Food Photography Workshop

I had the luck to sign up for a food photography workshop last week by Penny De Los Santos, who contributes to Saveur. Figuring out the best way to photograph a dish is still a big work in progress for me, and it was a struggle even for the photojournalists I used to work with. The foods we wanted to write about didn't always lend themselves to gorgeous photos (one reason you don't see more newspaper articles featuring stews), and an enticing dish didn't always translate into an enticing image. 

What I loved about Penny's workshop was how different her advice was from other food photography staples, and how right it felt. Here's some of what we learned:

1. She always uses natural light, and she doesn't mess around with shellacs or other food styling tricks. The food "is what it is," she said. 

2. Using natural light doesn't mean you can't work with the light and modify it. She's been known to photograph a dish on top of an outdoor trash can if the kitchen is too dim. She also uses reflectors and diffusers to soften harsh shadows or fill in illumination where needed. She generally works with a Canon 24-105 lens, and, to my surprise, doesn't use a tripod, which even photography teachers told me is a must with food. Even with image stabilizers in her camera, she must have darn steady hands.

3. She works fast. Plated food won't look appetizing for long. During our hands-on exercises at Spring Hill restaurant, this was an education for me. I'm used to spending time debating a shot and fiddling with it. Here, we were zipping in fast, trying out different angles and backgrounds in minutes. My favorite moment was when someone moved the bowl of salad we were photographing to the floor. The gray, slate-y background looked so much more interesting than the wooden table where it started.

4. Food sometimes looks even better if the plate is "edited"--that is, if part of the dish has been eaten before it's photographed. This is so counter to the prevailing wisdom... but when she showed us examples from her own work, it was true. 

5. The process of cooking is as interesting as the finished dish. This theory was familiar to me from watching photojournalist colleagues, and was the hands-on part I enjoyed the most. A pile of glowing fresh ingredients on a cutting board, a cook slicing meat, a tub of peeled apples... these were as lovely in their own way as any finished work of culinary art.

6. Experiment with angles. Food that stands tall, she convinced me, is best photographed from the side rather than from overhead. (She made her point through our first assignment, to photograph an architectural creation of a salad from the Spring Hill kitchen, where the lettuce leaves rose up like sails.)

7. Look at food photographs every day. Just seeing how other people approach a plate can give you ideas about how to (or how not to) take your own pictures, how to tell the story of what you're photographing. To that, I'm mentally adding, "photograph in a group," because seeing how others approached the same assignment was as edifying to me as figuring out how to do it myself.

Interested in seeing more of Penny's work? Besides her work with Saveur and other magazines, she has photographed several cookbooks, including Andrea Nguyen's latest, Asian Dumplings. 

-- Rebekah Denn

Comments

[Neel]

Wow!! Thanks a lot for sharing these tips. This is really wonderful.

[Jamie Stern on December 15, 2009 at 11:27 AM]

This was very helpful. I feature products/dishes sold on my Food Allergy website and this will definitely make my entries and little more interesting. Thanks for the post!
Best regards,
Jamie Stern,owner
Allergiesandme.com

[Aleta Watson on December 15, 2009 at 01:27 PM]

Penny is one of the best. I think it's her photojournalist approach that makes her photos so appealing. It's real food in real time. I'm in awe. Every time I see one of her photos, I realize once again the importance of vision as well as skill.

[Sarka on December 15, 2009 at 04:10 PM]

It mush have been a wonderful workshop! Thanks for sharing some of the tips! ;) I wish such a workshop was held in London!

[Traca on December 16, 2009 at 12:00 PM]

Thank you for these wonderful notes! Penny's work is fantastic. Can't wait to see your new shots!

[Scottie on December 17, 2009 at 01:34 PM]

For some great examples of food photography, check out Minimally Invasive at http://chimeraobscura.com/mi/

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Experiment with angles. Food that stands tall, she convinced me, is best photographed from the side rather than from overhead. (She made her point through our first assignment, to photograph an architectural creation of a salad from the Spring Hill kitchen, where the lettuce leaves rose up like sails.)

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[NFL Jerseys on July 19, 2010 at 12:33 AM]

It mush have been a wonderful workshop! Thanks for sharing some of the tips! ;) I wish such a workshop was held in London!

[Mike on February 07, 2011 at 02:19 AM]

Great information. I will be sure to go back to reference this when I need to for my online food store selling allergy free food products. Thanks for all the great tips.

All the best,
Michael Lauer
www.allergyfreekosher.com

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Food sometimes looks even better if the plate is "edited"--that is, if part of the dish has been eaten before it's photographed. Haha, good one.