Light for food pictures?

[schreiber]

Hi,

I'm thinking about getting into the "food business". Not making food, but taking pictures for cookbooks and such. I guess the stuff I'd shoot would be more or less the same as still life photographers do - just food and plates instead of "cutlery and watches" :)

I think I'd get a good 105mm makro lens and/or maybe use my 50mm 1.4 for starters, but what about light? Should I go for the Nikon SB-R1C1 Kit or get some stationary highoutput lights instead?? I've got an SB800 right now, but I think I need more light sources, so I can control/emphasize/elimante shadows as I wish. I like the idea of being able to take my entire light kit with me in my bag, but is "stationary" (on tripods) light sources better for this kind of photography?

What would you do?

Thank you in advance ;)

[Johnelle]

I think first off an 80mm lens would be a better choice, the 105 could be a bit long ie foreshortens too much and the 50 too wide. However one can get interesting results with a standard lens.

re lighting you will definitely need a tripod set system. its only when you get very experienced with lights and flash can you start to experiment with a ''floating'' kit. Once you have mastered the lighting art location work becomes a dream.

JohnL

[schreiber]

80mm makro? I've never seen og heard of such length in a makro lens.

[Johnelle]

You mentioned macro. I suggested prefered focal lengths for the work you propose doing.

If you have analysed your end user market and they can use small digital files for reproduction and you have decided to use a macro to increase the quality levels, you could always try to find a 60mm f2.8 micro AF or use either of the 2 you mentioned.



JohnL

[vindog]

http://www.stilllifewith.com/ a blog with some good info on food shooting.

I think that the new flourescent lighting would be ideal for food, small product, etc. If you already have monolights or want to shoot with your existing strobes, you can softbox or make diffuser panels to have large sheen areas on your food....and use lots of reflectors :-)

vindog

[Johnelle]

Schrieber, if you are still around try this site

http://www.stilllifewith.com/

regards

JohnL

[schreiber]

I will, thanks guys ;)

[snapshot]

If you're going to do food photography, not only will you have to concern yourself with what photo equiptment you may need, but you may also have to think about having a complete kitchen setup in your studio, unless you're going to do photo shoots at home.

Depending on who your clients are you may need to hire a food stylist/chef to do the cooking and help with the presentation. Be prepared to do a lot of cooking, because you will need more than one item of food ie: cake, or meat. Food lasts for a very short time before it doesn't look pleasing to eat. It needs to look fresh cooked and appealing.

Not knowing where you live, I know many art directors / creative directors like to have a "hands on" approach so living a good distance from their offices could make it difficult. If doing food shots for restaurants you may be able to work on location which would make it easier, but a food stylist still could be a big help.

As others have said, the use of reflectors will be a big help in lighting and making the food look good.

Gary