Playing With Food.
July 10th, 2009
Mixed Olives and Parmigiano Reggiano Salami Bites.
One of the rewarding parts of being a professional photographer are the “testing days!” When the schedule allows, John and I will try to expand our horizons a little, and make a plan to try out some new lighting ideas we have, or do some preliminary tests for an upcoming client project. In some cases, it’s a necessary part of our problem solving process. Sometimes, though, it can be just plain fun! Testing gives us a chance to learn new ways of working, explore new photographic styles, and flesh-out concepts we have in our minds.
In this particular case, I was able to take a couple of days to create some new food images! Photographing food is one of my favorite things to do, and I was excited for the opportunity! After a little time spent making sketches, thinking of food types, textures and colors, I headed off to the Pittsford Wegmans with my shopping list. I was planning a hearty steak meal, a chicken soup shot, one with olives, another of grilled beef and vegetable skewers, and a fifth with sockeye salmon. I really enjoy having an excuse to roll the gas grill outside to cook, so I had planned three of the meals with that in mind.
Grilled Sockeye Salmon, Mixed Greens and Roasted Potatoes.
I was in the process of developing a studio flash lighting setup that would mimic natural daylight coming through windows. Now, much of our food photography had accomplished this before, but there were some subtle differences that I was trying to tweak. The primary difference in this setup was that the main light source would originate from the rear of the set rather than from the side. I was also deciding to make the light source more indirect, and to diffuse it differently from our previous working method. In some ways, it’s actually a simpler setup to use, and contains fewer components.
The images here are my favorites from the session.
Camera: Hasselblad H2 and Lead Aptus 65 digital back.
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