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This last post for our Sears Grilling Photography Class at SFU is supposed to repost our ten favorite shots from the course. It’s hard for me, because I can see that I have actually learned a LOT from the lighting, perspective and angles lessons we have covered. On the other hand, I still see so [...]
This last post for our Sears Grilling Photography Class at SFU is supposed to repost our ten favorite shots from the course. It’s hard for me, because I can see that I have actually learned a LOT from the lighting, perspective and angles lessons we have covered. On the other hand, I still see so much room for improvement. It’s been an incredibly rewarding experience to have this opportunity and gain some new tools and information that can help to improve my blog, long into the future.
I wanted to include this picture from the very first lesson. I was astounded at the difference it made when I learned how to use the levels and unsharp mask tools at pixlr.com. It was very encouraging to see that I could make progress, even from the very first lesson.
Our second lesson focused on path to purchase photo shoots and the way that we can take shots that are beneficial to our clients, in helping them discover how and why we shop, what inspires us to make a purchase and what we’re looking at, in the process. It’s helpful to have shots of signage and shelves where product is displayed. It’s also a good idea to get up close and personal, taking some good detail shots and showing features or products that really caught your eye. Also, showing how and where a product is displayed in the store let’s brands understand how retailers are marketing their products.
Lesson three focused on shooting a product in a natural setting, using natural light to our advantage and learning how to keep harsh shadows and highlights from overpowering the products details. I learned some fantastic things about perspective, lighting and angles.
This was the grill I brought home from Sears for our SFU Sears Grilling class. It's a Kenmore, 4-burner with an additional side burner and I LOVE it! The side shelves for storage were a key feature for me. This is after assembly and making it at home on the deck. 
Parts of this photo were darker than I liked, but I manged to edit it with pixlr.com and really did enjoy the "staging" on this one.
Aaaahhhh...the knobs. We won't go there. We've just accepted I have a problem. lol There is something about the isolation of the knobs, the angle and the focus sharpening and then diminishing as you move away, that I like about this shot. It's weird. I accept that.
This was from Lesson 4 and shooting REAL food! Same deal here. I like the angle, the tightening and then diminishing focus. Plus, those chops look so juicy, I sort of want one, now. Yum!
This beans shot is also from Lesson 4. I liked the tilted angle that invites you right into the pot. Plus, the contrast of colors by leaving the ingredients separate in the pan, made a much cooler shot, than after they were stirred up. Plus, now you can see everything that's in them!
This shot from above is also Lesson 4. I haven't used this angle very often, but almost always like the results when I do, so I need to remember to use it occasionally. It starts above the front of the subject and then, the camera is tilted up until the entire subject is in the frame. See how it sort of draws your eye up from the bottom of the picture to the top? It's called From Above with Perspective.
That was some juicy, delicious chicken!!! Getting tools in the shot makes the picture more interactive. Close-ups also give great detail and draw a viewer in.
Grilled peaches! Delish!
Lesson 5 was all about plating, food styling and making the viewer hungry! I loved this shot with our grilled chicken dinner and baked potatoes.
A year ago, if you had told me I would be taking pictures of piles of raw meat, I probably wouldn't have believed you. Lesson 6 really helped us fine-tune plating, lighting and angles in photographing party situations, from prep to finish. I actually really liked the lighting and detail on this plate of raw ribeyes. I ended up having two "parties" and staging pictures.
I never did get the focus quite right on this picture, but I still liked the color and symmetry of it.
I love how you can literally SEE how juicy and delicious these burgers were. I also like the contrast of colors and the being up close and personal with that yummy grilled sweet corn.
I know now, that I should have melted some cheese on that burger and dripped a little of the sauce or ketchup down the side to make it really inviting. There are so many things I've learned that I would do differently, but I DO like the diffused window lighting on this shot and how the white background really makes the food POP.
I've eaten more s'mores since taking this picture, than I have the entire rest of my life! I think I'm "going through a phase". I liked the lighting. I liked that you could see the melty, gooeyness of it. And let's be honest -- I liked the chocolate!
I’m so excited to have been able to take this class and so grateful to Sears and Social Fabric for all they have provided to make it happen. Most of all, I’m grateful to Stewart, our brave instructor. It’s not every guy who can organize and instruct a group of 20 women, who all have ideas, questions, different equipment and different goals. He’s been awesome!
