Pictures for a restaurant menu!

[Rene11664880918]

<p>Well, this is getting funny!<br>

I live in a small city of just 40,000 people and here everyone knows eachother.<br>

It seems that my name is growing in the photographic field here in my city.<br>

I was asked to take pictures of food, dishes for a menu of a local restaurant! Oh! Yeah! Tonight!<br>

Problem No. 1, I have never tried such a thing and 2 I don't have lights except my SB 600.<br>

I was told they will provide the lights but they are just regular lights, like halogen 500 watts or something like that. I will used a gray card to set the w/b.<br>

I thought I should use my micro lens, 105 VR but then I realized that I need to keep everything sharp, right? So maybe, again my 17-55 or 50....<br>

What about angles? i mean, should the shots be taken from the top? Eye level? Any suggestions?<br>

Any advice that you guys can provide will be welcome, I will try anything!<br>

Thank you!</p>

[hans_janssen]

<p>Take a tripod and a remote control with you, you can use low isoos and a small aperture for a big dof.</p>

[Rene11664880918]

<p>Hans.... yeah! I forgot, I will just tripod and the remote control is permanently attached to my D300. The good thing about this project is that the objects don't move and i can shoot as many frames as I think is necessary... </p>

[pete_s.]

<p>Scrounge the net for food pictures (flickr comes to mind) and bring them with you to show the client. Then they can decide what look they want and you can provide it.</p>

<p>Bring a few pieces of white and black foamcore and some aluminumfoil if you have or can get on the way over. That would allow you to add, subtract and reflect light. Maybe a water sprayer as well.</p>

<p>If you have camera control pro (or the trial) and a laptop you can shoot directly to the computer. Easier to see and discuss around the big screen.</p>

<p>Bring all the lenses you mentioned, maybe they want to shallow dof look or maybe you'll need a backup lens.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

[Peter_in_PA]

<p>Rene,</p>

<p>Shooting food is HARD. Your town is probably too small to have a "food stylist". They spray all kinds of wacky things on food to make them look great in photos (and renders them inedible in the process). They do more than that, of course, but this is moot, since I doubt you'll find one in a town that size.</p>

<p>I'm guessing in a town that size that the standards are lower than metro DC or NYC (no criticism intended, my town is even smaller). I have a feeling that your photos will knock their socks off. I'd use strong video lights rather than flash, though.</p>

[jose_angel]

<p>It sounds familiar to me... I have been in the same situation time ago. I also was asked to decorate with photos the whole restaurant.</p>

<p>As you know continuous light it`s not a problem shooting RAW; perhaps you can use some diffusors like a white thin cloth material, plastic buble packing material, white cardboard to fill shadows, You will need to find a place to work, to hold the lights, a nice background, water spray, something like "Blu-Tack", clothespins, etc. it was not so easy in my own experience.</p>

<p>I`d say the 17-55 is fine if you don`t need huge enlargements. The 105VR could be great for details and background blur. Depending of the style, it doesn`t need to be all in focus. The same for the taking angle. It could help to tilt a table with books under the rear legs. What`s the aim of this pics? Probably to show tasty beautiful dishes or to illustrate the menu sheet. Use raw food, flowers, wine bottles, whatever, to decorate the cooked dishes.</p>

<p>It all depends of the results needed. If you want perfect photos, as Peter says it could be a very difficult task. The owners of the restaurant I worked with felt so satisfied with my results. It is a funny sensation to have dinner in a place decorated with your own photos... :)</p>

<p>(I would not advice you to use the 300mm this time...)</p>

[jose_angel]

<p>I`d say the hard work could be at the post-processing stage (at least for me).</p>

[akira]

<p>Rene', what kind of food are you going to shoot? Will there be cold food like Sashimi? Will there be some cold deserts like ice scream?</p>

<p>If so, halogen lightings will damage the (cold) food all too quickly and in that case, your SB-600 might be the only source of light. If the standard for the image quality is not as high as for the expert job, and the ceiling of the restaurant is not too high and white enough, I would resort to bounce the light of SB-600 on the ceiling. You might even be able to crank up the ISO value to 800 if the bounced light is not strong enough.</p>

[pete_s.]

<p>Jose,<br>

Check out these:<br>

http://www.photo.net/photography-lighting-equipment-techniques-forum/009xtA<br>

http://www.photo.net/photography-lighting-equipment-techniques-forum/007tNJ</p>

 

[liljuddakalilknyttphotogra]

<p>Rene' - I have nothing to add since I know nothing about this. But I want to wish you good luck. :-) And I think it seems you've be given several excellent suggestions.</p>

<p>Lil :-)</p>

[eric_arnold]

<p>rene, definitely bring the 105 as well as the 17-55. a little OOF bokeh can add an artistic flair. also you may want a closer shot than you can get with the zoom. food pics in newspapers, magazines, etc. are typically shot with shallow DoF, while menu shots tend to be shot at narrower apertures. so, a combination of both could work well. you may want to use off-camera flash as well, so bring the hotshoe tripod adapter and a sync cord. good luck!</p>

[jose_angel]

<p>These Brooks Short` threads are really useful, Pete.</p>

[pete_s.]

<p>Hey Jose, post some pictures here when you get back!</p>

<p>Yes, the lighting themes are awesome.</p>

[pete_s.]

<p>Sorry, I meant the <strong>René </strong> should post some images when he get's back.</p>