Natural Light Food Photography Class with Christina Peters and Amy Paliwoda

by Lynne on January 29, 2012

Post image for Natural Light Food Photography Class with Christina Peters and Amy Paliwoda

Natural Light Food Photography Class

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.

Christina Peters and Amy Paliwoda

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

MDR Photography Studio

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.

Prop Table 1

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

Lynne still 1

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.

still 2~

still 3~

still 4~

still 5~

still 6

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.

{ 1 trackback }

Christina Peters’ Impeccable Vision Of Food Photography « Julia Segura
February 21, 2012 at 11:43 am

{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }

Kris Sheppard January 30, 2012 at 6:26 am

It was fun meeting you at this class. You took some great shots! I love how they turned out.

Christina Peters January 30, 2012 at 1:27 pm

Hey Lynne! Its was so fun having you there with us in class. You took some great shots and did a great job! Thanks so much for the kind words too! We are very flattered to be on your blog! We look forward to seeing more great food shots from you!
Christina and Amy

Amy January 30, 2012 at 1:33 pm

Thank you so much Lynne, what a lovely post! We had a great time, and were lucky to have such a fun group of talented people to spend the day with! Best, Amy

Amy January 30, 2012 at 1:49 pm

Thank you so much Lynne. It was lovely to meet you, and your shots look gorgeous!

Cathy@She Paused 4 Thought January 30, 2012 at 4:48 pm

Your shots are gorgeous as always. Thanks for sharing about the photography class as I would love to take it. Checking it out now.

Cathy@She Paused 4 Thought January 30, 2012 at 5:48 pm

I just signed up for the February class. Thanks again for sharing the info.

Lentil Breakdown January 31, 2012 at 7:43 am

Wow, that olive shot can go into Bon Apetit! With your permission, of course.

Geez Louise January 31, 2012 at 1:25 pm

ooh next time tell me, i would have loved this! nice job…

Lana February 1, 2012 at 4:47 pm

Lovely shots, Lynne:) I would love to take photography class like this one. Have to check it out:)

Bee (Quarter Life Crisis Cuisine) February 2, 2012 at 12:59 pm

I need a class like this! –though I tend to do a lot of my cooking at night, so natural light is hard to come by 😉

Lannie February 10, 2012 at 4:27 pm

Wow, these pictures are so lovely! I definitely need to do a class like this.

Cristina February 25, 2012 at 3:28 pm

Oh Lynne! Thanks for sharing about this workshop. I was looking into it on Christina’s Web site, when I saw a link to your site! 😉 Hope all has been well and thanks again for this informative post.

AdriBarr March 22, 2012 at 9:18 pm

Hi Lynne,

This is a LONG overdue comment. I visited your site once before, and smiled the smile of shared experience as I read comments regarding the various food photography sites and rejection. Your work is so lovely, truly beautiful. And your writing is a complete pleasure. Brava!

Lynne April 1, 2012 at 1:29 pm

Hi Lynne, I found your beautiful website through Foodgawker as I was admiring all your photos on that site. I also read your post on the MDR food photography class that you took, and I just signed up for their next one. So glad you blogged about it. In reading this page I see that you studied with Cecilia DeCastro, as did I. I learned so much from her, for me it was life changing. Anyway, I will continue to read and enjoy your blog!
Sheryl

http://mamasgottabake.wordpress.com/

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