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Protected: How to Create a Professional Mood Board For Photography Clients

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 23:06:55 GMT

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Ultimate Guide: Best Camera Settings for Food Photography

Tue, 03 Nov 2020 18:00:00 GMT

This post is written from the perspective of photographing in manual mode.

Knowing my camera settings won’t necessarily help you. Sure, camera settings matter, and yet they don’t.

Of course certain settings control light and DoF, freeze and blur motion and capture sharp, in-focus, quality photos. But what those exact settings are depends on a range of things.

Unless you are shooting in the same space as me, at the same distance, with the same light, the same lens and are going for the same creative elements as me, your settings will be different.

Shooting with natural or artificial light makes a difference too.

Instead, what matters is understanding the relationship between concept and desired exposure. This will help you unlock the best camera settings for food photography.

That’s where this guide will help you! We’ll cover general guidelines for camera settings, including:

Best quality
Controlling light
Freezing and blurring motion, in natural and artificial light
Controlling Depth of field, including tackling flatlays with different heights

In this Ultimate Guide to Camera Settings for Food Photography, I’ll cover each of these with images and example settings.

The Relationship Between Concept & Desired Exposure

It’s important to understand that the relationship between our creative concept will be dictated by settings that will get us to optimal, desired exposure.

Our settings are going to be affected by the following:

The amount and quality of light we’re using
The type of light, either natural or artificial command different settings
What lens we’re photographing with
The distance we are from our subject
What creative elements we want in our photos i.e. motion blur, shallow DoF

Because settings are dictated by the above, these are general guidelines for settings rather than hard and fast rules. However, when it comes to still life, we’re more likely to predominately alter our shutter speed as subjects don’t move.

Camera Settings For Food Photography: Achieving The Best Quality Images

For the best quality images, we need to shoot in good quality light with a quality lens. Assuming we’re photographing in good quality light, generally speaking:

Low ISO and fast shutter speeds give us get the best quality images.

This is certainly reflected in the use of artificial light, strobes or flashes specifically, and is one of the reasons photographers like artificial light. Our ability to change the power of the light, allows us to select a low or base ISO and faster shutter speeds.

Lowering the ISO to base ISO gives us the least amount of noise or grain. Faster shutter speeds help to increase sharp focus and reduce camera shake.

We want to aim for the lowest possible ISO and fastest shutter speed that still gives us the desired exposure for the concept.

1/200 sec, ISO 50 at f/5.6 with artificial light. Shot with my Nikkor 105mm macro.

Base ISO on the Nikon Z6 is ISO 50.

It’s the combination of settings, a good quality lens and flash that can give a quality look to an image. But that doesn’t mean you can’t achieve good quality images outside of flash photography.

How to Use Your Settings to Control Light

One of the main reasons we photograph in manual mode is to control each setting to bring our creative vision to life. Optimal exposure is a relationship between shutter speed, ISO and aperture.

To let more light into our camera, increasing aperture or ISO, or reducing shutter speed will result in increased exposure.

To reduce the amount of light into our camera, reducing aperture or ISO, or increasing your shutter speed will reduce exposure.

The combination that we choose will depend on:

ISO – how does the camera handle ISO and are our other settings still giving us access to optimal exposure?
DoF – can the concept still be communicated with a change in aperture and depth?
Shutter Speed – can the photo be taken on a tripod allowing more room to reduce shutter speed by eliminating camera shake.

Here are some examples:

ISO 250, 1/30 sec at f/5.

ISO 250, 1/15 sec at f/5.

This was shot at sunset in autumn. As the light faded, I chose to reduce my shutter speed (to 1/15 sec from 1/30 sec) to let in more light for my desired exposure. I was able to do this due to shooting on a tripod.

I then decided I wanted to capture a shallower depth of field, and changed my aperture to f/2.8. As I wanted the same desired exposure, I reduced my ISO for quality (rather than increasing shutter speed).

ISO 250, 1/15 sec at f/5.

ISO 80, 1/15 sec at f/2.8

Camera Settings to Freeze Motion

Freezing motion requires a fast shutter speed. When I say fast, I am talking about 1/800 sec and higher.

When freezing motion, it’s most important to focus on getting the shutter speed to be fast. The other settings will depend on the type of light we’re using.

1/800 sec, ISO 6400 at f/8 – natural light.

1/200 sec, ISO 100 at f/5.6 – artificial light.

How to Freeze Motion With Natural Light

When using natural light, we aren’t easily able to control its power, (unlike with artificial light). Because we need a fast shutter speed, we’ll either change ISO and/or aperture to get our desired exposure.

A higher aperture (smaller f-stop) will let more light in. Or you can increase your ISO to increase captured gain (ISO) of the final image.

The exact shutter speed will depend on the quality and amount of light we’re using.

I shot this baked brie dish on a light autumn day with my 105mm macro. Because I wanted to ensure the movement was captured in the plane of focus, I decided to use a smaller aperture (larger number) of f/8.

With the combination of a smaller aperture and a fast shutter speed needed to capture the honey drizzle, (1/800 sec), I had to also increase my ISO to 6400.

Camera settings for this photo are 1/800 sec, ISO 6400 at f/8.

To freeze the honey drizzle my shutter speed was set to 1/800 sec.

As I had more light to work with, I knew having an aperture with more depth would help me capture the drip in focus. No matter how fast your shutter speed is, if you’re subject in motion is out of the plane of focus, it won’t be *in focus*. It will be blurry or soft, but not because of movement.

ISO 6400 isn’t always an option for everyone depending on the type of camera you have and how new it is. Older cropped sensors won’t handle ISO the same way as the newer technology in full-frame cameras.

Now there are two things you can do here if you need to further control the aperture and DoF, allowing me to reduce ISO.

You can move further away and use a narrow focal length (lens). This puts more distance between the camera and the subject. Larger apertures (smaller f-stop) will appear to have more depth than if you were closer to the subject.

How to Freeze Motion with Artificial light

Settings choices will be different when shooting artificial light because we can now control the power of the light.

Most flashes or strobes have what’s called a maximum shutter sync speed. This means there is a limit to the shutter speed we can use. This limit is usually 1/200 sec.

1/200 sec might not seem fast enough to freeze motion, but due to the extremely short duration of the flash, 1/200 will indeed freeze motion. When I want to freeze motion with my strobe, my camera settings for food photography be set at 1/200 sec.

Because we can control the power of the flash/strobe, we don’t have to increase ISO to reach our desired exposure as we do with natural light.

1/200 sec, ISO 100 at f/5.6 to freeze motion with artificial light.

For a bright shot using artificial light, I will reduce my ISO to base ISO where possible or close to, and keep my aperture at an f-stop that matches my creative vision. Then change the power of the light.

The caveat here is that if you’re using a fast continuous capture, you may have to reduce the power of your flash/strobe and adjust your settings to accommodate. This is so the strobe can still sync (usually not at full power) and take into account any recycle time.

Where I need to use high speed capture, I’ll reduce the power of the light for it to continue to sync. Then increase my ISO as it’s generally near or close to base ISO.

1/200 sec, ISO 500 at f/8 with artificial light.

The power of the light for this french onion soup shot was fairly high with base ISO. To use high-speed continuous mode and still sync the strobe, I needed to increase my ISO so I could reduce the power of the light by about half.

How to Blur Motion with Natural Light

Blurring motion or movement in an image is somewhat easier than freezing motion. To blur motion, we need to have a slow shutter speed, generally under 1/200 sec. The slower the shutter speed the more blur we’ll see in the movement.

ISO 640, 1/250 sec at f/4

ISO 125, 1/40 sec at f/4.5

Reducing shutter speed will let more light in. We therefore need to adjust either aperture and/or ISO.

For a bright shot, I’ll lower ISO (as long as I am still maintaining optimal exposure) and maintain an aperture to an f-stop which matches my creative vision.

To capture blur in a moody shot, I’m generally working with less light to start with so I may need to either increase my ISO and/or aperture. Here I will think about what f-stop is the highest that can still work with my concept and how far away from my subject I am. Then I will also increase ISO to where I am comfortable with.

The Nikon Z6 that I shoot with handles ISO very well, so I can generally push ISO more than other cameras or older cropped sensors might.

ISO 640, 1/250 sec at f/4 with natural light.

1/200 sec, ISO 320 at f/8 with artificial lighting.

You can see the difference between blurred motion above, on the left, we have a slow shutter speed which blurs the falling icing sugar. On the right, exceptionally quick speed of a flash will freeze the falling edible pearl dust at approximately the same shutter speed.

Blur Motion by Using a Continuous Artificial Light Source.

It is possible to blur movement with artificial light, and by using a continuous artificial light source you can get this look most easily.

A continuous artificial source could be a continuous light like my Aputure Light Storm 120D or the modelling light on my B10 Profoto Strobe.

The main difference between a continuous light that’s artificial vs natural light is that we can control both our settings and the power of the light. Often times this means that we won’t have to use very high ISO values in comparison as we have the power to change the light.

1/60 sec, ISO 400 at f/5.6 using the modelling light on my Profoto B10 to blur motion.

To blur this pour shot, I set my shutter speed to 1/60 sec so the motion was blurred. I used the modelling light on my strobe, which doesn’t have as much power as my continuous light.

You can use your shutter speed to give you a degree of creative effect over your movement. For example, this is a fizzy liquid, and you can almost see no bubbles in the liquid due to the amount of motion blur.

Settings for Controlling Depth of Field

A high f-stop (smaller number), will have a shallower DoF. Conversely, a lower f-stop (larger number), will give more depth with more in focus. But nothing in photography is simple. There’s always a relationship.

The amount of depth in your photos depends on the aperture we shoot, the distance from the subject as well as the plane of focus.

How to Capture Deep Depth of Field With a Macro Lens

Because depth of field is affected by aperture and distance, it can seem like narrow macro lenses (90mm/100mm/105mm) are more shallow than regular lenses.

That’s not the case. Macro lenses have a very generous minimum focusing distance that allows us to get closer to our food.

This compresses the subject and exaggerates the effects of depth of field.

The closer we are to our subject, the more we’ll want to test a smaller f-stop (larger number). I usually aim for f/5.6-f/8 as a starting point for my 105mm macro and then reduce it even further to f/11-f/16 if I’m very close.

ISO 79, 1/15 sec at f/4 gives a shallow look

ISO 1250, 1/15 sec at f/16 for more depth

Capturing a Deep Depth of Field With a Regular Lens

Non-macro lenses have a meager focusing distance so we’re generally further away from our subject. This means that aperture appears to have more depth.

An aperture of f/5.6 will appear to have more depth with a regular lens than a macro lens. On a regular lens, I will shoot between f/5.6 and f/8 to capture depth.

Always be mindful of your distance and compression, then adjust accordingly.

