This past Saturday I had the great pleasure of attending the Natural Light Food Photography Class taught by professional food photographer Christina Peters and prop, still life and set stylist Amy Paliwoda. The class took place at Christina’s Marina del Ray studio and there were 10 of us students, which was a great student/teacher ratio. Amy had set up a long table filled with props, such as napkins, table coverings, plates, bowls, glasses and tableware, plus beautiful food items for the still lifes we would each create and photograph in the morning. In the afternoon, after the lunch she provided, Christina gave a presentation on how she optimizes images for the web and print using Photoshop.

You can learn more about Christina’s photography classes here, and visit the websites for Christina and Amy, where you can see gorgeous food photos and examples of amazing prop styling.

On the left, Christina lines up a shot while Amy, on the right, perfects her styling.

Above you can see the part of the studio kitchen  with shelves of table coverings stored neatly in plastic cases. On the right is some equipment for photo shoots: a rope with many A-clamps, a bag of wood blocks for raising props and the big black tubular tripod. In the middle are the two director chairs that Christina and Amy sat on to give their presentations. All of us students brought our tripods, so they were standing everywhere. On the bottom you can see part of Christina’s computer setup with her Mac and the big open double garage door, in front of which we set up our tables with our food still lifes to shoot. There was such beautiful light there.

Above is a photo of the long prop table with linens, dishes and food items which we picked from to create our still lifes.

This is my still life shot with my camera on my tripod. Amy helped me with the composition and Christina helped me with the camera settings. I mostly shoot hand-held, so this was new and interesting.

The following photos were shot hand-held by me of my fellow student’s set-ups. The oranges were styled by Amy and, to me,  show how something simple can be so beautiful. Also, I was really admiring Amy’s talent with arranging, bunching and folding the fabrics for the shots.

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Thank you again Christine and Amy for an extremely interesting and informative day. I definitely recommend your class to all food photographers, beginner to advanced, because your day was packed with information. Thank you for answering all my questions and for the tips about shooting and styling. Food bloggers, take this class. You will be so glad you did.

Spicy “Crack” Krab Cakes from Starry Kitchen

The full title for this post is actually “The Food Porn Laboratory Sponsored by Starry Kitchen featuring Pulitzer Prize Winning LA Times Photographer Kirk McKoy & Award-Winning Photojournalist and Photo Editor Ken Kwok”. Quite a mouth-full. But all true.

Last week my friend Michele sent me an urgent email saying she had read about this photo event in the LA Times and thought it was right up my alley. She included the link to the article. It sounded like fun and something to get me outside my comfort zone, so I called up and registered. Subsequent emails revealed that about 70 people had signed up and we were urged to get there early, as we would be given numbers and be shooting the food in the order of our arrival.

This free event was hosted by Visual Communications, the nation’s premier Asian American Media Arts organization, and was billed as a three-part feast for the senses, one-part photography tutorial and food styling workshop, one-part photo competition and one-part community potluck. Guaranteed to give you multiple foodgasms. The dishes for the photo competition were donated by Starry Kitchen and the owners of that famous underground restaurant, Nguyen and Thi Tran, would be judging and selecting the winning photos. The prizes included the winning photo framed and displayed in Starry Kitchen’s restaurant, website and menu, plus a $20 gift card to Starry Kitchen.

We started off with the potluck, which was set up in the courtyard in front of the Union Center for the Arts Theatre. There was so much good food, I can’t even describe it all. I just remember one guy taking a bite of his Rice Krispie Treat Pop and saying “Who made these? I’m going to marry her.”

We all sat around stuffing our faces and networking. I met one other food blogger and everyone else seemed to be there to learn about photography. At the appointed time, we were called into the basement offices of Visual Communications, where they had set up rows of folding chairs in front of the tables where  Pulitzer Prize Winning LA Times Photographer Kirk McKoy and Award-Winning Photojournalist and Photo Editor Ken Kwok were giving their photography and foodstyling workshop.

