P1: Appetite Appeal

Photography for Appetite

Background
1 – Setting: Choose a setting that enhances, but doesn’t distract from your food. Pick a simple, plain background or tablecloth.

Use plates whose color contrasts with or harmonizes with your food, but not ones that are the same color.

Before you start shooting, make sure there isn’t any distracting clutter in the background of the shot (stray people, silverware, whatever). Using a wider aperture to blur the background will help.

2 – Light: Use natural light whenever you can. The ideal set-up is a next to a large window, with a white curtain to diffuse the light. If you can’t get natural light, use strobes but spend time setting them right.

3 – Color Balance: Learn to color balance. Especially in situations where natural light is unavailable, your photos can have a yellow or blue cast that makes food look terrible. Use the white balance setting on your camera, or adjust the color digitally later on.

4 – Don’t Move: Hold still. In low-light situations like restaurants and kitchens, long exposures will register any camera movement as blur. Use a tripod whenever possible.

5 – Shoot A Lot: Take lots of pictures. Move around the food and see what angle looks best: down low to see the food head-on? Up high to take in the geometry of the presentation?

6 – Zoom In: Get in as close as you can. Use the macro setting on your camera if it has one. Fill the frame with the food, so the viewer can almost taste it.

7 – Preparation: Don’t forget to take pictures of the process. Sometimes making the food (chopping, cooking) can be as interesting as the final product.

8 – Be Quick: Work quickly. The faster you take pictures of the food, the fresher it will look. Cold, congealed meat and wilted salads just don’t look good. Use an empty plate to help you set up your shot before the food is ready. At the last minute, slip in the real plate of food.

9 – Details: The devil is in the details. Check the edges of your plates and glasses for stray food, and wipe away any smudges. Use sauces and garnishes to add color to drab shots (i.e. adding a lemon wedge to iced tea).

10 – Don’t Shoot: Learn what not to shoot. Some things will just never look delicious, no matter how hard you try.

Brief
As a commercial photographer, you’ve been asked to create a series of photographs for a BAKERY. Images should be used on website, and some promotional pieces such as posters, magazine ads, etc. Carefully select products or ingredients for the photo-shoot.

Suggestions:
Bread loafs, bagels, pastries, donuts, muffins, blueberries, raspberries, wheat, flour, etc.

Criteria
At the end of the project, student must be ready to present and deliver the following saved as PDF:
Pre-shooting presentation: idea file and/or concept board
Initial shots
6 Final images

Calendar
8/30 Project brief
9/01 Photo Studio: Advanced Studio Lighting, idea file, concepts: research online, and collect some images to help you set the tone and overall look-and-feel of your shots. This should ‘define’ your visual approach to the project (composition, light, color balance, etc)
9/06 Photo Studio: Initial photo-shooting (bring your items to be photographed)
9/08 More photos, final photo-shooting: have at least 20 images for class discussion and initial feedback.
9/13 Editing, pre-presentation critique
9/15 Final Presentation (digitally only – email or upload images to drop-box folder)

Resources
Matt Wright (not a professional photographer, but very good eye for it): http://www.mattikaarts.com/photography/
And his blog with excellent tips on lighting, etc: http://mattikaarts.com/blog/technique/food-photography-2/

Lou Manna (New York based): http://www.loumanna.com

Lara Ferroni (photographer and author): http://www.laraferroni.com