ISO 125, 1/200 sec at f/5.6

ISO 160, 1/200 sec at f/8

How to Tackle DoF When Shooting Flatlays With Varying Heights

When dealing with varying heights when shooting overhead we want to utilise distance to our advantage.

This means thinking more than just about the camera settings for food photography, or aperture. The trick is to position our focus on a subject whose height is halfway between the background and the top of the tallest subject.

This will allow us to capture more depth than if we were to focus on the extremes, (i.e the background being the shortest subject with no height, and the top of the tallest subject).

In this shot, (was created for my composition masterclass), I would focus my focal point on any of the three fruits with the pink circle.

ISO 200, 1/200 sec at f/5.6

In combination with the position of the focus, we’ll want to try to use a smaller aperture (larger f/stop) to capture the subjects in focus.

Camera Settings For Food Photography: How to Capture a Shallow Depth of Field

If we’re looking to capture a shallow, yet soft buttery depth of field, the good news is that the closer we get to the subject (or the more the lens compresses the distance) the shallower the DoF will be.

For macro lenses, we can find that f/3.5 might give us a shallow DoF as we’re closer. A regular lens however, you might need to go to f/1.8 to get that feel.

ISO 250, 1/50 sec at f/3.5
with 105mm macro.

ISO 100, 1/60 sec at f/2.2
with 85mm lens.

I love my 85mm lens, however, the minimum focusing distance means that I can’t get close to my subject. So for portraits, I’m sometimes further away than when I use my 105mm macro. This means to capture that soft buttery DoF, I often need to shoot apertures between f/1.8 – f/2.8 to achieve that look with my 85mm.

From capturing motion to blurring motion, controlling light and DoF, we’ve covered a lot of guidelines for settings.

If you have any questions regarding the best camera settings for food photography to achieve some of the techniques we discussed in this post – leave me a comment and let’s chat.

The post Ultimate Guide: Best Camera Settings for Food Photography appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

Create 4 DIY Cake Stands with these Food Photography Hacks

Tue, 30 Jun 2020 15:52:44 GMT

When I first started out doing food photography, I had the hardest time finding cake stands. In almost a decade, I think I’ve only ever found two cake stands at Thrift Stores!

Maybe I’m just unlucky…

Cake stands are a must-have prop for any food photographer and they can be expensive. Ideally, every food photographer should have a couple of cake stands to use with different sized cakes.

This simple hack for a diy cake stands for food photography will save you money, give you more creative options and improve your cake photography!

Let’s take a look at the three main ways I make these diy props for food photography.

DIY CAKE STANDS IDEA 1: PINCH BOWL + PLATE

First up is my favourite diy cake stand.

It uses a pinch bowl and a plate! Genius, because I have so many little pinch bowls that I can really mix it up depending on what height and size cake I have.

IDEA 2: TRAY + STAND

This next diy cake stand hack uses cake stands that you already have and turns them into new ones.

To do this, you’ll need cake stands that have removable stands. When I buy cake stands I look for ones with removable bases for this exact reason.

It gives me endless options for composition and styling.

DIY CAKE STAND IDEA 3: STACKED PLATES

Stacked plates can make for great diy props for food photography.

I tend to use different sized plates to add some dimension and usually focus on 2-3 plates.

This gives height like a cake stand and brings a different look.

You’ll see in these two images that the pavlova on the single plate looks like, well a cake on a plate. But if you use 2-3 plates, it gives it more of a diy cake stand look.

IDEA 4: BAKING TIN + PLATE

This hack is like the staked plate idea, but combines both a plate and a baking tin.

I usually go for round baking tins as most cakes are round shapes.

Do you have any diy cake stands hacks? I’d love to hear what you do to make your prop collection go further. Leave me a comment, I’d love to know what you use!

The post Create 4 DIY Cake Stands with these Food Photography Hacks appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

The Simple Trick For Better Food Photos: Finding the Hero Side.

Tue, 19 May 2020 17:00:00 GMT

Every food subject has a hero side. A side that is more flattering and appealing.

One of the simplest tricks to improve your composition and food photos is to present the food at it’s best, by finding the hero side!

How to Find The Hero Side of Food

To find the hero side of food, you need to look at every side from every angle.

The quickest way to do this is to put your food on set and spin or turn the plate or bowl. From the camera side, look at the dish to see what looks best.

When you think you’ve found the best side, position that side so it faces the camera. It’s super important to also look at the food through the camera to find the hero side of food.

Because what the camera sees is different from what our eyes see.

Comparing all the different sides of the cupcake to see which is the best.

The Camera Sees Differently

Now you’ve found the best looking side, it’s time to test that side in camera.

To further make sure you’ve got the most flattering and appealing side of food, test a few angles and rotate the food as necessary.

You don’t need to go crazy viewing every angle from 0 to 90-degrees, but if you’re shooting at say 45-degrees, changing your camera angle by 10-degrees each way can help you find little adjustments that make the food look 10-times better.

This angles doesn’t lend itself to the proportions of the cupcake.

Slightly changing the angle by 10-degrees or so is a more flattering angle for this subject.

The final image and hero shot has been retouched in Photoshop.

Examples

Because we’re visual learners, let’s look at some examples of how I got to the final shot in this Black Forest Cupcake and how I saw the hero side.

The hero side makes the cupcake look, tall, luscious and intricate.

Just a few spins past the hero side, it feels a little more like a mess.

By spinning the cupcake towards the camera, I could look at each side to see what looks best. What am I looking for, and what does best describe?

I’m looking for:

Interest in the swirl of the icing
Height in the icing swirl
Movement in the icing and cherry on top
No damage (or the least) to the cupcake, icing or cupcake liner
The best arrangement of chocolate shavings that reveal the icing

To put it simply, this cupcake is a good example of how important finding the hero side is. The cupcake either looked intricate and luxurious. OR it looked like a bit of a mess with all the toppings going on.

Just this small action, look it from a 4 to an 11 on the scale of drool-worthiness.

Hopefully this post can show you how the simple trick of finding the hero side of food can make a huge difference.

Great photography is made up of a lot of little things done well.
Matt Korinek

Can you see the difference just a little rotate makes? Let me know in the comments if you agree!

The post The Simple Trick For Better Food Photos: Finding the Hero Side. appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

5 Secrets to Confidently Photograph Color in Food Photography

Wed, 06 May 2020 15:47:21 GMT

Photographing color in food photography used to be a challenge for me. I was scared of using bright colors as it often looked like a dog’s breakfast.

We all know that when it comes to food photography, color is very important and appealing! I’ve discovered a few secrets that are a must when shooting color confidently! Quickly, they are:

We need to use color theory to create harmony.
Use color contrast and soft light if you’re new to photographing color.
White balance also affects colors, not just whites.
Choose creatively you’ll approach colored shadow and highlights.
Desaturated colors are just as powerful.

Let’s take a look at some of those tips so you can get color happy!

To Create Color Harmony, Rely on Color Theory.

It’s very easy to get lost when it comes to photographing bright colors. We mostly shy away from using anything to crazy or colorful, but the problem isn’t the color.

It’s how we pair or use our colors together.

Color Theory is a set of practical guidelines on how to mix colors and the visual effects of colour combinations. Color Theory explains why certain colors have given sensory experiences and are aesthetically pleasing.

When we are using bold colors to photograph food, we need to think firstly about the color of our food. Then by using different types of Color Theory, we can start to pair ingredients, props, backgrounds and other supporting elements in a way that feels harmonious.

Basic Color Theory pairings can be:

Monochromatic
Analogous
Complementary

For more advanced Color Theory, enrol in my Composition Essentials masterclass.

Pick the type of Color Theory you want to use, then start to pick props, create a background and source ingredients in that color palette.

This shot uses analogous colours

Use Color Contrast & Soft Light if You’re New to Photographing Color.

Light is everything in photography and a lot of times light with a lot of contrast catches our attention more than very soft light.

But super soft light can really work when you are shooting lots of color, and especially when working with brightly colored backgrounds.

Soft light can ‘soften’ our colors and make them inviting. You don’t always need to shoot color with soft light, but it’s an easy choice if you’re new to exploring color.

Colored shadows will also be less pronounced with soft light if that’s an annoyance you have (we’ll cover this later).

Soft light helps us focus on color contrast and ‘feel’ each color. I don’t tend to use very soft light much in my food photography outside of shooting lots of color.

The light in this shot is very soft and filled. To make that *pop* feeling, I’m relying on colour contrast. A concept I teach in Lightroom Magic.

White Balance Also Affects Color.

White balance doesn’t just affect whites, it also affects how colors show up in our photos.

It’s therefore important to make sure we are correcting our white balance to suit the colors we are shooting. It’s not enough to just use the eye-dropper tool once and hope for the best.

In actual fact, just using the eye-dropper tool is holding you back as you’re basically letting your RAW editor decide color correction for you.

The white balance is warmer in this shot.

The white balance is cooler in this shot.

If you take a moment to ‘feel’ the shots above, the warmth of coolness of each photos brings a different meaning to colour.

How to Approach & Correct Colored Shadows & Highlights.

My biggest annoyance when working with brightly colored backgrounds is they result in colored shadows and highlights/reflections.

Colored shadows or highlights are inherently good or bad. They are just part of photographing color.

How you deal with these problems creatively, is up to your style and your creative vision.

Here are some ways you can think about these areas in your photos:

Create deep and darker shadows that look more black than colored.
Shape soft and airy shadows so they feel less noticed as being colored.
Retouch colored shadows & highlights to your liking (something I teach how to do in Retouching Food Photography Masterclass).

Let’s look at some examples here.

I’ve used soft light here so there is hardly any presence of shadows, and they are so airy they don’t feel coloured.

Darker and longer shadows in this show don’t reveal the shadows are coloured.

This image before retouching. You’ll notice the coloured highlights on the avocados.

Here is after retouching, we’re I’ve corrected the coloured highlights.

Don’t be Afraid to Desaturate Color.

The cliche ‘less is more’ couldn’t be more true when it comes to color.

Creating and sharing work on Instagram for years now, has led me into a lot of insight on what others find ‘colorful’.

Colorful doesn’t equal lots of color, or even bright colors.

Colorful is harmonious and pleasing. This includes adding different hues of color and even desaturating some colours.

Think about which color is the ‘hero’, or the ‘star’ of your photo. Do the other colors feel harmonious, or do they compete? What happens if you paired a desaturated color? Or desaturated the color in post-production?

This is a bright pink background and in order for it not to compete with the soft colours of the cake (or the texture) I desaturated the colours. Learn more in my Lightroom Magic masterclass.

I hope this post have given you some tips to think about when you next integrate bright colour in your work!

The post 5 Secrets to Confidently Photograph Color in Food Photography appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

How to Report Copyright Infringement on Instagram

Thu, 30 Apr 2020 21:41:52 GMT

DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer, this isn’t legal advice and this is only for educational purposes. The ideas in this post aren’t legal advice and do not replace you seeking advice from a lawyer.

