I thought I'd share just a little about the food pictures I've taken, and several of which I just featured in
my weekly Header Challenge post. I've left them in this post exactly as they were in the Weekly Header Challenge post, including links to their recipes. Just in case you get hungry. ;)
When I first bought my 100mm macro lens--which is the go-to lens for most my food photography--I was fascinated with how it could capture the amazing details that our eyes just glance over. We can see God's incredible creation through new eyes, so to speak!
I consistently focus on a few things when shooting food, and here they are...
Aperture. Although f/2.8 on my macro lens makes for amazing shots sometimes, with close-up photography, the aperture needs to be more closed down to capture the detail you'll want to see. Bokeh is great, but too much of it and I'm left wondering what kind of food is that--or, I really don't want to see a few crumbs of muffin in sharp detail. My eye strains for more in focus. So that's how I shoot. I typically start with f/6.3 and close down from there, which brings me to...
Multiple images. With my aperture at f/6.3, I take a picture. I may also take one at f/8, f/11, and f/16. Sometimes, the more closed the aperture the better the food shot. You'll still get some bokeh, due to the extreme close-up nature of the macro lens. So experimenting is always good. Typically, though, I shoot at around f/6.3.
Low ISO setting. The lower the setting, the less noise in the image. Nice for food.
Tripod. This is the
essential tool, given the small aperture and low ISO. Depending on light, shutter speed can be extremely slow! I use a remote shutter release, but if I'm lazy and don't want to pull it out, I use the two-second timer on my camera. It's perfect enough for me to press the shutter and have no camera shake when the shutter releases.
Flash when necessary. Although none of the images in this post were taken with flash, I've used it to great effect to shoot some cookies for a client last year, and will probably experiment with it more this year. I bounce the hot-shoe-mounted flash off a wall or the ceiling, depending on where I set up. I also try to be extra careful I'm not creating shadows--having part of the photo shadowed from my body, or a curtain blocking the light, is not so good. With natural light, I tend to shoot in my kitchen (remember the blue countertop?) with light coming in from the southwest windows.
That's pretty much it! I don't do a lot of staging, since I'm usually pretty close to the food. I have been known to pull out a white board for background, but I usually just use my own dishes, my own tables, silverware, etc. You can see the blue/gray speckled countertop in most of these images! To make images look more professional, I may start to use white for my backdrop--unless I'm using white dishes. Basically, keep it as simple as possible.
Let's get on to the photos! Underneath each one is the camera information--ISO, f-stop, and shutter speed.
ISO 160
f/8
2.5 seconds
ISO 200
f/13
2 seconds
ISO 125
f/8
3.2 seconds
ISO 125
f/7.1
1.3 seconds
ISO 200
f/8
2.5 seconds
ISO 200
f/6.3
0.6 seconds
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce and Meatballs on top of Brussels Sprouts
ISO 250
f/10
2.5 seconds
ISO 200
f/7.1
1 second
Shredded Chicken Tacos
ISO 200
f/7.1
1 second
ISO 160
f/11
1/5 second
Broccoli, Barley, Cheddar Cheese, and Salsa
ISO 160
f/7.1
1/15 second
Breakfast Puffs
ISO 160
f/7.1
1/6 second
This post took longer than I expected it to! I've blogged a lot of recipes, with a lot more to go. And now I'm in the mood to bake and blog some more! I hope I've warmed you up a bit today!!
Treasuring life's moments,
Christine
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