Nikon D300 w/ 35mm, f/5.6 @ 1/15, ISO 400
Shooting food can be a surprisingly complicated task. Many of the best food photographers spends hours setting up studio shots. Key lights, fills, accents, light modifiers, reflectors, mirrors, and anything else that can contribute to a beautiful shot are employed. The shots often look “perfect”. Perfectly composed, lighted, and shot. Think catalogs and product packaging.
Others, however, take a different approach: natural light. They use only natural sun light and a few light modifiers and reflectors to get what they are looking for. They shoot outside in open shade or in studio with plenty of diffused light from north- or south-facing windows. The food is often ethereal looking and seems to be more work of art than edible creation. Sometimes shadows dominate. They also tend to be more rustic in nature. Think Dutch Masters meets Betty Crocker.
Which is better?
As with anything else in photography, it all depends on the situation and what you plan to say with a particular shoot.
The shot above is 100% natural light from a kitchen window to the back left and a small, white cardboard reflector to fill in the front side of the sandwich. I wanted to emphasize the texture of the English muffin so back lighting was in order. I didn’t want heavy shadows so diffuse light from a south-facing window was in order. Check on both. It was overcast this morning so I had to go up to ISO 400 to get the shot. Even at that, it still required a 1/15th exposure. White balance was with the Cloudy preset to warm things up and enhance the homey feel of the shot.
The same exposure may have been possible with a large softbox and reflectors, but I don’t think I could’ve captured the same naturalness of the shot.
First Polaroid in over 20 Years
$6.70. That’s how much this picture cost, but it’s worth every penny. I am so happy to shoot Polaroids again. I just got a shipment of film from ImpossibleProject.com, a company who purchased all of Polaroids old stock and will soon be creating new film.
Why so much? I bought two Polaroid cameras at an ARC thrift store last week, a One Step Job Pro 2 and a Spectra. The total outlay was about $67. Each of the 10 exposures equals $6.70.
I bought them as is and had no way of knowing if they worked until the film showed up. This is because Polaroid film has a battery in each film pack instead of in the camera so you can’t tell if a camera works until you have film. I brought the cameras home and promptly bought the film.
It arrived yesterday - one pack of PX 600 Silver Shade for the One Step and one pack of Type 1200 for the Spectra. I love the near 35mm format of the Spectra so I tried it first. I opened it, inserted the film, closed the gate, and … nothing. When you insert film into a Polaroid, it is supposed to immediately spit out the protective cover so that you’re ready to take pictures. Well, there was no spitting. It’s dead. It doesn’t work. Not completely anyway. The electrics seem to work, but the motor is shot, I guess.
If you’ve got a spare Polaroid Spectra sitting around in the closet, basement, garage, attic, or grandma’s house, I’d be happy to take it off of your hands.
I was not disappointed in the One Step, however. I inserted the film and heard that familiar Polaroid whir. Out came the protective cover and I was in business. I walked out of my office and over to Molly who was laying on the couch watching Tom & Jerry. Click. Whir. Wait. Smile. I am back in the Polaroid business.
The focus seems a bit off, but I was pretty close. I’ll have to what the rest of the shots have for me. Either way, I don’t mind. I am happy to be shooting Polaroids again. Many of the photos that I remember most from my childhood were shot with a Polaroid.
I love the high contrast, accidental vignettes, muted colors, and soft focus. They feel like memories. They are the tactile joy of a holding a memory in your hand instead of only your head.
Nikon D300 w/ 35mm, f/4 @ 1/1000, ISO 100
Outdoor lighting is very tricky. Day to day changes are obvious and unpredictable, but even hour to hour or minute to minute changes can be tough to manage. So what do you do you when you don’t have a truck load of lighting and grip gear and can’t afford to rent?
Get a reflector.
While a reflector might not be the answer to all of your problems, it will solve enough of them for you to wonder why you took so long to get one. I recommend one that’s at least 32″ wide with multiple coverings that includes black, silver, gold, and white translucent. With one or two of these in your kit you’ve got a flag, a silk, and a reflector all in one product.
In this image, we were at Boulder Creek around high noon. Because it was still so early in the year, the mid-day sun wasn’t as harsh as it is in the summer, but I still had a lot of high contrast shadows to deal with. My solution? You guessed it: my 42″ reflector. I zipped on the gold and silver cover to fill in the shadows and stop down the background to minimize overall contrast. The gold created some additional warmth not available in the lunchtime sun and pushed the creek and trees in the background to about -1 2/3 stops from the subject.
In my next post, perhaps I’ll write about how to keep your child models from squinting when a big giant reflector is pointing the sun directly into their faces. Maybe.
Nikon D300 w/ 35mm, f/1.8 @ 1/25, ISO 200
And not just any bacon maple doughnuts, MY bacon maple doughnuts. This picture was featured in the recent CafeMom.com post, The Best Doughnuts: Fried Dough Has Never Looked This Good. 
There are some really good looking doughnuts on this list. I’d really like to get a sample of each. Do you hear that fellow posters? I would really like to get a sample of each!
Thanks, CafeMom and Cafe Kim.
Nikon D300 w/ 18-200mm at 80mm, f/16 @ 1/100, ISO 100
Now that’s cold! That’s not just snow covering the ground and those rolls of hay. It’s fog. Yes, fog! It had been very foggy the night before, and, with night time temps of 0 degrees, the fog just fell as ice onto everything. Roads. Telephone lines. Trees. Everything was covered with about 1/4″ of ice.
