I’ve worked on some pretty interesting assignments these last few months, but I never thought I’d be shooting food. Then again, I never thought anyone would ask. A few months back, a lovely little Mexican restaurant named Piñata opened up in town, and the sweet couple that own the place contacted me to photograph their establishment and food for their Web site. I’m a big fan of their veggie enchilada, so I couldn’t say no.
After a ton of research and experimentation, I decided to mix up the lighting for the shoot. I used the available sunlight pouring through a massive front window to light the left side of the dish, and then fired a diffused 430EX towards the ceiling to light the left side of the dish. Finally, I turned my 580EX completely 180 degrees on my camera and had it firing into a mirror. That took care of much of the fill light.
The biggest challenge besides the lighting was the style of the shots. I relied on their kitchen crew to pretty up the dishes and worked with the owner to find the best possible angle for the food. After messing around with traditional poses with my camera on the tripod, I broke down and detached it from the ball head and began firing wide angle shots right in front of the food. It really helped bring out the texture and made the meal pop.
The shot above is one of my favorites of the evening. This is a pre-photoshop photo. In the end, I manipulated the picture slightly by removing the shadows off the table cloth in the background. I would have included it, but it would have left out the meta info. Now I’m excited to shoot more food. Maybe some dessert.
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