Polarizer and/or gold reflector useful for food photography or not?

[devon_mccarroll]

<p>Brooks, I definitely see your point on that.<br>

Markus, just one food shot can take hours, not just for perfect lighting but especially for styling. Shooting your lunch just before eating it won't produce a quality shot. If you want to learn the craft, you need to be willing to take a class or at least read some good books on the subject, and then be willing to work with your food and props for a long time to get a good result.<br>

When I started in my classes, we started with just one item and no props. I used an onion. We used natural light and a reflector, and took many shots of it with the light and camera coming at it from different angles, diffused and not diffused, etc., to understand how shadow and light affected the subject.<br>

Also, I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but tethering makes a huge difference when you're doing studio work. Seeing it on a laptop screen really shows you what it's going to look like, and helps you pick up little things like stray crumbs, etc.</p>

[Tim_Lookingbill]

<p>As a color design experiment I grabbed a can of Allens beans, a white fluted bowl and my pillow case that had complimentary diminished hues that picked up from the stronger colors on the can as a way to imbue an overall cohesive and harmonious presentation that attempts to tie all the elements together as one whole design. It's crude but it's the best I could find in my home. </p>

<p>I used one 100 watt GE SF bulb in a utility lamp with reflector dish 3 feet away at low angle to bring out the texture in the pillow case and bowl fluting while spot lighting the can so it stands out. The back light was my leaving on my 18 inch 5000K Philips Natural Sunshine fluorescent tube about 3 feet above and back attached to a shelf. I just used what was available and moved the elements together. Shot using AWB instead of Tungsten preset. </p>

<p>I've delineated the hues that correspond to the stronger colors in the can to show they don't have to be exact matches only in the range of similar hues. Hopefully this will give you an idea how to choose colors for elements even if you choose neutral colored surrounding objects which is another option.</p><div></div>

[markus maurer]

<p>Thanks, I really appreciate what you all do here for me. I tried and failed to be funny with my comment about the short time I got left after cooking for the photograph and I will indeed change and use dummies for the learning part now. But there is also some truth in my behaviour because I need a transportable and handy flash based mobile lighting set for "fast" food photography at vegan party events, where I'm invited as guest and nobody waits for me and my camera when dinner is ready. The next event will be in 3 weeks about vegan african food :-) I have of course much more time at the vegan restaurant with my freelance project but also not hours for each meal, I did about 12 different dishes and/or setups in 3 hours the last time, way to much for me alone and at my current beginner state to be honest. I'm therefore very glad if there is such a thing as a quick foolproof recipe for 1 source, 1 reflector lighting that simply works on location and I will try what Christopher suggested again with his outstanding images.I'm also very thankful for your remarks regarding my postprocessing and oversharpening, I will leave that clarify slider sit alone. I try to implement all your great advice and hope that I still may come back with new samples even if I may and will fail again as part of the steep learning curve :-)</p>

[markus maurer]

<p>Tim, I want to thank you for your eye opening explanations and samples, I really appreciate that.<br>

I am Swiss German, living near Zurich, no Netherlands or Dutch is involved in my sense of humor :-)</p>

[markus maurer]

<p>Devon, I will go your route and start all over again with simple objects like the onion you mentioned or a single glass to watch out for the kind of highlights I get with different angles. If I really get more attracted and drawn into this kind of table top photography I will consider taking classes, for now, reading and surfing for food samples and cooking at home should be plenty of information to digest. Thanks!</p>

 

[markus maurer]

<p>A sample photo of my own food again (how stubborn can one be, you can call me any names like "cheapest macdo of food photography" now) for better post production leaving clarify at 0 and lessen pre sharpening of the raw file in Photoshop to half. Only natural diffused window light from behind, handheld at ISO 800. Thanks again for your critical eyes.</p><div></div>

[fotografz]

<p>For those interested in food work here is a quick behind the scenes video. </p>

<p>http://vimeo.com/33669333</p>

<p>-Marc</p>

[Tim_Lookingbill]