So, next time I’m going to sign up for an SFU Math class, since there are clearly fourteen pictures on this page, rather than ten. I don’t know which one to leave out and which to keep in. I decided to leave them all, because I don’t feel that any of them were stellar, but they are a composite of ideas that I want to continue practicing to perfect in my future photographs. They also show a sort of progression and help me to see where I was and where I’ve come to. It will be fun to look back and compare again, a year from now!
I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Sears #CBias #GrillingIsHappiness. All photos and opinions are my own.
I spent most of Week 5 of my photography class in New York, meaning I had very little opportunity to grill and snap pictures, but I do have a few to share. And, after reading the lesson, I had many opportunities on my trip to contemplate the material we had covered about plating food and [...]
I spent most of Week 5 of my photography class in New York, meaning I had very little opportunity to grill and snap pictures, but I do have a few to share. And, after reading the lesson, I had many opportunities on my trip to contemplate the material we had covered about plating food and staging food photos, so that they would jump off the page and make you wish you could take a bite. I became acutely aware of the way food was presented to me, any time I ate out, thinking about the design-sense that went into plating it, so I was enjoying the food before I had even taken my first bite. In food photography, the “first look” is the only one we get, to draw a reader in and make them want to try a recipe or find out more about the food they are looking at; and presenting food in a photograph is NOT like setting it in front of a dinner guest at the table. It takes some specialized understanding of light, background, balance and symmetry, color and line — the artistic elements that draw someones eyes to anything beautifully portrayed. I have a pretty good handle on designing a plate to be appealing, appetizing and beautiful when I serve it to a guest. Translating that to a photograph is a skill I will have to continue to fine tune, even though I did pick up some great tips, this week.
Grilled chicken and baked potato with kale and tomatoes.
Just ONE little bite.
First of all, I will say up-front that photographing food that your family is waiting to eat, is difficult for a lot of different reasons, not the least of which, is that they’re HUNGRY. :) Most of us can’t afford to prepare separate food for no other purpose than to photograph it. We still need it to be edible when the pictures are done, so some of my favorite food photography tips for this week were the ones that showed me how to enhance the foods appearance without making it unpalatable at the table, later. For instance, it’s much easier to photograph cool or room temperature food. It can be made to look hot, by simply adding moisture and shine. Brushing with a little olive oil or misting it lightly with water can do the trick.
A little different angle.
It’s also really important to be very detailed and meticulous as you are prepping your food for a photo. Wilted, dried or shriveled anything should be discarded and the plate and area surrounding the food should be wiped clean of smears, drips or smudges. Think about the colors of your food as you prepare a meal and how they will compliment or contrast one another on the plate. It’s also fun to experiment with different backgrounds and props in your photos. Keep a “less is more” attitude about them, so they don’t shift the focus off your food, but it is definitely possible to add textures, colors and interest to your photograph with some carefully selected props, like silverware, glassware, candles and centerpieces, placemats, napkins, or wooden cutting boards. Fruits, vegetables and glassware can be misted to make them look dewy and fresh — appetizing. Shiny food looks more appetizing than that which appears dull and lifeless. Finding ways to add shine to the food in your photos will make them even more gorgeous.
I grilled both the cod, and the corn tortillas, for these delish Grilled Fish Tacos. The secret ingredient is my Spicy Cilantro Lime Sour Cream. I'll be sharing that recipe soon!
It was my first time grilling fish AND having fish in a taco. The cod was fabulous!
Lighting is probably the most critical factor in achieving great food photos. It doesn’t require expensive lighting and camera equipment, just some basic knowledge of how light affects your subject and, in the end, your picture. Photographing food near a window with natural light will result in more pleasing photographs than using a camera’s flash. The flash often washes out many of the details that will give your readers a sense of really wanting to smell and taste your food. But even natural light, if it is too direct, can be harsh and create unappetizing shadows and “glow” spots on your food. Softening the light, by diffusing it through a window or using a mirror or bounce board to reflect it back onto the food you are photographing will help you to define details without creating hard, sharp and unnatural shadows. The food will appear much more natural and inviting.
I am enjoying this class so much and am so grateful to Sears Grilling and Social Fabric for allowing me to participate. I’ve actually learned to grill, a skill previously mastered only by my husband. But, more than that, I am learning to take better photos of the food I prepare for the blog and there aren’t words to express how excited that makes me! I have so much to learn and practice, but I’m excited at the potential, now that I have solid resources and explanations of how to create the kind of pictures that will make you hungry. I’m definitely getting better and excited for a time when it will be second-nature to me to be able to take great food photos. In the meantime, I so appreciate all of you for patiently hanging in there with me and watching and encouraging, as I take these next photography “baby-steps”, toward a better looking blog. You rock!
