This image is from a shoot I did to create some promo images. I often have to create what’s called test images to make promotional material to get new work.
These images are showing the weathered wood surface that I found at a wood salvage yard in Los Angeles. I go over how I found those in detail in that post.
Table of Contents
The Food
A lobster bake is a traditional New England thing to do in the Summer. Usually it will have corn, potatoes, shrimp, clams, and muscles. I chose to do my lobster bake with corn, clams, potatoes, and fresh herbs.
I live in Los Angeles and I really miss all the seafood we have back East. It’s very expensive to buy lobsters out here. These guys were $19.00 a lb. The place I got them from said the bad storms back East are creating a lobster shortage out here. Very unfortunate for us all, if that’s actually true.
It’s safe to say I love any crustaceans, especially clams. I simply steamed these with white wine and butter for 5-7 minutes and they were perfect.
I didn’t have a food stylist or a prop stylist on this one. So while I was boiling the large pot of water, I soaked the clams to get the extra grit out of them. Those critters spit out a lot of stuff while I was soaking them.
I had three colors of New Potatoes, yellow, red, and purple. I also used yellow corn, not white as it shoots nicer.
I cook lobster a few times a year, usually if they go on sale. These guys were on the smaller side as they were so pricey.
Most of my friends are not comfortable cooking them. I try not to think about it. I put them in the fridge to chill them and this stops them from being too active. And they do not scream when you put them in the water. I have no idea how that myth started.
I boiled these for about 8 minutes in salted water. They turned red within a few seconds. They say it’s an instant death, I hope so.
While the water was boiling for the lobsters, I boiled the potatoes and corn. The last thing I did was steam the clams.
I always use fresh herbs for garnish. I coated the potatoes with olive oil then mix in the chopped Italian parsley. I also used the Italian parsley on the clams. It really dresses them up.
I used a charcoal starter to put grill marks on my lemons. See how stupidly short the cord is? I pre-heat the iron as you see here, then, to use the damn thing you have to plug it into an extension cord.
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You have to be careful with this thing. It gets piping red hot. If you don’t have one of these, you can always use a grill pan– just make sure the ridges in the grill pan are raised at least a half inch so you can get a nice sear on your food by pressing down on it. Cast iron ones work great. A lot of food stylists use the large two burner grill pans.
The Props
The enamel metal plates, napkins, and placemats are from Crate and Barrel. The silverware is from ebay – I bought a huge batch of antique silverware, 30lbs to be exact and these were in that. The fishing net I found in a store on ebay as well.
The Lighting
This is the shot I used for the post I did on the wood surface. I love this wood, it really looks like an outdoor table that’s been there for years.
For my commercial jobs, I always emulate natural light in the studio. This way, I don’t ever have to worry about losing light, or the color temperature shifting on me.
This shot is with mixed lighting. I’m using daylight strobes with tungsten light.
The tungsten light is shooting through a cucoloris. I made mine from foam core. My exposure is about 1/4 of a second long for the tungsten light, then while the shutter is open the flash will go off so I get both light sources in the same shot.
The shot above is with just the tungsten light so you can see what part it’s doing with the light.
My studio has white walls, white floors, and a white ceiling. The light is bouncing all over the place, just like natural light does outside, however I’m totally controlling it 🙂
The big black stand the camera is on is called a Foba stand. It’s a monopod and it weighs about 150 lbs. That never leaves the studio.
The cable coming down from the camera is the tethering cable connecting the digital back on the camera to the computer.
My camera is one they don’t make any more. It’s called a Fuji 680. The 680 is referring to a film format that was 6cm x 8cm on 2 1/4 roll film. I used this all the time in days of film. It’s an awesome camera. It’s a big boy and you can not hand hold this thing as it’s too heavy.
The Fuji lenses for this system are beautifully sharp. I troll around on ebay often buying used parts and lenses from Japan. Originally, this whole system would have been over $25,000. I put my system together with four lenses, three camera bodies, and loads of accessories for about $3000.
I’ve converted this camera to take my Phase One digital back on it, so it’s currently one of my main digital systems.
I shoot for ad agencies mostly, and they expect very large files, so with my Phase One digital back I can give them files that are 150mb.
So there you have it. My love for lobsters was the inspiration for this photo shoot to make promos for Andrea and then of course, I had an awesome late lunch when this was all done.
Happy Shooting!
Christina
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Madison
Wow, this is so clever. It never occurred to me to use a cucoloris, and I worked in theatre — I have seen it used but not in food photography. I will make one today because I have been using a lot of foam board for my photos lately! 🙂 I love the warmth of light in these photos. Was there minimal post-processing for this, as it looks quite seamless in the BTS.
