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Phummus
Aug 4, 2006

If I get ten spare bucks, it's going for a 30-pack of Schlitz.
How about a thread specifically for food photography? Feel free to post shots you've taken of food in all its forms. A couple to start off:

Herbs and Spices

IMG_7073.jpg by jmorris4371, on Flickr

And a Crumb Shot

Baguette by jmorris4371, on Flickr

Phummus fucked around with this message at 21:13 on Oct 31, 2013

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mindphlux
Jan 8, 2004

by R. Guyovich
I'd like some tips on building/using a lightbox.

I got a cheap flood/construction light and a sheet of vellum paper, and made like a diffuser out of some pvc piping and poo poo, per some internet guides. works like poo poo, and I know how to mess with the white balance on my camera too. I kind of gave up at my "improving your food photograhpy" kick after that, but I should really make a little more effort.

don't have any favorite food photos of my own, I don't think any of my food photos are particularly spectacular. here's one of my cat getting ready to eat a bee instead.

Stringent
Dec 22, 2004


image text goes here
There need to be pre and post Lightroom photos for this to be useful methinks.

Well other than any old excuse to look at food porn.

Drifter
Oct 22, 2000

Belated Bear Witness
Soiled Meat
I would also like to have before and after processing pics. You guys make them look so drat great. :allears:

Also, I'd like to see more of that cat with some actual people food. Maybe a bread roll, or spaghetti carbonara, perhaps.

Phummus
Aug 4, 2006

If I get ten spare bucks, it's going for a 30-pack of Schlitz.
I'll do a before and after.

I always have my camera set to shoot 'cloudy' for the white balance. I like the color temp it provides for outdoor shots, and really with as easy as it is to change the white balance after-the fact, its not worth it to change it on my camera every time my lighting changes. So here's the shot out of the camera:



I adjusted the white balance to reflect the actual lighting I was shooting in, and I cropped out a lot of the background/foreground stuff that I found to be pretty distracting. I did a little bit of noise reduction, as I was shooting at a fairly high ISO, and also enabled the lens profile correction in lightroom to come up with this:



EDIT: I also boosted the exposure a bit.

Phummus fucked around with this message at 14:50 on Oct 28, 2013

mindphlux
Jan 8, 2004

by R. Guyovich
note that the only real thing he's post-processing is white balance and crop.

there shouldn't be much (or any) post processing involved. I prefer to correct the white balance on my camera, and do my cropping by actually changing my camera position - so I don't post process anything myself. but then, I did self admittedly not post any food photos because I don't think mine are great. :/

GrAviTy84
Nov 25, 2004

oh hey a food photog thread. Here's a thing I wrote a long time ago that I haven't touched in a really long time:
http://www.goonswithspoons.com/Photography#More_Advanced_Concepts

and some random recentish (ok not really that recent) shots of mine that I like:


Sirloin steak, gray salt by gtrwndr87, on Flickr


pile of pastrami by gtrwndr87, on Flickr


Applewood smoked steelhead by gtrwndr87, on Flickr


twice fried chicken sandwich. shredded brussels sprout slaw with honey and sherry vinegar. garden early girl tomatoes, midget dill pickles, pommes frites by gtrwndr87, on Flickr


stir fried bean thread noodles, chicken thigh mince, baby bok choy, lao gan ma by gtrwndr87, on Flickr

Unfortunately, my speedlight has taken a dive when attached to my camera and is in need of repair, so my latest food photos have made me pretty sad.

GrAviTy84 fucked around with this message at 23:30 on Oct 28, 2013

Crusty Nutsack
Apr 21, 2005

SUCK LASER, COPPERS


GrAviTy84 posted:

Unfortunately, my speedlight has taken a dive when attached to my camera and is in need of repair, so my latest food photos have made me pretty sad.

Do you think that once you get it fixed, you could take some shots of the same subject with and without it? I'm always curious as to how much difference it makes.

I only ever use existing lighting in anything, mostly out of laziness at home, but sheer necessity when it comes to burg review photos. I've considered getting one of those little popup lightboxes, but without any personal blogging going on, it'd just sit there unused most of the time.

LAchristus
Aug 14, 2006

Don't you know pump it up! YOU'VE GOT TO PUMP IT UP!!!
I work with food photography on a daily basis - I am currently apprenticing/educating myself to become a photographer - and I focus on food/lifestyle photography. I'd love to try and answer some questions or give tips, ask away.

