A lesson in food photography

Fish in Chipotle Sauce, from Restaurante El Delfín.

For many years of shooting I was focused on what naturally unfolded in front of me. I did mostly nature photography for the first six or seven years, and then got more into people and photojournalism during the last three.

For several years my interests remained somewhat narrow. I was especially uninterested in product or food photography. It seemed to lack that thrill of the chase you sometimes get when doing photojournalism, shooting something like a protest or public event where there’s a lot of energy and emotion going on and lots of things happening all at once, and you have no control over people, weather or lighting conditions aside from maybe the strobe. You can get into a very special kind of mind zone doing this, and I didn’t really envision myself getting this kind of feeling while working in a studio and fiddling with lights doing product or food photography.

It turned out I was right. There is no adrenaline, no chase.

But what I didn’t know, is that I would find a different kind of crafty fascination, and have since become just a little bit obsessed.

At a portraiture and lighting class during my last semester at SF State, we had one lesson on food photography. We analyzed every little lighting detail about many photos, every shadow and highlight.

This was turning out to be more complicated than lighting a portrait. A face is a face and everyone’s eyes and nose and mouth are always in the same place, and you have a variety of lighting setups to achieve a variety of effects with somewhat predictable results. But every plate of food is different, each serving is its own little universe, and each thing on the plate needs something different. You might want a particular kind of lighting for the entree while something different is required for the side dish, and still something else to light the drinks. And you’re working in such a small space that it is difficult to light two different items differently, while keeping the lighting of one item from spilling and messing up your lighting setup for another item.

Ever since this lesson I’ve been spending more time in the supermarket than I used to. I will stand there on any given isle, looking at the packaging for different brands of the same product, to compare differences on how each one is lit and composed. And then I’ll find myself thinking really nerdy thoughts, like “how did they fail to get the highlights of glistening moisture on that can of peaches!?”

But seriously, it’s all about the highlights of glistening moisture. Slurp.

Thank you to restaurante El Delfín, near the corner of 24th and Treat in San Francisco’s Mission District, for letting me come in during the slow hours and cooking up all these wonderful dishes for me to practice (and snack!) on.

So do you prefer the Ceviche tostada as an intense close-up as above, or do you prefer to see the bigger picture, as shown below? Which lighting do you like best?

This is another, more overall version of the Fish and Chipotle image from up top. Do you prefer the intense close up from the top, or do you prefer to see the bigger picture here?

Salmon and a prawn soaked in all kinds of saucy goodness. Mmmhhh....

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