Photo technique

Photography techniques from the award-winning photography studio of Boston food and product photographer Jim Scherer

Back from the Conference on Food Styling and Photography at BU

Jun 29

Posted by Jim in Photo stylists | Add a comment

1 comment

Hi all.  I attended the biennial International Conference on Food Styling & Photography which was held at Boston University last weekend.  In past years I’ve been a presenter; this time they wisely decided to feature all-new speakers.  Lots of ideas to pick up and people to network with, some who’ve come from as far as Argentina, New Zealand, and Egypt.  For me one of the two outstanding presentations was the first, with Nanci Dixon (director of photography at General Mills) and Noel Barnhurst (food photographer based in San Francisco).  Nanci is in charge of 13 studios and hundreds of freelancers.  She gives her clients an iPad and a beeper, and when an image is ready for approval the client gets a beep and a look on the iPad, wherever they are on-site or off.  They have 15 minutes to approve the shot, or the crew moves on to the next shot.  I loved that!

The other outstanding presentation for me was the last, with Clare Ferguson (stylist based in the UK) and Jeff Kauck (photographer based in Chicago).  One theme that both Jeff and Noel stressed was the need, during a bad economy, to give the client as much bang for their buck as possible.  To that end, they routinely run multiple sets and hire multiple crews.

Clare Ferguson’s enthusiasm for the material was contagious, and she closed by reminding us that to the rest of the world, what we all do every day is a dream job.  Whatever happens, never be bitter or cynical, because we make magic.  Never stop laughing; and never stop learning.  I would say a loud AMEN to that!

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Getting that YUM factor

Nov 15

Posted by Jim in Food | Add a comment

3 comments

Try this exercise:  close your eyes and imagine something really really delicious, something that makes you crave.  Write down the specific attributes of that mental image.  Then cross out everything on your list that relies on senses other than sight.  Whatever you finally come up with, those are the things a food photographer has to work with in making an effective image.

What’s on your list?  I came up with color, texture, glisten, moisture, and so on.  Those are the obvious ones, but there are others.  Point of view (where is your eye?), scale (how close are you?), composition (does your eye know where to look?).  What about implied motion – like a drop about to fall, or anything just on the verge of happening. Light itself can sometimes imply motion.  Let’s go on … what else is on the list?  Mood, which is a broad term, can definitely affect whether something is mouth-watering.  Mood comes from a combination of lighting, camera point of view, color, and surroundings, surfaces, and props.  And of course, there is styling.  The presentation of the food, often done by a food stylist,  is a huge factor in appetite appeal.  Think of a muffin whole, compared to a muffin broken open with butter melting and some crumbs on the plate.  This line of thought leads to lots of new things for our list … seeing inside something, seeing the bits and ingredients, and presenting a plate with the invitation to dig in.

Here’s yet another aspect of getting appetite appeal — authenticity.  Does what you’re looking at look fake?  Does it look too perfect?  Is it a Disney world simulation of some “ideal”?  These are all unappetizing. Looking real means seeing the imperfections, the personality, and celebrating the fact that a dish looks different every time it comes out of the oven.

No picture this time.  More coming!

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