Help with shooting food while eating out

samlee860407 wrote in post #9800213
once you had tried it out please post your review here

as i will be upgrading my lens very very soon, i doubt my current one can support it. so am looking for upgrade soon too

i do saw some food blogger here dint use any tripod, but use bounce flash. However, i always found that using flash in restaurant is too rude, hence i dint get it yet

I'll post up some photos once I get it. My main concern is how big the gorilla pod will be since if it is too big to place on a table (which it will likely be) the only other place I can naturally put it in on a chair. Let me check it out in the store but I gather it will be quite obtrusive visually to set up in a restaurant. Not a major deal but definitely you will attract unwanted attention.

Alternatively...maybe I can get myself a nifty fifty (chances are I will be shooting f/4-f/8 anyway) so I can use a smaller tripod.

I used to shoot with a flash (my 580 EXII) in restaurants since my policy has always been "better to ask for forgiveness than permission"...haha. Never got in trouble but I just don't like flash lighting for food unless I am able to soften my flash lighting through a softbox/umbrella.

using bounce flash is all right for food photography, just bounce the light to the ceiling, but then u will be limited if the ceiling is uneven or wood material or blah blah blah

and yea, no matter how small ur tripod is, u will still attract unwanted attention, as for me, i was aksed a few times that am i a reporter......

samlee860407 wrote in post #9800313
using bounce flash is all right for food photography, just bounce the light to the ceiling, but then u will be limited if the ceiling is uneven or wood material or blah blah blah

and yea, no matter how small ur tripod is, u will still attract unwanted attention, as for me, i was aksed a few times that am i a reporter......

I bounce my flash off the ceiling for a lot of my event/club photography work. For restaurant food...I just like it shot with ambient light.

Yeah, I've definitely been asked many times but I think here in Hong Kong (and to a much greater degree in Japan) there is a very strong culture of taking photos when eating out at restaurants. When I was traveling in Japan, even though people were just using camera phones, it seemed like at times over 50% of the customers would take shots before they ate...haha.

Wouldn't something like this work as a small tripod

http://www.amazon.com …ripod-Black/dp/B0000YD2JC

bobbyz wrote in post #9802754
Wouldn't something like this work as a small tripod

http://www.amazon.com …ripod-Black/dp/B0000YD2JC

Yes it is a small tripod alright but from the description on Amazon it only supports a point and shoot and not an SLR.

big_apple_ken wrote in post #9800364
I bounce my flash off the ceiling for a lot of my event/club photography work. For restaurant food...I just like it shot with ambient light.

Yeah, I've definitely been asked many times but I think here in Hong Kong (and to a much greater degree in Japan) there is a very strong culture of taking photos when eating out at restaurants. When I was traveling in Japan, even though people were just using camera phones, it seemed like at times over 50% of the customers would take shots before they ate...haha.

I see....here at Malaysia, if i am at a bigger town then it's OK.

But at smaller places, using a DSLR always = professional or reporter

Not sure if anyone has suggested it but a mono pod might be a good choice to either put between your legs or on the seat for added stability. As far as the gorilla pod I have one and wouldn't suggest it for shooting food on scene, you need quite a bit of space to stabilize the legs.

Redaddiction wrote in post #9805448
Not sure if anyone has suggested it but a mono pod might be a good choice to either put between your legs or on the seat for added stability. As far as the gorilla pod I have one and wouldn't suggest it for shooting food on scene, you need quite a bit of space to stabilize the legs.

You know what...I was just thinking about a monopod since I totally see the problem you raised with the legs issue. So my question is...how long can I get my shutter to open when using a monopod? I gather with a monopod there will still be slight vibration/movement which will mean I can't keep the shutter open for an extended period.

big_apple_ken wrote in post #9805691
You know what...I was just thinking about a monopod since I totally see the problem you raised with the legs issue. So my question is...how long can I get my shutter to open when using a monopod? I gather with a monopod there will still be slight vibration/movement which will mean I can't keep the shutter open for an extended period.

