Food Photography

[Mikey-2u]

I have been playing with my 20D and 28/70L lens taking close ups of food - what would be the ideal lens for this?

[Koontsa]

Most probably an 85mm f1.2L. Possibly a 50mm lens aswell.

[timmyquest]

Most probably an 85mm f1.2L. Possibly a 50mm lens aswell.

I agree, the chef at my work asked me to do some food photography

The trick is narrow DOF i think. I was fairly happy with how mine turned out, if i can dig em up i'll show ya

[Adam Hicks]

Yeah you'll need a good fast lens like a f1.2 to capture the high action of food on a plate.

:shock:

[timmyquest]

Yeah you'll need a good fast lens like a f1.2 to capture the high action of food on a plate.

:shock:

:roll:

It's about DOF

[Adam Hicks]

I know I'm just kidding. Altough why would you want to take pictures of food with only 1/2" of the food in focus? I'd think you would want to use f8-f11 or better for good food shots?

[timmyquest]

Because you dont want anything else to be the focus of your shto but you want to litter it with dining items, plates, glasses etc.

http://www.tastingmenu.com/media/2004/20040220-newwontongarden/index.html

[booggerg]

Why are all those food shots out of focus?

[Adam Hicks]

My thoughts exactly?

[skiphoto]

Just sold a bunch of shots I took with the 100 400L They looked very agreeable...not my normal gigi, but whatever pays the bills.

[Adam Hicks]

You took food shots with a 100-400L? Was part of the requirement that you shoot the food from two rooms over?

;)

But you're right, whatever pays the bills!

[commando]

You took food shots with a 100-400L? Was part of the requirement that you shoot the food from two rooms over?

LOL :D

Would the 50mm F1.8 be any good for this? Say I wanted to have the near edge of a banana in focus, and the far end blurred?

I saw a picture a pro took of a wedding ring, the close side of the ring was in perfect focus, the far edge and the fabric it was resting on was blurrer. What sort of lens do you need for that extreme DOF?

[robertwgross]

You don't necessarily want a narrow depth of field for food photography.

In one case, they want you to shoot the front edge of the table, the plate, the table top and that's all. Everything else is background. In another case all they want in focus is from the front edge of the plate to the back edge.

Correctly, you want control of the depth of field, unless you are shooting the bird's eye view.

---Bob Gross---

[steven]

If the key is to limit the depth of focus the would you not want the longest lens possible. This would keep the DOF small?

[timmyquest]

Do any of you read contemporary food magazines by any chance?

[djtowle]

I have been playing with my 20D and 28/70L lens taking close ups of food - what would be the ideal lens for this?

I'd try a 45 or 90mm TS-E Lens. Note these are manual focus but will help with DOF control and correcting skewed perspectives.

[timmyquest]

I have been playing with my 20D and 28/70L lens taking close ups of food - what would be the ideal lens for this?

I'd try a 45 or 90mm TS-E Lens. Note these are manual focus but will help with DOF control and correcting skewed perspectives.

Actually i've heard of a lot of people using these. Infact i read it in a photography magazine a few weeks ago.

[timmyquest]

I have been playing with my 20D and 28/70L lens taking close ups of food - what would be the ideal lens for this?

I'd try a 45 or 90mm TS-E Lens. Note these are manual focus but will help with DOF control and correcting skewed perspectives.

Actually i've heard of a lot of people using these. Infact i read it in a photography magazine a few weeks ago.

[robertwgross]

Do any of you read contemporary food magazines by any chance?

Some of us don't get past the menu at McDonalds.

---Bob Gross---