Kirk McKoy talked about turning your dish around until the way it looked really appealed to your senses. He had a LED light faced with vellum shining on the hero and placed those nifty silver reflectors around just so. On the opposite end of the table a strobe light was also shining on the dish.

More silver reflectors were used, and Ken Kwok consulted and held the big silver reflector.  Kirk McKoy suggested that if we were in a restaurant and it was dark, that we should take the plate to the nearest window. Or use the light or candle sitting on the table. Or as a last resort, get everyone around to turn on their cell phones and hold the lighted screens near the food while you take the shot.

For this dish, you can see a small compact mirror was used as an option. After the photo competition, we went to the computer center upstairs and uploaded our photos into our own folders. We could choose to enter them into four categories: Most (Food) Pornographic, Best Color, Best Mood, and Best Composition. No Photoshop was allowed. I needed a lot of help with this part as I am MAC-challenged. DSLRs and point-and-shoot cameras were judged separately.

Finally we got into groups of ten according to our arrival numbers, in preparation to go shoot the dishes from Starry Kitchen. I want you to guess who had number one. OCD me, of course. LOL.

The dishes were set up on tables covered with black tablecloths. We had been told we could bring our own props, but I didn’t. In retrospect, I should have brought a white napkin and a knife and fork, at the least. As I said, the room was in the basement and was lit with overhead fluorescent lights. We got two minutes each to shoot 5 dishes (10 minutes total) and only got to choose the first dish. Then the rules were that you had to go on to the next four consecutively numbered dishes. There were actually 10 dishes in all. They blew a whistle every two minutes. I had never been in a photo competition before, especially one that was timed, so it was a very interesting experience. I did ok, I think. At least a couple of my photos turned out.

Thank you Visual Communications, Starry Kitchen, Kirk McKoy and Ken Kwok for a really informative and interesting event. Next time I’m bringing props, you can bet on that. Oh yes.

Recently I had the amazing good fortune to attend a food photo shoot for an international food market with the world-renowned food photographer Jon Edwards at his studio in Monrovia, CA. Also sharing the spotlight were preeminent food stylist Denise Vivaldo of FoodFanatics, her colleague Cindie Flannigan, with Jeff Parker assisting. I had never seen a professional photo shoot, so I was really excited, not only to see how it was done, but to learn some tips to improve my food photography. Be sure to check out Jon Edwards Photography website.

Here are the main characters in this story: (top) Jon Edwards , Denise Vivaldo, (below) Cindie Flannigan and Jeff Parker.

The studio is in a 4500 sq.ft., 2-story red brick building with a 20 ft. ceiling and a wall of industrial-style frosted glass windows that face south. When I arrived at 9:00 am every thing was pretty quiet, because the food packages and ingredients from the client’s commissary hadn’t arrived yet.

Here you can see how the camera and computers are set up. The digital camera is a Hasselblad H2 with a medium format and an attached Phase 1 Back (P45) digital sensor. That means it has a larger format and the sensor has a bigger file than a 35mm like my Canon T1i. The camera is tethered to the Mac computer (center), so the RAW photos can be seen immediately on the monitor.

To the left of Jon’s monitor is his assistant, Heather, who actually has three jobs, as Retoucher, Photo Assistant and Digital Tech. She is wired to Jon’s computer also, so she can do the post-production work on the photos. Heather has a BA in photography from Brooks Institute of Photography with an emphasis in advertising. Her work is amazing. More about her later.

The back quarter of the floor space is jam-packed with shelves of food photo props of every color and description.

The kitchen is adjacent to the photo studio area. Here it is, waiting in readiness for the food and ingredients to arrive. The food stylist’s equipment bags are on the floor in the corner. On the wall is the client-prepared list of what photos are to be shot, along with a description, such as if the shots are to be vertical or horizontal. They were crossed off one by one as the day progressed. In the middle of the work table was a foot-high stack of paper towels that had been ripped from a roll, with the sides neatly aligned. This food preparation area was meticulously neat and organized.

