Day light works well, but it tends to be too variable/unreliable. Any (not overly costly) ideas?
Well, food usually does not move, so you can use a slower shutter speed allowing you to use almost any light source.
You can get some daylight bulbs pretty cheap and put them into a normal desk lamp.
Another option are these work lights from a DIY store. These together with some pieces of wood and backing paper as diffusion will do the job.
On Youtube you will find some pretty good tutorials:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zARqGgHjNc
Thanks a lot, I have to look into this. What puts me off - I got a fairly big and expensive "daylight" desklamp for my office, which however emits by far the coldest and most uncomfortable light I´ve ever experienced. Food needs IMHO more of a slightly "warm" kind of light. I wonder whether these Walimex daylight bulbs are OKish?
[quote name='Sammy' timestamp='1329237051' post='15843']
Thanks a lot, I have to look into this. What puts me off - I got a fairly big and expensive "daylight" desklamp for my office, which however emits by far the coldest and most uncomfortable light I´ve ever experienced. Food needs IMHO more of a slightly "warm" kind of light. I wonder whether these Walimex daylight bulbs are OKish?
[/quote]
I have the Walimex daylight bulbs and used them to shoot some product pictures in a cheap light box.
Besides the smell they produced the light was pretty good - but surely not warm.
For product shots pretty ok and you can always fine tune the WB afterwards.
If you want to take pictures of food and include parts of the dishes and table you need to think bigger. Maybe you are better off with those DIY store 500W halogen work lights. They produce a warm light. And you can combine them with smaller halogen bulbs (20W) for spots.
Well, the colour (or temperature) of the light doesn't really matter if you shoot raw. You can adjust the white balance to what ever you like later. In fact, whith well adjusted or corrected white balance, the results should be nearly identical regardless of the light used (whether warm or cold).
One thing you should of course avoid is to mix different light sources (with different colour temperatures). And daylight lamps with fluorescent tubes can show interference effects (also regarding light temperature) at certain shutter speeds.
-- Markus
[quote name='mst' timestamp='1329242545' post='15846']
Well, the colour (or temperature) of the light doesn't really matter if you shoot raw. You can adjust the white balance to what ever you like later. In fact, whith well adjusted or corrected white balance, the results should be nearly identical regardless of the light used (whether warm or cold).
One thing you should of course avoid is to mix different light sources (with different colour temperatures). And daylight lamps with fluorescent tubes can show interference effects (also regarding light temperature) at certain shutter speeds.[/quote]
Good points as I shoot Raw anyway - it´s just so "abstract" to shoot in ugly light just to temperate everything later on in post-processing to my liking. I will post some of the final results over here. A very, very fine cook and good friend of mine is going to establish a catering service in Berlin and I would love to be able to support his enterprise photographically.
If shutterspeed is not an issue, normal movie lights might do. Check the Yongnuo YN-160 LED:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/YONGNUO-YN-160-L...27bc1b5e92
Cheap, and you can power them for a long time with 6 AA batteries. Rechargeable even.
Or just a bunch of normal lights for normal house hold use. I use some fluorescent ones at times, they're long and don't produce hard shadows etc..
Yesterday was the first test shooting, the Yongnuo light worked well! Anyway, an interesting experience. So, those who look for a food photographer at or near Berlin as well as those looking for an excellent catering service at or near Berlin may contact me. Have a look at the (as yet) un-cropped example...
Glad to hear it worked out <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
' /> I'll buy a few of those later, for both video and still photography.
[quote name='Alexander ' timestamp='1336573279' post='18080']Glad to hear it worked out <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
' /> [/quote]
Yep, it worked out nicely, and this stuff is darn tasty indeed <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
' />
The cook had to go for a test and demo of his creations to get a contract for a big wedding this summer (which worked out as well) while I was still shooting. In the end, my pay was basically what you see on the picture, yummy!