Instagram is a social photo-sharing app. It’s common that other Instagram accounts will post photos or videos that don’t belong to them.

Although the platform is about social photo sharing, it doesn’t mean that an account has the permission to share content that isn’t their own.

Many large Instagram accounts only share content from others. This used to result in exposure and follows, likes and comments for the owner of the content. While this does still happen, the exposure isn’t as good as it used to be.

Thanks algorithm changes and reduced engagement…

File a DMCA Takedown Request

If you want to take down a photo/video in which you own the copyright, you’ll file a DMCA takedown request. It stands for Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Watch how to report copyright infringements on Instagram with step-by-step instructions.

As I am not a lawyer, I can’t advise on intellectual property and when you should vs shouldn’t file a request. However, if you want to leave a comment, I can tell you what I have down in the past based on my own research.

Batch File DMCA Requests With a Copyright Collection.

I have created a ‘Copyright’ collection on Instagram, using their saved collection feature. I save all images use without permission to this collection, then go through and report the content when I have time.

I created a ‘Copyright’ Saved Collection

This helps me keep track of photos to report.

The post How to Report Copyright Infringement on Instagram appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

How To Find The Inspiration To Be Unique

Tue, 21 Apr 2020 01:00:00 GMT

If you’re inspired by a photo, what does that mean? What do you do with those feelings? In this post, I want to explore those feelings and what we do with them.

Let’s dive in!

When we see a photo we’re captivated by, touched, moved and inspired by, we have these huge feelings. On many occasions, we’re jolted into some kind of action.

I’m using inspiration in the positive. So that action is usually to create our own work of art.

So my question is, how do you use feelings of inspiration to create your own work of art? If you’re inspired, does that mean you then go ahead and copy or intimidate that work to satisfy those feelings?

How do we use inspiration to motivate us into creating unique work, while still satisfying that connection to the work we’re inspired by?

That Feeling.

You probably know it well. We see a work of art and we feel this urge, this excitement of pleasure to create something.

This connection usually makes us want to create similar art.

Let me break it down.

I posted a repetition of Oreo Cookies shot in dramatic lighting on Instagram. For me this shot was unique, I’d never seen it before, (that’s to my knowledge, and this alone doesn’t give me the right to claim this work as my idea. It’s very unlikely anyone truly has an original idea).

It was well-received. One photographer exclaimed ‘they wish they took that shot’. I bring this up because many of us have felt that way about a photo too. This person was just brave enough to state it out loud.

So if you have these feelings of inspiration and you wish you ‘took that photo’…what do we do with these feelings?

I think these feelings and connection to that work can be dangerous. Many times these feelings make us want to create that same work.

But in order to be unique, I think we need to dig deeper into what inspired us and to use *that feeling* as motivation to create, rather than imitate.

Inspiration to be Unique

Using inspiration as motivation to create can be easy. But at times we all feel conflicted. Deep down, we all want to create unique work and we know to be cautious with copying (noticed how I didn’t say ‘wrong to copy’?).

The question I posted earlier was, how can we use inspiration to motivate us into creating unique work?

The way to the answer is simple, although the answer may not be so.

We can be so in love with a photo, that we want to create the general feeling or connection. Which is not a bad thing, but it doesn’t always lead us to create our own unique art.

Instead, the question to ask yourself is:

What inspired me to the most about this image?

The image by photographer Diana Muresan below has also stuck out in my mind. This image inspired me to create my own pink smoothie bowl.

View this post on Instagram

✨GIVEAWAY✨ A gorgeous pink smoothie like this one could be in your future, you guys! You know how much I love fruit and veg – my friends at @evivesmoothie and @granolust_ are generously offering a prize of smoothies cubes and granola (valued at $200) to the winner! . . . . To be added to the draw, we ask that you: -follow @evivesmoothie, @granolust_ and myself @craft_and_muse -like this post -in the comments, tag your smoothie partner or someone you’d share a smoothie with! . . . . Each comment counts as one entry, so you can tag in multiple comments for as many entries. . . . . The giveaway is open to people with a Canadian mailing address, until September 30, 2018. This giveaway is not associated in any way with Instagram. The winner will be chosen by random draw and announced here on my feed on October 1st. Cheers and good luck!! . . . . #giveawaytime #smoothiebowls #smoothiebowl #eatyourfruits #eatyourveggies #fruityourself #raspberries #smoothielove #realfood #eatmoreplants #nutritiousanddelicious #eatplants #fruitlover #inmykitchen #foodstyling #foodphotographyandstyling #snackattack #fbcigers #canadianfoodblogger #craftandmuse

A post shared by Diana Muresan (@craft_and_muse) on Sep 25, 2018 at 8:18am PDT

You could break it down into the most important element for you. Or perhaps there are really three elements that you connected with.

Even perhaps it’s the type of food you’re dying to shoot.

It’s harder to create an original idea, and even harder to create without influence.

I’m not here to talk right or wrong about copying or imitation, because it’s such a grey area. I’m here to help you uncover the first step to more unique work.

Which I think is what we are all searching for. We want to be original and unique to our style. Because I think that’s one of the most fulfilling parts of being an artist.

In the next post, I am going to show you how I use inspiration to create my own work.

So remember:

Use inspiration as motivation to create, not imitate.

The post How To Find The Inspiration To Be Unique appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

Creative Momentum – The Force We Need to Create Our Best Work

Mon, 20 Apr 2020 23:00:00 GMT

Do you ever feel that sometimes you’re so switched on creatively? And not just for an hour or even a day. But for a period of weeks? (or months!)

You’re creating things with ease and joy. You feel on fire, surprising yourself with some of your best work!

You secretly tell yourself that, wow maybe I finally ‘have it’/’did it’/’got it’…

Well, I feel like that lately, I have ‘creative momentum’ (or at least at the time of writing this post depending on when you’re reading it).

I wanted to talk about what the heck that is…(like did I make this up? Is it even a thing?) And maybe if you’ve felt it too, you can share any takeaways or insights you gained.

But firstly let’s define what creative momentum is, to me.

What is Creative Momentum?

Creative momentum is the flow-on effect from the creative zone that carries over into multiples days, weeks or months. Its reward is the creation of great work after great work.

People will say to you, ‘wow, have you been enlightened recently?’, or ‘when did you get so good?’…

You’ll notice that you’re able to almost instantly fall into the creative zone, almost without noticing. There’s a sense of ‘this is the way of being’.

We feel satisfaction and joy about creating great work upon great work.

There is this unattachment if you fail, and the inner peace as an artist where there is no chatter in your mind telling you ‘you’re no good at this’ or ‘I hate photography’ (as the later often goes through my mind. It’s this stupid game my mind and I do. Perhaps it’s my ego taking me back to my art school days when I wasn’t able to create anything worthy).

You’re on a winning streak.

You can’t put a foot wrong, just like your favourite Instagrammer. Every photo they post takes your breath away. Basically you’ve turned into them.

How Does One Gain Creative Momentum?

That is the question. I believe that there is a time in our journey where we can really get swept up in creative momentum, (although I’m sure there can be outliers).

Creative momentum I believe happens when we are doing our best work. Not our best work ever, but our best work from our present and our past. (This does not take into account our future best work mind you).

So perhaps the question is, how do you get to a place where you are capable of doing their best work?

Doing Your Best Work

Our best work comes in-between learning curves and right before large plateaus.

Before we pursue this any further, I wanted to take a moment to talk about ‘best work’. This is your definition of your best work, not someone else’s.

Most artists will have experienced (hopefully) multiple times in their journeys where they felt they created their best work (so far). Regardless of what other people like, regardless of what other people think is your best work, it matters what you think of your work.

I think our best work arises when we’ve learned a few new skills, we’re starting a master those and influences on set are in our favour. (Influences like lighting, team, food, concept etc).

During this period where we are doing our best work, we have the most potential to have creative momentum.

Influences of Creative Momentum

I realise I haven’t answered the question posed by the heading above, how does one gain creative momentum?

Perhaps understand the influences that lead us to creative momentum can help us understand how we can find or gain this state in our own journey.

Because this is an observation (rather than fact), I think listing influences is the best way forward. Creative momentum influences are:

Absence of stress and ability to create with no pressure.
True unattachment to the result of the photoshoot.
Ability to problem solve almost subconsciously.
Strong art direction but also the flexibility to pivot when needed.
Creating for the purpose of joy and the process itself.
The absence of learning new skills or ‘pushing the envelope’. Instead, just creating pretty things.

I won’t lie, having all of these things at once is hard to get! We’ve all likely felt these from time to time, but when they all align – it’s the holy grail.

How to Use Creative Momentum

The most important thing to know about momentum from Newton’s First Law of Motion – An object at rest will stay at rest and an object in motion stays in motion (unless acted upon by an unbalanced force).

So when we have creative momentum, it’s very easy to continue that momentum. It’s much harder to gain momentum if we feel ‘stopped’ creatively.

The energy of momentum feeds itself.
Thomas Oppong

You might have noticed that when you are in this state of creative momentum, things happen somewhat effortlessly.

If things happen effortlessly and creative momentum feeds itself, the way to reap its rewards is to extend the momentum you have by creating a new pattern of behaviour.

Put aside one creative day a week, or half a day. Schedule it. Make it a habit and continue to fuel the creation of your best work.

Most importantly, understanding and acknowledging this momentum will come and go throughout our journey. Savour it while it lasts. Look forward to it again if it disappears.

Have you encountered creative momentum in your photography journey?

The post Creative Momentum – The Force We Need to Create Our Best Work appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

How To Create A Diptych in Food Photography

Tue, 14 Apr 2020 22:39:52 GMT

Diptychs in food photography are a great way to showcase a food story. It’s something that I often think about when creating new work, even though I don’t always showcase my images using this composition method.

The great thing about Diptychs is that you can use new or old work, even ongoing work to create a story.

In this post we’re going to look at:

What is a diptych and why we use it in photography.
How it helps us tell a food story.
3 steps to creating a beautiful diptych.
Examples of how I have used diptychs.
Ideas you can use for your diptychs.

Ready to create a Diptych? Let’s get into it.

What is a Diptych?

Pronounced like ‘dip-tik’, a diptych is a presentation of two images together that combined, tell a story. The images could be from the same shoot, or show similar subjects or present contrasting elements.

You could even present images from different shoots that when combined tell more of a story or show a theme than if they were on their own.

It’s All About The Story You Want to Tell.

The biggest consideration when creating a diptych is deciding what story you want to tell with your images.

Before you start, what is the message you want to viewer to receive? What do you want them to feel or discover? The answers to these questions will help you to craft and concept the two images.