If you’ve been following me through this entire photography class process and keeping track of all the tips, so you can practice them at home, my first four posts are at:
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I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Sears #CBias #GrillingIsHappiness. All photos and opinions are my own.
Do you know how hot 6000 bajillion millionty thousand degrees is?!!! It’s HOT, baby! Good thing my new Sears Kenmore grill can ONLY hit 800 degrees! Of course, I very rarely need to reach that temperature; but even if you’ve never hovered precariously at the top of a step-ladder, teetering on the precipice of almost [...]
Do you know how hot 6000 bajillion millionty thousand degrees is?!!! It’s HOT, baby! Good thing my new Sears Kenmore grill can ONLY hit 800 degrees! Of course, I very rarely need to reach that temperature; but even if you’ve never hovered precariously at the top of a step-ladder, teetering on the precipice of almost certain combustion, while trying to achieve the “perfect shot”, you will still appreciate that 400 or 500 degrees CAN most certainly melt your face off. – lol– My loving family has enjoyed reminding me of such things, all week, as I have continued my quest to take better food pictures, and pictures in general, really, for the blog and for life. It’s a skill I have always wanted to acquire, and now, with the opportunity for these great classes from SFU and Sears, I am on an earnest quest to achieve my Better than Reasonably Acceptable Photography badge. :) And thus, the need for a step ladder — and a melted face.
- Would you eat this? Do you want a bite, right now? Me, too! That’s what I want ALL my pictures to do. These butterflied pork chops cooked in only minutes and were DELECTABLE! Moist, juicy and dripping with flavor. I’m starting to catch on to this grilling-thing. Hubs may have to give up his crown! P.S. This picture is another good example of a shallow depth of field, which I’ll explain, just below.
I’m excited that so many of the confusing aspects of photography and properly using the manual settings on my camera, are slowly becoming more clear. I still have a long way to go, but I am enjoying the journey and I really DO think my pictures are improving. This week we dug a little deeper into aperture, ISO and depth of field (DOF or f/stop). DOF was a simple term for me to understand, since it simply defines how much of the picture will stay sharp and have crystal clear detail, and how much will blur and fade into the background. The difficult part of that is deciding exactly how you want that to look in your photo and then setting your camera to achieve it. The most confusing part is remembering that the bigger the number, the smaller or shallower, the depth of field and the smaller the number, the larger or deeper the depth of field. (So a big number means a small DOF, while a small number means a large DOF. Way to be confusing, right?) The larger the number (f/28), the smaller the aperture (opening for light) in your camera, and the smaller, or more shallow, the field of focus will be. Meaning, the main subject that your camera focuses on will be crystal clear and focused, while everything around it will blur softly into the background. With a small number (f/1.4), your depth of field gets larger, so a larger portion of your photo will be detailed and in focus. And of course you can set your camera at many different stops, between those two ranges.
- This picture is another example of shallow depth of field. (Big number – small area of focus.) It’s more subtle than the picture above, but the smoker box and the right half of the second chop were the targeted subjects and because of the shallow DOF, they are sharper and more clear while everything surrounding them, blurs more and more as they stretch away from that focal point, in any direction.
- This picture of cod ready to be grilled for fish tacos is an example of using a smaller aperture, to achieve a larger, or deeper, depth of field. Nearly, every detail of this photo is in focus.
Another determining factor in depth of field is focal length (the amount of zoom). The more zoomed in you are, the more shallow your depth of field will be. The top picture of the cooked pork chops, is a good example of this.
ISO is a number, ranging from 100 up to 1600, on some cameras. It refers to how sensitive your camera’s sensor will be to light. The higher the number, the more sensitive the light sensor will be and the faster your camera’s shutter will close. So, in low light situations, you would want to use a higher ISO setting to get the sharpest image; while a sunny day would allow the use of smaller ISO settings. Higher ISO speeds are also used to capture motion without blurring. That’s a good thing to remember when shooting pictures at your kids’ soccer game, but for food photography, hopefully nothing will be sprinting across the plate, so it’s a good idea not to use a higher ISO than is necessary. If you leave it too high, it can result in grainy, “noisier” pictures.
