I love New Orleans! Ever since my first visit, I’ve been in love with everything about it. The people, the food, the music. We try to get there every. Our trip this year was cut short as the town closed down around us because of Covid-19. We decided to make some beignets last weekend. We had a little bit of chicory coffee and through some eggs on too. I decided to run them in to the studio first to make a photo of them before they were devoured. They barely lasted long enough to shoot ‘em.
food photographer nj
Pez
Pez. Sometimes you have to dispense with the dispenser. In these days of social distancing, when you have time on your hands to make a photograph, you use what you have handy.
Pulled Pork
It took 6 hours to smoke it. About an hour to photograph it. Then about 10 minutes to eat it. So good. If you don’t already have one, get yourself a smoker.
King Cake
If you bite into a piece of King Cake and get the little plastic baby, next time you’re buying the King Cake!
White Chocolate Cheesecake
The proofs are done and it’s on the way to printer. The new cookbook ”Anton’s at the Swan - A Meal for All Seasons” will be available soon. Recipes from Chris Connors, chef and owner of Anton’s in Lambertville. Design by Jeffery Saddoris and photography from me. So excited to get this out in to the world.
A Meal For All Seasons: Anton's at the Swan
I’ve teamed up my Food Photography with Chef Chris Connors recipes and Jeffery Saddoris for design on the new cook book “A Meal for All Seasons”. It’s heading off the to printers as I type. I’m really excited for the way it turned out. Look for more info on its release really soon. Cheers!
Delicious Bread from Anton's at the Swan
This is a photograph of the delicious bread at Anton’s at the Swan in Lambertville, New Jersey. Chef Connors has made a study of baking bread and it really shows when you taste it. So good. Coming in October is the a cookbook where he shares his recipe and approach to bread as well as 12 other recipes that you’re going to love. I had the opportunity to create the Food Photography for this project and I couldn’t be happier with how it is coming along. I think you’re going to love it.
Have a Cookie
One of the best compliments a Food Photographer can get is to hear that a photograph invoked other senses for someone. I recently received that when someone said that when they looked at this they could smell the cookies. Our senses are very often intertwined. Sight invokes smell, which can invoke taste which can then invoke memories, which is really remembering how you experienced something with all your senses at some time in the past. So if you ever dig someone’s food photographs and your other senses kick in. Let them know, you’ll make their day and put a smile on their face. If you want your food or beverages to invoke that same experience, find yourself a food photographer or a beverage photographer who can create images for you to do just that. Cheers!
The Grapes of Clark - How I made the shot
Recently I was asked where the inspiration comes from for my Food Photography and how I go about building and finishing the photographs. So, here’s a run down of a my recent shot of 4 grapes.
When I saw the grapes in the supermarket it sparked the idea for the shot. I was pushing the cart, hunched over it, head low, right at the height of the produce, going up and down the aisles when I saw them. The produce section has green shelving where they keep the grapes and the red grapes looked great against it. I wanted to mimic that look in my food photography.
When I got them home, I set up the studio with a white translucent background and a white reflective piece of poly for a table top. The first light was set up behind the translucent with a green gel on it. If you’ve got white translucent and reflective, gels can be your best friend to change them to all different kinds of colors.
The grapes went down on the tabletop and the first shot looked like a silhouette. I added an overhead light in a beauty dish above the grapes and slightly in front of them. The second shot brought out the grapes but also brought back the white of the reflective surface they were on, totally washing out the green from the gelled back light. It was at that point I knew I needed two shots to composite together.
I got the grapes ready. Looking through the bunch I found the 4 best looking and broke off that batch from the rest. Carefully washing them and drying them so as not to bruise them. Then a fine misting spay bottle with a 50/50 water to glycerine mixture provided the water drops. I find that if you spray to the side of the subject rather then straight on you get a much finer droplet.
The grapes went back to the table and the first shot was made with only the back light, providing the green tone across the back and the table top. Then a second shot with the beauty dish light from above to light the grapes. A tripod is paramount as you don’t want the camera to move at all between the two shots.
Then the two shots are brought together in Photoshop to composite them together. For info on that look a little further back in the blog for the videos I did on the Buddha Beer bottle composites. Same idea.
I hope you enjoyed this short explanation. If you have any Food Photography questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Cheers
Freddy