The reason I've been shooting so much video lately is because my digital camera died. I now, however, have a very nice Canon 300D, and it should do the job nicely. I'm just waiting for a cable to hook it up to the computer and I'll be all set . . .
I remember being interested in taking pictures of food as far back as design school. We once had a type project in which we had to design some kind of publicity package. I chose to do the San Francisco Symphony . . . Cooks. It satisfied my need for music and food at the same time.
But I needed shots of food, and back in those days, there was no Internet, certainly no scanners, and only clunky film cameras. So I went out and bought one—a Canon AE1, if I remember correctly—and not having a clue how to make photos of food, I improvised, unconsciously making reflectors and diffusers before I even knew what they were.
However, the luxury of shooting 100 pictures to get one good one was not an option; film cost money and developing cost more. So I just ended up getting frustrated. I finally called it quits and cut some photos out of California magazine. I didn't get a very good grade . . .
But making food look good on film is a bit of an obsession for me. I just want it to look good.
Not wanting to go out and buy a book just yet, I checked out some sites. There is a good one here, which leads to another one here. Now we've all heard about what food stylists do to food to "get the shot"—the lacquer sprayed on the burger to give it that juicy sheen, the acrylic paint to make the squirt-bottle decorations—but it is still quite off-putting to think that some of those Gourmet photos we've drooled over were just some stylist's industrial-chemical nightmares.
I always like to think that after they shot that sumptuous dinner party that they all sat down to eat it.
hey nick, we are as excited as you are about your newly acquired camera! looking forward to seeing your gorgeous food shots...and continuously your delicious food videos...)...hehe...(i will ask naoko to translate the above into japanese for you...HAHA!!!)
ReplyDeleteHmm . . . I have to figure out all the lighting and stuff. This looks expensive. And technical. What the hell is a softbox? Or a shift-tilt lens? (For extreme depths of field.) Covering your flash with a diffuser. Do I really have to buy an umbrella reflector? We'll see, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI will run a few experiments. It'll take me a couple of weeks. And I still have the Great Burger Shoot to do . . . I haven't even completed the shooting script yet *sigh*