subscribe 0330 333 1113 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 9 May 2020 15
Pay attention
to the details
This collaborative image called Apple
Pie between Eri Hosomi (hue-hue.com)
and Kaori Yuki was shortlisted in the
Pink Lady Apple a Day, a category of
Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the
Year 2020. If like Eri and Kaori you
want to take scrumptious-looking
images then you need to have some funwith it. Eri tells us, ‘Through this image,
we wanted to tell the joy of cooking and
tasting food just like we enjoy fashion;
after all, you are what you eat. To
recreate a handbag using an apple pie,
we paid attention to every detail of a
handbag. In particular, we wanted to
make sure that the latch didn’t get lost
within the texture of the pie. So, we
emphasised the dropping motion of
syrup using high-speed strobes.’Perfect colours
For capturing perfect colours
we recommend you shoot in
raw so you have more flexibility
at the editing stage. That way
you can really make sure that
red apple is as red as you want
it to be, or those orange carrots
look punchy. Avoid using lights
that will cause a colour cast such
as household lamps.Tell a story
Home baking provides you with the perfect opportunity to get out your camera.
If you have little ones you can capture some momentous messy moments,
although you may have to do some major cleaning up afterwards! If on the other
hand you are home alone you can always use a tripod and the self timer to take
the shots. When it comes to presentation it can help to use multiple images to tell
a story. Here we’ve arranged four photographs to show the bake from start to
finish, but also by converting the images to black & white it helps with the
storytelling element, and showing the family dynamic.One light
Photographer Stuart
West says, ‘Keep it simple.
Food should look natural
and beautiful. I often only
use one light source for
my images. If you are just
starting out it’s best to
experiment and move the
light around s you can see
what works.’
images together to get the final effect. ‘You can’t always
shoot it all in camera,’ he says. ‘As the client wanted a
slight vignette around the outside with a brighter centre
I shot the background and edamame beans separately.’
Stuart also relays the importance of making your chosen
choice of editing software work for you. ‘I use Capture
One for the majority of my image processing, and find it
gets great results for what I want to achieve. It’s important
to develop your own style to make your images stand out.’
© MAISON ONIGIRI, PINK L ADY® FOOD PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2020
© CL AIRE GILLO