Photographing Food - Tips/Tricks?

[Cafeen]

Well, in 2 days I'll be at the world on my 10 day 1/2 solo trip with DxDDP. As you can imagine, food and photography are both my focuses on the trip (no pun intended!)

With that said, are there any quick tips that you folks would mind sharing about combining these two?

My T1i "kit" includes the following:

• Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS (Kit Lens)
• Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/something to something (it's in my bag right now) - Not likely to be used for food
• Canon EF 50mm f/1.8
• Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6

I'd like to think that the 50mm 1.8 would get the primary go ahead, but I'm a bit concerned it's nowhere near wide enough and the tiny DOF available wide open and close may prove problematic. The 8-16 may be too slow (and it's a dark lens already) for the dimly lit Disney restaurants. So this leaves the 18-55mm kit lens (which I think is absolutely fine ), which is also what I mostly used on my test shoot a couple weeks ago at a local Mexican restaurant.

I do not have an external flash . I looked into getting one, but the Disney trip and Sigma lens ate up most (or all) of the OT I had put together ><.

I've practiced a little bit, but have limited access and ability to head out shooting on my own right now, so I haven't been able to practice nearly as much as I would have liked.

Some of my test shoot shots, and last year's Disney trip with my P&S provided to get an idea of my style, vision, or whatever...

(The actual dishes here weren't that exciting, so decided to shoot them differently to capture more detail. Lighting here was natural coming in through the south facing window to the left of most of the dishes (though I think the tortilla chips I took into the light) at about 2 or 3pm.)






From 2010's Disney trip. Canon PowerShot A1000 IS





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[WDWFigment]

http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2011/09/15/how-to-take-visually-delicious-food-photographs/

 

[Daisy14'sDH]

My wife dislikes when I make Food Porn! But what I use is my 12-24 (not a really discreet lens) never Buffet plates they always look a mess, Turn up the ISO, crank open the aperture, so there is no need for flash to draw any extra unwanted attention! lol, your Mexican shots look great!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Hi Cafeen. Hope you have a great trip and I look forward to seeing your pix on your return (particularly the food ones).

Tom's (WDWFigment) tips are great!

Most of the food shots I took (on the scav hunt) were around 35 - 50 mm, f-stops ranging from 3.2 - 4.5; ISO 800 or 1600 indoors. Even though my lens is Image Stabilised, I try not to go lower than a 1/30th or 1/40th sec for the shutter speed. I do check my exposure meter and bracket my food shots depending on how the first shot looks in the camera.

Like Tom recommends, I always take the shots at an angle and will always turn the plate around (slowly) to see where the best representation is of the fare on offer before taking a shot.

I have tried using my Canon 50mm f/1.8 to take food. As you are travelling solo, you probably won't have to worry about any travel companions guilting you out about taking your time with shooting food. Problem is that you need to move back or forward in order to frame the shot....and it isn't always practical to do that in a restaurant or at a buffet where there are people wanting to get to the food.

You might want to use the 18 - 55 mm more; maybe trial it at home with a f-stop around 4 or 4.5 and see? You might even like to take shots of food whilst it is cooking or during the prep stages.
I wouldn't discount using the 55 - 250 mm lens. At the 55 mm end, the f stop = 4.0. You might need to set yourself a little further back from the food to frame it in the shot, but the aperture size of 4 is one of my sweet spots for food. I think the 18 - 55 mm kit lens will only let you get down to about 5 or 5.6 at the 55 mm end.

Hope this helps.

 

[Cafeen]

Thanks to all. The angle thing I already kinda knew , but the other aspects are very helpful for sure! Especially Oz' suggestions and Tom's link.

Being solo, I'll also have the ability to place the plates across the table, that should help cut down on some of the backing up I may have to do. PrincessinOz's suggestions of trying the 55-250 kinda made me remember that too . We'll see how I do tomorrow.

Much of what I've done has been off the cuff as it were, even back when I was shooting 35mm film 10 years+ years ago. I really need to learn to slow down and think it through, just not overthink it

Think it'd be worthwhile to bust out the mini tripod (SLIK MINI PRO V - Tripod - table-top? (At least at the locations that I'm actually solo, Mom is joining me for the first half of the trip) Or will that be too much?

I guess I'm the only one who can answer that really

Thanks again, and I really can't wait to play for the next 10 days!

 

[photo_chick]

The 55-250 is going to make for a really shallow depth of field when it's wide open so you'll get part of the plate within the DoF and the rest will be too far out. Same with a wide open prime. And that's fine if it's all the same food, but if it's a meal with different foods don't you want to be able to see them all? Those longer focal lengths will also visually compress the space, which many consider undesirable with food photography.

They keys to good food photography are presentation, framing and lighting. Presentation you don't have to worry too much about, the plates at most TS places usually look wonderful. Framing you seem to get. That leaves lighting and unfortunately there isn't a lot you can do at WDW for lighting. Something I find helpful... keep some bright white copy paper in your bag, it makes a great reflector and can be used to bounce light where you need it. Sometimes you do need a flash, but have it diffused if you must use one. There are some nifty little diffusers available for on camera pop up flashes.