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Thursday, April 01, 2010

tips and techniques


First off dont forget to enter my contest if you would like to win your choice of knife set, the polls stay open until midnight on April 5th. Secondly I am going to do something in this post that I have not ever done nor considered doing but I dont mind sharing my secrets. A lot of food bloggers out there like to keep all their little bells and whistles to themselves because they view this as a competitive forum, and it is but I dont care. The picture above is my little 'photo studio' you see that I dont use a white box or reflectors or anything technical for that matter. I use two desk lamps that dont even match, a lazy susan to spin the plate around and a background - thats it. So there you go - the magic is gone now you know who the wizard is behind the curtain.



Polenta with mushrooms and baby pea shoots with a quail egg is about as tasty a lunch as you can have in 15 minutes from start to finish.

24 comments:

Lea Ann said...

Thank you for this. I do need to get a background. I just use my kitchen table/counter and adjust overhead lighting. Time to quit being a slackard.

Lauren said...

delicious as always! I've been loving polenta lately. I have a feeling it may become my "it" food of the season.

♥peachkins♥ said...

I use a small coffee table and background too....

C.G. the Foodie said...

Thanks for sharing your secrets! Your food always looks fabulous.

Ciao Chow Linda said...

Your set-up looks similar to the one I used for a long time - a desk lamp and a piano lamp that was pressed into service! Then I built a white box out of foamcore boards and put some clamp-on lamps on that. but the first set-up was pretty good too. thank goodness we've got daylight a little longer now. I so much prefer natural lighting. The polenta and mushrooms look great.

Christo Gonzales said...

lea Ann: this works for me

lauren: polenta is completely my "it" food lately - I cant get enough

peach: your french toast looked amazing today

cg: thanks -

linda: I love the sunny days around here and I have considered the lightbox thing but havent gotten around to it

Flavor Boulevard said...

Thank you for the add on Foodbuzz, and thank you for this tip! I've been dying to know how to get a good shot at home under lamp light. Does it have to be 2 lamps? Would 1 lamp and 1 overhead light work?

Cooking Rookie said...

A great picture and a very nice studio :-). You must have very strong lamps - for me 2 lamps still result in very unfocused photos with bad white balance. All my decent pictures are taken on the balcony :-(

Melody said...

Thanks for the "behind the scenes" stuff. That really works great. I always admire your photos.

Fresh Local and Best said...

Good lighting is key to great photos.

gaga said...

Oh my! That looks so good. I'm too impatient to take nice photos. Maybe one day...

bunkycooks said...

Your photos look great without all the fancy stuff! You obviously have a talent for figuring out the white balance, etc. Maybe you can teach me! :)

Simon Leong said...

i've been meaning to do a food photography tips post too. hopefully this weekend. i like you're idea of the lazy susan although i don't have one so i just turn the plate — even more low tech than your technique hehe. light is one of the major things to have to get the best starting point for photos. without good light then other things come into play with going wrong. although depending on which light source you use you might also need to compensate what setting on the camera will be needed ie tungsten or fluorescent setting to bring your photos back to a more neutral white point and your first photo looks a little blurry to me so possibly you didn't have your macro setting on :-)

The Blonde Duck said...

How cool!

Vickie said...

You have no idea how many times I have looked at your beautiful photos and wondered what sort of photo editing software you use! :)
I keep a couple of background 'boards' but I LOVE the lazy susan idea. !

Oh, and thank you for the great giveaway - I'm pretty excited about it!

Devon said...

I use the under the cabinet lights in my kitchen. I also find that natural light is the best, but we bloggers tend to practice our craft at night.

FOODalogue said...

Great idea to utilize Lazy Susan!

Velva said...

Your technique for using a lazy susan is clever. I like it. I have nothing special going on in my technique. I use my black kitchen nook table, and photograph outside whenever possible in the early evening hours, when the light is not so harsh.

Angie's Recipes said...

Thank you for the tip!I need to get some of these tools too...lighting is the key.

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

And a wizard you are. Thanks so much for the tips. You are the best.
Sam

Angel said...

this looks yummy...and


pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

Happy Easter Dog!!!! XOXOXOX

Sasha said...

Thanks for sharing...God knows I need help with my blog photography

Michelle said...

Never thought to use a lazy susan and I have one in the basement! Great idea thanks!

4evaRisa said...

whatever works for you. Great job. You don't need bells and whistles obviously.

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