Quick Help Needed - Food Photography

[Samerr9]

Hi all

A friend of a friend of mine is planning to issue his cooking book. He wants 44 photos of all the 44 plates in his book. We will meet tomorrow so I can show him samples and agree on the price.

I made some research on Food Photography and noted the tips.. but I am here for three questions:

1- Did anyone made a simular job earlier? If yes, what is his advise?
2- Shall I price by photo or by a full day work?
3- Will the Canon 50mm 1.4 do the job?

Please note that I am not a professional photographer, but really willing to be one Thank you..

 

[flea77]

1) Yes, practice practice practice. Food photography is nowhere near as easy as it seems.
2) How do you normally work? Do this the same. I personally go by the hour or day rate, depending on how long it takes.
3) On what body? On a crop body, probably, on a full frame, may be a bit too far. But that is a fairly personal choice.

A few more questions.... How do you intend to light it? I used window light for my main, flash for fill on two sides, radio triggered. Do you have a contract? Without one you are just begging for problems. Do you have insurance? If someone trips over your light stand or tripod you could be liable. Do you have documents for a commercial release? If not you will need to get them, some publishers require them for every image in a published book. Where you are, are you required to collect sales tax, and if so, do you have the required permits for that?

Allan

 

[molested_cow]

I'd think 50mm will be great. I am not expert, but I think using a prime will be good for this scenario. You don't want the 44 photos to have varying perspective distortions, so a fixed focal length for all of them will help maintain some kind of consistency.

Another thing, my own opinion, is you have the choice to shoot the subjects in controlled environment. They don't move like bugs (unless the food is live moving bugs). You can take you time to set up the environment with the proper warm lighting and have your camera on tripod, low ISO and how ever long shutter speed. My point is, I'd rather use proper lighting and exposure than a flash to get the job done.


I think you should price by the deliverable. If he wants 44 final images, then charge 44 images. You may take 36 hours and 4444 shots to get 44 good ones, but that's not supposed to be his problem.

 

[Robin Usagani]

50 will do great if you shoot it in a nice environment, meaning... beautiful kitchen, nice restaurant etc.

I prefer longer lens so I can compress the background so I dont get distracting background.