Scott’s Food Blog

I’ve had a few people ask me about the photos on my site, so I thought I’d post some information.  All of the photography on this site is 100% original.  If you’d like to use one of my photos, please request permission first. 

I’ve only recently gotten semi-serious about food photography, and I still have a lot to learn.  Here’s some background on my equipment, to start.

Everything prior to December 25th, 2007 was shot with my trusty little Canon PowerShot SD630.  This is a point-n’-shoot digital camera that really has no business taking pictures of food, but somehow turned out decent photos.  I now shoot with a Nikon D40.  This is a great entry-level SLR; it takes awesome pictures and is a joy to use. 

As for lenses, I only have two: a Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6, and a Nikon 50mm f/1.8.  The latter is my favorite lens because the large aperture allows for really shallow depth of field.  I also have a set of extension tubes ($10 off ebay) which are great for extreme macro shots. 

Whenever I can, I use natural light from my north-facing windows to light my shots.  If natural light isn’t available (which happens a lot here in Seattle) I use a 85 Watt compact fluorescent 5000K bulb shot through a diffuser umbrella, and/or my SB-400 Speedlight Flash bounced off the ceiling.  I also recently bought an ALZO horizontal camera mount, which is great for shooting straight down. 

I do use Photoshop to clean up my pictures a bit, but so does everyone.  Think that Victoria’s Secret model really doesn’t have stretch marks?  Think again.

Now, please don’t think you need to spend a lot of money to improve your food shots.  Here’s  a a few tips for better food photos for any budget.

• No DSLR in your future?  All of my shots prior to Christmas 2007 were taken with a point-and-shoot.  Try using the macro mode on your camera to get the shallow depth of field and crisp focus.
• Use a tripod whenever you can.  Food shots often require longer exposure times.  If you’re holding your camera by hand, the shots will turn out blurry.  If you don’t have the budget or space for a full-sized tripod, try out a gorillapod or something similar.
• Most point-and-shoot cameras have some white balancing settings.  Play with these to get your white balance as accurate as possible.
• Buy a couple of "full spectrum" light bulbs at a hardware store.  They won’t be 5000K (most are closer to 2700) but they’re better than incandescent.  I like to use compact fluorescent because they don’t give off much heat.  Make sure you diffuse your lights, though.  Point them at the ceiling, shine them through a sheet or a piece of paper (that won’t burn).  This will help you avoid harsh shadows.
• If you need to use your on-camera flash (like if you’re out somewhere and can’t control the lighting), try to find something to diffuse the flash.  You can get a piece of white vellum at a stationery store that should do the trick.
• If you don’t have a fancy lens with a large aperature, you can still get the shallow depth of field effect in Photoshop.  There is a filter called "lens blur" in versions CS and later.  It can be a little tricky to get it to look natural, but here’s a tutorial to help you get started.
• Also, use Photoshop to clean up levels, color balance and saturation.  I oversaturate most of my photos by just a little bit. The bright colors make the food look more appetizing.  I also trim down the levels from the bottom and the top to make the food "pop".  Play with settings and go with what looks good to you.
• Take a ton of pictures.  My success rate for pictures (number I would publish / number I took) is probably 5%.  
• Get inspired - I subscribe to Saveur, Bon Apetit and Gourmet magazines.  I try to reverse engineer how they did some of their shots.  Also, check out the photography on smittenkitchen.com and the flickr group StillLifeWith.