Food photography is hard. Really hard. It may just be my blogging nemesis. My blogging archenemy, so to speak.
I've debated and debated with myself about whether or not to actually write those words in a post. But I've really found comfort in reading other bloggers' posts about their challenges ... knowing others experience similar difficulties and frustrations makes one, well ... feel a bit better. So I decided to share my photography challenges with you. Just in case it makes someone else feel even just a tiny bit better. Or, to at least give you all a little laugh. My behind-the-scenes secrets are about to be revealed!
I've discovered through my blog photography adventures that the natural light in my house stinks. Not just my kitchen, but pretty much my entire house! I didn't know I had this problem until I started The Kitchen is My Playground. There is absolutely nowhere in my kitchen I can take a photo without using a flash. So, all my in-process cooking shots have flash. I know ... cardinal sin of food photography. But sometimes, we just don't have a choice. Well, at least I don't have a choice. Not if I want to share photos of preparation steps. Which I do.
So I've gotten creative and tried some different spots for staging my photos.
Many of my photos are taken outside on my back deck. The light is decent ... not great ... but decent. Depending on the time of day. This, however, does present some other challenges of it's own. Like wind. And carting my dishes and other props outside. And, even outside, light is a huge challenge! Just check out the shade vs. bright sunlight areas of my deck.
Take a photo in direct sunlight? Too bright. Harsh lighting. Shadows. Reflection spots. Like this ...
 |
| Post: The BEST Vanilla Cupcake + the BEST Coffee Buttercream |
Move to the shade? Not bright enough. Washed out. Like this ...
 |
| Post: 1st Bloggiversary! ... & Barefoot Contessa's Coconut Cupcakes to Celebrate |
Super hot summer day? Frosting droops, salads wilt, ice melts, beverage glasses sweat. Like this ...
 |
| Post: Refreshing Blueberry-Lime Iced Tea |
And what to do once cold weather comes and, oh the horror --- daylight savings time when you have a full-time job and can't make it home before dusk?? Well, then the outside photo options are completely gone.
So, I got creative inside. I scoured my house for places, any places, that had decent natural light. I found two. Are you ready for them? You're going to laugh. Or at least smile a teeny bit.
1. Our stairs in the foyer. With a make-shift table set up on a 5 gallon bucket.
 |
| Post: Slow-Cooker Pumpkin Butter - 1st grade's been cookin' again! |
Do you know how difficult it is to make sure the banister, or carpet, or foyer wall isn't in the photo? On the plus side, the stairs made it easy to get different angles and vantage points from which to take the photos!
2. Our bathtub. Yup, the garden-style bathtub in our master bath. Again, with my make-shift table set up on a 5 gallon bucket. Classy, huh?
 |
| Post: Caramel Apple Cheesecake Squares |
(Now you're wondering ... wondering which photos on my site were taken in the bathroom, aren't you? hee, hee)
On days the sun streaming through the big window over the tub wasn't enough, I resorted to augmenting the light with an old lamp.
 |
| Post: Chocolate-Almond Flourless Cake |
Probably needless to say, neither of these spots were ideal, to say the least. Pain-in-the-you-know-what to cart all my food, dishes, props, etc. upstairs to the bathroom. Frustrated husband when I blocked the stairs for staging. At the mercy of the literally one-hour-per-day that each of these spots had the natural light I needed streaming in through the nearby windows. Which pretty much relegated my photo-taking to Saturday or Sunday afternoons, which is prime spend-time-with-my-husband time. And I really don't like giving that up.
So, I decided to explore purchasing special lighting. Now, I love blogging - don't get me wrong. But it is a hobby, not a profession for me. So, I do need to keep that in perspective. The cost of special photography lighting? Quite a bit. More than I wanted to spend, anyway. But I didn't give up hope ...
I found this tutorial to build your own photography lighting. The perfect challenge for my very-handy hubby!! He didn't want to follow the tutorial, but rather wanted to come up with his own design based on the tutorial concept.
So, after several trips to the home improvement store, my DIY-photo lights were born! Made out of ductwork pieces!!! They look like something out of Star Trek, but, hey, they work... Kudos to my hubby!!
We haven't built bases for the lights yet. So ... the 'base' that light is sitting in is ... a fondue pot! Hey, whatever works.
Now I'm able to do my photo shoots in the dining room, right next to the kitchen. No more lugging my stuff to the nether-regions of my house. Here's a typical set up with my new lights. Still looks crazy, but it gives me much more flexibility with when I can take photos.
 |
| Post: Baby Shower White Chocolate Popcorn |
I can shoot *pretty much* any time I want. I'm still dependent on having at least a little bit of daylight coming in through the dining room window. I think I would need about three more of these light contraptions to be truly independent from natural lighting. So, at times, it looks about like a house of cards with white poster boards bouncing the light, or creating a sort of make-shift lightbox.
Even with this 'studio' dining room set-up, I'm still cramped in terms of space. My HUGE, most-frustrating challenge!! Since my light is limited in it's reach, I'm really limited in the span of the shots I can take. Which is why most of my photos are close-ups. I don't have the opportunity to take shots with wide spans, gorgeous back-drops and backgrounds, or fully-set tables and place settings.
Oh well.
I'll keep working on my photography. While I am showing improvement (I think), I still have a long way to go. Hopefully ... maybe someday ... I can prove a worthy adversary for this thing called food photography.
Header Photo Collage Posts:
Gingerbread Cookies (taken on the stairs)
Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies (taken in the bath tub)
Pizza Spaghetti Bake (taken in the dining room 'studio' with my hubby's DIY lighting)
Granola {Oven & Microwave Methods} (taken outside on the back deck)
Food photography is hard. Really hard. It may just be my blogging nemesis. My blogging archenemy, so to speak.
