Tips on photographing food... Without flash...

[R33E8]

Hi, I have my first ever photo shoot at a restaurant tomorrow where I have to take pictures of food and drinks.. I've looked around and found that lighting can make or break the shot.. The problem is, I will only have ambient light to work with since I don't have any external flash.. I've never seen the place before and can't find many pictures of the interior to see what kind of lighting ambiance is set up.. I also don't have any mirrors and such to try to bounce around ambient light..

My only equipment is my XSi with the kit lens, a Sigma 50mm 1.4, and 2 tripods(I think)... Does anyone have any tips before I just wing it? Thanks..:)

[Kt56]

I would ask to walk around the place before hand and see if you can make some thing work there. I'm sure they will let you check the place out.

Try renting a flash and some lenses from a local camera store or try an online rental site.

[R33E8]

Ok well I went.. I couldn't publish the images earlier but here they are anyways..

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3573/3429906076_b432db5056_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3365/3429906198_76bf173687_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3332/3429092063_0cfe4e4d7d_o.jpg

So yeah.. I don't think the results are that bad.. I just took a window seat, set my WB, and started taking shots.. There is only slight PP and no sharpening in any of those pictures.. The rest of the shots are here if anyone is curious: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25981329@N04/sets/72157616503528693/

[trip9]

I think you did a good job. That's pretty sharp for no PP sharpening.

[fotofun]

These pictures are really great. I like composition most of all.
How did you set WB?

[R33E8]

These pictures are really great. I like composition most of all.
How did you set WB?

Thanks :)

For the white balance, I just took a shot of a sheet of blank paper placed on the table..

[Nappy]

I think they all look great, #2 being my favorite...and #3 just looks yummy

[R33E8]

Just found out something else today.. Don't sit next to a window with strong sunlight shining in unless you have a good reflector.. I didn't and don't and this was the result..

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3342/3552633336_3dcf6b9c3b_o.jpg

Very hard shadows and I don't like how the back is underexposed to much..

After some PP... I would be embarrassed to present this..

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3045/3551831305_94b7e466a1_o.jpg

I could have made it brighter but that brought more noise and made it look less realistic.. I know, the shadow doesn't really match with the brightness anymore.. But I couldn't stand the amount of noise it got after I brought up the exposure..

I ended up moving to another table that didn't get direct sunlight.. Here is one of the results..

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2442/3552660582_3ba9de9b48_o.jpg

I'm not too proud of the result but it's whatever.. I should use canon's photo software because it looks SO much better on the camera than in light room.. Btw, no PP on this picture.. Straight from the raw file ( without canon's in-camera PP color stuff added in..)

[thenaturephotographer]

nice with no lights, I've done a little food photography and used some incadescent work likes (yes i'm cheap:)), but it's turned out okay. http://www.johnzdorphotography.com/Site/general_food.html