If both of the images come from the same shoot, you’ll want to think about how to present the images differently. Some ideas of what you can do that are:

Using different focal lengths to capture your subjcect.
Shooting different angles.
Cooked vs uncooked food.
Wide vs narrow captures.
Different types of lighting.

Just from looking at some of those ways you can take two different shots to tell a story, you’ll see that it’s important to think about the details that will the story.

You can even use diptychs to create food stories when you travel. For more travel food photo tips, read this post.

How to Create a Diptych in Food Photography.

There are three basic steps to creating a diptych in food photography. These are the things you want to think about before you pick up the camera and start shooting.

Step 1 – Create the Story You Want to Tell.

The first step in the process is to think about your story. What’re the most important elements?

Step 2 – Pick an Important/Common Element or Theme.

Once you’ve come up with your story, pick something in common that you can showcase. So a common element or theme that ties your story together.

The flip side of that is you can actually pick something that’s the polar opposite to tie your story together.

Ultimately the images should belong together and an instant connection should be made by the viewer.

Step 3 – Decide How You Will Present the Duo.

Now you’ve crafted your story, and chosen a common element, (or polar opposite elements), you want to think about how you will capture these elements of your story.

Will you be presenting them through different angles, or lighting, or focal lengths. Different times, seasonally, farm to table?

Once you’ve decided that, you’re ready to start photographing your subjects!

Examples of How I’ve Used Diptychs

There is nothing better than seeing examples of how diptychs can be used together.

Let’s get visual here! Here are some of the ways I’ve used diptychs to tell my food story.

This Donna Hay cake really is about the dulce de leche. Pairing the final product with the star ingredient is a great diptych food story.

The flatlay tells a larger story, but the clementines are just so interesting (and delicious) this set works so well with making the fruit the hero of one shot.

Two different angles are a great way to tell a larger food story with the same subject.

Pairing a lifestyle shot with a macro shot is a classic example of how diptychs can come together to create something even more interesting!

Black and white subjects together tell the story I was focused on with my #SeekTexture project on Instagram.

Two drinks featuring whiskey shot very differently can come together to tell a different story than each image does when standing alone.

Two different food subjects but same colours can make for a surprising food story perhaps the viewer didn’t expect.

Ideas For Your First Diptychs!

I hope you’ve been inspired by this post to create your first, (or next), diptych in food photography. To help you get started, here are some ideas you can play with.

Fresh ingredients, then captured in a dish, (essentials farm to table).
Soft light and hard light.
Same food, on a light background and then dark background.
A coloured theme, i.e. pink! (just like above).
A flatlay with many elements, then a minimalist shot.
Freshly plated food, then a shot once it’s all been devoured.
A full serving of a recipe, followed by a single serving.
Your recipe, followed by a textural shot.
A wide shot with atmosphere, then a tight macro shot.

Now you know what a diptych is, you’ve seen some examples and no doubt have started to brainstorm a few ideas for your next shoot – I’d love to know are you excited to create a food story using this presentation method?

Let me know what you’re excited to try or what your favourite example is. Leave me a comment below.

The post How To Create A Diptych in Food Photography appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

Behind The Scenes: How I Use Photoshop For Perfect Food Photos

Fri, 03 Apr 2020 13:00:00 GMT

It’s no secret to those who know me or are familiar with my work, but I am a self-proclaimed editing nerd!

Editing or post-production for me is part of the creative process that is just as important as composition and styling.

I love thinking about how to bring a concept to life by problem-solving in Photoshop.

Now I love a good breakdown of images and concepts so I thought I would share the editing process of retouching in Photoshop by going over a few of my favourite images.

This is how I use Photoshop for perfect food photos!

If you’re interested in joining me to learn any of these skills in Photoshop, check out my online Photoshop course.

Let’s dive in!

Chocolate Cobler – The Perfect Ice Cream Scoop

How do you get that perfect ice cream scoop AND those beautiful melted lines?

From working with other food photographers and stylist, everyone has their go-to method. Here is the process I usually start with:

Scoop out 1-2 scoops (and most likely praying they are somewhat perfect)
Add them to the hero food and take a couple of snaps.
Being quick, making any last-minute adjustments. Let them naturally melt to see where the lines lead.
Somes I will help the lines along to exaggerate them.
Remove the melted scoop, add new ones and take a few more snaps.

Then I go through the series of shots and pick the heroes. Using a Photoshop composite technique to combine the heroes together to form the perfect shot.

Thrift Store Glassware – Removing Distractions

I love shopping at thrift stores for glassware, but the problem is that a lot of the glasses are scratch! Like there is no hiding it. Especially when shooting backlight.

Typically I would try to find a glass that doesn’t have scratches but when you’ve found a pretty one at $0.99. I figure I can spend an extra 15 mins in Photoshop to retouch!

Here’s how I approached dealing with scratches in this image:

I first tested the scene with an empty glass for lighting. Exploring angles and what would pick up the light the best and highlight the garnishes.
Rotating the glass with the ice until I found a side that showed the least amount of scratches (aka distractions).
Place in the garnish and arrange.
Take a few shots with different apertures for DoF to work with in Photoshop if I need.
Clean up the scratches in Photoshop to remove those distractions and enhance the beauty of the cocktail, while preserving detail where it’s necessary.

It’s important to have a few different tools and approaches when it comes to removal and cleaning in Photoshop as different textures will work better with certain tools. This is a topic we cover in Retouching Food Photography.

For me removing distraction is a way to perfect my food photos.

Red Cabbage Leaves – Cleaning & Shaping

Would you believe me if I told you that these cabbage leaves were wilted and a little lifeless?

No! I hear you say…how did you do that?

Edge detail was really important here when I shot this subject to give it the illusion that it was so crisp you could snap it in two.

Even the best produce has blemishes. Cleaning up the leaves help me to remove those distractions and instead allow the viewer to focus on the colours and the lines.

Here’s the process I took for this shot:

On a dark surface, I arrange the wilted leaves and propped them up whole oranges underneath to give the leaves shape.
I removed any parts of the orange that was peeking out in Photoshop.
Then used tools to remove blemishes and dush.
Using light enhance tools in Photoshop to sculpt light.

I’m not sure what you think of this image but it’s one of my favourites! Photoshop helps me perfect my food photos (aka…make minimal powerful!)

Whiskey Colour Theory – From Blue to Green.

This background is blue! A rich and deep royal type blue.

If you know your colour theory well, you’ll know that orange and blue are beautiful complementary colours that I have often leaned on in my work.

See I’ve always been a little afraid of green and I don’t often use it. But with this shot, I felt that changing the background to green would really help it stand out to be different.

There is a basic technique to changing colour in Photoshop, but the problem often arises (and maybe you’re encountered this) is that changing just one colour can be tricky. Therefore your selection method is crucial.

We teach a few ways to retouch colour in Photoshop in our online course.

Whisky On Ice – Ice Cube Perfection

I hope you’re not sick of Whiskey yet because clearly I’m obsessed!

What I love about shooting clear ice is that it is constantly changing. When I first use it it’s a cube with sharp and rigid edges. As it melts, different shapes form and I feel like every time I shoot it, it looks different.

I’m drooling as I type!

Depending on what I’ve shot during the week, it will depend on how many ice cubes I have (I also have a tiny freezer!). Here is my process for this shot:

Once the shot is set up for composition and lighting, I will add the ice cube and take shots as it melts. Moving it around the glass and taking more shots for variety.
If I feel the shot is missing something, I will try to get creative.
I think clear ice is so beautiful so I took the ice cube out of the glass and played with it on the surface.
I choose the images I think had the most interest and composited them together.

Being able to combine images in Photoshop helped me here because at this point I was down to one cube! Ideally, I would have more. But I am not one to quit.

I use Photoshop to help me problem solve and create concepts that might otherwise be possible! It allows me to think about new ways to perfect my food photos.

I hope you’ve enjoyed going through the process I used to create these shots. If you’re interested in going from overwhelmed to confident in Photoshop, you can join our online Photoshop training.

Take your food photos to the next level using easy Photoshop retouching techniques (in minutes not hours)!

The post Behind The Scenes: How I Use Photoshop For Perfect Food Photos appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

10 Ways to Use Photoshop to Retouch Food Photography

Wed, 01 Apr 2020 13:00:00 GMT

It’s no secret if you know me and my blog that I am self-proclaimed editing nerd. Retouching food photography gives me the ability to perfect my photography.

It’s my favourite part of the process and the problems I can solve in Photos allow me to create better work and lean into my creative visions.

Here are 10 ways that I use Photoshop to retouch food photography:

Creating GIFs: the easiest way to get started with motion.
Clean subjects: remove blemishes & imperfections.
Build the perfect image with compositing.
Remove reflections & distractions.
Remove large & complex objects.
Change the colour of food, ingredients & subjects.
Touch up colours for evenness.
Sculpt light & perfect contrast for impact.
Straighten lines & shape objects.
Extend & touch up backgrounds.

Let’s dive into each way and look at some examples.

Creating GIFs: The Easiest Way to Get Started With Motion.

Using Photoshop to create GIFs is the easiest way to get started with motion.

By taking a series of shots from your food story, you can put together a very easy, but fun food story that’s animated.

GIFs differ from Cinemagraphs & Stop Motion, and is much easy and quicker to concept, shoot and produce.

I love sharing GIFs on Instagram and making my content go further whilst working less! Here is one of the top-performing GIFs.

My Pink Lemon Tart GIF featuring toasted and untoasted meringue.

Clean Subjects: Remove Blemishes & Imperfections.

With every photoshoot I do, I take my images into Photoshop and spend a few minutes cleaning the subjects an backgrounds to ensure my shots imperfection and blemish-free.

It’s one of the easiest ways to use Photoshop for retouching food photography that’ll give great results.

Not because food is perfect always, but imperfections and blemishes can be distracting. For me, removing those distractions allows one to really immerse themselves in the food and the story being told.

Just look at how a few minutes of cleaning in Photoshop can take an image to a whole new level!

Cleaning little blemishes and imperfections in mini bunt cakes, and removing the hand.

Touching up scratches on thrift store glassware to remove those distractions.

Build the Perfect Image with Compositing.

Many commercial images are created by putting multiple images together as one. Some shots are not possible without compositing images together in Photoshop.

Especially in beverage photography.

Being able to capture movement in multiple shots, different lighting, apertures & DOF, as well as focus stacking can allow you to create photos that aren’t possible otherwise.

The shot was built with a composite technique in Photoshop.

Remove Reflections & Distractions.

Being able to remove distractions and relations from food photography again can allow the viewer to focus on the beauty of your food.

It’s the little things that can really turn a photo into something stunning.

Using a combination of cleaning and removal tools, you can remove any reflections. In wine glasses, spoons, metal props – you name it!

Removing the reflection/highlight on the main garnish in the hero drink.

Removing reflections in wine glasses.

Remove Large & Complex Objects.

