Hi there! I’ve been holding this one from you, this post about the photography class I took. Trust me, it was awesome and I learned so much, but you know how you can remember what your favorite outfit was in fourth grade (stirrup leggings and oversize obnoxiously colored sweatshirt, scrunchie optional) but forget about what you put in the microwave 2 minutes ago? Well, that’s what happened with this post and pictures.
All of that aside, I took this food photography class from Dabble, taught by Joe Laedtke. The class took place at Graffito, where we had a wonderful 3 course meal to taste and photograph.
One of Joe’s best teaching points included angle and perspective, giving thought to the kind of dish and aesthetic it lends to a more straight on versus aerial angle.
This was best example of the angle approach. If this pasta dish had been shot straight on or right above, the shapes and textures of the noodles, sauce, and veggies would have been completely lost. But, from an standing angle, the noodley shapes and flecks of Parmesan stand out brilliantly.
This scrumptious salad was another lesson, more on placing and rearranging photographed food. I’m not huge on huge on food styling, because I normally prefer the natural state of how the food is plated, but there are times when styling is necessary, such as when you have a rogue onion or floppy spinach leaf.
This was one of the coolest things about this class, lighting! Joe covered the different kinds of lighting which could be worked with and the best approach to working with what you have realistically. One of the easiest and coolest techniques he showed was using…phone flashlights. Mind. Blown. If two phone flashlights are shined from two angles onto a dish it provides an excellent lighting in an otherwise dim or dark setting. This picture is not fully utilizing the light technique, but shows that these two teeny lights make a huge difference!
Overall, the class has helped my approach to my food pictures and working with lighting, showing that me can just work with what you have and if you don’t love your lighting, it can usually be supplemented or changed to fit the bill better.
Also, I didn’t have the chance to get any great pictures, but I was so happy to meet other Milwaukee area food bloggers at this class as well. I had the pleasure of meeting Karis of Karis’ Kitchen, Lisa of Lisa Living Well, and Molly of Peanut Butter & Dill Pickles. It’s always great to meet other bloggers in person, rather than just having “imaginary internet friends”.
Thanks to Joe and Dabble for arranging a great class, I hope there are more to come!
Paola @gnom-gnom says
What do you mean by phone flashlights?! As in the flashlight app from my iPhone?! With light being a scarse resource as of late I am hunting for tips haha.
Food photography has been such a learning curve for me. Going from fashion photography, it is incredible what a different approach you have to take (obviously, but still!).
Abby @ The Frosted Vegan says
Yes, the flashlight phone app! Amazing, isn’t it?! I’ve been chasing the light as well lately, I can’t wait for summer to come back. I agree about the learning curve, food is sometimes more temperamental than human subjects!
Penny Wesselhoft says
food photography is really great, i love both foods and photography at the same time.”
My very own web blog
http://www.caramoan.org/caramoan-beach-resort/