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[Book] Food Styling for Photographers

Finally, there is a Food Styling book for Photographers.  I took 2 food styling classes in LA before - the purpose was to understand how food was prepared for the camera and also to see how food photographers setup their lights.  I love food photography and read many popular food blogs with their work.  So when I know this Food Styling for Photographers by Linda Bellingham and Jean Ann Bybee came out, I can’t wait to order a copy and I was very happy after flipping through the book.

1. Intro to Food Styling
2. Sets and Settings
3. Chilling fact on cold beverages
4. Making a Salad for the camera
5. Pasta and Sauces
6. Burgers, Sandwiches, and Beyond
7. Meeting meat head-on
8. Veggie perfect
9. Ice cream for hot light
10. Desserts
11. Breakfast for the camera
12. Garnishing basics

This book gives you many tricks of the trade and notes from photographers with lots of setup photos, both food setup and camera/lighting setup.  The printing quality and the page layout are very good - the font size is easy to read, the color pictures are clear, clean and colorful.  They gives you details on how to buy the food, how to prepare the food, how to assemble the food, how to plate the food, how to decorate the food, etc.  They gives you before, during and final photos. 

I also own Digital Food Photography by Lou Manna and Working with Plate by Christopher Styler and David Lazarus.  In my opinion, if you are interested in food photography, buy Food Styling for Photographyers and Digital Food Photography and you are good to go.  Highly recommend these two books.

Wide Angle Compact Cameras for Realtors

Many Realtors use Camera phones to take photos for their listings; however, the camera on a cell phones still can’t compete with even the point-n-shoot cameras on the market today because camera phones don’t have many control functions so the picture quality is not as good.  Although we carry our cell phone everyday to everywhere we go, we still need to invest in a good compact camera if we want to have better photos.

For Real Estate photos (interior and exterior), wide angle is a must but there are not many compact cameras that come with 24mm wide angle capability.  I did some research, luckily there are four pretty good ones, and two of them are new on the market to choose from.

1. Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3, 24-60mm, $500
2. Canon PowerShot G9 with a Wide Converter, 24-210mm, $600
3. Ricoh Caplio GX100, 24-72mm $440
4. Samsung NV24HD, 24-86mm $350

Update (8/13/08): The newest camera with 24mm wide angle lens is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3.  It has F2.0 24mm ultra-wide-angle Leica lens, Large 3.0 LCD, Raw, HD Video Recording and slideshows, ISO 3200, approx. 2.5 shots per second, Face Detection (up to 15 faces).  Optional items such as Wide Conversion Lens brings the maximum wide angle to 18mm; ND Filter and PL Filter, aluminum External Optical Viewfinder (DMW-VF1),  and the GN22 Compact Flash. If you were consider Canon G9, you might want to take a look this camera because it can do about everything G9 can do and a 24mm lens without converter and under $500.

The second one is the Canon PowerShot G9 with Raynox HD-6600 Pro 58mm Wide Angle Converter, 24-210mm, $620. This is a alternative version of a DSLR because it has features like Raw, AP and TV modes, special scene modes such as aquarium, underwater, kids and pets, color accent and swap.  It has the biggest LCD screen (3.0 inch) among all, hot shoe for external flash, record movies, ISO 3200, f/2.8 to f/4.8, and 12.1-megapixel. A new Face Select and Track function enables the user to manually select and track an individual face from up to 35 faces detected in frame. Other useful features include an in-built ND (Neutral Density) filter, AEB (auto exposure bracketing), focus bracketing and a live histogram display. The only drawback is a littler bigger (4.2 x 2.8 x 1.7 in) and heavier (13.1 oz).

The 3rd one is the Ricoh Caplio GX100, 24-72mm $440.  What I like about is that it comes some features that you normally see in SLRs, including Raw, AE and AP modes, 1 cm macro mode, Exposure bracketing, f/2.5 to f/4.4, and hot shoe for external flash.  If you want wider than 24mm, you can purchase 19mm DW-6 Wide Conversion Lens and HA-2 Adapter.  The best part is that you don’t need to sacrifice your wallet or convenience to have an SLR-like quality camera.  The only drawback is that it’s 10-megapixel images sensor is pretty noisy above ISO 400 but I don’t see it is a problem for Realtors. (Update 08/13/08: New GX200 is 12-megapixel, $599)

The last one is the Samsung NV24HD, 24-86mm $350.  Other than wide angle, its Face Detection technology can detects up to nine faces and automatically adjust focus and exposure to ensure better composition and image quality that makes taking pictures of family and friends a snap.  By utilizing Face Detection technology, it automatically detects the user's face, adjusts focus and exposure, and will only allow a photo to be taken if the subject is centered in the frame.  Additionally it includes the ability to shoot at ISO 3200 and 14 scene modes to choose from -- Night, Portrait, Children, Landscape, Close-Up, Text, Sunset, Dawn, Backlight, Fireworks, Beach & Snow, Café, Food, and Self Portrait.