I have to tell you the truth. I still don’t get white balance. I’m working on it and am determined to understand, but thus far, it is still a mystery. Basically, it has to do with the way lighting affects the “true colors” of what your photographing. Setting your camera to it’s perfect white balance for a particular situation, will allow you to achieve true color in your shot. My camera, and actually most digital cameras, have presets for different situations, like: Cloudy, sunny, auto, tungsten, fluorescent, shady, and flash. At this point, I am still selecting one of those presets, rather than customizing my own white balance. I hope to get better at being able to do that, because even the presets can’t always give me the truest color in the pictures I take.
- Imagine this Rule of Thirds grid over your photo. Some cameras have this grid built right into the viewfinder.
Understanding the Rule of Thirds and how someone’s eye is naturally drawn into one of your photos, is an important element of composing a good photograph. If you can imagine your picture broken into thirds, both vertically and horizontally, it will create a 9-square grid over the shot. Placing the subject of your picture so that it is within the four intersecting points of your grid, will help to assure a well-balanced picture. Of course, as with any creative pursuit, there can be no hard and fast rule, since other placement may create incredible visual interest. But, the Rule of Thirds is a good beginning reference point, since it is known that the human eye will naturally be drawn to the intersection points of interest, rather than the center of a picture. This skill of composing a well-balanced shot is another I continue to practice.
The importance of perspective and the many different angles we can use to achieve it, was the final concept we explored in class, this week. I tried to test out quite a few of them. It’s crazy how something as simple as tilting the camera one way or the other or getting down low or up high can make such a huge difference in your picture.
The Straight-On angle is pretty much cut and dried. You’re in front of the subject, center it completely and create a nice clean contemporary photo. I didn’t realize it until I did the pictures for this lesson that I don’t take many straight-on pictures. Weird!
The From Above angle was a pretty rare shot, for me, but I had a lot of fun with it this week. Pretty much, just what you would expect — directly above the subject and completely centered.
- Up on my ladder, leaning in over the grill, I was able to make this shot and melt a little lip gloss right off my face!
The Tilt Towards angle tips your camera slightly to the right, which ends up tilting the subject of the picture to the left in the finished photo. This angle is inviting the spectator in and pulls their eye into the subject of your picture.
- See, you are climbing right over the edge and into that pan of “Grillin’ Beans”. This was a cool technique!
The Above with Perspective angle was another one, I didn’t do as much with. It’s funny how you don’t notice that you favor one style of photography over another, until you start compiling a post like this. This angle starts out above, but in front of your subject and then you tilt the camera forward until the subject fills the frame. This draws the reader’s eye from the front to the back of the photo (or bottom to top, however you want to look at it.).
- I tried to use this technique to draw your eye from the front to the back of the grill in this photo. It would have been more successful from a straight on position.
The Diagonal angle is one that intrigues me and I love to play around with the field of focus on these pictures. The pork chop picture at the top of the page is a great example of this angle.
The Gentle Tilt angle allows the eye to travel freely through the image, stopping only at the focal point. Tilting the camera very slightly avoids having a straight horizontal line that divides the photo into sections and forces the readers eye to start, stop, start, stop, over each section.
- Taking this picture straight on, would have created a horizontal line of chicken breasts, that sliced this picture in half, causing the eye to stop and start in each section. Tilting the camera slightly, allows the eye to travel over the entire picture and gives you the opportunity to see not just the chicken, but the cool shot of the smoker box, puffing away.
Here are a few more of the pictures I liked, this week.
- The classic grilling food! We love hamburgers at our house!
- I got a lot out of this pork chops and zucchini photo shoot.
- This grilled cod was easier to prepare in the basket, and the fillets didn’t break apart. They made delicious fish tacos!
- I’m loving our new grill from Sears! This was some of the most delicious grilled chicken I have ever eaten! The family raved!
I never did get a very good shot of these peaches on the grill, but I liked this one and they sure were delicious!
I grilled these hotdogs and added them to our "grilled beans", above. Yum!
This has been a fun week, but I’m looking forward to next week, even more. I’m going to get to show you food on REAL plates — actually put together, like you might want to eat it! Yay!
If you’ve been following me through this process and keeping track of all the tips, so you can practice them at home, my first three posts are at:
And if you have, I’d love to hear how things are going and see some of your photos! Shoot me an email or pm me on Facebook. It’s fun to see how other people are using all the new info and we can learn from each other. :)
I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Sears #CBias #GrillingIsHappiness. All photos and opinions are my own.
