Q & A With Andrew Scrivani (Round 2)

This is the following the article that i posted a few days back on.


If you missed the main article. Read it here.
Read the 1st part of the Q&A here



Q.

Any tips on shooting brown food? Like sauces, mashed potatoes with gravy, etc? They never come out right. Thanks.

A.

I am so glad you asked this question. Brown and dark green foods are by far the hardest to photograph. This is where all of your skill as a photographer and especially a lighter comes into play. When I shot the Nigella Lawson column for the Times several years ago, a large portion of her food was dark. Creating a shimmer on the food is essential to create depth. Side lighting the food was almost always the solution to get that shimmer. I have also taken to extreme macro shots (finding one specific highlight on the plate to focus on) or the action shot as was the case with her food: pouring, spooning, cutting, etc. Also, carefully selecting your props and colors really helps compliment the food.

Q.

My question is, do you think it’s possible to get carried away with close-ups? Would it be better to mix it up a bit and show more environment around food now and then?

A.

I would definitely say you could get carried away with the close up. When I was first shooting food I was obsessed with it. It took some time to get comfortable moving away from the plate, but when I did, my portfolio has a balance it didn’t have before.

Q.

What about the times when you have to photograph in the late evening indoors? Any tips to improve the photos for night home lighting (with the yellow light)? How can you make the best of such lighting situations? Does an extra light source help – If so which kind?

A.

So many of you are realizing that the hardest part for any photographer, professional or amateur is the manipulation of light.  The key word is light…you will need at least some light to make a good photograph and in restaurants a good rule of thumb is that if you cannot see your food well with the naked eye you will probably struggle without lighting equipment.  There is no magic bullet to solving the low-light issues in restaurants and no really great low-tech solutions that will help you make night photos that will rival the daylight photos on your blog.  I shot in restaurants for years with professional gear and still needed to take plates back into he kitchen just to get a somewhat usable image for publication when lighting the room was not an option.

With that said the way you can try to get that usable night or low-light shot would be to set your camera to manual, raise your ISO to its best high setting (this varies depending on your equipment). Go to your most open aperture (the best you can do on many point and shoot cameras is 2.8), use a tabletop tripod, a slow shutter speed and if possible a shutter release cable to avoid jostling the camera when shooting.

For the photographer who is working at home and wants to invest in some lighting equipment here are some quick homemade studio lighting options:

The Lowel Ego tabletop light works well to light small plates or to use in conjunction with your reflectors and cards on your tabletop. The area it lights is small but will work for a single plate of a macro shot. It can be had for under $100.

I also have used a single strobe flash set up on a light stand behind a translucent piece of Plexiglas or sheet of gel-like paper. The plexi should be milky white.  Set up the food on a table in front of the plexi.  When the flash fires behind your table and through the plexi it produces a softer, whiter light that mimics daylight much better than even soft boxes.  It will take some time to master this technique, but once you do, it will become your standby for low tech, low light food photography.

Finally, only buy cameras that shoot in RAW format and learn how to manipulate those files like you would if you were developing film.  The control over light temperature and exposure will make a world of difference. Working with JPEG files can be very limiting.  Most cameras come with their own editing software or you can use Photoshop or another professional editing software.

Q.

I have cobbled together a tabletop ’studio’ of a homemade lightbox and a mish-mash of desk lamps for lighting. Could you recommend some basic/essential studio tools or items (i.e. lighting, backdrop) I would need to take very simple yet sharp images with my point-and-shoot?

A.

I use paper, fabric, wood and plastic as both backdrops and tabletops on my studio table interchangeably. Other simple studio tools are some small reflective light discs (they are usually silver/gold/black/white on alternating sides), small clamps for making your discs stand up on your table. They can also be used to make rigs to hold items like spoons and forks when you work alone, small scrims to filter the light, white fun tack or other gum-like product to hold items that roll or slide in place. Chopsticks and tweezers are good to have on hand for manipulating the fine details of the food and if you can afford them, a set of auto poles. The auto poles can be used to hold backdrops that can be either anchored like a cyc where the food sits on top of the paper and rises to a backdrop or a true background where you create a false wall behind the food.

Q.

What do you normally shoot with and what is the lens you use the most often?

A.

I shoot with Canon 5D Mark II  and Canon 1DS Mark II Digital SLR cameras.  My primary food lenses are a Canon 50MM Macro and a Canon 100MM L Series Macro lens.  I always recommend fixed lenses for food shooting because they tend to have lower F-stops.  I also have a Lensbaby lens that helps create some very funky effects when I’m feeling the need for a change.

Q.

Andrew, what do you say to the photographer looking to capture food in a more natural way? I’m a food blogger at home, and an Art Director at work. Having been on my fair share of magazine food shoots I understand what goes into making a photograph editorially beautiful. But I’m looking for something more raw and less perfect for my blog, but still appetizing. My issue is more on creating mood and accessibility (making the reader say – I can do that!) as opposed to slick and unattainable. Any suggestions?

A.

To capture food in a natural, organic way I try to employ the act of eating or preparing it in the photos.  Certainly no one wants to see mouths and teeth, but I often use hands holding spoons and forks with food. I also show food being stirred or worked in its pan or pot with utensils. You can show food being served, people holding platters or plates of food, and food being worked with hands (i.e. kneading bread or rolling meatballs). Try showing the food cooking on the stove, in the vessel it was cooked in or being sprinkled with cheese or herbs, etc.  These are often the most beautiful and least styled images in my portfolio.


Click here for the 1st part of the Q&A.