{"id":5761,"date":"2015-11-13T18:30:03","date_gmt":"2015-11-13T18:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thp.goodgallery.com\/blog\/?p=5761"},"modified":"2023-11-27T16:12:56","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T16:12:56","slug":"miami-food-photographer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travisharris.com\/blog\/miami-food-photographer\/","title":{"rendered":"MIAMI FOOD PHOTOGRAPHER | MODERN LUXURY BRIDES MAGAZINE | EDITORIAL SHOOT"},"content":{"rendered":"

[dropcap]T[\/dropcap]hank god I ate\u00a0dinner before I went to this editorial shoot at the Versace Mansion<\/a>. \u00a0Today, I put on a different hat, changed gears a bit and was a Miami Food Photographer<\/a> for Modern Luxury Brides Magazine<\/a>. \u00a0I was commissioned to take a few images of some very high class creations that are going to be featured in the next issue of Modern Luxury Brides.<\/p>\n

I’ll tell ya.. I love to cook, and admittedly I have actually broken\u00a0out some of my lighting gear in my own kitchen\u00a0to shoot some of the dishes I have made. \u00a0I fully understand the pride that goes into some of these exquisite, ediable works of art and was more then up for the challenge.<\/p>\n

To spite what anyone may think.. taking a nice image of food is not as simple as you may think, even if you have all the right gear. \u00a0It becomes a bit of an adventure shooting something like this, in the sense that you need to “work your way to an image” vs. walking in, setting up and snapping the pictures. \u00a0Which, by the way.. if you think that’s all there is too it I am here to say that your very wrong and the internet is filled with horrible food images that people pass off as “good”.<\/p>\n

For example…<\/p>\n

When I arrived at the Versace Mansion, I was introduced to the head Chef, the PR Director, and my contact at Modern Luxury Brides<\/a>. \u00a0The goal was to get some nice shots of the food for the magazine. \u00a0Okay, well we all walked into the main dinning room and the kitchen started bringing in the plates of food. \u00a0They set them on a regular table, with a white table cloth etc.. \u00a0I set up my lighting, and took some test shots. \u00a0I looked at the camera, and I looked around the room.. and then I said “you know, I don’t think this is working”. \u00a0The issue was the white table cloth. \u00a0It was too distracting (to me), and I thought we should explore removing it, and shooting the food on the wood table top. \u00a0This would have provided more contrast to the plate, and food and be less distracting then the bright, white table linen. \u00a0SO, we removed one of the cloths, and guess what. \u00a0The table top had a reflective laminate on it. \u00a0This means, that it would have reflected my lighting, and caused even more distractions!<\/p>\n

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]I had to put the\u00a0camera down, and really think outside of the box…[\/perfectpullquote]<\/p>\n

First, I LOVED the room. \u00a0I loved the walls, the texture, and the ambient lighting I was seeing in the room itself. \u00a0I quickly decided to use the room (wall) as part of an element in the shots. \u00a0Thinking in terms of focal length I knew I could blur out the background with the right lens, and be able to keep the focus on the food… all the while retaining the “feeling” of the Versace Mansion<\/a>. \u00a0So, now all of this became problem solving as it related to the technical side of photography.<\/p>\n

Next, I got rid of the table and used one of the chairs as it was a darker tone, and about the right size to contain one plate of food, with a glass of wine. \u00a0I took this chair, and cleared out a section of the room by moving other near by tables, and set it a good distance from the wall (to keep the background out of focus). \u00a0I got down on one knee and did another test shot without the lighting, to quickly get an idea of the framing. \u00a0I noticed, that now.. the new issue was the baseboard. \u00a0The baseboard that ran along the bottom of the wall was very thick, and it was coming into the frame! \u00a0(arg, it’s always something!).. I tried to lower my position to compensate, but then the problem was you could not see what was on the plate. \u00a0I asked if I could take the chair, and set it on top of a table to get it higher. \u00a0Now, I could keep the background pattern going with no other distractions, AND I had more flexibility on the camera position to get all the details everyone was looking for.<\/p>\n

So, this is what I mean “working your\u00a0way to an image \/ result”. \u00a0It truly is a workflow, and depends greatly on the environment, the lighting, and many other things that can come up in the field. \u00a0When someone ask’s me to do a shoot like this, they may be thinking.. \u00a0it should take just a few minuets.. and in fact, it would have if I had of just did the shots on the table with the plain white cloth. \u00a0But, guess what that would have looked like? \u00a0Yeah, not so nice. \u00a0Did you know that the color white “stops the eye”. \u00a0This is why in retail stores they pay VERY close attention to any clothing that is displayed in white, and where it goes on the racks so that people subconsciously “see” the other colors. \u00a0There is a whole science\u00a0to that. \u00a0In photography, white does the same thing. It is called a “highlight”, and whenever there is a bright white spot in an image the eye will see that part first. \u00a0So, in this case I really did not want to have to “compete” for attention with a white table cloth \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

They say the only thing that matters with a “food shoot” is that the images make you want to eat it… \u00a0well.. I went to this on a full tummy.. and after spending some time looking at the back of my camera, I was hungry all over again!<\/p>\n

Enjoy!<\/p>\n

TH<\/p>\n

Check out this behind the scenes video of me in action. \u00a0I have offered additional commentary on the video, and you can get a better idea on how everything works \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n