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.
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