July 20, 2013

12-5pm

Today I did the longest photoshoot in my life. Around 5 hours non-stop food photoshoot for IRIS Tea & Bakery at Elmhurst. It is their second shops at New York. The first one is at Flushing, Queens. It is Taiwanese and Japanese style.

I photographed total around 50 breads and beverages. Client wants to use photo mainly for website. So this is like a category product type photoshoot. Once the lighting set up is ready. I just shoot in a fast pace. I think like 5 mins per one bread.

The lighting set up is similar from what I usually do. However the space is really limited. We were doing it right in the bakery shop. One light with umbrella at left. White card at right to bounce light back. This time I also set up a background using a fabric I bought at UNIQLO. and I place a second light behind. Try to create some glow effect on the background when shooting from low angle. This is an example to demonstrate the effect. However majority of shots end up shooting from top. So not be able to see this effect in my shots much.

In order to make the photo aesthetically pleasing , some simple propping was needed too. I brought some napkin, plate mat, fabric, and some fake flower. After some arrangement, I think it looks nice.

The shadow might be a bit harsh for some people’s taste. Well, I usually use 43 inch umbrella for food photoshoot. The larger the light source, the softer the quality is. But as I mentioned the space was too limited. I could only place a 33 inch umbrella there. Well, a bit dramatic looking is not bad. It all depends on your taste.

I feel really tired after 5 hours non-stop shooting. but it was a worthwhile experience. As a professional photographer, one should be able to take picture under all kinds of circumstance. Client do not care about other factors. They only care about the final results. I am glad that the photoshoot was good overall.

I look forward to my next food photoshoot.