food photography in artificial light

When I first decided to do this cooking blog, it was summer and the sun stayed blissfully visible until late evening. Light wasn’t an issue. But the days got shorter and shorter and shorter until darkness had descended upon the dinner making and photographing process. Now it wasn’t just a matter of grabbing the camera and snapping a few shots. The light was a major issue and it all took time. Too much time for the food to stay warm. And too much time to keep the hungry mouths quiet. So, I had to sort the process and streamline it. LIGHTING The first thing I did was to go on Trademe (the New Zealand equivalent of Ebay) and I bought two lights on stands with lightboxes to diffuse the light. I didn’t know if this would work but I had studied the issue at length and in the end my son told me to get on with it and take action. So I bought these and, miracle of miracles, they work brilliantly. I place one on either side of the food and turn all the lights off except these two and … [Read more...] about How to photograph food in artificial light and keep it warm