A monopod is good for taking weight (of a heavy lens) off your arms when you need to hold it for hours. However, a monopod is a very lousy substitute for a tripod. A tripod's purpose is to hold a camera/lens steady, something that a monopod cannot do well at all.

A monopod will limit up/down movement of the camera to a degree, but will do very little to nothing for arresting side-to-side movement.

SkipD wrote in post #9807233
A monopod is good for taking weight (of a heavy lens) off your arms when you need to hold it for hours. However, a monopod is a very lousy substitute for a tripod. A tripod's purpose is to hold a camera/lens steady, something that a monopod cannot do well at all.

A monopod will limit up/down movement of the camera to a degree, but will do very little to nothing for arresting side-to-side movement.

Ok, that is the conclusion I came to as well after doing some research into it. I guess I'll be testing out this Gorillapod tripod to see if it works on a table or chair...

big_apple_ken wrote in post #9807495
Ok, that is the conclusion I came to as well after doing some research into it. I guess I'll be testing out this Gorillapod tripod to see if it works on a table or chair...

yea, someone once suggested me a monopod, but when i went to a local shop and asked, the salesman tell me the same thing what SkipD say, hence i skip it too....

good flexible stable tabletop is hard to find especially when your lens is getting heavier

oh besides, if your lens got too long MWD, then using a tabletop tripod is very challenging too......

samlee860407 wrote in post #9810873
yea, someone once suggested me a monopod, but when i went to a local shop and asked, the salesman tell me the same thing what SkipD say, hence i skip it too....

good flexible stable tabletop is hard to find especially when your lens is getting heavier

oh besides, if your lens got too long MWD, then using a tabletop tripod is very challenging too......

Hmm...I guess technically speaking I could always use the 16-35L instead at around 24-35mm so I would suffer minimal WA distortion. At least the 16-35L is a little lighter than the 24-70L.

Just from a theoretical standpoint I gather it will be extremely tough finding a table top tripod for my 5D since tables generally are on the small side here in Hong Kong. If I can rest the tripod on a chair comfortably I think that may be a more realistic approach. Need to go to the store to check out those Gorillapod options.

big_apple_ken wrote in post #9812100
Hmm...I guess technically speaking I could always use the 16-35L instead at around 24-35mm so I would suffer minimal WA distortion. At least the 16-35L is a little lighter than the 24-70L.

Just from a theoretical standpoint I gather it will be extremely tough finding a table top tripod for my 5D since tables generally are on the small side here in Hong Kong. If I can rest the tripod on a chair comfortably I think that may be a more realistic approach. Need to go to the store to check out those Gorillapod options.

Why not consider something like the Manfrotto 055ProB tripod? You can set the tripod up with its feet on the ground and use the horizontally positioned center column to get the camera over the table if you really needed to. With the variable leg angles, you could even get the normally positioned center column roughly above the edge of a table without any trouble.

A "tabletop" tripod will be rather useless, in my opinion, as most that I have tried would need a pretty wide footprint to hold anything other than a point-n-shoot camera without trying to fall over.

The "wide-angle distortion" you refer to is NOT a function of focal length, but a function of how close to the subject you put the camera. If you want to do the best possible job with the lightest weight package, I would suggest a 50mm lens on your 5D. Use a support that lets you get it further from the subject than you would be with a 35mm lens and you'll have a nicer looking image.

any update on the tripod ?

I like the photos. The only things I would suggest would be:

1) Some how use a soft-box or diffuser to soften the light. I'm not sure if you're using a flash or what. Most of the shots look great but in your original post, the hamburger had a lot of "specular highlights" which tend to make the food look greasier than it really is. A softer light source would help this. Of course food that's not so shiny (egg-rolls, bread, etc..) are much easy to shoot for this reason.

2) The DOF thing is tough. My only advice is that rumor has it Canon is coming out with a 24-70 with IS soon. (I'm currently waiting to buy one) Or maybe try a 50mm 1.4?

Maybe you could bring a full size tripod and just place the food at the edge of your table and take a few shots real quick without disturbing customers. dunno.

I'm doing a big food shoot on Tuesday so I've been "brushing up" on this topic myself.