The client’s food finally arrived and Cindie and Jeff got to work preparing the first plates. While Jeff was working on cooking and beautifying some chicken legs, sausages and onion slices for the shoot later in the day, Cindie created this salad. She cut the stems off the spinach and arranged each one perfectly on the plate, then added the other ingredients. From there it went to the table in the studio in front of the camera. Behind the table is an 8-foot high piece of white cardboard used to reflect light, and a smaller piece clamped to a tripod. You can see Cindie painting the potatoes with oil to make them shiny. And Jon takes the shot with a remote. The clients looked at the photo on the monitor and gave their approval.

Here the hero arrives covered with a wet paper towel to keep the veggies from drying out. Jon shoots the hero and looks at it on his monitor. The other two photos I took and you can see that they tried one with white boards under it and the other with a brown wood table. My photos aren’t exactly like Jon’s because I was shooting over, under and beside his camera. My photos also don’t look like Jon’s because my camera is a measly little thing compared to his and I’m no photographer. But mine will give you the idea, so no laughing.

In the middle of the studio was a work table where the plates from the kitchen were placed until they were put in front of the camera. Also on the table was Denise’s styling tool bag, here a front and back view. The iron was used on napkins and placemats that needed a touchup.

Cindie prepares the pasta salad in the kitchen and in front of the camera Denise re-positions an olive with a long tweezers and brushes it with oil to give it highlights.

This was the moment of my epiphany for the day and where Heather re-enters the story. I took my shot of the pasta salad and was holding it up next to the photo on Jon’s monitor. His photo looked sunny and warm (on the right). My photo looked gray and lifeless (on the left). So I asked Heather to come and have a look and see if she could tell me why. “Oh sure, you have a problem with your color balance. Give me your camera.,” she said. So, she took my camera, pushed a couple of buttons, gave it back to me and told me to go back and take the photo again. So I did. Eureka!! It was golden and sunny (middle) just like Jon’s. I was just about jumping up and down. OMG! I asked her what she did, and she explained she changed the white balance from AWB to the “shade” setting. I never would have known to do this in a million years. Heather is brilliant.

The bowl of pasta and meatballs is sitting on the work table in the studio on a stack of possible placemats and napkins. They chose pokadots for the final shot.

The hero comes to the work table in the studio along with a tray of the hero’s components, which will be used by Denise to add to the hero if it needs it. Here you can also see how I took one photo on AWB and one with the “shade” setting to see the difference. The square of carrot on the right was added by Denise after consultation with the Jon.

Here you can see Denise’s tweezer repositioning the walnut half. The client was concerned that it was sticking up too far, so in the final photo it was lowered more into the salad. My photos are now very similar in color to the one on Jon’s monitor. Oh, I am soooo happy about that!

You can see how the component parts of the curly pasta salad came from the commissary in plastic tubs and Cindie carefully placing each piece. This gives you an idea how far the camera is from the hero. And I am in awe of the beauty and simplicity of the bread crouton and little sprig of rosemary which are used to garnish this dish.

The Chicken, Sausage and Burger photo was the grand finale for the day. This is very similar to the final money shot.

Cindie is using a hair dryer to soften the cheese on the burger patty. Earlier in the day Jeff was torching the barely cooked chicken thighs.

Cindie builds the burgers so they look perfect, with perfectly manicured bun tops.

The components for the last shot come out of the kitchen one by one and are assembled into an artistic array.

At the end of the day I wanted to get a photo of Denise and Cindie together. During the day there was no time because they were working in different rooms and were really busy. Well, these are two people who have a lot of trouble standing still and smiling at the same time. They are really wiggly. So the photos are more like impressionistic paintings. Think of it that way.

