What kind of preparation process do you usually need?
It depends on my shooting purpose: special topics (magazines and cookbooks) or advertisements.
If I am shooting for a special topic, I will ask the chef for food first, and I will also check the tableware that may be used for shooting. Then the chef went to cook and set the table, and I started filming while the food was still hot.
If it is advertising, it is basically the same, but there will be some differences. I will also know about the food and show the shooting content, but you have to do some shooting first to make customers confirm that this is what they want. Then we can really start shooting.
Do you usually shoot with natural light or artificial light?
I almost always use natural light when shooting for magazines and cookbooks. The purpose is to make the photos look like real scenes. When advertising, the food must look the same all day, and natural light obviously can't do this, so I use a flash.
Are there any skills to make better use of natural light?
People all know how to use the light outside the window. But you can actually use a reflector to increase the auxiliary light. By reducing the light transmission area of the window, the shape and size of the light can be controlled. You can also use cardboard to block part of the light to shape the light.
When you use natural light, what time of day do you shoot?
I like shooting in the afterglow of dawn or evening. I prefer dawn, because the light is very clean then. But for me, the direction of the window is actually more important than time. The best direction is north. For the northern hemisphere, the light is best at 2-3 pm.
How many lights do you usually need when shooting with a flash?
There will always be only one. Natural light is the best light source in the world, and there is only one sun.
How do you make the flash look like natural light?
When shooting indoors, the flash should not be pointed at the food, but at the wall where the window is located. You can get very soft light by doing this.
You can also take off the soft mask and flash naked lights at the walls or corners of the room. Let the light reflections mix together to create an effect similar to natural light.
How do you determine the best shooting angle? How to judge whether the angle is too high or too low?
Generally speaking, try to imitate the angle at which you actually see food when you eat. Let the audience feel that they are sitting at the table and ready to enjoy the food in front of them. This is the most comfortable angle for the audience.
But now many people tend to shoot from above their heads. You need to discuss with the artistic director or designer what they really want.
Can you talk about how to choose depth of field and focus?
Magazine photos tend to simulate what the eyes really see, so there are many choices for the focus. A few years ago, people liked to shoot with the maximum aperture, such as f/ 1.8. But no one will do that now.
For advertising photos, there is a kind called? Visual priority? Something. When shooting business tasks, we must first highlight the products. When lighting, consider what needs to be emphasized. These places must be the clearest.
What is your usual aperture?
Magazine photos often use f/8 to f/ 16, and advertising photos use f/ 16 and f/22.
How do you decide the background of the photo?
When taking magazine photos, you usually choose to look or feel like you are in a restaurant, or to keep up with the feeling of the article. If an article is about spring, it needs bright and vivid colors. If it is autumn, you need to feel rich. All in all, it is to meet the needs of taking pictures.
What foods can beginners start with?
Food that can last for a long time. Bread butter, or bread jam, coffee or tea, potatoes, dough and the like will be simpler, but sometimes sauce will be a little troublesome. Cookies or desserts are also good. Obviously avoid eating ice cream or salad. Salad will soon become ugly. Pastoral fruits and vegetables are also good? Beans, tomatoes and apples? They don't need to be prepared, they can be filmed as long as they are washed.
What mistakes do ordinary novices often make?
You can try too difficult food at first. When you shoot an advertisement, there will be a chef or food designer on the spot to help you prepare it. If you want to learn to shoot delicious food, you have to learn to be a chef and designer, which takes time.
Beginners are advised to start with natural light before touching the flash. Flash is easy to make photos look? Mechanical? . It is a mistake to put the flash on the camera. In any case, you should use the flash to get off the plane. This is probably the easiest mistake to make.
There are many food photography blogs and websites on the Internet. You can look more and find your favorite style and inspiration.
Shooting food has become popular among ordinary people. Do you have any suggestions for users who use mobile phones to shoot?
The effect of mobile phone is already very good. I always ask myself a question when shooting. Will this photo make people more appetizing? Food photography can be complicated or simple, one way or another, but the fundamental problem is to make the audience have an appetite. That's all that matters.