Low Light Food Photography with Lara Ferroni

 

A couple of weeks ago I did another photography workshop with Lara Ferroni, this time talking about food photography in low lighting conditions.

I take all my photographs in natural light, as I don’t even possess a flashgun for my camera, but after getting the opportunity to play with Lara’s flash rig and huge studio lights I was busily working out how I could afford to buy all sorts of gear to counteract the Seattle gloom. (The answer, in case you’re wondering, is that I can’t. Not for the moment anyway.)

But it was all super interesting and gave us another opportunity to style and photograph the dishes that Lara had prepared, including the most delicious radish risotto, the recipe for which will be coming up in the next week or two.

 

Here are some of my favourite shots from the session.

 

 

Not surprisingly we spend a lot of time discussing light and shadows in Lara’s workshops. These tomato and lemon photos used the same continuous studio lights, but for the ones on the right I used a ‘bounce’ of white polystyrene to soften the shadows.  I actually like these pictures equally but it’s interesting to see how something so simple can totally change the ‘mood’.

 

  

 

Yep, I know it’s completely out of focus, but for some reason I really like this shot.

 

 

This radish risotto was SO good.

 

 

 

There are more photos here on my Flickr. As part of my increased commitment to photography I’m going to try and post more stuff up there. Do feel free to make me a ‘contact’ on there – I’d love to see your photos.

I also can’t recommend Lara’s workshops highly enough if you have any interest in still-life photography (not just food). I can’t wait to apply some of my new techniques to mirrormirror product shots.

I’m also going to take the time to practise food styling at home. Henceforth on the blog there will be a weekly recipe, which I’ll take the time to style and shoot as best I can. Coming up on Wednesday, chocolate madeleines!

Comments

[blanket]

Really nice photography! Love the look of that radish risotto!

[Healthy Foods Blog]

I agree with blanket. The images look more lively and delightful. Nice work!

[Generic Viagra]

It looks the difference. i think that it is quite hard to work with it. Specially if you work with photographs or painting.

[Bruno Hill]

The first picture of the radish risotto is my favorite! It's like I can taste the dish just by looking at it. That's the whole point of food photography, right? Well, I gotta say, I think you have great vision. I commend you for maintaining that despite the gloomy weather there in Seattle. Light is one of the top elements in photography, so if you don't have enough of it, that's where your resourcefulness comes in. And I believe you have enough of it.

[pharmacy]

It's interesting to see how flash can't show the same effect as natural light, I have a channel in youtube and make videos all the time but they are made it in my room and take some pictures algo, I use a very white light but it's not enough, because it's hard to get the natural effect of the light.