A couple of weeks ago, there was a food photo shoot here for some of the recipes in my book. All the animal photos in the book will be mine, but Jerry came over in October and took some photos of me for the book, and came back in December to take some food shots. I take photos of my own recipes all the time, of course, but food photography has always been a challenge for me. I feel more comfortable taking pictures of animals. When I realized they really wanted a lot of food photos for the book, I said, waitaminute, and called Jerry.
Preparing for a food photo shoot meant preparing as many recipes at once as possible so that he only had to come one time and knock it all out. I spent days prepping in advance, doing parts of recipes, chopping, measuring, doing whatever I could do ahead of time to make it fast to throw so many recipes together at one time. All the food had to look fresh! In “real” professional photo shoots for food, they use a lot of fake materials, but I didn’t have that kind of stuff available to me, or the know-how to make it work, so I had to do it the old-fashioned way, with genuine fresh food. It was exhausting!
Since food photography is not my strong suit, I was looking forward to watching Jerry take pictures. Note that all the photos I have here are MY photos, not the ones he took for the book–which will be better. I was taking photos as he was taking photos, just taking in his process and how he set up shots. I was really inspired by it, and hopefully learned something about lighting and being more creative with setting up food photos. Here are some of the photos I took that day of him setting up shots.
Note that the cat on the table with the cake didn’t show up in any of HIS pictures!
Main thing I came away inspired to do is get the food OUT OF THE KITCHEN. And follow the light. As the afternoon progressed, settings changed to keep up with the best light.
You can see the final photos when the book comes out in September!
Granma2girls says:
Living with Hubby, who has a passion for photography, I understand about getting great shots with just the right lighting. I just went through your cooking archives to turn a critical eye on your photography. And I really think you underestimate your photography skills. You do a great job of inspiring us cooks to try recipes just by your wonderful photographs. There’s always new things to learn in photography for sure, but you are already very good, Suzanne!
On January 2, 2013 at 9:01 am
boulderneigh says:
I recognize those apple dumplings! I made them for my guys and they were a HIT! Hmmm, guess I should make them again….
On January 2, 2013 at 9:02 am
WvSky says:
I agree with Granma2girls. Suzanne doesn’t need any help from me when it comes to taking great photographs. She has that artists eye that I lack. In this case however, she couldn’t cook and set up photo shots at the same time. When you are shooting with limited means and weather, you do what you can as quickly as you can because fresh food wont wait to be photographed. 🙂
On January 2, 2013 at 10:35 am
rurification says:
Great pics! Great props. Food photo styling is a lot of work. I can’t wait to see the final pics in the book.
On January 2, 2013 at 10:36 am
outbackfarm says:
Wow, what a beautiful farm you have. I can only imagine what the actual book is going to look like. I can’t wait to see it. And the food looks amazing too! Good job!
On January 2, 2013 at 12:03 pm
Barbee says:
😆 I thought the cat was on TOP of the cake! I recognized the cracker candy; I made that one last week.
On January 2, 2013 at 12:36 pm
marrypoppinz says:
can’t wait for the book….you’ve given us something to look forward to….
On January 2, 2013 at 4:50 pm
SuzieQ says:
Don’t know how we can wait so long for the book!! I made Georgia’s apple dumplings for a family Christmas gathering and everyone LOVED, LOVED, LOVED them. They are SO yummy!!
:hungry: :snoopy:
On January 2, 2013 at 10:27 pm
Diane says:
Your book is going to look beautiful. I cant wait for it to come out! Just for the photos is nothing else. lol. IT will all be good I know it.
I”m inspired by Jerry myself. Its nice to see another artist’s point of view of how they do something sometimes.
On January 3, 2013 at 5:38 am
Old Geezer says:
Is pre-ordering available yet?
On January 3, 2013 at 6:55 am