I try and work exclusively with daylight, as I find the quality of the light superior to strobes (the highlights aren't as smooth and there isn't as much detail in the shadows). But stay out of direct sunlight, as it is way too harsh (unless you want to exploit that, and know what you are doing. So if you have a window with indirect sunlight, this is where you should shoot your food! Don't be lazy, take your place away from that ugly yellow lightbulb in the kitchen and go to the window.

If you want to get serious about food photography I urge you to buy this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Plate-Pixel-Digital-Photography-Styling/dp/0470932139/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383245032&sr=8-1&keywords=plate+to+pixel

You can see my work on my site and my blog - and feel free to ask.

https://www.christonnesen.com
https://www.christonnesen.blogspot.com

Phummus
Aug 4, 2006

If I get ten spare bucks, it's going for a 30-pack of Schlitz.

LAchristus posted:

I work with food photography on a daily basis - I am currently apprenticing/educating myself to become a photographer - and I focus on food/lifestyle photography. I'd love to try and answer some questions or give tips, ask away.

I try and work exclusively with daylight, as I find the quality of the light superior to strobes (the highlights aren't as smooth and there isn't as much detail in the shadows). But stay out of direct sunlight, as it is way too harsh (unless you want to exploit that, and know what you are doing. So if you have a window with indirect sunlight, this is where you should shoot your food! Don't be lazy, take your place away from that ugly yellow lightbulb in the kitchen and go to the window.

If you want to get serious about food photography I urge you to buy this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Plate-Pixel-Digital-Photography-Styling/dp/0470932139/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383245032&sr=8-1&keywords=plate+to+pixel

You can see my work on my site and my blog - and feel free to ask.

https://www.christonnesen.com
https://www.christonnesen.blogspot.com

The simple question: What would you do to improve the photos in my original post?

LAchristus
Aug 14, 2006

Don't you know pump it up! YOU'VE GOT TO PUMP IT UP!!!

Phummus posted:

The simple question: What would you do to improve the photos in my original post?

The image link on the first image appears to be broken. So can only comment on the bread.

First of all, think about the light. It appears this is shot in your kitchen without any thought on light? The light is yellow and really flat, it doesn't do anything to tell that the bread is crisp like a proper baguette. You need some contrast in the light to accent the feel of the bread. Secondly, you say it is a crumb shot, but in this image there is 5% crumb, and 95% bread interior, and the clean cut makes it even harder to identity that this bread has a crisp surface.

If I had a baguette like this, I would probable shoot it from the top down, so that you see the beautiful structure is has, and then either break it half with my hands, or cut a pieces and lay besides. Maybe with some butter and/or jam and a knife or something to help tell the story.

In post process, give it way more contrast, and desaturate it a bit. Gave it a quick shot in Photoshop:

Phummus
Aug 4, 2006

If I get ten spare bucks, it's going for a 30-pack of Schlitz.

LAchristus posted:

The image link on the first image appears to be broken. So can only comment on the bread.

Fixed

LAchristus posted:

First of all, think about the light. It appears this is shot in your kitchen without any thought on light? The light is yellow and really flat, it doesn't do anything to tell that the bread is crisp like a proper baguette. You need some contrast in the light to accent the feel of the bread.

Yeah, it was shot in my dining room under the overhead light. I did try to correct for the yellowness in white balance.

LAchristus posted:

Secondly, you say it is a crumb shot, but in this image there is 5% crumb, and 95% bread interior, and the clean cut makes it even harder to identity that this bread has a crisp surface.

If I had a baguette like this, I would probable shoot it from the top down, so that you see the beautiful structure is has, and then either break it half with my hands, or cut a pieces and lay besides. Maybe with some butter and/or jam and a knife or something to help tell the story.
[quote="LAchristus" post="421150229"]

I like the idea of breaking it by hand and the knife/jam/butter. I may do this next time.

[quote="LAchristus" post="421150229"]
In post process, give it way more contrast, and desaturate it a bit. Gave it a quick shot in Photoshop:


Nice. Thanks for the tips!

EAT THE EGGS RICOLA
May 29, 2008

LAchristus posted:

but in this image there is 5% crumb, and 95% bread interior, and the clean cut makes it even harder to identity that this bread has a crisp surface.


What do you think the word "crumb" means when referring to a sliced open piece of bread?

YEAH DOG
Sep 24, 2009

you wanna join my
primitive noise band?

EAT THE EGGS RICOLA posted:

What do you think the word "crumb" means when referring to a sliced open piece of bread?

loving this. Do you know food? jesus christ what is wrong with you. There's no food on that site.

e: you pretentious douche

e: vvvv sorry, did I miss it in the washed out over saturated pics of nothing? If so, I'm sure I can find some washed out and over saturated teenage girls to take pics for you, I hear they LOVE artists.

