Food photography - equipment recommendations?

My wife will be starting pastry school in January (yay for yummy leftovers!) and she understands the importance of photography in making food look appetizing. She's asked me to take pictures as she progresses for her portfolio. I have a decent budget (up to $1K) to get some equipment for doing so.

I have a couple of shoemount flashes, PVC, ripstop, foamcore, reflectors, etc. for the strobist route, but I'm hoping to add some strobes/more professional modifiers to the mix.

I'm leaning toward the Genesis 200 2-pack, so that would leave me with, say $600 or so for accessories and modifiers.

Does anyone who's done some food photography have any equipment recommendations?

Would a beauty dish be worthwhile? Probably not much portrait work in the near future; I'd be looking to use this to get more "pop" out of food/product shots.

A few things that caught my attention are below. Any of these worthwhile, or should I just stick with softboxes/umbrellas?

Elinchrom High Performance Reflector, 10-1/4", 50 Degrees:
http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …erformance_Refl​ector.html

Elinchrom Deep Throat OctaBox:
http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …6185_Rotalux_Oc​taBox.html

Photek Illuminata II Octagonal Light Bank with Round Mask - 36" Diameter
http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …a_II_Octagonal_​Light.html

I did some food photography before, and it's a completely different ballgame than a lot of other photography out there. For the most part, I shot everything with a softbox and used mirrors/white cards to help define the shadow areas. I wish I had some to show you, but at present, they're on a separate hard drive from this computer.

My suggestion? Look at all the food recipe books you can get your hands on, food magazines, to get ideas. Food has a lot of texture, I'd use longer focal lengths like 85-100mm lenses, to get some nice bokeh on some shots, stuff like that. Soups, sandwiches, pastries all have a lot of colors and ways of showing appetizing ingredients. The hardest part isn't really "lighting" it, but finding a way to give good presentation. Shoot your soups from above perspective. Shoot your sandwiches up close to show the beef, tomatoes, textures like that. Shoot your pastries in a way that shows their delicacy and yuminess!

Your wife might be disappointed with the results (not reflecting upon your abilities!) due to the fact that most food photography we see is professionally styled and prepped by a 'food stylist'. Ice cream which is Crisco, grill marks which are painted on, water beads which are glycerine sprayed on, etc.

My background in advertising got me into many food shoots Durkee, KFC and Stouffers. Veery specialized work. A full kitchen in the studios with food stylists. Fussy stuff with ice cream melting under lights and lots of retakes. Looked like a big investment. The guys that had the talent and patience are highly valued and live well. Fun to hang around and eat loser fried chicken Best of luck.
Sam

I have been on several food shoots. We tend to use a combonation of hot lights and natural depending on what is needed for the shot. I would look at some Lowel DP or Omni lights. The Lowels are very reasonably priced and work well for food. With food photography it seems like the food stylist either makes or brakes the shoot. I also find a 90TSE to be a great lens for shooting food. It allows several things to happen like selective focus and allowing you to shift the lens to give the designer more options to work with when the shot is stitched together.

Zansho wrote in post #6904223
For the most part, I shot everything with a softbox and used mirrors/white cards to help define the shadow areas. I wish I had some to show you, but at present, they're on a separate hard drive from this computer.

My suggestion? Look at all the food recipe books you can get your hands on, food magazines, to get ideas.

Thanks for the tips. My wife and I have a big bookshelf filled with cookbooks for drooling!

Wilt wrote in post #6904895
Your wife might be disappointed with the results (not reflecting upon your abilities!) due to the fact that most food photography we see is professionally styled and prepped by a 'food stylist'. Ice cream which is Crisco, grill marks which are painted on, water beads which are glycerine sprayed on, etc.

Point taken. My wife is interested in food styling, so it'll be a fun learning process for both of us.

sam walker wrote in post #6905026
My background in advertising got me into many food shoots Durkee, KFC and Stouffers. Veery specialized work. A full kitchen in the studios with food stylists. Fussy stuff with ice cream melting under lights and lots of retakes. Looked like a big investment. The guys that had the talent and patience are highly valued and live well. Fun to hang around and eat loser fried chicken Best of luck.
Sam

Fussy, but sounds like fun. With leftovers to boot! (Unless you're using Crisco, per Wilt above!)

Bumgardnern wrote in post #6906838
I would look at some Lowel DP or Omni lights. The Lowels are very reasonably priced and work well for food. With food photography it seems like the food stylist either makes or brakes the shoot. I also find a 90TSE to be a great lens for shooting food. It allows several things to happen like selective focus and allowing you to shift the lens to give the designer more options to work with when the shot is stitched together.

Thanks for the suggestion on the hot lights. The 90 TS-E is definitely on my short list; I love the flexibility that a tilt/shift lens provides.