Hi Everyone
I was out last week on a commercial photoshoot at Giancarlos in Tranent for Just Eat. As a professional photographer operating in Scotland, it is always a pleasure to get a variety of different commissions. Food photography is something I enjoy. This particular commission has some strict guidelines/requirement from the client and this is fine but it got me thinking of a few tips for food photographers. Here they are:
1. Use a tripod for consistency and sharpness, especially if shooting with natural light
2. Get creative with where you focus, this adds interest to the photo
3. Try and get the food to shine. This can be achieved by spraying it, or lightly topping it with oil so that it glistens
4. Better brighter than darker or under-exposed where food photography is concerned, it makes the food more attractive
5. If photographing something fairly basic such as a hamburger shot side on to show the fillings
6. Where flash is used, always diffuse the light and only aim straight at the subject if you are using a fairly large softbox or light modifier, otherwise the light will be too harsh
7. Use props ie chopsticks, cutlery, salt pepper, herbs etc
8. Try and make the food look colourful and it must look very attractive to eat, sounds obvious but I have seen some food photos that put me of the menu
9. In some cases photograph 90 degrees above with drinks included to give the impression of a 3 or 4 course meal
10. Try some preparation shots, with chefs making the food, it can help to tell the story
Hope all that helps
Until next time
Kind Regards
Colin
Hi Everyone
With the festive season preparations in full swing, I thought I would look back on some of my Christmas photography commissions as a professional photographer in Edinburgh, East Lothian and throughout Scotland, particularly whilst working as a newspaper photographer in East Lothian and Midlothian. Its largely a great time to photography people, due to the joy, costumes and general light shows you get at this time of year, but I thought I would look at some of the challenges for the Christmas photographer. Here we go:
1. Photographing Christmas Light turn on celebrations can be challenging due to the weather and the crowds, make sure you are in the perfect spot when the lights are turned on - be assertive, otherwise you will get lost amongst the crowds and get poor photos.
2. Most outdoor Christmas photoshoots are in almost total darkness. The lights themselves won't help overcome this, as exposing to the lights will only show the lights in the photos and not the people. Use flash to get photos of people in the foreground, then take a tripod long exposure shot of the lights, preferably when there is still some detail in the sky, ie not at the darkest time of day.
3. At any Christmas event, photograph children, with the permission of their parents of course. They look great in their costumes and their genuine enthusiasm for Christmas enhances any photo.
4. Try to capture facial expressions, always important, but even more so at this time of year.
5. If outdoors, prepare well for the weather. You will probably be hanging about waiting on something to begin, so get well wrapped up.
Anyway, hope that helps you to create some magical event photography images.
Col
www.colinwrightphotography.co.uk
www.edinburghotographer.com
Hi All
Now as we all know digital photography has changed the way we approach corporate photography commissions and as a professional specialist conference photographer operating in Edinburgh and around Scotland, it is vital to keep up with the times, particularly the changing expectations of today's clients. Here are a few things to be aware of:
1. Often conferences are based in multiple locations on the one day, so while you may need different equipment for different purposes, it is vital that you keep the gear down to a sensible level keeping you mobile
2. The length of the day is much longer, particularly for private sector photoshoots, so keep your energy up, make sure you keep well fed and watered (preferably by the client)
3. You will take more shots nowadays, gone are the days when you need to supply the client with a handful of shots, it will be hundreds now, so keep snapping and take some arty ones, even if they haven't asked for this, they will almost certainly like them
4. Make sure you are clear about the clients expectations before the start of the event, don't just assume its the same as an event you did recently, they are all different
5. Your personality is very important, you are not just a photographer in the background. The days of the rude wedding and event photographer are over, be nice but be natural and enthusiastic, remember we are privileged to be doing a great job for a living
Anyway, that's all for now, hope it helps.
www.colinwrightphotography.co.uk
www.edinburghphotographer.com
Hi All
This blog is really about 2 different issues involved in infrared photography. The first one, as a professional photographer from Edinburgh, Scotland, I always ask myself, what exactly do I want to achieve as an end result for this photo, ie the pre-visualisation aspect of photography. Now this is where infrared photography differs from other types of photography, in that the images look nothing like they do on the camera screen, its almost a bit like the film days when you had no idea what the final image would look like and pre-visualisation was vital. However, the point I am trying to make in this case is sometimes when I shoot infrared I want a realistic black and white photograph and not a weird white tree shot or over the top colours and this is where infrared is fantastic, as the contrast, structure and dynamic range is excellent. In this case I went up Arthur Seat in Edinburgh and shot mainly with the intention to get dramatic black and white images. Let me know what you think, there is one attached to this blog and 3 on the website. The other point I wanted to make was something I keep drilling on about and especially for black and white photography - its the importance of the sky and this photo wouldn't work without the cloud detail in the sky. Clouds like this actually excite me.
Anyway, of to my final conference photography commission of the year later this week.
Until next time.
Kind Regards
Colin
https://www.colinwrightphotography.co.uk/p304082559
www.edinburghphotographer.com
Hi All
I have just purchased a Canon EOS R mirrorless camera which I think will be ideal for my conference photography commissions in Edinburgh and throughout Scotland, particularly with the improved focusing and ISO performance and the ability to shoot silently, always useful for indoor event photographers. However, I thought I would test it a bit at the weekend before using it at a corporate conference photography commission on Thursday this week. As well as shooting indoors for a bit, I thought i would take it outside for some football photography. I didn't buy the camera for this reason but I thought it was still worth it to test it outdoors. As expected, it wasn't suitable for this purpose, however it is a great camera and I look forward to using it at corporate event photography commissions. It also got me thinking that it is good to test ourselves with equipment that is less than ideal for the purpose, it gets you working harder and makes you think about how you can adapt to situations with limited equipment. It was like this for me when I started as I simply couldn't afford more expensive gear, this improved my skills enabling me to adapt to different situations with one lens and to search if something wasn't right, for a solution with my existing gear, rather than just going out and buying something more modern and advanced. This is especially true with lighting and flash systems, there is no need to keep buying more up to date gear, just go out and get to know your existing stuff better. By the way, my recent purchase was a direct response to a need to shoot silently at events and also I am getting older and want to lighten the load on my back.
Anyway happy snapping.
Kind Regards
Colin
www.colinwrightphotography.co.uk
www.edinburghphotographer.com