(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)

Drifter
Oct 22, 2000

Belated Bear Witness
Soiled Meat
^^^ ??? There's definitely food on the blogspot.

EAT THE EGGS RICOLA posted:

What do you think the word "crumb" means when referring to a sliced open piece of bread?

Probably the crust, in context.

YEAH DOG
Sep 24, 2009

you wanna join my
primitive noise band?

Drifter posted:

^^^ ??? There's definitely food on the blogspot.


Probably the crust, in context.

Maybe a food photographer should know what crumb means, especially in context, since it's the exact opposite of crust.

Drifter
Oct 22, 2000

Belated Bear Witness
Soiled Meat

YEAH DOG posted:

Maybe a food photographer should know what crumb means, especially in context, since it's the exact opposite of crust.

I'm not going to create reasons out of thin air, but if English is not a first language it can easily be mistaken. Otherwise, who the heck cares anyway?

You're being unnecessarily abrasive to one or more people who clearly haven't warranted it, if you have critically constructive notes to impart it sounds like that guy is willing to learn things as well as he is sharing his own (still developing) knowledge.

Phummus
Aug 4, 2006

If I get ten spare bucks, it's going for a 30-pack of Schlitz.
In the spirit of reciprocal education, in the world of baked goods, the 'crumb' of an end product is the term used to reference the internal structure. For instance, the crumb of my baguette above has a fairly open texture, indicating that it was a high hydration application. The yellow color that you noted, while exacerbated by my tungsten lighting is also partly due to the fact that I used unbleached flour.

mediaphage
Mar 22, 2007

Excuse me, pardon me, sheer perfection coming through
I will say my number one pet peeve in food photography (aside from the general Glamour Shots nature of current trends) is the tendency toward razor-thin depth of field. In everything. Can't even see the food.

slingshot effect
Sep 28, 2009

the wonderful wizard of welp

mediaphage posted:

I will say my number one pet peeve in food photography (aside from the general Glamour Shots nature of current trends) is the tendency toward razor-thin depth of field. In everything. Can't even see the food.

Jamie Oliver is the #1 worst offender for this, holy heck.

Phummus
Aug 4, 2006

If I get ten spare bucks, it's going for a 30-pack of Schlitz.

mediaphage posted:

I will say my number one pet peeve in food photography (aside from the general Glamour Shots nature of current trends) is the tendency toward razor-thin depth of field. In everything. Can't even see the food.

My baguette is certainly guilty of this. The herbs and spices not so much.

LAchristus
Aug 14, 2006

Don't you know pump it up! YOU'VE GOT TO PUMP IT UP!!!
Yeah I mistook crumb for crust - my bad. Hope this thread does not become like the food thread in the Dorkroom..

The spice image is pretty good, I like that you have it on a neutral background, and that it has some texture instead of being all white. When working with a narrow depth of field like this, I would probably shoot it 100% from above to ensure a more even sharpness on all the spices, unless you want to highlight the bay leave?

Again, more contrast, or at least more black to add texture, and then there is that yellow tone to it, but that we covered before :)

Keep it up!

Casu Marzu
Oct 20, 2008

LAchristus posted:

Yeah I mistook crumb for crust - my bad. Hope this thread does not become like the food thread in the Dorkroom..


:colbert: The gently caress is wrong with the dorkroom thread?

MrBlandAverage
Jul 2, 2003

GNNAAAARRRR

Casu Marzu posted:

:colbert: The gently caress is wrong with the dorkroom thread?

What's wrong with it is that he got probated in it for being an uptight, dismissive douchebag :allears:

mediaphage
Mar 22, 2007

Excuse me, pardon me, sheer perfection coming through
It's because he cares too much about ~~food photography~~.


Anyway back on topic, I feel like recently I've liked to take pictures of meals or prep rather than a single finished dish.

SoundMonkey
Apr 22, 2006

I just push buttons.


There's room for the unconventional too!

"Dimmer Rolls III"

Musket
Mar 19, 2008
Pisskety.


05/04/03, Lake Oswego by Ashade76, on Flickr

erephus
May 24, 2012
\o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/
\o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/

food by dabrovnijk, on Flickr

edit: recrop and more color

erephus fucked around with this message at 20:41 on Nov 1, 2013

Drifter
Oct 22, 2000

Belated Bear Witness
Soiled Meat

The natural lighting really makes it pop.

