanted to pretty much body paint themselves with it.

Reef Bass, subject please!!!!

This is going to ruin my reputation as a grouchy old curmudgeon, but this week's theme is "love". The image should invoke feelings of love in the viewer.

 

[Reef Bass]

d2mini, thanks for the setup shot. I like how with two light sources you basically have 4, reflecting the primary sources onto the sides and back of the subject, creating very even lighting overall and enhancing the edges. Your choice to fill the darker side with a warmer orangey light rather than a brighter whiter light works for me. And it looks like your trusty spray bottle saw some action too.

How long do your prepared shots stay "fresh"? Do you need to touch them up frequently? While it's probably not a huge issue with an orange, I'd imagine that eventually more delicate edible subjects, like a lettuce leaf, might dehydrate and wrinkle, fold or flop inappropriately or in a visually undesirable manner? How long is your working window?

 

[NTP66]

How long do your prepared shots stay "fresh"? Do you need to touch them up frequently? While it's probably not a huge issue with an orange, I'd imagine that eventually more delicate edible subjects, like a lettuce leaf, might dehydrate and wrinkle, fold or flop inappropriately or in a visually undesirable manner? How long is your working window?

I wish I could find it now, but I read an article a long time ago on how experts made foods look "fresh" during photo shoots. It was a pretty interesting read, especially when they got into the topic of "replacement" (i.e., wood glue instead of milk on cereal box shots, motor oil instead of pancake syrup, etc.). Not everyone did this, but it was interesting nonetheless.

 

[d2mini]

Yeah, I'll do some basic styling, and I'm not a full time photog, i just do it when needed at our graphic design agency, but a GOOD food stylist is worth their weight in GOLD and they are far and few between. There is all kinds of crazy things they do. A few of my favorite are stuffing ravioli with mashed potato, using play-doh instead of real ice cream, lightly browning a steak in a pan and then putting grill marks on with a blow torch... lots of cool stuff!

And here's some shots I just did using the elmers glue trick for cereal like mentioned above.

 

[d2mini]

d2mini, thanks for the setup shot. I like how with two light sources you basically have 4, reflecting the primary sources onto the sides and back of the subject, creating very even lighting overall and enhancing the edges. Your choice to fill the darker side with a warmer orangey light rather than a brighter whiter light works for me. And it looks like your trusty spray bottle saw some action too.

How long do your prepared shots stay "fresh"? Do you need to touch them up frequently? While it's probably not a huge issue with an orange, I'd imagine that eventually more delicate edible subjects, like a lettuce leaf, might dehydrate and wrinkle, fold or flop inappropriately or in a visually undesirable manner? How long is your working window?

For food especially, I'm always reflecting the light. Usually, I don't even have a light in front. I have a couple lights in back, low, shooting over the subject towards the camera. Then I reflect the light back with foil reflectors to give me specular highlights. This usually creates a nice natural, sunlight type lighting effect and gives lots of detail. A big soft box overhead tends to take away a lot of the taste appeal of food by flattening everything out.

And per the other comment about the dog food shot floating... haha... yeah that was a final retouched and clipped out shot for the package. For that one I first took a shot of the cutting board with nothing on it. Then I took the same cutting board and did all the different varieties. Then each setup was clipped out and pasted on top of the original cutting board shot and we painted in new shadows. This made sure all shots were very consistent as far as placement on the cutting board and the size of the food grouping. :thumbsup:

 

[Reef Bass]

For food especially, I'm always reflecting the light. Usually, I don't even have a light in front. I have a couple lights in back, low, shooting over the subject towards the camera. Then I reflect the light back with foil reflectors to give me specular highlights.

Sweet. Filling the front by foil reflecting backlighting. I like it. Sorry, just getting more into lighting and that was a bit of a lightbulb moment for my noob self.

A big soft box overhead tends to take away a lot of the taste appeal of food by flattening everything out.

Totally how I feel about shooting tanks under T5s versus MHs. The flattening out part, not the loss of taste appeal.

For that one I first took a shot of the cutting board with nothing on it. Then I took the same cutting board and did all the different varieties. Then each setup was clipped out and pasted on top of the original cutting board shot and we painted in new shadows. This made sure all shots were very consistent as far as placement on the cutting board and the size of the food grouping. :thumbsup:

Nicely done. Do you use Lightroom at all, or everything in Photoshop?

 

[Misled]

From my days doing that, hair spray and floor wax were my go to's!!!!

 

[woodnaquanut]

I wish I could find it now, but I read an article a long time ago on how experts made foods look "fresh" during photo shoots. It was a pretty interesting read, especially when they got into the topic of "replacement" (i.e., wood glue instead of milk on cereal box shots, motor oil instead of pancake syrup, etc.). Not everyone did this, but it was interesting nonetheless.

Funny. I remember an article too! Big take away for me was turkey, raw + blowtorch for Thanksgiving shots. Keeps the nice tight skin. :lolspin:

There was also something in a can to simulate steam. Probably banned by EPA now! :thumbsup:

 

[d2mini]

Nicely done. Do you use Lightroom at all, or everything in Photoshop?

Both. I shoot only raw so LR is for the initial raw processing and general tweaks, culling, and organizing my shoots.
Photoshop is for the tricky stuff.

 

[Reef Bass]

Thanks for the insight into your process. Makes sense.

On a separate note, as a disclaimer...

I opened my new Nat Geo with Nero on the cover, and on page 16, I see NG stole my theme idea for this week! "Assignment: Love Snap"

Total coincidence, really. Or more likely, a "great minds think alike" thing.

 

[Misled]

"Love" picture thread