Photography is about problem-solving. Photoshop allows you to problem solve when you have challenges on set.

On one photoshoot on location, a car pulled up behind the hero pour shot. I ended up shooting a $35 dessert with a huge orange car in the background.

Thanks to Photoshop, I could remove this large object in minutes (not hours) and make it look like it was never even there!

Removing large objects such as this orange car in the background (what poor timing!)

Remove entire subjects with ease and being able to choose the best tools for the job.

This way to use Photoshop for retouching has been by far the handiest to help me complete many client shoots over the years.

Change the Colour of Food, Ingredients & Subjects.

In a niche where colour is so important, being able to tweak and adjust colour for the perfect concept or client work is important.

I’ve been asked to change the colour of a lot of things in client work, from mac ‘n’ cheese, to backgrounds, to plates, fresh fruit…the list goes on.

Let’s take a look at some of the times that I’ve changed colour in my work.

Change the colour of anything!

Isolate the colour you want to change using selection methods for seamless colour changes.

Touch up Colours for Evenness.

As well as changing colour, there are times when fresh produce, for example, doesn’t have perfect or even colouring. Photoshop gives you the ability to be able to touch up colour.

Just like this:

Although it’s subtle, there is touch up of colour for WB and skin colour changes.

Sculpt Light & Perfect Contrast For Impact.

One way that I am focusing on taking my lighting to the next level is to focus on sculpting light and enhancing contrast in Photoshop.

Part of shaping light happens in editing. It’s true. That’s a secret people don’t often talk about. That doesn’t mean that you can perfect poor lighting in post, it means you focus on crafting your light in camera and in post.

This cabbage leaf shot has to have strong lighting. Enhanced in Photoshop.

Backlighting being enhanced in Photoshop.

Straighten Lines & Shape Objects.

Distortion happens, rocked lines happen. It’s a pet peace for most photographers.

Although you’ll most likely want to correct this in-camera if you can, you can also rely on a few tools and techniques in Photoshop to straighten lines and shape objects.

Don’t let those crocked lines bother you anymore! Straighten anything in Photoshop.

Extend & touch up backgrounds.

Last but certainly not least, if you don’t have the perfect sized backgrounds, you can simply extend them in Photoshop.

As well as touching them up to remove unwanted blemishes and distractions.

Extend any small backgrounds in minutes using a few methods in Photoshop.

If you’re excited to learn from of these techniques and learn easy Photoshop retouching using simple techniques that will get you results in just minutes, check out my online training Retouching Food Photography.

Which of these ways to use Photoshop to retouch food photography are you most excited about?

The post 10 Ways to Use Photoshop to Retouch Food Photography appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

How & Why to Use Back Button Focus For Food Photographers

Thu, 26 Mar 2020 01:58:16 GMT

A few years back, Matt Korinek and I switched to using back button focus and it changed the way both of us photograph.

Technology does change so I can’t say that I would never stop using this feature, but from now on, I always want my focus to be independent of the shutter release.

Right now, back button focus works best for me. Here’s a quick post on why you’ll want to consider using it to and how to set it up!

Let’s firstly cover what back button focus is.

What is Back Button Focus?

On most cameras on the back of the camera, on the side in which the shutter release button is, you’ll most likely find a button called AF-ON.

The AF-ON button is our back button focus.

Back button focus is when we reassign the autofocus function from the shutter button (which is usually the default) and assign it to the AF-ON button on the back of the camera.

This means that instead of using the shutter release button to autofocus your shots, you will now use the AF-ON on the back of the camera.

Usually, the workflow is that you will have your index finger on the shutter release button to take the capture, and your thumb on the AF-ON button to autofocus just before you’re about to take the shot.

Why Use Back Button Focus For Food Photos?

There are a number of reasons that you would use back button focus in food photography, but the main reason is to:

Make focusing independent of the shutter release for control.

You want control over when the camera focuses and when the camera does not focus. That’s why we use back button focus.

It’s about control. control over when the camera focuses and when the camera doesn’t focus

Because lists are so much easier to read let’s get a list of reasons why back button focus rocks!

Having the focus independent of the shutter release for control.
Making each button responsible for ONE FUNCTION, either capture or autofocus.
Having independent functions prevents having to constantly refocus.
Or the worst yet, mistakenly focusing instead of capture.
You don’t have to switch between AF-C (Nikon) AI Servo AF (Canon) and AF-S (Nikon) One-Shot AF (Canon). You can keep your camera on AF-C but use it like AF-S by not using AF-ON to refocus.
You don’t have to turn off autofocus if you want to use manual focus. Simply manually adjust the lens instead and the shutter release won’t refocus.

What is showing on the screen is when the shutter release button BOTH captures an image AND autofocuses. This can trigger mistakenly autofocusing.

If you need to learn more about auto-focus modes read this post.

How Does Back Button Focus Help When Photographing Food?

The biggest reason I use back button focus is that I want control. Control over being able to tell the camera when to focus.

It is true that with back button focus, it’s very helpful with moving subjects that need control and continual autofocus.

But a lot of the time with still life photography, it’s still! Does this still apply?

The answer is yes!

If we think about macro photography and the plane of focus/DoF, getting precise focus is crucial in getting an in-focus shot.

By using the shutter release button as the autofocus, you risk not having as much control over where the camera focuses. Now you can turn off autofocus and use manual focus, but with back button focus you don’t have to.

It’s so important in macro photography that you have control over your focus.

But I Tether or Focus Through Software!

There are so many ways we can focus these days! I too will focus other ways like manual focus, touch screen focus or focus in tethering software.

However, there are times when I am close to my camera whilst tethering to fix something in my scene and I will want to take a few quick shots to check focus or composition or lighting etc.

It’s quicker for my workflow to not have to mess around with focus if I don’t have to. So not allowing the shutter release to accidentally refocus somewhere I don’t want it to makes me able to focus on my composition or lighting.

How to Set Up Back Button Focus

Nikon, Canon and Sony all call their back buttons AF-ON which makes this super easy.

What you want to locate is your Autofocus options from the custom menu options. Look for a way to select ‘AF-ON‘ or ‘Autofocus shutter release off’.

If you can’t locate how to do it, take a look in the comments. I’m happy to help you find where to get this set up!

Set-up on Nikon Cameras

On the Z6 and many other Nikon models, here is how you set up back button focus.

Open your custom menu settings, usually by hitting the ‘menu button’.
Select Autofocus settings
Select AF activation, then select AF-ON only
Your back button focus is now ready to use!

Set-up on Canon Cameras

Open your Custom Functions Menu
Select Custom Controls, set the shutter button to ‘metering start’
Set the AF-ON button to ‘metering and AF start’

What my Pal Joanie Simon from The Biteshot set up back button focus on her Canon camera over on her YouTube channel (at minute 11 for those in a hurry!).

Set-up on Sony Cameras

Click on the Menu button
In the first Menu Tab scroll over to screen “AF2” screen
Scroll down to “AF w/shutter” and set that to “Off”

Do you use back button focus? If not, are you excited to get it set up? Let me know in the comments below.

The post How & Why to Use Back Button Focus For Food Photographers appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

Best Food Photography Focal Lengths For Cropped Sensor Cameras

Mon, 24 Feb 2020 03:00:00 GMT

This is the last post in a series of posts about focal lengths in food photography. You can read more about 35mm, 50mm, 85mm & 105mm focal lengths

If you have a cropped sensor camera, lens and focal length advice is a little different for you. Let’s first cover what a cropped sensor is and then get into the two lenses I recommend using.

We have two types of cameras, full-frame and cropped sensor. The difference is that they have sized sensors. This affects how focal length appears due to the ‘cropped’ nature of the sensor.

What is A Cropped Sensor Camera?

A cropped sensor is essentially a smaller sensor (than a full-frame) and gets its name from what is known as the ‘crop factor’.

There are different ‘crop factors’ in cropped sensor cameras.

It means that if you are shooting the same scene as someone who has a full-frame, your image is going to be ‘cropped’.

This means you’ll be able to fit less in the frame at the same distance. Let’s see this visually.

Each brand of camera has a different ‘crop value’, so lenses will look slightly different between brands.

See the difference between what you would see in a full-frame camera to a cropped sensor?

Lens Focal Length Advice is Different For Cropped Sensors

This ‘crop factor’ is the reason why lens advice is different for cropped sensor cameras.

Because cropped sensor cameras have a smaller sensor, the actual focal length won’t be the same as on a full-frame.

To make this easier, let’s look at some examples of focal lengths:

35mm = 52.5mm on a cropped sensor
50mm = 75mm on a cropped sensor
85mm = 127.5mm on a cropped sensor
105mm = 157.5mm on a cropped sensor

Now you can see from the above that the change in how focal length appears will change the lens advice.

As cropped sensor owners often get left out, I wanted to share the two focal lengths I recommend you look at getting for your food photography.

35mm For Flatlays & Overhead Shots

Firstly, this advice is based on the fact that you own a cropped sensor camera and don’t have plans to upgrade to a full-frame in the near future (or ever upgrade at all!)

The first recommendation for focal length for cropped sensor cameras is the 35mm.

On a cropped sensor, the 35mm will act like a 50mm focal length. This is good for overhead shots and flatlays.

If you ever did upgrade to a full-frame, it wouldn’t be a lens that you’d use much for food photography other than photographing restaurants. It’s also not a super cheap option, but if you take care of it, you can always sell it.

The angle of view at 35mm focal length on a full frame.

On a cropped sensor, the 35mm becomes a 50mm focal length.

60mm For 45-degree Shots

The second recommendation is the 60mm. Now I am making a distinction between the 50mm and 60mm focal lengths.

With a 60mm, you are shooting at the equivalent of 90mm focal length (close to the 105mm focal length in this series). This focal length is great for 45-degree shots.

The reason I like to advise the 60mm over the 50mm is that the 60mm focal length comes in a macro lens.

That means you can get that great blur that complements the 45-degree shots. You’ll be able to get up close to your food and get those lovely macro food detail shots.

If you were only going to get two lenses for photographing food and you have a cropped sensor, these two focal lengths would be what I recommend.

Do you have a cropped sensor? Which lenses do you use the most?

The post Best Food Photography Focal Lengths For Cropped Sensor Cameras appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

When to Use The 105mm Focal Length in Food Photography

Sun, 23 Feb 2020 23:00:00 GMT

This is the fourth post in a series about focal length for food photography. Check out the other posts in this series, 35mm, 50mm & 85mm.

I distinctly remember a certain point in my food photography journey that I wasn’t capturing the shots that I wanted to at 45-degree angles.

So I sat down with my husband Matt, and we tried to figure out why. Long story short, I was wanting to create images that were likely shot with a 100 – 105mm focal length (also known as a narrow macro lens).

This narrow macro lens is a staple in any food photographer’s kit. Here are why I love it and a few drawbacks.