I drove down a farm road behind our motel and shot several images of a homestead, complete with frozen windmills and barns. I liked this one the best of the bunch. To me, it really says cold. And, believe me, it was.
Nikon D300 w/ 18-200mm at 200mm, f/8 @ 1/80, ISO 100
So the holidays are over for another year. I’ll admit to being a bit nutty about the holidays. I love the traditions. I love the decorations. I love the corny songs. I love the food … especially this year.
We were lucky enough to host two holiday meals this year, Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. We had it all: turkey, sausage-apple stuffing, pies, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce (I found a new recipe this year. Yum!), pepper pot pork chops, pineapple casserole, scalloped potatoes, Christmas cookies, etc. I even made traditional sugar plums. They were great, but the kids didn’t like them. Too savory for them, I guess.
With all of that cooking, I didn’t have much time to shoot the results. I did, however, take the time to do a couple of holiday themed shoots. The image above is my favorite from those two shoots. It’s my take on a more sophisticated treat for Santa, including a hot chocolate chocotini complete with chocolate mint candy cane.
I don’t know if he liked it, because I ate and drank the treats after striking the set. Sorry Santa. There’s always next year.
Welcome to 2010!
Nikon D40 w/ 18-55mm at 66mm, f/5.6 @ 1/60, ISO 200
Yes, believe it or not. That is my passion. I want to shoot food for a living. I have always salivated (pun intended) over beautiful food photography. In my previous career as a filmmaker, I shot a lot of TV commercials. My favorites were always the ones with food. I shot bread, pizza, cookies, cereal, hot dogs, and plenty of restaurant food. Now that I’m back at photography, I want to continue working with food and making beautiful photographs of it.
“Why?,” you ask.
Simple. I love food. Of course I do; we all do. We’d die without it. No. You don’t understand. I LOVE FOOD! I love everything about it. I love to make it. I love to eat it. I love to talk about it. I love exploring new places to find it. Of all the reasons though, I think the cooking drives me to photograph it more than anything else.
While preparing a wonderful meal or even a simple snack, all cooks and chefs are consumed with the thought of sharing what they are creating. Will their guests enjoy the food? Will it look appetising? Will it be what they envision in their heads?
Of course, there are some chefs-like some artists-who don’t care if anyone eats their work. But for the most part, cooking is about sharing. And that is where the enjoyment is for me. I get no greater thrill than when I make a meal that my guests or family love. It’s a regular Sally Field moment. “You like me. You REALLY like me!” It’s a vindication of the hard work and passion that I have when preparing a meal. I think food photography takes those ideas and the concept of sharing to the next level and makes them available to a bigger audience.
My thought is that if I can’t cook for the whole world, I can take pictures of food for the whole world.
Nikon D300 w/ 18-200mm at 200mm, f/5.6 @ 1/800, ISO 200
I enjoy shooting in the studio, but I really enjoy shooting on location. Sure the studio is great for product shots and a controlled environment, but, for me, there is nothing like shooting portraits on location. Unless you’re working with professional talent, it’s very difficult to get the best out of your models/clients in a studio environment. That controlled environment that makes things so easy for us as photographers is the very thing that kills it for them. Let’s face it. That family of four who wants to do their annual family portrait is going to respond a whole better to a leafy green tree or babbling brook as a back drop than that beautiful new cyc you just installed at the studio.
Obviously, it’s a different matter if you’re shooting professional models or actors looking for headshots, but even they will give you a little bit more if you take them to a location rather than staying at the studio. It’ll be a great break from the normal for both of you. And for your non-professional clients, it’ll give them a greater level of comfort while you point that big noisy camera at them for hour or so.
And don’t be nervous about leaving behind all of that great equipment you’ve worked so hard to get either. You can do incredible things with a single off-camera flash and a reflector. This shot of my 7-year old was captured with the sun as a back light and a gold reflector off to camera right.
So when you’re planning that next portrait session, think about breaking free from your studio and head out to the great outdoors. You’ll love it.
It’s time to start thinking about those annual holiday cards. With only a few more days until Halloween, November is just around the corner. And that means its time to start planning for the holidays.
For many of you, that means deciding what cards to send to family, friends, and business associates. Let Teddy Carroll Photography help you by creating a unique portrait of you, your business, your family, or even your family pet.
A professionally done portrait is not only a perfect way to show people you are thinking of them this holiday season, but it’s also a keepsake that you can frame and display for years to come.
Holiday Greeting Card Packages
Our special, customized holiday greeting card packages includes an hour-long portrait session and a professionally processed and printed 8×10 portrait and hi-res digital file. With over 90 designs to choose from, we can also create the cards for you and have them shipped to you in plenty of time to avoid those last minute mailings.
Call today to discuss package options and pricing.
Teddy Carroll Photography
303-587-5252
Nikon D300 w/ 18-200mm at 65mm, f/5 @ 1/500, ISO 200
I shot this incredible portrait while shooting an 80th birthday party. This young man is the grandson of the birthday boy. After getting all of the formal poses with family, I walked around the house looking for candids. I got lucky on this one: the perfect moment, the perfect pause, and the perfect pose. He really loved my camera and stopped whatever he was doing to look at it whenever I was near. Good thing, too. He was a little grumpy that day and my camera was the only thing kept him from tears.
