Product shots - PIZZA!

[Skyman]

I have been asked by a relative who has a small pizza restuarant to take some photos of his pizza and probably some of his other dishes (the shop also sells pasta and basic fare such as steaks and schnitzel) The primary use of the photos will be as part of an advertisment that will be run at the local cinema, however it will also then go onto his menus pamphlets and takeaway flyers. He wants the shots to include a bit of the restaurant so we will be shooting there, but I am wondering if anyone has any experience in this how I can make the food look delicious. I have some tungsten lights I can use if I need to as well as a couple of canon 580ex's if I need ettl lighting off camera, but I also want to keep it natural.

[opus]

I don't know how to achieve the effect, technically, but I do know that I've seen some pretty unappetizing photos of food that apparently other people thought were okay. For me, I don't like when the grease and fat are emphasized, where light reflects off of it in white blown out points of light. When the reds get too dark it starts looking like blood. Meats often look disgusting, if they're too dark, too grey, or flat without texture. A slight green cast overall is murder to the tastebuds.

Ugly food photos are a pet peeve of mine.

I would guess if you keep the light bright and warm, the colors pure and unmuddied, not oversaturated, and the detail crisp and clean, the picture will be more successful.

Just My Uneducated Opinion.

[WesternGuy]

Skyman, if you Google "photographing food", you will get over 1 million hits and the web pages (URLs) on the first page alone should give some good pointers. HTH.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

[Skyman]

Thanks for that, I think I will probably go with the 580 on camera bounced off a reflector and the 550 to the side and slightly behind through a diffuser, this should let me gather lots of ambient light as well and hopefully pick up the mood of the place. It will also let me work different angles a lot faster than having to reposition lights all the time.

[Wild Wassa]

Shoot quickly. Don't let the food dry out because you are not perfectly set-up, nor determined the perfect depth of field ... that is the number one rule.

Set up the shots using a dummy pizza, because it will take a lot of time to get it right, and allow adequate of time to do the shoot.

You can enhance the pizzas by painting a fine coat of glycerine over them in places if need be, just before doing the photography ... if you have uninteresting dead looking spots in the pizzas that is.

There are plenty of tricks of the trade but the biggest trick is getting the Pizza Chef to think like a food stylist while he is preparing the pizzas.

Google 'Food Styling' and 'Food Stylist' ... this will give you the buzz very quickly.

Warren.

[SmartWombat]

Only one word of advice - STROBIST.
In the "On Assignment" information there is stuff on shooting food, and restaurant interior.

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/10...-and-punt.html

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2007/02...nd-cheese.html
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/12...steel-and.html
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2007/03...ed-vodkas.html
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2007/04...-munchies.html

My take aways:
Big diffuser to control highlights.
Plenty of stands and grips to hold stuff.
Stand-ins for the food to get the lighting 90% right before shooting for real.
Filters for the flashes to match colour balance. Or not, for effect

[Skyman]

I love that blog!

Thanks everyone I have a heap of ideas now.

The shoot was supposed to be yesterday but has been pushed to tomorrow so the main chef can make the food. one of the business owners is an apprentice chef and he will do the pizza but the other food will be done by the main chef. This means that I will be shooting at a different restaurant - which is good as I am more familiar with the surroundings and it has plenty of great props and angles I can use. I am going to see if I can pick up an umbrella cheap today (I only have a tungsten balanced one) but if not I will either use a reflector or shoot through a diffuser. I do have a small softbox that I can use on my metz and my sunpack bracket flashes, but I would rather use the canon flashes as will spend less time setting them up. and getting the balance correct, not to mention that my slaves for the big flashes aren't so reliable. bouncing off the walls isn't really an option as they are a darkish red. I can't remember what the ceiling is like but I don't think that is an option either. As for food styling. I will have a chat to the chef but the place will still be open so he can't exactly drop everything to make masterpieces.

[freygr]

Make sure that you are not shooting under Florescent Lights - will give a green cast!

[Skyman]

thanks for the tip. The shop has a mixture of tungsten and both blue and green flourescent, so the ambient light will be a bit of a nightmare, that is another reason for the strobes. Fortunately I have photographed birthdays etc there before and the lighting is dim at best. this means I can let the flashes do the work and not have to worry about colour balance.