<p>Markus, that last shot is perfect.</p>

<p>But I also thought those shots of the walnuts and the red peppers in white dishes you posted in another thread were perfect as well and so couldn't understand why your other shots here were coming across over processed with too much Clarity and Fill action. Wondered what changed.</p>

<p>For a handy light source for shooting table top food on the go at parties as you mentioned I'ld suggest just carrying around in one hand an off camera speedlight attached by cord or remote to the camera's hot shoe and shoot holding the camera with the other hand like I did with my GE Soft White utility lamp.</p>

<p>Like Christopher said you only need one light. It just has to be regulated so as not to turn the capture into a high key exposed image by blasting the scene with light, but then even if you did you can always darken and add contrast in post. There's never a problem with too much light shooting Raw, just don't blow out the highlights.</p>

<p>BTW I'm of German ancestry. My name is an Americanized version of a German name that was hard to spell and pronounce so they settled on two words...Looking and Bill. Thanks Ellis Island. I thought folks from Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands were all considered Dutch. My mistake.</p>

[cjbroadbent]

<p>Tim is not far off. Quoting from www.phrases.org.uk ... 'Dutch' was originally the generic name for both Germans and, as they were formally called, Hollanders. High Dutch was the language of southern Germany and Low Dutch the language of The Netherlands... <br>

Back to the gold reflector. Not a good idea. Better a light blue panel for shadow fill. God gaves us one warm sun as a key light and the deep blue sky as fill. A diffused source is nice and a cool penumbra makes things feel real.</p>

<p> </p>

[markus maurer]

<p>Tim, one of the reason for my mistakes might be the fear that all the details get lost in the shadows in print if I don't lighten them up around 20% in postprocessing and the shots at the vegan restaurant will be for a menu card and a large poster. Christopher, why do lots of other food photographers including Brooks in his tutorial lessons use 2 lights when you do so well with just one, is that simply your taste or the way for this kind of food photography? And, do you desaturate the colors in your photos a bit?</p>

[markus maurer]

<p>Last try with real food for now. Italien pasta with dried tomatoes, fresh sage, onions, fresh parsley, salt and pepper, yeast flakes. Flash through white umbrella from right behind and slightly above, white reflector on the left front.</p><div></div>

[markus maurer]

<p>Marc, thanks for the link, I'm busy watching the tube for food videos :-)</p>

[Tim_Lookingbill]

<p>Again, Markus, you've nailed it with that last one. It looks clean, well lit and natural. Looks like a million bucks.</p>

<p>The decision on the lights used simply involves how one wants to go about molding (like clay) the shape and gradation of shadows rolling off into mids and highlights. You may think you're capturing an object, but in fact you're capturing a relationship between negative and positive tonal shapes and colors as Christopher pointed out.</p>

<p>Examine a well drawn graphic novel or comic book which reduces images down more to their basic elements of negative/positive spaces to get an idea of what I'm talking about.</p>

<p>Study the behavior of light on your subject with a simple utility lamp like mine and move it around the subject low, high, 45 degree angles, close and farther away to see how highlight intensity changes compared to softness and harshness of the shadows. I noticed the farther away I placed my utility lamp at 45 degrees to the subject the shadow edges got softer and broader and harsher and thinner the closer I moved the light. That's what molding and shaping the shadows is all about.</p>

<p>Depending on distance from subject, softboxes and other forms of diffused light bathe the entire scene with a lot of light while maintaining a desired contrast ratio without over emphasizing a point source as compared to using a spot light. Each will create different characteristics of light and shadows in controlling the dynamics of the overall image.</p>

<p>As in your last perfectly exposed image the point source of the light is hard for me to determine which gives the image an overall lustrous silky-ness. All the surrounding shadows are soft by comparison to the more high contrast subject. Don't know if you intended that to happen or did it in post but it draws my attention to the food instead of the plate, fork and tablecloth.</p>

<p> </p>

[brooks short]

<p>Sometimes I use more than one light but I always make sure that there is unity of light with a single direction for the light.</p>