RangerScum
Apr 6, 2006

lol hey there buddy

Big Bites by TomOlson, on Flickr

erephus
May 24, 2012
\o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/
\o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/

Drifter posted:

The natural lighting really makes it pop.

There are no things better than food when you are hungry.

erephus fucked around with this message at 21:03 on Nov 1, 2013

MrBlandAverage
Jul 2, 2003

GNNAAAARRRR

Olive Bread, Burrito, Marquam Bridge by Isaac Sachs, on Flickr

Musket
Mar 19, 2008

Untitled by Ashade76, on Flickr

Food for your foodhole.

dino.
Mar 28, 2010

Yip Yip, bitch.
As evidenced by my most recent thread attempt (dosa thread) I apparently need more light to shoot in. Pretty drat near all my pictures are done under fluorescent light, indoors. Do I just need to crank open the blinds to let in more light, and then turn on all the surrounding lights I can find?

Boris Galerkin
Dec 17, 2011

I don't understand why I can't harass people online. Seriously, somebody please explain why I shouldn't be allowed to stalk others on social media!


Nuttenfrühstück by Boris Galerkin on GWCGWS.

MrBlandAverage
Jul 2, 2003

GNNAAAARRRR

dino. posted:

As evidenced by my most recent thread attempt (dosa thread) I apparently need more light to shoot in. Pretty drat near all my pictures are done under fluorescent light, indoors. Do I just need to crank open the blinds to let in more light, and then turn on all the surrounding lights I can find?

Be careful with this. Fluorescent light has a different color temperature and tint from other light sources - usually warmer and greener compared to daylight and cooler and greener than incandescent lightbulbs. It'll lead to issues with ugly color casts on one side of something that you can't easily remove without making the other side look weird.

If you want the most natural, even light, I'd suggest opening the blinds and photographing the food as close to a window as possible. You can also use some white foamcore or something as a reflector on the opposite side of the food from the window, just out of the frame, to get more even lighting.

whitelady
Nov 15, 2013
I was going to take the food photography course offered by my culinary program but I didn't know if it would be worth the $385 it would cost me to take it. Should I just experiment with it on my own? Didn't know if anyone has taken one before.

mediaphage
Mar 22, 2007

Excuse me, pardon me, sheer perfection coming through

whitelady posted:

I was going to take the food photography course offered by my culinary program but I didn't know if it would be worth the $385 it would cost me to take it. Should I just experiment with it on my own? Didn't know if anyone has taken one before.

To be honest, unless it's a really good course, I feel like you can learn everything from getting some good books / following some blogs. You might get there more quickly with the course; I'm not sure.

Grue Bouncer
Nov 19, 2002

don't fuck you me, you
These are low res pieces from my culinary school portfolio, which I blurred out my name out of paranoia to put up on the web somewhere a few years ago (because I lost the original psd files, so I couldn't just take the text out)... I've got the hi-res images kicking around somewhere... if anybody wants to see one, let me know.

I think it turned out well, though I had NO idea what I was doing, and most of the photography and styling had to be done in a period of about 3 or 4 minutes, because we were usually scrambling around to finish up class. My only technique, initially, was 'get close so they can really see the food, and do it from an angle so it's not boring.' I didn't even really know how to deal with the shutter speed and aperture, so I ended up taking a million pictures to get one of each I thought was decent, and some of them were junk. One or two, like the Bavarian, had some blemishes removed in photoshop. The rest of them have been adjusted for color/contrast. They were shot with an old Canon PowerShot camera, which served me well. I printed them on 10x17 paper and spiral bound it, at kinkos. Wasn't cheap, but the pictures looked nice in print.

I particularly like the donuts, the one labeled 'ripieni', the scotch eggs, and the wok seared shrimp and grits.


andoille: arista: bavarian: brandade: bucatini: chutney: courdecreme: creamapple: danish: donuts: fake_cut_lemon: fake_cutlets: farsumagru: flammakeuchen: flan: flourless_cake: foisgras: galantine: grilled_pizza: kulibikaya: lambpie: lemon_pastry: madelines: meurette: mimi: miso: money: mozarella: palmiers: paparot: pasta_pizza: piperade: poboy: ravioli: ribs: ripieni: risotto: roberta: roqbread: sardines: scotch_eggs: sfogliata: shrimp: souffle: strudel: tapenade: tart: terrine: trout: tuscan_bread: veal: vegterrine: volauvent:

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GrAviTy84
Nov 25, 2004

am I doing this right?


Remedy by gtrwndr87, on Flickr

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