Everyone has heard of Photoshop. I started using it in school in 1990 - version 2. Little did I know that my world of photography with film and my fabulous chemical darkroom containing potassium ferricyanide + many more gnarly chemicals (don't worry dad, I always wore a chemical respirator mask), would now be replaced with stupidly expensive digital cameras, a massive Mac tower … [Read more...]
How To Crop Your Food Photo
I always gravitate towards shooting my food images in a vertical format. When I'm teaching classes, this is when I notice almost everyone is holding their camera horizontally when shooting their food photos. The first time I taught a food photography class this shocked me. So I asked the students why they were all holding their cameras horizontally. Each student looked at me and said they had … [Read more...]
Compositing Tricks with Photoshop
In this post I will show you how I created this image using layer masks in Photoshop. This image looks simple, right? Just slap 9 scoops of sorbet on a platter and throw some food accents on it. Easy! Yeah, no. This final image is a composite of 10 images - each image was of one scoop of sorbet with its food accent, plus an image of just the marble platter. This is just one of many … [Read more...]
Behind the Scenes of the “Location” Shoot of a Little Fig Tree
Isn't he cute? My little fig tree? Think it was shot outside? See the lens flare? Gotcha! I shot this in the studio actually. OK, so here's what happened. I pulled this whole shoot together in a few hours. It all started Saturday. Now this is going to sound like I'm rambling here, but trust me, it will all make sense. My good friend and food blooger, Erika Kerekes of In Erika's Kitchen, had … [Read more...]
How to Edit Images Shot on Location – Before and After in Adobe Lightroom
Shooting on a bright sunny day can be very challenging. The light can be very harsh, the shadows can be way too dark, and basically the amount of light going from your shadows to your highlights can go beyond the range of what your camera's sensor can handle. The sensor is the thing that has replaced film and is what is capturing your image. Taking an Image from "yuck" to "perrrty" When I shoot … [Read more...]