I've debated and debated with myself about whether or not to actually write those words in a post. But I've really found comfort in reading other bloggers' posts about their challenges ... knowing others experience similar difficulties and frustrations makes one, well ... feel a bit better. So I decided to share my photography challenges with you. Just in case it makes someone else feel even just a tiny bit better. Or, to at least give you all a little laugh. My behind-the-scenes secrets are about to be revealed!
I've discovered through my blog photography adventures that the natural light in my house stinks. Not just my kitchen, but pretty much my entire house! I didn't know I had this problem until I started The Kitchen is My Playground. There is absolutely nowhere in my kitchen I can take a photo without using a flash. So, all my in-process cooking shots have flash. I know ... cardinal sin of food photography. But sometimes, we just don't have a choice. Well, at least I don't have a choice. Not if I want to share photos of preparation steps. Which I do.
So I've gotten creative and tried some different spots for staging my photos.
Many of my photos are taken outside on my back deck. The light is decent ... not great ... but decent. Depending on the time of day. This, however, does present some other challenges of it's own. Like wind. And carting my dishes and other props outside. And, even outside, light is a huge challenge! Just check out the shade vs. bright sunlight areas of my deck.
Take a photo in direct sunlight? Too bright. Harsh lighting. Shadows. Reflection spots. Like this ...
|
| Post: The BEST Vanilla Cupcake + the BEST Coffee Buttercream |
Move to the shade? Not bright enough. Washed out. Like this ...
|
| Post: 1st Bloggiversary! ... & Barefoot Contessa's Coconut Cupcakes to Celebrate |
Super hot summer day? Frosting droops, salads wilt, ice melts, beverage glasses sweat. Like this ...
|
| Post: Refreshing Blueberry-Lime Iced Tea |
And what to do once cold weather comes and, oh the horror --- daylight savings time when you have a full-time job and can't make it home before dusk?? Well, then the outside photo options are completely gone.
So, I got creative inside. I scoured my house for places, any places, that had decent natural light. I found two. Are you ready for them? You're going to laugh. Or at least smile a teeny bit.
1. Our stairs in the foyer. With a make-shift table set up on a 5 gallon bucket.
|
| Post: Slow-Cooker Pumpkin Butter - 1st grade's been cookin' again! |
Do you know how difficult it is to make sure the banister, or carpet, or foyer wall isn't in the photo? On the plus side, the stairs made it easy to get different angles and vantage points from which to take the photos!
2. Our bathtub. Yup, the garden-style bathtub in our master bath. Again, with my make-shift table set up on a 5 gallon bucket. Classy, huh?
|
| Post: Caramel Apple Cheesecake Squares |
(Now you're wondering ... wondering which photos on my site were taken in the bathroom, aren't you? hee, hee)
On days the sun streaming through the big window over the tub wasn't enough, I resorted to augmenting the light with an old lamp.
|
| Post: Chocolate-Almond Flourless Cake |
Probably needless to say, neither of these spots were ideal, to say the least. Pain-in-the-you-know-what to cart all my food, dishes, props, etc. upstairs to the bathroom. Frustrated husband when I blocked the stairs for staging. At the mercy of the literally one-hour-per-day that each of these spots had the natural light I needed streaming in through the nearby windows. Which pretty much relegated my photo-taking to Saturday or Sunday afternoons, which is prime spend-time-with-my-husband time. And I really don't like giving that up.
So, I decided to explore purchasing special lighting. Now, I love blogging - don't get me wrong. But it is a hobby, not a profession for me. So, I do need to keep that in perspective. The cost of special photography lighting? Quite a bit. More than I wanted to spend, anyway. But I didn't give up hope ...
I found this tutorial to build your own photography lighting. The perfect challenge for my very-handy hubby!! He didn't want to follow the tutorial, but rather wanted to come up with his own design based on the tutorial concept.
So, after several trips to the home improvement store, my DIY-photo lights were born! Made out of ductwork pieces!!! They look like something out of Star Trek, but, hey, they work... Kudos to my hubby!!
We haven't built bases for the lights yet. So ... the 'base' that light is sitting in is ... a fondue pot! Hey, whatever works.
Now I'm able to do my photo shoots in the dining room, right next to the kitchen. No more lugging my stuff to the nether-regions of my house. Here's a typical set up with my new lights. Still looks crazy, but it gives me much more flexibility with when I can take photos.
|
| Post: Baby Shower White Chocolate Popcorn |
I can shoot *pretty much* any time I want. I'm still dependent on having at least a little bit of daylight coming in through the dining room window. I think I would need about three more of these light contraptions to be truly independent from natural lighting. So, at times, it looks about like a house of cards with white poster boards bouncing the light, or creating a sort of make-shift lightbox.
Even with this 'studio' dining room set-up, I'm still cramped in terms of space. My HUGE, most-frustrating challenge!! Since my light is limited in it's reach, I'm really limited in the span of the shots I can take. Which is why most of my photos are close-ups. I don't have the opportunity to take shots with wide spans, gorgeous back-drops and backgrounds, or fully-set tables and place settings.
Oh well.
I'll keep working on my photography. While I am showing improvement (I think), I still have a long way to go. Hopefully ... maybe someday ... I can prove a worthy adversary for this thing called food photography.
Header Photo Collage Posts:
Gingerbread Cookies (taken on the stairs)
Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies (taken in the bath tub)
Pizza Spaghetti Bake (taken in the dining room 'studio' with my hubby's DIY lighting)
Granola {Oven & Microwave Methods} (taken outside on the back deck)
No comments:
Post a Comment