Photographing Food
I am just back from a week in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina, where I attended a food photography workshop led by Hélène Dujardin, the author of “Plate to Pixel”, an invaluable resource on photographing and styling food, who also blogs at “tarteletteblog.com”. Our small group gathered at a beach house on nearby Isle of Palms and enjoyed an unforgettable week which focused on exploring the art of photographing food. As an added bonus, the food was prepared on site by a local chef. The participants were an incredible mix of talented photographers, book authors, creative food bloggers, culinary professionals and food enthusiasts from across the U.S. and Europe.
Those of us who love food photography are always in a perpetual search for the perfect background board, the perfect props and linens, and, the perfect lighting to showcase our finished dish. Imagine our delight to find out that an awe-inspiring selection of all these was at our disposal for our photo shoots! A table full of linens of every shade and texture imaginable, another stacked with props, mis-matched utensils and plates of all colors and shapes, and, an unbelievable selection of backdrops and background boards. My fellow photographers and I were like kids in the proverbial candy shop. This was a real prop heaven!
This has been such an inspiring week: I met amazingly talented and creative people, learned new photographing techniques, practiced a lot with capturing natural light, enjoyed great meals and came home with an even greater appreciation for the art of food photography and the knowledge that pictures have real power. I cannot wait to put into practice all that I learned! Stay tuned!
The set up of photographing with natural light with my camera tethered to the laptop.
Our challenge was photographing soup while creating a rustic feel and using pops of color.
Photographing salad using contrasting but complimentary colors and textures.
The same salad presented in a simpler way, utilizing natural light at its best form.
Great photos! I’d like to attend one of her workshops too someday.
It would be so worth it! She offers one workshop a year, in different locations. Sometimes she pairs with a chef, sometime she pairs with a food stylist, depending on the location of the workshop.
I’ll keep a look out for that …hopefully it is somewhere in Toronto 🙂
You make the food LOOK as good as it TASTES, Marilena! Loved the photos!
Thank you so much Sara!