Especially good food.
And actually its not so much the food, as the challenge and fun of lighting it on location.
When it comes down to it, whatever subjects we as photographers shoot ultimately becomes an object to light: be it a turkey sandwich or Miss Turkey.
For our upcoming Riverside Magazine issue, the topic was Alan Borgan’s
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| Chile Rellenos @ Ancho's |
Top Ten Restaurants in Riverside. We first went to Ancho's Southwest Bar & Grill where I encountered the wonderful Mexican BBQ smell that is Ancho's. I knew going in that one of my images would be the lucky winner of an oversize photo possibly one a full-page.
Hence, I grabbed my SB-800 kit and adjusted my camera to shoot TIFFs.
For the Chile Rellenos I did a simple set up: One strobe bouncing into a black-lined umbrella, one strobe set at a throw of 70 mm for an edge light and one decorative pancho to cover the table. Next was the Costillas Ribs. I had shot at Anchos before, and I knew I wanted to shoot on the grill. For this setup I used a tripod, shot at 1/25 of a second, and used two strobes--one covered with a red-gel to amp up the “heat” factor of the photo. The flames were provided by the chef dabbling some oil into the fire. Oil plus fire plus slow shutter speed equals a dramatic and succulent looking image. (see at top)
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| The Jalapeno Shrimp Burrito at Dona Timo's on University Ave. |
I used my 60 mm AF macro lens for the Jalapeno Shrimp Burrito as served at Dona Timo's Mexican Seafood Restaurant in downtown Riverside. This was a pretty basic item of food that had flat fluorescent light and none of the dramatic fire options at the previous restaurant. Once again, I bounced a strobe into the black-lined umbrella for just a general lighting technique. Since there are not many ways to sex up a burrito with lighting, I used my 60 mm macro lens with a creative crop to make my point.
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| Falafel upclose with a 60mm Macro |
And so it was with the Falafel and Chicken Kebabs at the Green Olive Grill in La Sierra. Both of these I shot with my strobes locked into Nikon AS-21 stands. I just set them on the table and gave them a slight bounce position.
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| Chicken Kebabs from Green Olive Grill |
My final two shots came out of Vino Veritas Wine Bar in Riverside and display tripod photography. Having shot 80% of my Festival of Lights images with a tripod, I realized that using one is the best way to secure creative lighting from low-light situations. This was perfect as the lighting in this place was kind of like a lounge. Using my tripod, I stopped down to 1/3 of a second for both the food and the customer shot.
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| Bake's Swordfish at Vino's served with 3-strobe Setup: A bounce above into a white plate, a bounce into a gold reflector at 11 o'clock, and a rim light 10 feet away from the right. |
I think for me, I enjoy solving the puzzle of how best to light a subject. There are certain advantages to shooting food. One is that your subject is usually a small item, which allows you a bigger playing field. As opposed to having to gel an entire wall to get a color change behind a model, you only have a table top to light. The other advantage is that the owners of the establishment see the free advertising element of your shoot and are quite accommodating to you as a photographer.
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| These lovelies were the perfect cornerstone to my ambiance picture at Vino's, shot on a tripod at 1/3 second at f5.0. One SB900 with a plastic diffuser attached. |
The last advantage of course is that many owners send you home with some food. So if you shoot the food while its hot--and if your fast enough, the food is still warm when you get home. Thank God for perks!!
