Lighting for Food Photography

I've been trying to improve the lighting on my food photography for a while. A big part of what I enjoy about photography is the reverse engineering on the shots I enjoy, and that includes both technical and artistic aspects. In this shot particularly, most of the hurdle for me was the lighting setup and the fine adjustment in post-processing that added the final touch that made it look natural.

Two Nikon Speedlights (flash) were used in this shot: The first is ahead of the camera positioned slightly higher pointing down shooting through a small softbox; and the second on the right of the camera reflecting from a silver umbrella. A white reflector was used on the opposite side to fill some of the shadows. I'm sure this can be further improved with a little more fill light for the front of the cupcakes. I'll probably try another reflector above the camera next time and see if that helps. I guess I found more things to buy... again... reflector(s), reflector holder, light meter... argh this nonstop purchase list never seems to end. :) At this rate, I'll never be able to save enough photography budget to get a D300 I suppose.

Wine Bottle

Wine Bottle, originally uploaded by hermanau.

Thanks to Strobist.com, Flickr, and web 2.0 helping me solve a lot of reverse engineering puzzles in my head. With the limited resources, some very wacky setup, and the recent addition of some cheap umbrellas, I was able to produce the type of product shots I've long wanted to attempt. This shot of wine bottle is one of the examples that shows you everybody can do it... well, almost. :)

This is shot with my Nikon D200 with Nikkor 50mm F/1.8D hand held @ F/9.5 1/90sec. It's lit by 2 SB600 speelights - one below the bottle that sits atop of a piece of transparent Plexiglas, and a second one left of the camera shooting through an white umbrella. Background is simply a piece of poster board I bought from Office Depot. A picture speaks a thousand words, see the setup below.

Stay tuned - I'll demonstrate how I did some of my black background images next. :)

Strawberry Drop

Strawberry Drop, originally uploaded by hermanau.

My first attempt to this type of shot. This is far from perfect, and I honestly don't have the setup exactly the way I wanted. Hopefully next time I'll get my hands on a tank instead of having to use the vase and deal with the annoying reflection. This shot was made with the on camera flash and a SB600 external speedlight mounted on my 2nd tripod, and my D70 set to flash commander mode with the pop-up flash.

1000+ Views, 100+ Faves!

Endless Tranqulity, originally uploaded by hermanau.

My first ever 1000+ views 100+ favorites shot... :-) This shot really kinda surprised me when I developed it from the NEF file 'cause it almost came out like this exactly. I didn't add any colors to it whatsoever. The only thing I did to it was sharpening, contrast, and noise reduction. Thank you for all the support, and hopefully I'll have a 2nd shot that reaches this benchmark soon. :-)