Thank you Jon, Denise, Cindie, Jeff and Heather for letting me share your work day. I am in awe of what you do. Especially your meticulous care in making sure the final work for the client is as perfect as you can make it. I learned so much, its amazing! And I hope I didn’t bug you too much by running around and photographing every little move you made. Thank you again.

I have been taking a photography class through the South Bay Adult School, one night a week for ten weeks. Our teacher, Raiko Hartman, is an award winning photographer who has been a successful commercial photographer for over 20 years. His work focuses on people and product, so that is what I have been learning in his class. We finished week six, so there are four classes to go.

Each week he gives us detailed instructions and a homework assignment, which has forced enabled me to take some really interesting photos. I usually have my face about a foot from the food I am photographing, so now I have to go out into the real world where what you are shooting is jumping, waving, running, flying and basically not sitting wonderfully immobile on its plate. It has made me appreciate my own chosen subjects that just sit there and go duh as I take my time with macro focusing, never moving a crumb, fork or noodle.

The photo of the bee, above, was the wild animal assignment. Unfortunately, the whole wild animal contingent around my house was hiding out because it had been pouring rain for a week. This little bee in the Bird of Paradise was the only wild thing I could find to photograph.

Here are the photos for the other assignments I have had so far. Each one was an adventure and a challenge.

An example of short depth of field, where the background is out of focus.

Time exposure at night of a big red truck.

Panning, as you keep the camera focused on the subject as he is moving.

Stop Action One

Stop Action Two

Long depth of field, foreground and background in focus, at the Manhattan Beach Pier

People portrait of my neighbor, Gourmet Larry

Pet portrait of Gourmet Larry’s cat, Homie

Architectural Assignment for next week

I’m hoping that this photo class will help me be a better photographer of food for my website. At the very least I am learning more about my camera and all its bells and whistles. And it gets me out of the house and away from my computer. A good thing.

When I arrived at Matt’s studio Sunday morning at 9 o’clock, everyone there was working on their food and setting up their props on trays for their photo set-ups. Matt announced that we would be shooting two set-ups at a time on two tables in front of the big double garage door-sized window that was covered with a white gauze fabric.

The natural light coming in the window was ethereal and back lit the food and props in such a beautiful way. I had been having trouble finding the light for my photos, which was the main reason I had wanted to come to this workshop. And there it was.

I was hoping to get my photo shoot over in the morning, so I could spend the rest of the day photographing the other set-ups and activities. And I had butterflies in my stomach about my shoot, wondering if it would turn out alright. Or if my fledgling photo skills would embarrass me. I had brought two containers of raspberry sorbet, so in preparation I put a bunch of scoops on a plate and put it in the freezer.

It was really interesting to watch Cindie and Denise help everyone with their food and props. Cindie was absolutely meticulous with her placement of every little thing.

Cindie helps Carolyn Sue Nelson style her Shrimp Remoulade. Photos by Lynne

At one point someone was looking through a camera viewfinder and said they thought there was a lot of reflection on the knife in the set-up. It was evident Denise and Cindie have been working together closely for a long time, because they both yelled out in unison from opposite sides of the room, “Get the cream cheese!!” So the cream cheese was appropriated from the kitchen and rubbed on the knife to dull the reflection, and the photo shoot proceeded.

While Denise and Cindie were helping with the food styling, Matt was helping set up the tripods and getting each person’s camera pointing at the right angle. Some were from the side, some at 45 degrees and some straight overhead.

Cheri’s Tortilla Soup is made picture perfect by Cindie. Photos by Lynne

In the kitchen Denise was giving a demonstration of how to make a raw turkey look like it was cooked. She sprayed a Kitchen Bouquet and water solution on the turkey, let it dry and then sprayed more solution where it needed to be darker. There were many layers of spray until you could not tell it from a real cooked bird. We looked at magazines that Matt had in the studio, and because it was November, there was a Thanksgiving turkey on every cover. It was quite apparent that the plump smooth ones were raw and painted, and the shriveled ones were really cooked. This was a revelation to me. Henceforth I would be looking for trickery in every food photo I saw.