You can buy these cameras on Amazon.

Flash Photography For Real Estate

I have been looking for a Real Estate Photography workshop since two years ago when I started to become more serious about Photography.  No luck.  I did find a couple of Architectural Photography workshops but they were all out of state and some of them even require previous experience.  Although I did have a Photographer willing to have a private class for me, the class didn’t happen because I couldn’t find seven Realtors who wanted to sign up for it.  It was very discouraging but I was not ready to give it up.  I see that many Realtors and sellers today are widely accepting the fact that Staging is very important for today’s real estate market, and I believe it won’t be long for them to realize that good photos are equally important.  How could you sell a house for more money in the shortest time if buyers can’t see the values of the house from the photos online?

I came across a blog called Photography For Real Estate (PFRE) – the blog owner Larry is based in Seattle and he helps his Realtor wife shoot all of her listing.  His original target readers were other Realtors but recent surveys have shown that the majority were Photographers, which surprised him (I wasn’t surprised).   Then he started the PFRE Flickr group, where people from all over the world could share their experiences and opinions.

Last month I noticed that he is going to have a one-day flash light photography for real estate with Photographer Scott Hargis and Thomas Grubba in Seattle in April -- I signup right away.  I know that using multiple flash lights will be more efficient, easy to carry and setup, and also more economical than using a softbox.

There was a cocktail gathering the night before the workshop for people to meet and chat, especially since some people already “know” each other from all their Flickr discussions.  We had 30 people coming from all over the country for this workshop (two from Canada), 4 females and I am guessing that more than 2/3 were Photographers.

The day of workshop started at 8am for breakfast where organizer Ron Kenney told us the schedule.  Basically we will carpool to a model home in a newly built community.  We will then divide into three groups – one group goes with Scott and Thomas to see the demo of how the flash is setup and the results, one group goes with Phil Meadows for Photoshop and Lightroom demo, and one group goes with the equipment sponsor Bruce from Glaziers to try different cameras and lenses.  Every group has one hour and then rotates.  What I like the most is, of course, the actual flash light setup because I have no idea about flash.  They show us how they would setup the lights and why, and we could see the actual results with different settings.

We were taken back to the hotel for lunch around 1pm.  After lunch, we have another sponsor Stephen Anderson from open2view to show us his services (including photos, virtual tour, elevated photo shoots, floor plan) that was very interesting.  Then Scott answered the most common questions that we have, and Larry shared the business side experiences and the license agreement conflict with MLS.  In the end, Larry asked our thoughts about certain features and plans for the Flickr group.  The schedule ran a little longer than my time allows since I have a plane to catch so I left before the discussion ended.  I am very thankful for Larry, Ron, Scott and Thomas for this wonderful workshop because I got to meet some wonderful people, and I am hoping we will have more workshops in the near future.

ps. The breakfast and lunch in the hotel were great but I forgot to take photos, sorry.

Illuminating Edibles

I saw a really good article on Studio Photography Magazine on Jan 2008 issue talked about Food Photography.  In the end of the article, they also has a photo that show the set-up of camera, subject, lighting, and reflector which gives you a better idea how everything work. Enjoy it!

Illuminating Edibles . . . Shooting Fine Fare in Its Best Possible Light by Patrick Wadley

All still lifes require considerable lighting expertise and discipline, but food photography has its own special challenges. Unlike jewelry, toasters, or apparel, food moves. It shrinks, expands, shifts, melts, and changes shape and color. On the set, you need to work quickly, and, depending on the type of food, you may need multiple setups to get the perfect shot. Before setting the first light, there are some preliminaries to think about.

The most important aspect of food photography is preparation. There are three essential areas that demand attention: understanding the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) rules about "truth-in-advertising," knowing how to deal with the client or art director, and recognizing the value of a good food stylist.

The FTC regulates advertising and sets policies for the protection of consumers. These policies and rules affect verbal and visual advertising claims. There is a lot of information about truth-in-advertising at www.ftc.gov, but in a nutshell, "Advertising must be truthful and nondeceptive." This means you cannot misrepresent a product in an image or in writing.

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