• Hudson Valley
• Photographer
• Hudson Valley Photographer
• D700
• Photography
• Food
• Hudson Valley Food Photography
• Food Photographer Hudson Valley
• Food Photography Hudson Valley
• nikon105mm

First off if you’re looking for a Hudson Valley Food Photographer check out my main website.

Well I guess you could say that this is my first foray into food photography.  I’m pretty excited about it too!  Like I said in a previous post I want to get more into food photography this winter.  It’s a goal of mine to really start having food photography be a part of my income from my photography business.  There are a ton of things I found out lat night by shooting this simple sandwich shot.  I realize that it’s not the greatest

picture, and certainly I have a lot to learn, but damn it’s fun to be able to do a photo shoot in my house without having to brave the cold.

First off it’s wiked hard to get chicken salad to look appetizing.  I was amazed at how complex it is to make something that looks like mush come out looking like it would be something you would like to eat.  Now I understand why there are such a thing as “food stylists”.  I can’t imagine how hard their job must be.  Getting food to look good on film is certainly an art, and I’m completely convinced that it’s going to take me quite a while to get good at food photography.

I will say that there is a saving grace for food photography.  It doesn’t whine about siting in one place while I play with my lighting.  I don’t have to worry about coming up with tons of locations, and creative poses.  Now certainly there is a ton of creativity here, but at the same time, I don’t have to worry about what the sandwich is thinking of me.  At least I hope I don’t?… He didn’t say anything to you did he?

Shooting with my new 105mm was a blast, and I can already tell that this little lens is going to open up a whole new world of possibilities.  Now I don’t think I would ever call my self a macro photographer, I’m a portrait photographer through and through, but this new lens will allow me to shoot stuff that I had always wanted to take pictures of without having to leave my house.  Which is a big bonus.

A little bit about the chicken salad.  Grilled chicken, marinated in balsamic, olive oil, and honey.  A couple tablespoons of mayo, A couple tablespoons of Dijon mustard.  I was actually surprised at how much I liked the Dijon in the chicken salad.  It was a great addition.  Craisins 1/4 cup.  And some pecans 1/4 cup.  Man was it good.  I’m not a chef by any means, but I do know how to cook a little bit.  And this was one of the best sandwiches I’ve had in a while.

A little bit about the picture.  This was shot with my 105mm. I had the sandwich on a cutting board, and a I had a flash about 1/2 power bouncing off the ceiling which created a nice soft white light.  The one thing I will say is that if I cut out too much of the ambient light then the whole setup looked far too sterile.  The opposite of appetizing.  So the slight warm tone was done by keeping some of the ambient lighting in the shot.  One way to see how much ambient you’re including is getting all your shot set up and then turning off your flash for a shot.  You will be able to see how much ambient you’re including and you can bring more in by lowering shutter speed, or widening the aperture, remember that shutter speed doesn’t affect the amount of light coming in from the flash.  Because a flash fires at such a fast speed, shutter doesn’t affect the amount of light that a flash can contribute to an exposure.

Well anyways…. I hope you like my first foray into food photography.

Thanks,

-Dave