Even with our fancy new digital cameras, sometimes getting the image in focus where we want it to be is a challenge. In this post, we'll talk about how to focus your camera using focusing points. What is a focusing point? The image above is from a Canon camera. Those squares represent the 9 focusing points that camera has to choose from. The camera controls how many focus points are possible to … [Read more...]
How To Prepare For Your Food Photo Shoot – Make A Shot List!
When I started teaching food photography classes several years ago I saw that many of my students were completely overwhelmed with how to put a photo shoot together. They would say to me in frustration, "I don't even know where to start". Even if you've been shooting for a while now, or just starting out, this post is about how to organize your thoughts and your plans for you next food … [Read more...]
Food Photography Lighting – Easy Artificial Side Light Part Two
If you saw my other post about food photography lighting, you'll remember that it covered shooting with an overhead set. This post is about shooting on a tabletop with the same artificial light. Shooting food with natural light can be quite difficult at times because the sun is always moving on us AND changing it's color temperature. Not to mention, the whole getting dark at 4:00 pm issue in … [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...]
Food Photography Lighting – Easy Artificial Side Lighting
Many people are intimidated by artificial food photography lighting, but it really can be easy and necessary when we start losing light early in the evening. If you are trying to shoot food and you're only able to use natural light, this getting dark early thing can be a real drag. This shot above was taken at 7pm with one light. Easy! Artificial Food Photography Lighting I tell all my … [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 Lobster Bake Shot
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. The Food A lobster bake is a traditional New England thing to do in the … [Read more...]
How to find beautiful wood backgrounds for food photos
Aged wood backgrounds really bring character to a food photograph. Sometimes I make my wood backgrounds and other times I hunt high and low for perfectly aged wood planks. In this post I will share with you my hunt for beautiful wood backgrounds. Now, please keep in mind I live in the Los Angeles area. This means I can't just go to the horse barn down the road and rummage around behind the barn … [Read more...]
How to Pick the Perfect Plate for Your Food Photos: Five Tips from a Prop Stylist
A note from Christina: Those of you that read this blog have heard me talk about my good friend and prop stylist, Amy Paliwoda. Amy is also the owner of The Surface Library, (this is not a sponsored post) where you can rent all kinds of beautiful props and backgrounds for your shoots. Amy's post is in response to a poll I did on the blog asking what kind of info you would like me to write … [Read more...]
10 Tips for Working with Fabrics for Your Food Photos
Using fabrics in your food photos might sound simple, but it's not as easy as you think. There's a lot you need to consider when you're working with fabrics in a shot, besides the color. The shot above is with linen napkins. Linen looks great, but it's a beast when you want to get wrinkles out of it. #1. The Fabric Color May Shift The main thing you need to know about photographing fabrics is … [Read more...]
The Best and Worst Colors for Photographing Food
There used to be an old saying when photographing food - you NEVER shoot food on blue. I'm sure it originated in the 70's when we had Home Economists, now called food stylists, working in test kitchens at places like Campbells and Kraft. I have no clue why this became a rule as blue is a wonderful color for so many foods. Today I'll be talking about what are the best and worst colors for … [Read more...]
Inspiring Food Photography from The Modernist Cuisine
If you haven't seen this yet - you really need to add this to your list. I'm talking about the massive cooking encyclopedia called The Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking. It's a whopping 2,438 pages in a 5 volume set. The author is Dr. Nathan Myhrvold. That's right, I said Doctor. Photography is just one facet of this man's amazing resume. He has a myriad of master's degrees in … [Read more...]
What is the Difference Between RAW and JPEG Files?
How many of you are still trying to figure out what this whole RAW file thing is about? How many of you have no idea what I’m talking about and think that you've been fine this whole time shooting JPEGS and that this doesn't apply to you? Well guess what? You’re the ones that need to read this the most. In this post I will explain what the difference between RAW and JPEG files, how to use RAW … [Read more...]
How to Properly Use Jpeg Files for Your Blog
How many of you are still shooting in JPEG file format for your food photos? Most food bloggers that I meet are. That’s ok, for now. There is a better way to shoot (future post), but for now I will discuss the best practices for shooting and using JPEG files that I bet you are not doing. If you are starting out or have a less expensive camera, chances are the only file option for you to shoot … [Read more...]
A Photo Shoot with Mendocino Farms Restaurant and a Beautiful Goat Farm
Did you know that goats can smile? It's true. They totally do. At least on this farm they do. This happy critter chomping on premium, lush, green alfalfa hay (trucked in from Utah at $9800 a truckload!) is just one of 331 goats that farmer and veterinarian Dan Drake takes care of. This is the Drake Family Farm in Ontario, California. How on earth did I end up photographing a goat farm in … [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...]
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