Christina Peters
Hi Madison! So this is a mixed lighting setup. I’m using a Tungsten light (rated at 2700K) as the direct light through the cuci, then I’m using strobe bouncing off a wall for the soft ambient fill light. You can do the same thing with any light, you’ll just have to gel one to have a warmer white balance than the other one. So my main light is 2700K which is emulating light from the sun, and my fill light is 5000K – which is emulating light from the sky. Very little post processing. I spend very little time in post processing usually unless I am doing composite work.
Mihaela
I can’t stop reading your posts. Very useful info, Thanks a lot!
Christina Peters
Thanks Mihaela!
Becky Abbott
I love the way you used the cucoloris to create natural-looking shadows on the pair of lobster dishes! I never would have guessed that the photo was shot in a studio rather than outside had you not shown how you created the image. Very cool! I also really like the little touches in the photo — the netting, starfish, and shells. They make the scene look very inviting without distracting from the food. I’m looking forward to checking out more of your posts! 🙂
Christina Peters
Hi Becky! Thanks so much. I love emulating daylight with artificial light. Glad you’re enjoying the blog.
Alex
yummy food..
Roger
Thanks for sharing your photo shoots Christina! I have been helping my wife with her Baking Blog for around 9 months now and we are getting more and more comfortable with basic pictures and processing. Blog posts like this really help us understand what is required to get to the next level with our dessert and savory photography.
Christina Peters
Hi Roger, glad you’re enjoying the blog!
David Ewers
Another question, could one use a flash set at the proper ratio with a warm gel to get the same effect?
Christina Peters
Hi David, the only way strobes will work is with a large fresnel in front of the light source, something to contain it and focus it. Strobes on their own (bare head) do not make hard shadows, like a tungsten fresnel, because a bare strobe head has nothing to focus the light. Focused light is how you get sharp shadows. Strobes are essentially an explosion of light so you have to control it somehow. Once you focus that light, then yes, you can put a nice CTB on the gel to warm it up.
David Ewers
one last question, what is the approx, stop difference between the shadows and the midtomes?
Christina Peters
Hi David, since the digital era, I do not use lights meters on these kinds of sets any more, so I can’t tell you that. By looking at it, I’d say it’s probably between 1/2 stop and a full stop of light. Now with RAW files, this really doesn’t matter too much because I’ll tweak all this in editing if needed. In Lightroom you can pull or push your shadows with a little slider, to open them up or make them darker.
Cathy | She Paused 4 Thought
How clever to use a charcoal starter for grill marks.
It is always fascinating to me to see how you set up a shot. I have such an appreciation for your beautiful & labor intensive work.
Christina Peters
Thanks Cathy! The charcoal starter is a loose canon. Several stylists have burnt my counter tops with them. I have a large butcher’s block slab with a large black sear right in the middle of it. They are hard to work with but you can get great results.
Rob
Excellent post; thanks Christina! The lighting really gives it the feeling that this was shot outdoors. Plus, I love the addition of the small candles that you added.
By the way, for those that don’t want to make their own cookies or cucoloris, you can find them through the B&H photo website, at: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/32842-REG/Matthews_189093_Cucoloris_18x24.html
They offer different sized cookies for various needs.
Thanks again,
Rob
Christina Peters
Hi Rob, there are wood cookies out there. I don’t use those because I always tweak the openings on the cookie. With wood you can’t do that. Your stuck with the shapes and sizes of the wood. Also, I find I always need a cookie that is 4ft x 3ft and those are a little pricey made out of wood.
Rob
Thanks Christina for your response! It sounds like purchasing sheets of foam core is the better alternative. I’ll definitely try that. How long did it take for you to cut out those shapes in your cookie?
Thanks,
Rob
Christina Peters
The foam core is much cheaper and mine has lasted years! No joke. Just store them somewhere to be protected. Making these are not fun at all. You first draw out your amoeba shapes, then get a sharp exacto knife, put on some music, and start cutting out the shapes. Takes about an hour. If you are fortunate to have an assistant on a photo shoot, get them to make you one. That’s usually what I do is during down time I have my assistant make these if we need a new one.
nicole (thespicetrain.com)
What a great post, Christina! I love the beautiful dappled light, was that a Fresnel light that was coming through the cookie?
Christina Peters
Hi Nicole, glad you like the post. Yes, that is an Arri 1K Fresnel hot light.