Comments on: Food Photo 101-1

By: n

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:39:15 +0000

Sarah: Hope you enjoy learning more about photography! Definitely keep going back to the manual and learn the tools you have. Experiment!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:37:42 +0000

thanks you very much for the lessons tomorrowi will start with the first home work . i own a canon rebel XTi and i managed to set the WEB to auto however the rest are given with number and i have searched and read the manual over and over again trying to set the EV and AP to auto but i couldnt.
for the time being i will just try it out with my camera set to Av mode and WEB to auto and will see what happens.

thank you very much !

By: Nika

Nika — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 23:16:08 +0000

Carlo: sorry for the delay! Been getting used to blogging and working (not at the same time, theres the rub

I think I would start with why you take the photos (as in, where are you using them? Printing them out? only online? using for advertising? etc)

If this is for cataloging and simple online use (like on a web page) but not for advertising a white or black background is good. White is best.

Also, what sort of camera are you using? Is it a DSLR? film? Point and shoot?

What sort of budget are you alloting yourself?

re: space for the set-up, will it be permanent and out of the way? (even a small closet with room for the lighting and the table with background would be better than setting up taking down or leaving the set up where people can run into it by accident.

re: If you are using a DSLR and can spend a bit of money, get an artificial light… get a daylight balanced strobe .. I have this one http://www.alienbees.com/b800.html and I put a softbox on it .. see this link:

http://www.alienbees.com/foldable_detail.html

None of this is “cheap” but not hugely expensive.

I can help you walk through the set up and using it.

If you are using a point and shoot, your options for consistent artificial light are a bit limited.

Since you are so very far away (Mexico!!) I cant drop by but please let me know if I can help!

You should always feel free to write back if you have any questions.

By: Carlo Guerra

Carlo Guerra — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:08:01 +0000

I have a small bistro, and have to take pictures of food on a daily basis, I cannot aford the time to use natural light, it would be convinient for me to set up a space in my kitchen with a table, back grounds, tripod, camara ready and all, and before the food goes out to customers, take the pictures! what type of artificial light would you recomend for the first project setup?

By: Nikas Culinaria » Food Photo 101-2: Harnessing Photons

Nikas Culinaria » Food Photo 101-2: Harnessing Photons — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 23:29:30 +0000

[...] have begun to familiarize ourselves with our cameras with the last exercise (Food Photo 101: First Principles), putting your hands to work on the settings and knobs and dials and such. Its ok if it still feels [...]

By: Kathy Maister

Kathy Maister — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 14:08:15 +0000

Warm white…hmmm…I don’t have that setting. I have eight choices that include things like cloudy, sunshine, fluorescent, tungsten, etc. I need to do the test the way you did!

Nika I still can’t believe you shot that horned melon with a P&S camera.
Was it taken in natural light?
Does that photo have any photo shop done to it?
(I don’t know how to use photo shop. I use the few settings within Picasa to crop, lighten and darken and that’s about it.)

BTW- The best part of Lesson 1 is that you really got me thinking!

By: Curt

Curt — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 03:32:05 +0000

I take that back, Kathy… White balance in the last shot was set to Warm White in the last shot. The shot before was auto everything but aperture.

By: Curt

Curt — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 03:28:15 +0000

Kathy, the aperture wasn’t on auto for the last one, but white balance and shutter were. I didn’t post process any of the photos at all (no Photoshop).

By: Kathy Maister

Kathy Maister — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 22:26:06 +0000

Hi Nika, I have been out of town, in pretty much of a wireless dead zone so I’m playing catch-up at the moment.

I use a Cannon A640. How do I know if it is a DSLR? (and is that a good thing?)

I usually set the white balance to the custom setting, and not on auto. After looking at Curt’s photos, I think I need to start setting the white balance to auto.

Curt’s photos from lesson one seem to fluctuate more from adjusting the aperture than anything else.

Would an auto setting of the white balance get rid of graininess in a shot or is that more defined by the aperture and the exposure settings?

Curt’s last shot with the exposure on 0 and the rest on auto looks really great! Can we assume there was no photo-shop done to the photo?

Thanks, Kathy

By: Nikas Culinaria » Food Photography 101: Lesson 1 results

Nikas Culinaria » Food Photography 101: Lesson 1 results — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:12:09 +0000

[...] follows is the excellent work by Curt on this week’s first lesson (Food Photo 101-1). He was fantastically methodical in recording and discussing his experience. Read on to see what [...]