It was Valentine’s day this past week, but some of my valentines were out of town therefore it was kind of amusing to me that romance is the theme at Where’s My Backpack? We don’t really go all out for this holiday in this household, but I do try to do something small for the family. I was thinking about what I could make for my husband when I stumbled across this cranberry walnut bread over at the blog Notes from Dawn. I am also working on a food photography project for my Photoshop class, so I took some pictures just to think about the lighting part of the project. Many of you know that tea is the subject of my project, but here I am using cranberries as test subject:
ISO 1600 50mm 0ev f/2.8 1/60
For me, this photo reinforces my thought that I would like to use natural light for this project. I dislike the tinges of artificial light that you can see on the strainer. It was good to do this though, because natural light has been in short supply here lately, and I am anxious to move along with this project. I guess I’ll also have to learn something about patience.
The bread was yummy too, that was the other thing I discovered by doing this lighting exercise for my Photoshop class. Also, I’m no romantic, but it is nice when everyone is back safe and sound at home.
Do you photograph food? what is your take on artificial versus natural light?
Cheers!
Photography Journal Blog 
Beautiful red berries! I am no expert at all but I will say I am a big fan of natural light ….perhaps because we have so little of it in the short days of winter. 🙂 Nice take on the theme too!
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I think that is part of it, that I would just want to use the natural light this time of year because it is short supply. I suspect to that because what I am shooting are deep colors that the artificial light just comes across as harsh, and that is just not what I am going for here.
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The color is perfect! so vibrant 🙂
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It helps, I think, that they were half frozen, so the color seemed deeper.
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Nice 🙂
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Thanks 🙂
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Beautiful image, Amy. I had a look at Dawn’s recipe, and it sounds delicious. 🙂 I hope your husband enjoys this bread.
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The bread did turn out well and my husband liked it. He was nice enough to share as well 🙂 It is fairly sweet, so to me works well as a desert or a middle of the day pick me up with a cup of tea.
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without a shadow (sorry!) of a doubt natural light is THE secret to good food photography and blogging. i have a food blog over at vannillarock http://vannillarock.com and try to stop family and friends eating my props if i haven’t managed to get daylight shots-it doesn’t always work 😉
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My secret here is that no one else was around to eat the props 🙂 I’ll come and take another look around your blog, thanks for leaving a link.
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The cranberries are a beautiful shade of red. 🙂
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I just love that color 🙂
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Love your cranberry photo. Rich, rich red and I’ll bet the bread was amazing.
I have taken a few photos of food. Although I think my most recent favorite is the crepes a friend took of our lunch at a French cafe. Just wonderful!
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The bread was good, for my taste more a desert than something that would be served with a meal. I love crepes, my Grandmother used to make wonderful crepes. I have to say I don’t usually take food photos. Doing this assignment has underlined how difficult it can be to really do it well.
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Very clever! They look yummy too! : ))
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The bread turned out really well 🙂
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Lovely photo, which looks quite inviting. Actually, I do very little still life photography but on occasions that I have, I have supplemented daylight with LED torches to alter shadows.
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In my second round with the tea, after I shot these cranberries, I actually used one of those reflective auto shades that you would put in your front car window on a summer day to keep the sun out of the car while parked, to bounce some light into the scene.
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Good idea! I have taken very few food photos, mostly cakes I have made and they all look fairly terrible compared to the real thing – except for the one I was able to take a picture of in natural light. Food photography is so not my forte!
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Yes, I noticed that you did not take a photo of your most recent cake 🙂 I know that wasn’t really the point of the post. Food photography is really difficult I think. It is interesting to me that it is that way, how the food can look so good in person yet blah when photographed.
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Yes, it’s funny how color is so important to the look of food. I never would have guessed until I started taking pictures!
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I agree, a lot of work to make it seem effortless 🙂
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love the cranberries…cranberry juice is my favourite!! Never have managed to take a decent shot of any food! 😦 And, artificial light, i believe, is a necessary evil! 🙂
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Yes, we do rely on artificial light don’t we? The cranberries that didn’t go into the bread I actually made into a sauce and served with dinner that night 🙂
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This is a perfect shot, lighting and colors are beautiful! Great details, I feel like to pick up a couple to taste it 🙂
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Thanks, of the ones I took, this turned out the best in terms of details that looked good. I’m still not crazy about the lighting in this case, but that is how I figure things out, trial and error 🙂
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The photo of the berries is beautiful. The bread sounds delicious. And I am glad that your loved ones returned home safely.
Food photos? I have tried a few. So far, nothing that I have really been wowed by. I have tried your tip about using the food setting on my camera for macro shots. That was good advice (when I remember to use it).
I prefer natural lighting over artificial lighting almost always. There are times when it isn’t enough. Of course, I am not an expert.
As for your photo; I don’t find the artificial lighting distracting. In fact, the bright light whitens the strainer in a way that creates beautiful contrast against the red berries.
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Thank you, and the bread was very good, it made an excellent dessert for several days here in this house. While they were on the road their was some really bad weather, so I was just concerned about the driving they were doing.
I agree with you about the natural light, I do prefer it, and I guess I find it easier to work with as well. I think too, if I understood how to control artificial light better, I would like it better 🙂
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