advice needed for food project

I have been asked to phtograph a range of school meals for our local auhtority. What is required is a photo of several main courses, already plated up, and several puddings plated up. I think each dish will be an indiviual photo. They want to use them in the school to promote their food and as a guide to what students get on their plate. I did some trial shots just using the ambient light from the window and standing over them shooting vertically, I also tried some with in built flash. They came out pretty good but now I am actually doing the project I would like some advice on how best to undertake this. I am not trying for arty food photgraphy as that is not what is required but thought perhaps an external light of some sort may improve the images. I will be using a K200d with a 16-45mm lens.

I would go to the local library and borrow some cookbooks, trying to pick up some tips from the pictures there. There are also a lot of magazines on the subject of food. Even though photographic details are seldom given, just studying the photographs could be educational.

Pay attention to the white balance

I would shoot RAW to allow greater flexibility afterwards.
Preferably include a QPcard in a shot or two to give a reference.

Have a search on www.ephotozine.tv as well.
Matt

A very swift google (slow day in the office) produced

link

and
link

but as I recall advice I saw years ago you don't photograph what you eat. There's a real knack to making the food look good and has little to do with it tasting good. Part of the issue is that it will almost certainly be cold by the time you photograph it and cold fatty food doesn't look so great, nor does custard. But sadly I can't recall what the advice was but it did involve making sure things looked fresh and using oil.

Not much help really!

Mike

I remember from my cookery class some 25 years ago that the food was varnished (and I do mean varnished, not glazed in the cookery sense) before being photographed and the ice in the drinks was blocks of acrylic. Soufflés and the like were stuffed with cotton wool...

Not much help really but it put me off photographing my supper.

Cheers, Kris.

Take a look at Marks & Spencer TV adds or any decent cookery book. This is a highly specialised area where you really need a good food stylist/technologist at your side. If you really want to take successful pictures, standing over the food using the built in flash is precisely not how to do it, IMHO, I'm afraid.

I prefer to use fresh foods and work fast.
(Cardboard drink coasters can be used between meat and lettuce/tomatoes to keep the veggies from wilting when photoing burgers. slightly undercooked veggies look better than fully cooked).

for restaurant menus (i do some multimedia projects for restaurants, that involve photo, and video work, to create mini documentaries promo peices for web, and instore dvd presentations/advertising. they get to use the photos for menus as well) I set my camera up just like doing copy work. Camera mounted, pointing straight down, 2 lights at 45 deg. (only not same power, one main one fill). The chef/cook prepares the plate and places it on my set. 1 Click, the waitress takes it. Everything is clean, fresh, and ticked off the list.
Then we take some time to set up some artistic shots of a couple signature menu items, and cocktials. (these ones either get wasted for reasons listed in above posts, or the staff eat them cold, if the food wasn't altered, handled too much)

I video the restaurant, documentary style, with the owner/manager taking me on a tour of the business. They wind up with everything they need, a 3-10 minute mini advertorial for web or inhouse flatpanel displays, images for web use or prints or menu.

I do this fairly cheaply, throw my logo/ad in there also.

I usually try to get some extra sales from them, if they want me to layout a menu or buy some prints for the wall....or some web work....

I also seem to recal reading an article that suggested not cooking the food fully.......Oh sorry you said SCHOOL MEALS.....no problem then

Sorry: my wife used to work for school meals oops:

Seriously, the article said partially cooked food was far more photogenic, vegetables keeping their colour and shape etc, I also seem to remember something about using glycerine to add shine.

I also remember my brother in law having a book entitled "Rude Food" various dishes to tempt the pallate served not on plates but on the female form, it might help in your research if you can find a copy

Get me along to hold stuff

Great advice guys. I think I will perhaps in two samll lights, one for main and one for fill. Any advice on where I can source these from and what I should be looking for, dont want to spend a fortune. Matt not really sure how I would use a q card I guess you were thinking about setting white balance using one?

If you are a real cheapskate like me you could work in a semi-darkened room, on a tripod, use a long exposure so you can fire off your flash gun two or three times from different positions. I did this with my knife & red pepper shot in the product bi weekly competition and as the flash was on low power it recycled three times in as many seconds.

Hit and miss but who cares you can take as many shots as it takes.

Mike

You put the QCard (or Pantone, or Kodak,or...) on the edge of the picture, so you have a reference to adjust white balance/color. Just make sure it doesn't show up in the final picture. Really simple, and it makes a big difference in post processing.

I remember the broccoli...

For each lighting set up, take one shot with the QPcard right in the main frame - you use that as a reference for the other shots (that don't have the QPcard).
If you shoot RAW, you can use the Black/Grey/White QPcard to set your white point, black point and white balance. If you have the colour QPcard you can use their software to adjust even a JPG and get proper white balance (You capture the reference image and then apply the profile to all other shots taken at the same time)
Definitely a very useful tool
Matt