Need help on photographing restorant dishes.. Please help

[Vic_izoita]

Hi All,
This is my first project that i will get some money for. Local restorant hired me to photograph their desert dishes and create a menu as well. The menu is going to be a one sided single page sheet.
For tools i have:10D, 24-85mm usm, 420ex with defuser, is the lens good enough? Im thinking shooting mid day so i get a good lighting and probably do it close to a big window? Im also thinking using a table cover with a while sheet of material? I definatly will shoot RAW. Also can you guys suggest exposure setting? Should i use the flash at all? i cant bounce light becuase the Ceiling is pretty high up and its not white. Also, does anyone know any good software that i can use to create the menu page with? I have PS CS but i dont think it has capabilities for this.
Any info is apreciated.
thanks in advance..
Victor

[Pekka]

If the lens is good for this purpose depends of what kind of images you and the client are seeking. If you need simply a realistic reprodution of the dish, then it is ok. If you need shots which are supposed to be of "accepted magazine style" then you'd need 50 1.4 or 1.8, something good wide open with good bokeh. By magazine style I mean very shallow DoF shots which usually are on the verge of being overexposed. Get some food magazines and see for yourself.

About lighting I'd prefer natural light - perhaps you can hang a thin white diffuser curtain to soften and dim the light -- highlights can be a problem with glass and porcelin. Fill the shadows with flash, but be careful for white balance shifts (mixed light is ok, but one side flash one side natural is not).

I would try tripod, manual mode, gray card WB, RAW, ISO 100 (400 with flash) first. See what works - you can always train at home. Get an assistant if you can, to hold bouncer sheet(s) or reflectors.

PS is ok for single page stuff. For multipage brochures you'll need a DTP program - common options are Corel DRAW, Adobe Indesign, Pagemaker... save as PDF with fonts embedded.

[DaveG]

Hi All,
This is my first project that i will get some money for. Local restorant hired me to photograph their desert dishes and create a menu as well. The menu is going to be a one sided single page sheet.
For tools i have:10D, 24-85mm usm, 420ex with defuser, is the lens good enough? Im thinking shooting mid day so i get a good lighting and probably do it close to a big window? Im also thinking using a table cover with a while sheet of material? I definatly will shoot RAW. Also can you guys suggest exposure setting? Should i use the flash at all? i cant bounce light becuase the Ceiling is pretty high up and its not white. Also, does anyone know any good software that i can use to create the menu page with? I have PS CS but i dont think it has capabilities for this.
Any info is apreciated.
thanks in advance..
Victor

I'd use that big window light if it's at all possible. I'd also go to an art supply
store and would buy some sheets of foam-core. These sheets are usually used to
mount prints on, but they’re cheap and they’re great reflectors. The ones I have
are white on one side and black on the other so I can flip them around to use as a
background. Heck you could staple aluminum foil on one to really make them
reflect!

The window light would be your main light but don't "put it over your shoulder"
That light should be hitting the subject from an angle at least 20 degrees from
your camera position. This will help create some shadows which add to the three
dimension-ality effect. You would prop up the foam core on some type of stand
with some spring clamps. You can then move the reflectors in and out to change
the amount of light that you have in the shadows.

I'd try to NOT have a white tablecloth white if it's at all possible. You can easily
blow out the detail if the cloth is white, so something with a little colour, even if
it’s ivory or off-white might be nice.

The 24-85 mm lens should be OK as long as you aren't trying to get too close.
Try it out at your dinner table and see what you think. That lens focuses
manually a bit more closer than it will in AF. I don’t know why, but it does, so
you can play with that too.

Don't feel that you should be shooting everything at f22 either. You will want to
use all of the depth of field at times but some times the funky shot that they like,
is when you focus on one thing, use a large lens opening and the rest is blurry.
Another funky (how scientific, “funky”) shot would be to have the camera at an
angle. You'll make sure that your horizons are horizontal, but get some cool
shots too.

Of course a tripod - and a good steady one - is mandatory for this work.