Beautiful Shallow Depth of Field (DoF)

The 100 – 105mm focal length is usually a macro lens. The reason this is important is that it gives a shallow depth of field.

The way that aperture and DoF work has a lot to do with the distance between the lens and the subject. Because a macro lens has a small minimum focusing distance, we can get up close to our subjects.

This creates that beautiful blur that a lot of us get into digital photography for.

Apertures of f/5.6-f/8 are still quite shallow, which means the larger apertures can give us even less DoF if we wish. It’s beautiful for food portraiture shots.

Larger apertures on a narrow focal length lens have even more mix of blur and DoF.

105mm Focal Length is Best for 45-Degree Shots

The lenses of the 105mm focal length really shine at the 45-degree angle (or similar angles). Part of that has to do with the fact that this narrow focal length can remove perspective distortion that we’d see with wide-angle lenses at similar distances.

We also typically see a nice mix of blur and tack-sharp focus with this lens that forces the viewer to focus on the main recipe, hero food or details that tell our food story.

45-degrees is the perfect angle to show both the detailed glass and the garnish

This angle shows the gorgeous inside texture but also the pattern on top of the Caneles.

Get Close With Macro Minimum Focusing Distance

The real beauty of narrow focal lengths with a macro lens is that they have small minimum focusing distances. This means we can get up close and personal with our food.

Macro shots get us much closer than other lenses, especially narrow lenses. You won’t be able to get as close as you can with the 85mm as you can with the 105mm focal length (or 100mm equivalent).

At close proximity to subjects, we are really trying to focus on the details of food. It is therefore important that our shots are in focus. DoF is usually very shallow at close up shots, and focus technique is imperative.

The short minimum focus can allow us to get really close to our food. Have you ever seen vanilla seeds bursting through the skin like this?

Macro Food Shots Are Great For Sharing Food’s Details

Macro shots are a key part of telling a food story. You’ll often see a details shot (macro shot) in a diptych that helps viewers to understand the food they are seeing.

If you think about why you love certain foods, chances are there are certain details that you love. Like the texture of pecan nuts. Toasted merging swirls. The luscious lines of dulce de leche.

Macro shots can give us that instant understanding of what the food would feel like as we devour it! How do you feel when you look at these shots?

Narrow Macros Are Hard to Shoot With in Small Spaces

Many food photographers start their journey with photography by shooting food at home. It’s highly likely that you know exactly how it feels to be shooting in the most random of places in your house. Most of them with your back against the wall, trying to get more space in.

I started food photography in a small one-bedroom apartment. The living area doubled as our lounge and TV area, dining, home office and food photography setups.

If you have little space in which to move your setup or tripod, this lens can be a challenge. If you’re shooting with a cropped sensor camera, then you are even more prohibited by space.

At the 105mm focal length, I need to make sure I have enough room to move back if I need more in my angle of view.

Size And Weight Can Tough to Steady. A Tripod Needed.

Generally, the narrower a focal length, the heavier the associated lens. The 105mm lens is not the heaviest lens I’ve used for photography, but it is a decent weight and size if you’re trying to do macro photography and you don’t have the steadiest of hands!

Yes, you can use VR, but as someone with shaky hands, it’s still a challenge to get in-focus shots. Let along taking the plane of focus into account.

I find the best results with shooting food photography come from using the lens on a tripod. Which can limit your creative exploration when it comes to composition.

Not a Focal Length Most Cropped Sensor Uses Will Shoot At.

If you shoot with a full-frame, I highly recommend the 100 – 105mm focal length. If you shoot with a cropped sensor, then it’s more of a conversation.

To put it simply, 100 – 105mm focal length on a cropped sensor is super tight. Usually too tight to tell a food story and a real challenge for composition.

I do highly recommend having a macro and narrow focal length to photograph food. For cropped sensor uses (who are unlikely to upgrade to a full-frame, now or in the future), then you might want to consider getting the 60mm macro (90mm equivalent).

RELATED: Best Focal Lengths in Food Photography For Cropped Sensor Cameras

Do you enjoy using narrow focal lengths such as the 100 – 105mm focal length?

The post When to Use The 105mm Focal Length in Food Photography appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

Pros & Cons of The 85mm Focal Length in Food Photography

Sun, 23 Feb 2020 05:00:00 GMT

This is the third post in a series about focal length for food photography. Check out the other posts in this series, 35mm, 50mm & 105mm.

The 85mm focal length is considered a portrait focal length. So can you use it for food photography and what are the results? That’s what we’ll discover in this post.

It goes without saying that my 85mm lens is one of my favourites. Perhaps because I prefer a minimalist style when it comes to food photography. It helps me to cut out the noise and focus on the most important elements of any food story I tell.

Here are some of the pros and cons of this much-beloved food portraiture lens.

Portrait Lens

The 85mm focal length is desired the most by portrait and wedding photographers. Its narrow focal length, large maximum aperture and minimum focusing distance are all targeted at shooting portrait subjects.

Food photography is not considered a portrait niche, but for me, food portraiture is a style that I gravitate towards.

I like to use this lens as I can capture a ‘portrait’ of the food and a few supporting elements to tell a food story. For me, this lens helps me showcase the hero food, making it the undeniable star in the frame.

I love cutting out the noise and focusing just on the beauty of the subject.

This focal length helps cut down on space to fill with subjects.

Large Maximum Aperture

The maximum aperture on the 85mm lens is shallow. With an aperture of 1.4-1.8, there are two important benefits to this lens.

You have the ability to capture a very large aperture and hence shallow depth of field. This also allows for more light to fall onto the camera’s sensor assisting food photographers shooting indoors in low light situations.

Although I tend not to shoot this shallow, and it’s really designed for those blurry background portrait shots, it’s definitely a nice to have feature.

Is A Tight Focal Length Aids Minimalist Composition

The 85mm focal length is considered a narrow focal length. The opposite of a wide-angle focal length, you’ll find that using this lens captures a very tight crop.

And that tight crop aids minimalist composition. By cutting out the extra space in which to build composition, you’re left with little space (hence cutting out the noise).

When there is less space in the frame, we need less food and props to build our composition. For me, this lens aids the minimalist composition that I love. Even with just one or two props, we can make out shots look aesthetically pleasing and have organic movement.

There isn’t much room to fill it with unnecessary props or elements. It helps me create powerful images that are somewhat minimal.

Can Reduce Perspective Distortion

Distortion is something that happens to ‘distorts’ or ‘deforms’ our image.

Have you ever looked at a photo and felt ‘something doesn’t feel right’? Like the food at the edge of the frame appeared to be ‘falling out’ or ’tilting’?

Perspective distortion has to do with the relative perspective of the subject to the camera and the focal length of the lens you’re using.

Perspective distortion with your wide angle lens will occur when you try to get up close to the subject.

The size of your subject will look disproportionally large compared to the background. This is what causes distortion.

The solution for this is instead of using a wide-angle lens and getting up close to your subject, you use a narrow lens and get further away.

Shot with a wide focal length, there is distortion when shooting up close to the subject.

Using a narrow focal length removes the distortion for a more perfect view.

85mm Focal Length & Minimum Focusing Distance

The major drawback of this lens is that its minimum focusing distance is rather large for food photography. With a minimum focusing distance of around 2.8 ft or 85cm, you can’t get up close to your subjects.

That’s where you will start to use a macro lens.

There are often times where I set up the tripod with my 85mm lens, only to find that I can’t focus due to the minimum focusing distance. This usually impacts the shoot if I need to take a shot up close, and I need to switch lenses.

On occasion, I will have to abandon the lens altogether as the minimum focusing distance prevents me from shooting the desired crop.

Shot with my 85mm. Due to the minimum focusing distance, I couldn’t get the closer shot I envisioned.

It instead had to be taken with a narrow macro instead.

Do you use the 85mm focal length? What are your thoughts on it?

The post Pros & Cons of The 85mm Focal Length in Food Photography appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

Why The 50mm Focal Length is So Great For Food Photography.

Sun, 23 Feb 2020 02:00:00 GMT

This is the second post in a series about focal length for food photography. Check out the other posts in this series, 35mm, 85mm & 105mm.

The 50mm focal length is one that many of us start using because it’s considered a ‘great all-rounder’. We’ll get into what that means in a little more detail shortly.

There are also a variety of different lenses you can buy in the 50mm category. With a variety of maximum apertures which dictate the price of the lens.

The Great All-Rounder

Why is the 50mm considered a good all-round lens?

The simplest answer is that the 50mm focal length is equivalent to ‘what our eyes see’. It can easily be used to capture a range of angles including overhead, straight on and 45-degree without experiencing too much perspective distortion.

It’s also a lens that is suitable for a range of different niches. From travel and landscape photography to weddings and portraits, street photography and still life.

What I love the most about the 50mm is that if I needed to pack one lens for a trip where I knew I was capture ‘happy snaps’, travel shots and food, this focal length would be able to adapt.

50mm is a Great Focal Length For Flatlays & Overhead Shots

When it comes to finding the hero angle for 50mm focal length, there are two angles that stand out the most:

Overhead
Straight-on

Note: You can still introduce perspective distortion as it depends on your distance from the subject. But you will get less with the 50mm than the 35mm focal lengths for still life.

50mm is not too wide, but not too tight. So it’s a great in-between focal length when you’re just starting out and you’re not sure what your style is.

Overhead and straight on shots can be easy to compose if you are new to composition or are trying new composition techniques.

The 50mm focal length is so adaptable. You can get closer or higher to fit as much as you need into your flatlay shot.

Tell a Food Story With the 50mm Focal Length

Most food photographers get into food photography not just for the food, but the whole story behind our food. Think back to the time when you first discovered food photography existed.

Were you captivated by a food scene? I know I was.

Still, life is about adding elements to tell a story, and the 50mm focal length for food photography gives us a good amount of space in which to play with our foodie subjects.

It’s my go-to focal length for telling a food story with more elements.

Helps Negative Space & Text Constraints

If you’re shooting client work or have text constraints that you need to work around, the 50mm can give you enough breathing room to account for text.

It’s, therefore, a great focal length for client and magazine work.

Even if a client wants a tight shot, it’s worth getting a shot of the setup with the 50mm so there is more room to crop for different orientations and aspect ratios that we need to with blog templates, website headers and assets, plus social media needs.

I’ll bet you have a 50mm lens! Tell me in the comments if I’m right?!

The post Why The 50mm Focal Length is So Great For Food Photography. appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

When To Use a 35mm Focal Length in Food Photography

Sat, 22 Feb 2020 23:00:00 GMT

This is the first post in a series of posts about focal length for food photography. Read more about the 50mm, 85mm & 105mm focal length here.

The 35mm focal length was a lens that I acquired later in my food photography journey once I had a few other lenses. It’s considered a wide-angle focal length.

