Fine Mexican Food

[Wil_Bloodworth]

This week I realized that, as of late, I've been a complete slacker on TPF... um, er, I mean "Pixtus". Since I have been doing primarily commercial photography lately and haven't been doing any fun stuff, I haven't been posting... because we don't have a commercial section (that's my excuse). I'm just going to do so anyway and see how it goes over.

This week, I did some new menu items for a local Fine Mexican Restaurant (I can't indicate which one until July 11th). They will be doing a lot more in the future but wanted to get their new dishes out before reworking their existing items. Here are sample images of three of their new items. Enjoy!

NOTE: These images were shot tethered so the art director and food stylist could see exactly how the images would come out. Therefore, all composition and styling is on them... I can only take credit for setting up and giving correct exposure, DOF, and focus (which they wanted razor thin).







If you're interested in details or seeing shots of the setup, I would be happy to post that as well.

- Wil

[wildhorserunphotography]

They look great! I hope you got to sample the food after you shot it!!

[tomdrink]

Will, I would love to see some setup shots, please!
Thanks,
TomD

[Wil_Bloodworth]

Taylor: Thank you. I got to sample the food earlier in the week. You pretty much never want to sample food on a food photography set... it probably has all kinds of nastiness sprayed on it... DW-40, Scotch Guard, tooth paste, etc.

Tom: Ok, I'll try to post those this evening.

- Wil

[r0xikat]

looks delicious! I've always wanted to get into (serious) food photography :]

[LWimages]

Originally Posted by Wil_Bloodworth

... it probably has all kinds of nastiness sprayed on it... DW-40, Scotch Guard, tooth paste, etc.

[Wil_Bloodworth]

Louis,

That's just par for the course for food photography. The food stylists use all kinds of non-edible chemicals to make the food look good. They also use little items like makeup pads and tooth picks to hold food in a particular location. It's just not a good idea to eat the food on set no matter how appetizing it appears.

- Wil

[r0xikat]

yep. though I heard that the food advertised has to be real in some form or fashion. like, if the ad is for a Big Mac, the fries can be 'fake' as long as the burger is real - though injected/sprayed with stuff?

[LWimages]

So, you have a food MUA working for you?
No wonder I can never recreate the same as yours with my food shots. I used to just think that it was my cooking.

BTW, what lens are you using for these shots (85mm 2.8)? I like that you get the plates in focus and bokeh backgrounds. Or was done in PP?

[Wil_Bloodworth]

Louis,

The food stylist works for the client... as well as the art director. Almost 100% of the time, the food stylist is an outside consultant just like the photographer.

For all the product photography I do, I always use either the 24mm f/3.5, 45mm f/2.8, 85mm f/2.8 tilt-shift lenses or the Zeiss 100mm f/2 macro lens. The tilt-shift lenses provide the flexibility I like when dealing with depth-of-field and they are simply fantastic when it comes to color, clarity, and sharpness. The Zeiss 100mm... well, it's just badass all around.

I would prefer to own the Hartblei 40mm, 80mm, and 120mm Super Rotator lenses instead of (or in addition to) the Nikon T/S lenses but I just can't justify the cost right at this moment. They're far superior to any other (35mm) T/S lenses available on the planet... and they tilt and shift in all directions independently.

The tilt-shift lenses are also excellent for landscape and macro photography as well... but they pretty much suck for everything else (normal photography).

- Wil

[LWimages]

Ah, so no macro lenses...

[Wil_Bloodworth]

Yes. The 45mm and 85mm Nikon tilt/shift lenses as well as the 100mm Zeiss are macro lenses. I own the Nikon 105mm micro lens but never use it (shame).

- Wil

[LWimages]

Making me crave for messican food. Great photos!

[Wil_Bloodworth]

Thank you Louis!

- Wil