I don't think that I'd use the flash at all. You'd need multiple strobes (and LOT of
light modifying devices) and since you don't have any, you might as well stay
away from your single flash.

[arthurb]

If you get discouraged that your shots don't look as good as commercial or magazine shots, remember that they do a lot of cheating.

For example, shaving cream gets a lot of use as a substitute for various things like whipped cream and beer foam.
Liberal use is made of oil and glyceren to make things shiny and wet looking.
Nail polish is used to paint pieces to look like we think they should look, like fake tomatoes etc...

Good Luck, and post a couple of pictures!

[ron chappel]

Food is one of the toughest things to do in my opinion.
Don't be afraid to 'cheat' as suggested above-remember the object is to get good photo's of food but food generally looks wrong in a photo so you usually HAVE to do these tricks to achieve realism

[jrm]

Also, does anyone know any good software that i can use to create the menu page with? I have PS CS but i dont think it has capabilities for this.


Technically, you can use Photoshop CS to create a menu page. However, you will probably drive yourself crazy in the process. PS is just not well suited to page layout. Also, depending on how you intend to output your page, PS could introduce problems with type (certain file format will cause text to be rendered as bitmap).

InDesign is an excellent choice, and it works great with PS (place native PS files, etc). Illustrator (while not my personal fave for page layout) is also very popular and will work fine. QuarkXpress is another choice.

Either of these three will do the page layout job well - that is what they are made to do.

Heck, in a pinch, MS Word may even work for you. If you are having the menus printed professionally, forget Word. However, if the printing is being done in-house (or at a Kinkos type place) this may be a low-cost option. Find out how the final printing is going to be done (printing process, papaer stock, etc)... this will not only affect the choice of page layout programs, but will also be a factor in determining resolution and your PS photo processing options (CMYK vs. RGB, higher resolution for 4/color printing at 150 line screen, need lower ink saturation if printing ink jet on bond vs. 4/color on coated stock, etc)

[tivoli2]

It wasn't until after I wrote the following reply that I noticed that Arthurb had said pretty much the same thing. So that my time isn't a total loss, I'll post my version, anyway:


Some of the most appetizing-looking desserts that you see in
advertisement photographs are completely inedible. Cream products curd
under hot lights, so artificial look-alikes are substituted and painted
-- with REAL PAINT! Last but not least, they are sprayed with oil to
make them shine. All that must be done *before* you begin the art of
proper lighting.

[CanonUser]

I'd suggest that you visit the local Borders or B&N book store and take a quick look at the photographic section. Read up some basic article about color, lighting set up, camera & lens set up, product photography, and most importantly, anything on shooting food. Look through food magazines (Saveur is my fav) to at least have an idea on the basic design & layout for your project. It sounds like you have some experience with a camera but not a whole lot of knowledge about shooting a commercial project. I'am a graphic designer and have done menu, logo, and sign jobs for restaurants. These are my steps...
- Find out what the owner has in mind. It's their restaurant and they have the final word.
- Sketch out some basic designs and have the client approves the final design (no matter how smart or dumb they seem to be).
- Provide a quote, time table, sign the contract, and collect the deposit.
- Find a suitable location and props.
- Determine the equipment requirements base on the approved design.
- Have the product photographed.
- Retouch the photos.
- Provide the client with the finished work.
I don't know the scope of your project or experience so I wouldn't venture any suggestion on how you should light or photograph the food (what's the final outputs? Ethnicity? Existing color scheme & design? etc...). If you don't even have some basic ideas on what and how to shoot, what software to use, or the minimum skill in using something like Photoshop, you're in deeper water than you thought. There is nothing wrong with learning on the job (we all do to some degree constantly), but you should do some homeworks first. The forum is not the best place for a crash course to prepare yourself for something like this.

Regards,
Alan

[Vic_izoita]

I thank god that i have you guys on this forum helping people like me. Thank you for all relies and suggestions.
Happy Easter all.
Victor.