Tough Work at the Food Photo Shoot

I was served a big helping of experience yesterday at my first food photo shoot. I was able to work with Jennifer Jaax, local Atlanta recipe designer. She played the role of chef and food stylist, I played the role of photographer. In the end, it was a lot of work, but work that was well worth it. We worked in a TFP/TFCD (time-for-prints/time-for-CD) fashion, trading our services and forming a team with a common goal of building our respective portfolios.

Where there any lessons learned? Why yes, yes there were.

1) The not-so-mobile studio. We worked at Jennifer's house where the food was being made, which was not the house where my studio was at. Ideally, there would be common studio with space and a full kitchen, but that is the ideal, the dream. One day maybe this will happen. Having two locations translated into the double duty of packing and unpacking a number of lights, light modifiers, and camera equipment between the two locations. The moving and packing resulted in unexpected time of about an hour+ overall. (The lifting and lugging also pointed out my need to lose some weight and work out more.)

2) Natural light and studio lighting mixed well. Though we were a bit tight on space, the ability to shoot next to a window gave me the sidelighting I needed. I was able to supplement most of the shots with an overhead softbox and reflectors.

3a) Backgrounds and the 'set.' Jennifer did a fantastic job at bringing food and props to the table. I brought a simple white backdrop, and this combo worked well when close to the food. I guess the pros bring a third person to the table -- a set designer -- who would be responsible for possibly building out a set / background in the case of wanting to go wider with a shot. We did great with what we had, but I'm curious as to how pros really approach the wider-angle shots.

3b) Environmental shots. We did a couple of shots on the stove and on the floor giving us more of an 'environmental' look. These shots turned out really well, gave a feeling of location and felt more natural. Need to consider these types of shots more in the future...

4) I am a notorious under-estimator of time, and the food shoot was no different. I had guessed that since we were shooting 4 dishes, this would only be about 2 hours of shooting time. Not including initial setup time, we spent almost 4 hours on the shots -- we needed to account for all the variations in shots (angles, focal lengths, etc) and moving/readjusting lights. The first dish took the longest, but I think once this was done, Jennifer and I developed a rhythm for the next dishes. Also, a 'location and shot list' would help minimize the amount of equipment movement in the future.

5) Teamwork. I can see why pro food shoots cost so much. Lots of timing and rhythm and people need to be involved to pull off a photo shoot. A whole lot of things need to "go right" all at once. One of the biggest bits of experience on the shoot was not the technical experience, but the experience of working with others in a shoot to meet a common goal. I cannot understate how big of a lesson this is to be learned.

6) Shooting tethered was a godsend. I brought a laptop, connected it to the camera, and we were able to make an impromptu art director workstation to view shots on the screen as they were made. I am so afraid of what the photos would have looked like if we had not done this. I don't know how the film guys did it (and still do it).

All in all, I'm really happy with the education, experience and results. Thanks Jennifer for all of the hard work! Looking forward to working with you again!

First Photo: Cranberry Fool. Jennifer Jaax, Food Stylist. Brad Wiederholt, Photographer.
Second Photo: California BLT Salad. Jennifer Jaax, Food Stylist. Brad Wiederholt, Photographer.