I’ve been blogging a lot of food photography lately. Yes, I have been hired to photograph more and more food… which is awesome. But I also want to keep up with some personal projects to push my photography skills forward.
Brazilian pao de queijo
Lately, my food photography has been all natural light, which is awesome. Natural light, if the light is good, can look amazing. However, I want to also create the light with strobe and also have it appear natural and beautiful. So I bought some cheeses, breads, a variety of crackers, and even grapes. I figure this is the food painters start with for their still life paintings… and it doesn’t require any cooking.
Cheese themed food photo shoot
I wanted to create a more moody lighting for the food… as if the kitchen was a dimly lit room in eastern Europe or something. I also used some new table tops that I purchased at the Salt Lake Farmer’s market and even a table top I made myself from Home Depot. Staining wood is pretty cool. You can stain the wood with two different colors and just flip the wood for a second look.
This is a European lunch
I’m using a 2×3 foot softbox with a grid for all of these photographs. The first test shot involved the loaves of bread.
Loaves of bread in a test shot
For my post processing I went with a slightly faded look. There is still plenty of contrast from the softbox’s light but in Photoshop you play with the Curves tool and you get what I call the “Pacific Northwest Look.” There aren’t pure blacks and the images are a little desaturated almost as if the weather was overcast and cloudy.
Going with moody lighting for this food photography
Now I need to think of a new food item to create and photograph. This is pretty fun! And using studio lighting means I can photograph anytime and anywhere. Although, good light is just that… good light. If it comes from a strobe or from a window… if it looks amazing, use it!
Cambozola black label blue cheese with crackers