Food styling of raw turkey by Miri.  Photo by Lynne

Food styling by Cay Snow and  Betsy Haley

Food styling by Gilda Zevallos       Photos by Lynne     Food styling by Lisa Canning

Food styling by Gaby Dalkin. Photo by Lynne

Finally, by 3 o’clock, everyone had photographed their set-up except me. I was the last one. I laid out my napkins and, with Cindie’s help, arranged the glassware and spoons. Matt put my camera on his tripod and got it at the correct angle. I got the scoops of sorbet out of the freezer and got the raspberries, sorbet and cookies arranged. Matt put my camera on manual (its first time) and showed me how to focus manually. I was astounded at the clarity I was able to get, which I hadn’t been able to do before. My heart was beating like crazy and Matt told me to take the photo. There…it was done. At last.

Matt had been downloading each person’s money shot from their camera’s memory card throughout the day, and he told us he would send us all a slide show in the near future. So we wearily cleaned up the studio and packed up our stuff. Fond goodbyes and hugs were given as we departed. The end of an unforgettable weekend.

When I got home I found that a magical transformation had occurred. Every thing in my house, including the furniture, dishes, utinsels, pans, napkins, linens, cheese boards, cooling racks… had all morphed into PROPS. It was amazing. I had to laugh.

Don’t miss reading about the information-packed Day 1 of this Food Styling and Photography Workshop.

In September 2009 I was reading MattBites and discovered that Denise Vivaldo of FoodFanatics and Matt Armendariz were teaching a workshop for food writers and bloggers in November. I was absolutely thrilled because it was just what I needed to finalize my commitment to do a food blog. If I went to the class, I would have to justify spending the money. I had taken a catering class from Denise at UCLA in 1995 and knew what a talent she was, and, of course, Matt has his great, very popular blog with his magnificent photography. This would be my chance to learn from the best.

I procrastinated signing up for the class, and the next time I looked it was full. I almost had a heart attack. I wanted to cry. A week went by and I looked again, only to discover that so many people had signed up that they were adding an additional class the following weekend. I called Denise immediately and signed up, thanking my lucky stars that I would now be able to attend.

On September 14^th I bought my Canon T1i digital camera, because I knew I only had two months to learn how to use it before the workshop. I knew there were going to be people there who had real blogs already and I was worried about looking silly. I also knew we would have to create our own food set-up on Sunday to be photographed, and I had no clue what I would do. Butterflies in the stomach.

November 14, 2009

It was 9:00 Saturday morning. Matt’s studio in Long Beach was in a row of like-studios, with a regular door and what appeared to be a double garage door next to it. I knocked on the door, and when I went in Denise rushed over and gave me a big hug, exclaiming, “Lynne, your hair is all gray and curly! I love it!” She hadn’t changed a bit!

Little by little the other 10 participants arrived and we all sat around a big table in the middle of the studio. We started off by introducing ourselves and sharing our stories. Several people already had blogs, some were planning on starting their own, and all wanted to improve their food photography. They were such a friendly, talented group including Cheri from Adventures in the Kitchen, Gaby from What’s Gaby Cooking, Miri from LauraCarmen and Lisa from DandySugar.

Denise began her introduction to food styling by declaring, “Food left on its own can be tricky, ugly and mean.” She said food styling was an American invention and was really about engineering. Then went on to tell about a photo shoot of a very tall sandwich she and her partner, Cindie Flannigan, had worked on for the cover of their book. The sandwich wouldn’t stay upright and she was tearing her hair out. So she went to lunch and when she came back, Cindie had built scaffolding on the back of the sandwich from rulers, chopsticks and electrical tape to hold it up.