We mostly decided to get this lens for travel. But you’ll hear a lot of food photographers talk about it being a good lens for our niche. While that’s not an incorrect statement, it’s not the whole truth either (it’s a good option for cropped sensors, not full frames).

Now, there is an element of personal preference here but there are two occasions I think the 35mm works well. Let’s look at those.

Capturing Food Events & Restaurant Scenes

I’m mostly a ‘narrow shooter’, meaning that I like to photograph food with narrow focal lengths. But I did take my 35mm lens with me to most on-location shoots for restaurants, cafes and events.

If you’ve shot in restaurants, you’ll know that they can be tight! Especially if there is low light and you don’t have a flash, you’re more than likely shooting with a tripod.

The 35mm focal length is good for capturing the ambience of restaurants and cafes. I mostly used it for interiors and ambience. The idea was to show visually what the space and feel were like to potential diners online.

Typically I would shoot with a more narrow focal length to capture the restaurant dishes and food items.

When You Need More Space For Super Large Flatlays

You might recall that I mentioned the 50mm focal length is the best for flatlays. I still stand by that, but there are occasions where I have used a 35mm.

Typically when I am capturing very large flatlays like this green and white vegetable flatlay.

It’s not my go-to focal length and I will try to either get higher with my 50mm rather than use the 35mm. The reason that I’d try that first is we can get perspective distortion with the 35mm focal length for shots like this.

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What is GREAT COLOUR in food photography? ♥♥ There are so many ways to use colour in an image, from the composition stage all the way through to the editing stage. Colour captures our attention, it makes us feel emotions, seasonality and evokes memories. ☆ It's so universal but so unique. ☆ Colour isn't just about well colour at the surface level. There is a difference between good colour and accurate colour. The hue, tone and luminance can all change how we perceive a story. ☆ With #LightroomMagic's makeover, I'm going to be sharing the 9+ ways you can ENHANCE, ADD + ALTER colour with my #CrazyAboutHue series. . . . . . #eatyourgreens #eatyourcolors #eatyourveggies #tablesituation #foodandflatlay #flatlayforever #flatlay #todays_simplicity #still_life_gallery #mytablesituation #lifeandthyme #onmytable #thefeedfeed #realsimple #beautifulcuisines #makeitdelicious #bestofvegan #thechalkboardeats #plantfood #bastaff #gloobyfood #platedpictures #colorpop #f52grams #veggie #greenveggies #learnfoodphotography #foodstylist

A post shared by Rachel Korinek (@twolovesstudio) on Oct 4, 2018 at 6:00am PDT

Don’t Get Up Close Due to Distortion

The biggest drawback with the 35mm for shooting food is that you can’t get up-close without the shot looking weird and distorted.

We have perspective distortion to thank for that.

Because the 35mm is a wide-angle, it’s meant to be used for wide-angle scenes. So when we try to get up close to our food, we get perspective distortion.

If you’re shooting with a full-frame, don’t rely on this focal length for taking up-close shots.

This is what it looks like to get up close with the 35mm.

You can see the distortion when shot with a narrow lens and compared.

35mm Focal Length is a Good Length For Journalistic Food Photography

Even though we can see more perspective distortion with this focal length, it is good at capturing journalistic type photography.

So if your style is more towards the journalistic feel, then this perspective can be a nice touch. I know photographers who like using the 35mm to get a little bit of distortion because it adds something unique to their work.

I don’t like to give hard and fast rules as that doesn’t always allow room for creativity. So just know that distortion is something we can see with still life and food photography at the 35mm focal length.

And if you choose to use that to your advantage, then good for you!

The post When To Use a 35mm Focal Length in Food Photography appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

8 Tips For Embracing Low Light Food Photography.

Wed, 13 Nov 2019 08:01:56 GMT

When we start to learn photography, we learn that light is everything. We find that our lighting isn’t very good and we discover that more light equals better photos.

We strive so much for more and better light, that we can lose sight of what ‘better’ means.

Low light food photography can be stunning. In fact, I think it’s my favourite type of lighting.

But if you’re not a lighting whiz, low lighting can seem like an impossible task. Especially when you are faced with low light in the winter months that you can’t control.

I want you to take some tips away and be inspired by how powerful low light or small light sources can be. If you want to learn more about lighting, grab my ebook on natural light – Art of Light.

Get Closer To The Light Source For Brighter Images

In my ebook Art of Light, I talk about the ‘sweet spot’ to shoot in with natural light.

The distance in which you are from your light source will change the power of your light. If you need more power, you get closer to the light source.

This works both on the horizontal and verticle planes.

In low light, if you are shooting images that have to be on the brighter side, you will want to be closer to the light source.

To learn more about the dynamics of light and where to find the sweet spot, grab your copy of Art of Ligh t.

GET MY E-BOOK

3 Behind the Scenes Natural Light Setups

I NEED THESE!

Light Fall-off Can Be Used To Create A Moody Atmosphere

Now that we just talked about getting closer to the source of light for brighter photos, I wanted to take a moment to also call out that it can be nice to get further away too.

There isn’t always hard and fast rules in photography and it does depend on what you are trying to create.

If you are going for moody shots with more atmosphere and you’d like to fill the scene with shadows or blacks, make use of ‘light fall-off’.

There is a point where your distance from the light source will cause beautiful light fall-off. That point depends on your distance and size of light source.

This is the technique that I used in this image – and it’s beautiful. Who said that low light isn’t the best for shooting food?

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#DarkFoodWednesday with @stylesweetdaily's gorgeous creations.⁣ ☆⁣ What I LOVE the most about shooting in different spaces, is seeing different light. I turned around after shooting another cake and saw just the most amazing potential in this light.⁣ ☆⁣ Even though this light is mysterious, I also find it very inviting. I love how it picks up the details and shapes in the icing. Featured is the Butterscotch Banana Cake & Mini Mocha Cakes #IcingOnTheCakeBook⁣ .⁣ .⁣ .⁣ .⁣ .⁣ .⁣ .#f52grams #feedfeed #eater #still_life_gallery #foodflatlay #thebiteshot #foodbloggerpro #foodphotographer #vancouverphotographer #tv_living #stilllifegallery #tablesituation #lifeandthyme #eattheworld #foodstyling #droolclub #bhgfood #mycommontable #eatyourcolors #foodstyle #darkfoodphoto #lightroomtutorials #lightroomedits #vzcomood #nikoncanada #meandmymanfrotto #cakeoftheday #wsbakeclub

A post shared by Rachel Korinek (@twolovesstudio) on Apr 3, 2019 at 7:15am PDT

Don’t Fall Into Low ISO Traps

ISO is oversimplified when we first learn photography. We learn that you should keep your ISO low to reduce noise. While this isn’t incorrect, it paralyses most photographers.

We dare not increase our ISO over 400, or sometimes even 200. This is a trap. I once had someone comment on my Instagram why I would dare raise my ISO over 200.

Solely focusing on keeping our ISO low and not using it to help us get optimal exposure when all else fails can introduce other issues into our images like noise or motion blur.

The trap in just trying to limit ISO and not taking into account your exposure triangle to get optimum exposure is that you can introduce even more noise into the image.

If you correctly exposure when using an ISO beyond low or base ISO, you will be better off than shooting at low ISO and relying on exposure compensations in post-production.

This is quite an in-depth area, so an Ultimate Post on ISO is coming.

ISO 4000, f/2.8, 1/125 sec

Shoot A Super Slow Shutter Speed

I just want to say this out loud because when I started photography I didn’t really know that I could shoot so low. It’s like I needed someone to tell me that it was ok.

If you shoot on a tripod and take steps to reduce camera shake, you can shoot with a very, very slow shutter speed. Lik1 1/3 sec. Legit.

Here are some shots I took with natural light and the slow shutter speed.

ISO 200, f/5, 1/4 sec

ISO 400, f/4.5, 0.4 sec

Steps to reduce camera shake are:

Shoot with a steady tripod. Sandbag it to help make it stable.
Use a remote shutter release or capture on your tethering program to help reduce the impact of pressing the shutter button.
Use the timer if you don’t have a remote release.
Try to limit the amount of movement onset if you have bouncy floors when the shot is being taken.
Play with VR on/off if your lens has this function. Sometimes on a tripod, it can create shake.

If you’re experience issues with focus or camera shake, go through these 14 focus troubleshooting tips.

ISO 200, f/8, 1/10 sec

Small Sources Can Creative Beautiful Low Light Food Photography

A lot of photographers write off small light sourses, but they can be really beautiful. Especially when capturing a winter scene that is moody.

These are some shots that I took with light coming through small windows.

Small South-West Facing Window that backs onto a wall and produces low light.

ISO 160, f/4.5, 0.4 sec

The things to remember with smaller windows is that there will be less available light than larger windows. That is neither good or bad. It just is. What is most powerful though is that it matches the mood and concept you are wanting to shoot.

Tips for utilising smaller light sources are:

Know your Inverse Square Law and get close to your light source.
You’ll have less ‘wrap’ so you will have deeper shadows.
What your histograms to make sure you aren’t clipping your blacks/shadows.
Use the exposure triangle to exposure for your desired mood.

Use Your Phone Flashlight To Help Auto-Focus

If you rely on autofocus or you like to use autofocus, it can be hard for your lens to autofocus in low light.

A quick solution is to use a flashlight to help you focus on the area in your image that you desire to be the focal point. Since you likely have your phone on you, it’s quick and easy to use this feature on your iPhone.

Read this post about the 4 iPhone Features You Didn’t Know Could Improve Your Photography.

The flashlight on the iPhone

Don’t Clip Your Blacks

Clipping your blacks refers to shooting underexposed to the extent that you lose data in your RAW files. Here you’ve underexposed so much that you don’t any information in your black tones.

The problem here is that you can’t manipulate these areas in post-production.

Personally, I don’t mind having deep shadows or black areas, but I want to preserve the detail in my shots so that I have full ability to edit my images in programs like Lightroom.

In my masterclass, Lightroom Magic, I teach how to read your Histogram and how to avoid clipping.

My best advice is to make sure you are capturing the optimum exposure for your concept/mood/creative direction and avoid unintentional clipping where possible.

Masterclass

Learn How to Edit in Lightroom Like a Pro

I’M SO DOWN!

Shooting With Side Light is Easier in Low Light

In low light food photography, you are most likely going to be shooting backlight or side-light. Both are beautiful types of lighting.

Backlighting works best when there is more available light. As your subject is in between the camera and the light source, you may find that your shots are naturally darker. You either need to modify your lighting or change your exposure using the exposure triangle.

This can be challenging if you are doing low light food photography.

If you’re finding it too dark, use the light from the side to light your scene.

Light is coming from the left side of the frame.

Light source is to the side of the setup to create side lighting.

Don’t be afraid of low light. It can actually be so beautiful that once you start shooting it, you’ll wonder why you didn’t start earlier!

