# Food Photography? (lobster boil)



## tjdphotos (Aug 25, 2008)

Biting off more than I can chew?
Does anyone know of a crash course in food photography. I've been invited to photograph a lobster boil dinner at a fine dining bar/restaurant. I promise I will share pics in this post after the event. Most of my experience has been with outdoor photography (mostly automotive) But I jumped at the chance to add something different to my portfolio. I'm getting paid with dinner and the shots will be used for promotions/newsletters. I'm a little stressed because this is out of my element, but at least, I will have fun! (GEAR) I have canon rebel xti a 18-55 3.5f and a 75-300 4.0f tele/marcro, circular polarizer filter, stock pop up flash and tripod. I'm mostly comfortable in M mode and TV mode and I'm curious if the AV mode will be handy. The photo shoot time is 6-9pm sun set is at 8pm. Natural will be at a minimum after 7pm, The bar faces west and the dinning room faces east over looking Lake Michigan. Not sure what the owner will want me to photo. Food presentation I'm sure will be handled by them. Right now, I think one main thing I may need will be a flash diffuser if I use the flash at all. I've thought about renting an external flash, but I have never used one and I don't want to create a disaster or be distracted, but it is an option. 
I still need to create my shot list.
Any help or direction will be greatly appreciated! 

Now, off to edit some 2009 Nissan GTR photos, Thanks!


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## Village Idiot (Aug 26, 2008)

I'd use at least one off camera light, but that's just me.

All the below were done with a Canon 580EX II(could be any speed light), Pocket Wizards(any off camera trigger should work), and a light stand with white shoot through umbrella.


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## tjdphotos (Aug 27, 2008)

The first photo! the What tech did you use for the depth of field, Only my tele in macro mode can get such a dof. What was the technique? Nice comp by the way!


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## Village Idiot (Aug 28, 2008)

I used a 70-200 f/2.8 @ 145mm and f/2.8.

The longer the focal length, the shallower the DoF. 10mm @ f/5.6 will have a lot more DoF than 200mm @ f/5.6. I could have probably even shot this at f/4-f/5.6 and accomplished a shallow DoF.

I had one Canon 580EX(Could be any flash, even a used $35 Vivitar 283), a set of Pocket Wizards(or sync cable, or $30 radio triggers), a light stand($30), an umbrella adapter($15), and a Wescott 43" white shoot through umbrella($20) about 90 degrees to the right of the camera.


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## clee27 (Aug 30, 2008)

my food photography...it's alright not too great but...if it might help!
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2000320&l=55c9f&id=1020483299


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## tjdphotos (Aug 30, 2008)

I have not  edited any of the images yet. This is some of what I have to work with. You can veiw the entire series @ Lobster Boil 
I would like to put together at least 25 strong images for them.
Any Ideas or C&C would be a great help!
Thanks for your posts, The shoot was very laid back, the food was great too!


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## TUX424 (Sep 3, 2008)

tjdphotos
i just check out ur website and i was wondering if u use a template for it and if u did which one that would be loads of help since that is the exact website format that i work like to have on my

Thanks


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## tjdphotos (Sep 3, 2008)

TUX424 said:


> tjdphotos
> i just check out ur website and i was wondering if u use a template for it and if u did which one that would be loads of help since that is the exact website format that i work like to have on my
> 
> Thanks



Not sure if your reference is the image gallery or my website as a whole.
You may want to visit this site. The skin was banana. It is not easy to explain how I run it on my site. Lots of trial and error. Thanks for looking at the photos. Good luck!
peace ~ tjd!


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## onedayillknowbetter (Sep 5, 2008)

I'd say that the two of the lobsters up close and cooked need some white balance correction, and some more light.  If you are using lightroom, I like to combine the fill light and blacks feature to make the photo look brighter, without making it look photoshopped.  That combo is usually a good all-purpose fixer-upper that works best when working with RAW files.

I don't know how you could go through and edit all those though.  Their eyes creep me out.


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## tjdphotos (Sep 6, 2008)

I did shoot these in raw as well as high jpeg. I have never edited in raw so I'm interested in giving it a shot. I do not have light room but I do have canon utilities and ps elements 6.0. In the white balance, is it on the yellow side, what kind of tint do you see. It would be cool if you could give me a glimps into your vision, I will give the edit a try on my own and post my version, You have my go ahead to edit my images if you choose, Thanks for the C&C The WB tint would be a big help, the fill is on the easy. ~ peace tjd


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## lila.dream (Oct 12, 2008)

I think food shots look good when the background is plain and there are some decorations around it, whether it is part of the meal or just random but when the background color is plain, it makes the food stand out.


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## TUX424 (Oct 12, 2008)

way to bring back a old post
haha


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