Alright, so normally I would be totally offended if my name was associated with anything "cheap and easy", however today I make that exception. If you were to buy this in a photo store like B & H Photo and Video - you would pay over $300! Covering my sliding glass doors, you will see my DIY diffusion panel. It's huge, at about 10 feet x 12 feet. I made it this big in case I had to cover any … [Read more...]
Dark And Moody Food Photography With Natural Light
Doing dark and moody food photography with natural light is very challenging for a lot of folks. I'll show you how I did this shot and give you some tips on how to do this at home. There are always several challenges using natural light in the first place for any shot. The sun is constantly moving, so your exposure will change as a result of that. Then, if you are in an area like I am near the … [Read more...]
Behind The Scenes Of A Pesto Photo Shoot And Club Update!
We haven't done a behind the scenes post in a while - so here are the details of this yummy pesto and pasta photo shoot. I love testing with my friends and work colleagues whenever I can. Testing is vital for any and every photographer. I don't get to test as often as I should or want to. Testing means you take photographs just for yourself. Hopefully your testing goes well and then you can use … [Read more...]
Food Photography Q and A on FB Live Oct 29th 2016
In this first video I cover 30 questions from folks all around the world. I cover equipment, lighting, white balance, restaurant photography, how to get work and what to charge, shooting outside, focus issues, using utensils in our shots, food styling resources, and so much more! In the very beginning the sound was a little choppy. Don't worry, it's only in the beginning :) It's a FB Live … [Read more...]
Why Are My Images Out of Focus???
Look familiar? Happens all the time. You take a bunch of shots, they look great on your tiny, tiny, camera LCD, get home, download the images, and whammo, a ton of images out of focus. I always shoot with my camera's lens set to Auto Focus. I have always had a hard time focusing the lens manually because my eye balls just aren't as good as most. They really did call me "four eyes" in 3rd grade. … [Read more...]
Photographing Restaurants – Part 3 – How to Take Good Pictures of Food in a Restaurant
And now for the final part of my Restaurant Photography Series - Part 3 - How to take good pictures of food in a restaurant. I will finally be talking about photographing the food and chefs for restaurants. The shot above was done for Napa Valley Grille in Westwood, CA. I was hired to shoot from 2-4:30 pm. I ended up shooting from 2 - 5:30 pm. We did a ton of shots in a short time period. This … [Read more...]
Behind the Scenes of a Breakfast Food Shoot
It's been very crazy and busy the last few weeks. I thought it would be fun to show some recent photo shoots and some behind the scenes shots. I had a very fun shoot with a good friend, chef and budding new food stylist, Sarah Simms Hendrix of La Femme Epicure. We tested several breakfast dishes. All the images were shot with natural light on a Canon 5d Mark II with a 24-105mm … [Read more...]
Shooting on Location | Farm Tour California Avocados Direct
Doesn't this look like an enchanted forest? I called it the enchanted avocado forest when I was there. Those are avocado trees - 40 year old ones. I have never seen avocado trees growing like this, until now. My good friend Mimi Holtz is married to an avocado farmer - a 4th generation avocado farmer named Ed. They own and operate this family farm. They sell avocados direct to the … [Read more...]
Location Shooting – Windrose Farms Spring Tour
I went to this beautiful farm in the beginning of May when I was on the Spring Farm, Food, and Wine Tour with Deb's Kitchen. Windrose is a 50 acre family farm in San Luis Obispo County, owned by Bill and Barbara Spencer. They have vegetables, apples, stone fruit and they also raise sheep. The farm is currently organic and is now transitioning to be a biodynamic farm. I didn't fully know what … [Read more...]
Shooting on Location – Spring Food and Wine Tour
The first weekend in May I went on a farm and wine tour given by Debbi Dubbs of Deb's Kitchen. We went to the Cambria/Paso Robles wine region. We had perfect weather and it was really beautiful. Deb and her crew are great to hang out with. There was about 12 of us in total I think. I arrived in Cambria Friday night. We stayed at the Cambria Pines Lodge. We all met at the home of one of Deb's … [Read more...]
Shooting on Location – Fairfield Farms
I love seeing how our food grows. In southern California we are very lucky to have several farms all within a few hours of Los Angeles. Last week, Erika Kerekes of In Erika's Kitchen invited me to go on a blueberry farm tour near San Diego with other food bloggers. The farm is Fairfield Farms. Blueberries never tasted so good, picked right off the vine, warmed by the sun. The Process - How … [Read more...]
What is the best time of day to photograph food?
I often get asked what is the best time of day to shoot food when using natural light. This really depends on where you are shooting and how much natural light you are actually getting at certain times of the day. I always use a tripod so for me I am not limited by the quantity of light that is coming through the window. If you are not using a tripod (and you should be by now!) you are totally at … [Read more...]