The post 8 Tips For Embracing Low Light Food Photography. appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

Content-Aware: My Favourite Photoshop Tool for Retouching

Thu, 19 Sep 2019 19:00:21 GMT

This is kinda a big call, right? How can you have one tool that you like the most in such a powerful program like Photoshop?

Well, I will tell you how. This tool has superpowers. It’s more like a technique or a method that can be used in multiple tools,
(yep, see – superpowers).

And that tool/technique is Content-Aware.

READ: Naturally Retouch Food Photography Without Being A Photoshop Expert.

What is Content-Aware? A Tool That Helps Blend/Touch Up Objects.

Content-Aware is a function in Photoshop that helps to create seamless blending with food photography retouching. Key here being seamless. One of the biggest reasons that retouching looks fake is that the edges aren’t blended or seamless. That’s the deal-breaker in making a subject look like it belongs in an image.

This tool has undergone some overhaul in the last couple of updates of Photoshop CC and now has better algorithms to sample information to create adjustments.

What does Content-Aware Do? It Seamlessly Blends.

Simply, it analyses nearby content, (the sample area), to combine information of your selected areas to blend into surrounding content.

What that means is that when you use this function, it will sample data in your layers to create a match. That match aims at giving seamless blending for removal or touchup of objects/areas.

Why Do I Love This Tool? It’s Versatile.

Content-Aware functions allow us to remove unwanted objects in our images. Key to taking our images to the next level by removing unsightly distractions.

By getting a viewer to focus on the things we want them too, rather than distractions, we can provide them with a much more pleasant experience

Did you know that Content-Aware shows up in quite a few tools in Adobe Photoshop CC? This is the reason that I love it.

Which tools have Content-Aware?

Content-Aware pops up in surprisingly a lot of tools that you might already know of or be using. You can find Content-Aware in:

The Patch Tool, Content-Aware Fill, Fill, Spot Healing Brush Tool, Content-Aware Move Tool.

Cool huh – I know right.

And this is super important. Only about half the time does a tool work fully for what you want. The other half of the time you need to use a combination of tools.

The reason why I love Content-Aware is that it’s a technique for removal and blending that can be found in multiple tools. Because some tools work better in given situations than others I can still have access to this seamless way to blend in a tool that I know is going to work for my situation.

Let’s check out some examples.

‘Create Texture’ method vs a ‘Content-Aware’ method.

Here we have spot removal with a ‘Create Texture’ method vs a ‘Content-Aware’ method. You can see that the blemish removal is more seamless with the Content-Aware function. Even the small things matter for natural-looking food photography retouching.

You’ll notice on the right in the circle, the Create Texture removal didn’t quite work as seamlessly as with Content-Aware.

Need to move a garnish? Well, this technique can help you to do that and make sure that you have a seamless blend to surrounding areas. We want it to look like it was shot this way.

Seamlessly move objects/subjects to new areas in the frame with Content-Aware.

Changing how Content-Aware samples the areas around your selection analyses can also help you customise the best blending settings. It can make the difference between those edges being perfection vs feeling like they have been poorly retouched.

Without the correct selection and settings customisation, we can end up with something that looks wrong like in the shot of the right.

Seamless colour and structure blending on the left looks much more natural.

I’m excited to share how you too can use Content-Aware functions in a range of tools in Photoshop for retouching. I’m having a free training coming up at the end of the month, so be sure to sign up to get notified.

Free Photoshop Training Coming This month!

unsubscribe or leave at any time. I’m cool with that.

The post Content-Aware: My Favourite Photoshop Tool for Retouching appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

Naturally Retouch Food Photography Without Being A Photoshop Expert

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 22:01:30 GMT

Photoshop is one of the most powerful programs creatives have access to.

The scope of the program is so expansive that photographers are known to be overwhelmed and intimidated. People make careers out of being professional retouchers, and it can seem at times like the rest of us don’t stand a chance.

But you don’t need to be a Photoshop expert or know the program like the back of your hand to get natural-looking retouching for your food photography.

Have you ever been slightly terrified that people will zoom in on your retouched area and see a bunch of mistakes or fake-looking brush strokes? I have. It can be debilitating.

Now, I am not the best Photoshop retoucher in the world, (dah, right?), but I have had people swipe left and right on Instagram and NOT EVEN NOTICE the changes I’ve made.

That’s the goal…When you can elevate an image by enhancing key features of your subjects, light and colour and they only revel in how freaking awesome the photo is – you know you’re a natural.

So how does one naturally retouch food photography without being a Photoshop expert?

Let’s look at what you need to know and what you don’t.

Retouch Food Photography: 5 Fundamental Techniques

I believe that just knowing these 5 Photoshop techniques are going to help you take your images to the next level. Help you offer your clients a premium service, and boost your bank account at the same time.

It’s standard in the industry to charge extra for retouching. Editing, colour correcting and toning is usually part of your photography services in providing an image to a client. But that little extra retouching can be upsold to clients.

The most common things that you will come up against in food photography that require Photoshop are the following:

Removal of unwanted objects and reflections
Creating composites
Blemish touch-ups
Straightening and shaping
Colour & Hue Alterations

And a lot of these techniques use the same tools and similar settings. There are a few nuances that we will cover in Retouching Food Photography , but you don’t need to learn a new tool and technique for each group here.

You definitely don’t need to learn Frequency Separation to do fundamental blemish removal in food photography. (If you aren’t sure what Frequency Separation is, let’s just say it’s an advanced Photoshop technique that Pro retouchers would use).

Not being able to change the colour of anything in Photoshop holds photographers back.

10 Tools You Need to Know

It’s on a need to know basis right. There are a lot of powerful things that Photoshop does that you don’t need to know unless you want to.

There is basically one type of brush that you can use that will work for nearly everything you do. You don’t need to learn about the complexity of brushes to get natural food photography results.

Did you know there are approximately 100 tools in Photoshop? And don’t panic, I believe that knowing the top 10 will help you with 99% of your retouching for food photography!

So to get natural-looking results, these are the basics of what you need to know.

Those tools are:

Clone Stamp Tool
Brush Tool
Spot Healing Brush
Healing Brush
Patch Tool
Free Transform
Content-Aware
Puppet Warp
Liquify
Adjustment Layers

Some of the tools that will help you retouch food photography

Know Your Tools

There are a lot of tools in Photoshop, right? Even the brush choices can make us quit the program before we’ve even opened up our Abode Photography CC subscription.

BUT a handful of tools can give you that extra punch you’re after.

Tell me this, do you need to be an expert chef to know that a good-quality, sharp knife can make a difference in cooking a meal? No – it’s a no-brainer. So I don’t need to tell you that I can make a recipe look prettier with the right tools. (Have you ever tried to do food photography in a hotel room kitchen? They usually have a blunt knife and no spatulas).

Using the right tools in Photoshop will help us get better results.

Without the correct selection and settings customisation, we can end up with something that looks wrong like in the shot of the right.

Understand That Texture is Key

One of the issues with learning to retouch food photography from someone who specialises in skin is that we want our skin to be smooth, air-brushed (if you believe what beauty magazines tell us). But food isn’t about that.

Food is textured, it’s dense, it’s grainy, it’s silky smooth. It can be all these things in the one-shot too.

Being able to focus on natural texture helps us enhance food. We’ve then got to match our tools to focus on texture. This is where the Clone Stamp Tool comes in handy. It can help us preserve texture. Flow is another thing that can help us build and keep texture in the right places.

(But be sure to keep in mind the point further down about repetition no-nos).

Keep texture in our food photography is keep for natural

Don’t Polish A Turd

It’s harsh but true. If you don’t start with a good photo, it’s going to be very hard to make it great with retouching. Remember that we are covering how to make Photoshop work for you without being an expert and spending years learning the program.

If you start with poor lighting that creates a flat image, that’s not about retouching. That’s about general editing and photography technique.

What will give you the most leverage to retouch food photography naturally is to have strong and dynamic lighting. There are a few steps that you can take in-camera and on set to make sure you have the strongest shot possible.

Better light always makes photographs look better. Flat light on the left, dynamic light on the right.

Where is Your Light & Shadows Coming From

One thing that is CRUCIAL to natural retouching is knowing where your light and shadows are coming from in your shot.

If something in your image/layers looks like it doesn’t belong in the image it’s likely because the light and shadows don’t match. This is one of the reasons why ‘Photoshopping’ something into an image means that it wasn’t likely there in camera in the first place.

When people say this, they have a negative connotation of Photoshop.

With any alterations that you make, think about how you are selecting your shadows, the variances you have in tonality and the direction of light.

Retouching light into shadow areas looks fake. Simple.

Shit in Means Shit out – Tools Settings Are Like Oven Settings.

Well, guys, it’s official. I think I’ve lost my marbles as I’ve said ‘shit’ and ‘turd’ in the one post… But this is something that has stuck out in my mind since I was at school.

I had a teacher who used to tell us all the time, if you input shit into the program, you’ll get shit spat back out at you. Shit in, shit out.

If you plug crappy (oh yep, it’s flowing today) settings into your tools, you will likely get crappy looking adjustments.

To retouch food photography and get it natural-looking, you need to have optimal settings for things like ‘flow’ and ‘opacity’. Reducing your flow to 10% can make a heck of a lot of difference than when you are using the brush at 100% flow.

Think of it like baking a cake. We need to have the best oven settings to make a fluffy cake. Using the ‘broil’ or ‘grill’ setting would not do this for us. Our Photoshop tools are the same.

Cloning: Repetition Looks Fake

Repetition is a great food photography composition technique, but when it comes to retouching, it might make your images look fake.

If you retouch an area to remove objects, blemishes or complete touch-ups, you don’t want to have a crumb repeated over and over. Or a spot or scratch on a surface.

That creates repeated patterns in the area you are retouching and it looks fake. The key here is to make the best sample selections you can to avoid this showing up.

No fancy settings needed here, just a keen eye to make sure things aren’t looking too matchy-matchy.

Take a closer look and see the repetitious pattern from trying to retouch with a small sampling area.

Layers & Masks

Are key to Photoshop. They make the program and the process what it is.

Even if you feel slightly overwhelmed by layers and masks, or you don’t understand them – they are the foundation of Photoshop.

Using the correct workflow for your layers and masking the areas you want to reveal and conceal can make a huge difference to the natural scale.

Heavy settings and sloppy masking is the fast-track to ‘fakeville’.

Again, think of it like baking a cake. A cake tastes better when we use a little bit of this spice, a little of that, a sprinkle of this. If you dump a whole jar of cinnamon into it, it won’t be as polished.

Learn how to harness the power of layers.

Brushstroke by brushstroke. Building slowly onto your layers and masks.

If you need to become best friends with layers and masks, then I will teach you how to leverage them powerfully in Photoshop with Retouching Food Photography.

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