[Wild Wassa]

"I will have a chat to the chef but the place will still be open so he can't exactly drop everything to make masterpieces."

Well there are several levels that photography operates at ... and that is why I suggested the glycerine when the photography is a compromise for you.

Have you seen the Kodak publication 'Impact' photography for advertizing? There is a hell of a lot more to a shoot than just getting the lighting right.

Impact isn't a recent publication, but it taught me how to dominate a small product shoot, when others just wanted the job done and the photographer was made to feel like an inconvenience.

Re-arrange the shoot to suit you Mate, other-wise get them to pay the fair dinkum price for advertizing photography ... with your inconvenience well written into the fee.

I've shot commercial jobs where I've had to tolerate others not allowing the time needed without distractions to their precious time and there is only one real loser on a shoot like that ... don't compromise the time that you will need Mate.

Otherwise go out and shoot some street photography to hone your rapid-fire skills for the job. Remember where you were told.

Warren also in Oz.

PS, post the shots. Do post them, please. I'm really interested to see how you cope. Absolutely.

[Skyman]

To quote an old play "I know this, you know this, chickens know this but me have a lot of trouble convincing the elephants lately"

I am working for family and for my own portfolio as much as anything so I am not overly concerned about pushing them to suit me. Also culturally these people can be slow to organise things but once they start to happen they pull out all stops to make it work, It is amazing to see and I will most likely have a small army of curious cousins etc that can help me to move things around. I went and bought an umbrella yesterday. It is the best $50 I have spent. I forgot that I lent my 550 ex so I only have my 580ex and my sunpack 4500 bracket and my metz 45 ct4 So I am back to manual lighting but prefer it that way. The set up I am going to use is the 580 on camera pointing straight up (I am pretty sure that the lighting from the ceiling will be minimal but I do have some black cloth I can tape to the ceiling if need be. The Metz into an umbrella will be my main light with fill from the sunpack with a small softbox bounced off a light disk on a boom as the fill. Last night at home I took some shots of a plate of lemons as I didn't have time to find a more suitable test. I am sort of happy with the look. I will have to play around a bit as the shot wasn't quite as contrasty as I would have liked but I am well on the way to achieving the effects I want. I will probably also take my redhead (800watt tungsten video light) and possibly a couple of builders lights, so I can create some shadows for the background if I need to. I do have to remember to get a battery for my flash meter, the lighting last night was trial and error (which is ok given it is digital) The shop has a plasma I can check shots on straight away and I might take my portable photo printer to check proofs as well.

Wazza, there are a handfull of us in OZ. Let me know if your travels ever lead you to Sydney. maybe oneday we can have a sydney gathering or organise rufus to travel down under.

[Skyman]

Ok I am done and I am in the process of editing the shot. I will post a couple of them when I have finished editing them all, but for now here is a shot of my setup:

[Wild Wassa]

Very good. I hope it all went well ... and you were well fed. I grew up with two Italian families, one from Calabria and the other from Frioli, so I know well fed ... with pizza ovens and bread ovens wood fired in the back yard and more home made Grappa than was safe to drink.

I know what you mean about cousins.

I come to the Big Smoke at least a few times a year. I'm from near the Five Ways and I'm a Rabbitoe (like a warren). Do you still want to meet up?

Warren aka Wassa to my Mates.

[Sushigaijin]

In any of the restaurants I have worked for (fourteen years, where did the time go?) the photographers always shot the food cold. Keeps it moist, keeps the greens(lettuce) stable, stops it from changing as it sits in front of you. Get it from the kitchen, let it cool down, apply makeup, shoot.

[Skyman]

Ok I have edited a few and I am happier with them today than I was last night. I know there is still heaps of room for improvement, but for a first attempt they are ok. I haven't had time to edit the good ones as my computer is rendering a dvd for work - gotta do the stuff that actually pays the bills from time to time!

Again shooting for family in a restaurant that was open at the time with some extended family waiting to eat the by products obviously didn't help my cause. My one concession was a spray bottle of water, which at times I was probably too heavy handed with but that is ok. I did have an issue with some slightly over cooked brocolli but I think I can fix that in photoshop without too much drama. I enjoyed myself even if I was quite tired at the end of the shoot. The Salt and Pepper squid was the best I have tasted! I have only ever eaten their pizza before!

This is one of the shots I have edited so far. definately not the best but definately not the worst either.