Photos by Jon Edwards Photography

Denise introduced Cindie Flannigan to us, saying Cindie was the best food stylist she had ever worked with. Denise said Cindie could make the worst ugly food look beautiful and when she died, she wanted Cindie to style her face for her funeral. I think Denise must have been a stand-up comedienne in a former life because while giving us an immense amount of information on food styling and her vast career experiences, she kept us laughing every minute. “Twenty years ago I looked like Barbie Benton,” Denise quipped, “Is she still alive?”

Denise Vivaldo

Cindie and Denise had their demonstration area set up at the head of the table. The first demo they did was pancakes. Cindie demonstrated the different look of the pancake if it was cooked in oil or in butter. She stacked the pancakes up and stuck little triangular makeup sponges in between so they were straight. The maple syrup was frozen so it ran languidly down the side of the stack.

Oil (left) and Butter

Applying the Frozen Syrup

Photographing the Finished Pancakes

More food styling tips:

• Undercook the food so it doesn’t appear shriveled
• Food styling is piecemeal – cook components separately and then assemble on the plate
• Use small plates – you don’t want Barbie & Ken food, like 2 acorns on the plate
• Know what you’re selling – is it the china or the cake
• Scotchguard the top of food to repel liquid
• Have soup cold — prop up the garnishes with ice cubes or a potato cube with toothpicks
• Spray Pam on cut potatoes, apples and avocados to prevent turning brown
• Wear cotton gloves to keep fingerprints off props
• Cover your finished styled plate with wet paper towels called the “bumper”
• The finished product is called the “beauty shot”
• Rubbing alcohol or vodka dissolves unwanted fat and protein smears on the plate

Next we got a demonstration on preparing a chicken breast, which was barely cooked in a grill pan, so that it remained rounded and pretty. Then Cindie and Denise reburned the grill marks with a charcoal starter element, painted it with Kitchen Bouquet, used a torch to cook the sides and melt the cheese, and sprayed everything with Pam. A beautiful photo was taken and then the dish was covered with the wet paper towel “bumper.” At the end of the day, hours later, the wet paper towels were removed and it looked exactly the same as it had earlier in the day! Very useful if your photographer had missed his flight.

Charcoal Starter Element Applied to Grill Marks

Painted with Kitchen Bouquet

Lightly Torched For Color

Voila! The Finished Dish

Safely Under the Bumper For The Day

Denise demonstrated creating a pasta dish using jarred Cheesy Ragu. She said you would never actually eat Cheesy Ragu, but you could make it look like any sauce you wanted by adding Kitchen Bouquet, ketchup or other coloring. You used a squeeze bottle to apply it and no matter what you did, it stayed where you put it.

Squeezing on the Cheesy Ragu Sauce

The Finished Pasta Dish

Then on to the hamburger demo. The hamburger patty was lightly sautéed, then torched around the edges and painted with Kitchen Bouquet. The top of the bun was hollowed out and its edges carefully trimmed with a scissor. Denise glued on some sesame seeds in bare areas. The ingredients were assembled and it was ready to shoot.

Cindie Puts the Final Touches on the Hamburger

Finally, Matt gave us an overview of what we would be doing the next day in the photography seminar. He showed us on his computer monitor the final photographs from the participants from the previous weekend. The photos were just amazing and inspiring, and I still had no clue what I was going to do for my setup.

I asked Cindie if she could help me figure out what I could photograph, so we looked at some cookbooks that Matt had in the studio. I liked an ice cream photo I saw, and decided my photo would be of raspberry sorbet. Cindie helped me pick out the glassware, the linens and the spoons. There were so many props to choose from in Matt’s studio, it was overwhelming. But Cindie, with her experience, knew exactly what I needed.

It was 4:00 and I was exhausted, my brain was giddy from processing all the new information, but I was ready for tomorrow.

Photo by Lynne ~Beautiful Food Styling by Heather Gill

See my next post about the photo shoot on Day 2 with Matt, Denise and Cindie.