<p>The theme for this shot was breakfast in bed. I used a 13" fresnel spot with a warming gel, which is a harder light, coming from the right rear of the set to simulate morning sunlight. The second light was a medium 3'x4' softbox positioned also to the right rear of the set but also slightly overhead. This softer light provided some fill and a softter quality to both the highlights and shadow edge transfers.</p>

<p>Often I will use both a hard and soft light together, usually with the smaller harder light in front of the larger softer light.<br /> Shot on 4x5 transparency film using strobe and ISO 100 Kodak EPP at f/32 with a slight diffusion filter.</p><div></div>

[Tim_Lookingbill]

<p>Damn good shot, Brooks. I guess the f/32 aperture extends the DOF so everything looks reasonably sharp. So that's the color those gels give, a better purity of orange-ish yellow instead of a diminished brown-ish buttery glow I've seen with digital capture under tungsten/halogen.</p>

<p>It's why I've always believed you can't always fix or create WB effects in post even shooting Raw. The software (ACR) gives a specific and limited choice of hue of blue/yellow and green/red WB, usually nothing close to what you can get in front of the camera using a warming gel.</p>

[markus maurer]

<p>Your services (for me) and breakfast is first class Brooks and Tim, thanks. I forgot about the: " I always make sure that there is unity of light with a single direction for the light", thanks. Don't you have any butter with your toast :-)</p>

[tom_mann1]

<p><em>"The software (ACR) gives a specific and limited choice of hue of blue/yellow and green/red WB, usually nothing close to what you can get in front of the camera using a warming gel."</em></p>

<p>FWIW, obviously there are means to modify the colors in one image to *exactly* match the color palette in an image that you like. Sometimes the substitutions, while they may be accurate, aren't attractive, either because they simply aren't believable or aren't harmonious, other times, the results, particularly, if done with a bit of artistic license instead of slavishly following the "donor" palette are not too bad. </p>

<p>The tools to do this sort of palette grabbing include gradient maps, "match color", and a plugin that I particularly like because it is quite adjustable / adaptable, FoksMarx Recolor ( http://foksmarx.com/?downloads-en ).</p>

<p>As an example, the attached image is the result of applying FoksMarx Recolor to one of Markus' earlier images, using the color pallete from Brooks' latest (beautiful, BTW) image. In the interest of full disclosure, I also did a bit of selective sharpening, blurring and dodging.</p>

<p>Cheers,</p>

<p>Tom M</p>

[tom_mann1]

<p>First, for reference, the starting image.</p><div></div>

[tom_mann1]

<p>Then, the result of the color matching / substitution process, as described above, grabbing the color palette from Brooks' beautiful, warm image.</p>

<div></div>

[tom_mann1]

<p>Obviously, the lighting and arrangement is quite different between the two, yielding a wildly different degree of interplay between shadows and the beautiful blown and diffused highlights in Brooks' image, but equally obviously, at least the colors are moving in the right direction, especially with a bit of help from some selective dodging.</p>

<p>Tom M</p>

[brooks short]

<p>That breakfast in bed shot was done before digital on 4x5 film. Back then we had to get the color, any diffusion etc, in the camera because the separations were made optically, not by scans.</p>

<p>Here's a more recent shot photographed with one of the first medium format digital backs, a Kodak ProBack Plus 16mp. Again, lighting was strobe in a fresnel spot and medium soft box, this time from the rear left of the set with white fill cards placed around the front.</p><div></div>

[devon_mccarroll]

<p>Brooks, do you do your own styling? Your shots are lovely!</p>

[brooks short]

<p>Thanks, Devon.</p>

<p>I style some of the simpler things but my wife does all the real styling.</p>

[markus maurer]

<p>Tom, I like your enhancement of my photo, thats what I hoped to get partly with a gold reflector but my fennel soup proved me otherwise. Maybe the background is a bit too light but the sprouts looks so much more inviting, thanks.<br>

Brooks, your photos look so rich and beautiful and well styled, congratulations.</p>

[markus maurer]

<p>How can I experiment with "onions" alone when you show such nice food arragements here?</p><div></div>