One of the things I like most about photography is its dynamic nature. Sure, exposure is exposure, but the nuts and bolts of it are meaningless, in that photographers discuss exposure setting about as much as painters discuss their brushes. It’s all about finding the right subject, the right composition, AND the right light. Those three things provide an endless amount of possibilities, only limited by time and imagination.
For me, I spend (or used to spend nights and weekends in the studio, but now, with this being my full-time career, I can do it during the day) a lot of time in the studio shooting wine bottles. But I also get to go outside and shoot houses, wineries, vineyards, and people. And lately, I have combined sameness of the studio with a completely new subject matter—food.
This is where the dynamism of photography some into play for me. Just by changing the subject, my whole approach to lighting and composition must change, and the endless experimentation with these things always pays off in the end. I will admit that, whenever possible, I insist on shooting food in front of a window, where soft yet very natural-looking sunlight is diffused and illuminates the food with a perfect color balance that everyone comes to expect when they see food shots. Get that color wrong, and the food goes from looking delicious to looking like, well, not. And we have all seen those food shots where the food just doesn’t look like it should.
Anyway, I try to shoot my food shots in front of windows, but I realized that that was not always possible, so I have been working on using studio lighting to create the same affect, and it is marvelous to know that, come rain or shine, day or night, I can produce food photography that looks nature, right, and, more importantly, delicious!
Check out more of my food photography here.