In the course of writing here, I end up taking a lot of pictures of the food I cook and eat. Oftentimes I get lucky and end up with a good picture, but typically that's after taking about 17 shots from different angles. Even after all that, the results are typically mixed and the good pictures are essentially the product of dumb luck. I'm always looking for new tips to make my pictures just a little bit better.
One of my favorite food blogs out there is Still Life With... as it is a site devoted to food styling and photography. In each post, Lara walks her readers through each step she takes to capture a particular shot, including all the not-so-pretty stops along the way. I'm loving her recent post on the way she got an appealing photo of a slice of pecan pie. Pie, while delicious, is not particularly lovely on it's own and so required substantial help to get gussied up for the close-up. The final shot is gorgeous and makes me long for pie.
Oh, and if some of Lara's pictures seem familiar, it's because she's also the blogger behind the site Cook and Eat.
9-27-2007 @4:23AM Angela said... I'v always been fascinated by that aspect of the food
industry, I'd like to see how they get those perfect
pictures.
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9-27-2007 @10:44AM jsmylie said... It's fascinating...and a little daunting...to learn just how much work can go into one photo of a piece of pie. And here I'm not even willing to build a light box!
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10-06-2007 @4:14PM Mea said... I have entered baking contest that required photos of the food. The great thing about digital cameras is that you can see immediately what your pics look like and you can take multiple shots and delete the duds. It takes many, many shots of food to get just the right photo. It is even harder than shooting a baby LOL! At least the food does just sit there, though!
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10-06-2007 @4:46PM stephquar said... Thank you for your story. I am studying to be a food photographer, or stylist and I found this article and the sites you listed to be very helpful.
~stephanie
p.s. i am longing for pecan pie, afterall it is almost pie season!!!!!!!!!!!!
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10-06-2007 @7:57PM Richard said... It is truly a fascinating subject. I've tried taking pictures of the food I cook, with no success. It's hard! For exquisite food photography check out www.papayapate.blogspot.com Plus their articles and recipes are always interesting. You'll be hooked!
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10-06-2007 @8:18PM Sara said... I agree- I'm in awe of the sheer work that goes into a professional shot of food!
This can be a good or bad awe, however (note this, those of you wondering how the industry does it). I have absolutely no objection to using angles, lighting, etc. to obtain a mouth-watering picture. In fact, I'm really impressed with people who can make such fantastic pictures all with lighting and making an artistic arrangment of the food.
But when people start "enhancing" the food with plastic, hairspray, fake grill marks on uncooked meat (yes, these do happen), and other means which ultimately make the food inedible, that is a little disturbing. Most of the doctored pictures tend to be used in advertisements for a product (think fast food), effectively promising something that is impossible to deliver.
At least when people just manipulate the setting, the food one eventually receives is the same as what was photographed. And, as the article's author did for the pie photo, you can eat what's left!
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11-29-2007 @11:14AM crescencioperis said... very nice
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