I love taking food photos and I'm working hard to improve my photography skills. I know I'm not a great food photographer like some bloggers, but my pictures started to improve when another blogger that I completely respect and admire had the courage to tell me I needed a new camera. I took her advice and made the investment in a Cannon Rebel XT 8MP Digital SLR Camera and a Canon EF 50MM f/2.5 macro lens. (Edit 11-2007: I now use the Canon 100mm macro lens
for most of my food photos.) I'll always be grateful to her for the feedback, which got me started towards taking better quality photos.With the new camera I can take pictures with natural light a lot of the time, which is one of the first things you learn about photographing food: natural light is always best. But sometimes, even with a good camera, you don't have enough natural light for a good photo. I'm writing this post to tell you how much I love Photo Studio in a Box for taking close-up shots of food.
(Edit 6-2007, My Photo Studio in a Box was from Untangled Life, my brother's online wireless store. Untangled Life has now closed as Rand and Bradley are off on a different internet adventure, but you can get Photo Studio in a Box at Amazon.com.)
(Edit 7-2008, Although I had pretty good results with the Tungsten lights that came with the Photo Studio in a Box, when I read about the Lowell Ego Lights on Steamy Kitchen, of course I wanted them! But I didn't want to pay $100 each for two lights, and I already had this light box to filter the light. I ended up buying two of the Lowell Ego Replacement Bulbs (super cheap!) and using them in an inexpensive desk lamp fixture with a bendable neck and a reflector around the bulb. The light quality with the Lowell flourescent bulbs is really great.)
My brother, Rand, sent me one of these, and I've been using it since late July. Here's what comes with the kit:
- Adjustable camera stand
- Soft light box and backgrounds
- 2 High output table top lights (2800K tungsten lamps 8" height with 8' power cord)
- Nylon diffuser screen
- Custom carrier included
- Soft light box dimensions: 16" x 16" x 16"
- Dual sided blue/gray non-reflective background provides contrast for dark or light objects (creates an infinite depth of field)
I've invested in a few different colors of fabric to use as backgrounds, which I just drape over the back. Rand also gave me another light that I use as a light source from the top.
Here are a few food photos I've taken with Photo Studio in a Box just to show you what I'm talking about:
I think Photo Studio in a Box is a great investment for any food blogger who wants to take great food close-ups when you can't use natural light. Quite honestly, with this kit I could have taken much better photos with my old camera. P.S. If you've been reading Kalyn's Kitchen for a while, you know that Rand and his partner Bradley have provided me with tons of design and technical assistance on my blog. Thanks always for that guys, and thanks again Rand, for sending me this for an early Christmas present! You're a great brother!
Food Photography
30 comments:
It looks great, I wish I had one now when winter is closing in... Great brother, Rand!
your photos have improved so much since you bought your new camera and you have started to work on the whole procedure!
Thanks, Ilva. It means a lot coming from you, since you're such a great photographer.
I'm really intrigued by this. I've seen it mentioned several places. It really improves the colors and intensity of photos.
Impressive all three of those photos.
this looks pretty good, but I have to be good at the moment and be a bit thrifty with how I spend my cash. I shall have to bear it in mind for my Xmas list though ;)
Wow... If only Christmas were next week. Thanks for sharing the info and posting the delicious-looking photos!
What a clever idea! And your photos are great!
Tanna, thanks. I really love it.
Ellie and Veuveclicquot, I know what you mean!
Sher, thanks. There are so many great food photographers, but I'm trying to learn as much as I can!
Kalyn,
I have zero direct sun in my house and so I've been using a homemade lightbox since the beginning of the year. It really does help a lot.
I hear this set up is great to take photos not only of food but those little items you might want to sell on e-bay too....hmm...if I use it to sell some stuff, it can pay for itself and then I can use it to photograph food and justify the cost? Right? :-)
How sweet is he? And his studio set-up/product. Nice. Your photographs are beautiful.
I'm thinking about a Rebel, myself. I'm just using a point-and-shoot, and I want to invest in a good SLR.
So, thanks for the post on food photography! Good timing. ;-)
Aww can i adopt him as my brother for a while? :) What a sweetie! I'm on my way to his blog to read more about the photo studio in a box, sounds like a wonderful idea!
Kevin, I have the same problem. My house faces north and all the big windows are on the east. There's good morning sun, but I'm not home then!!
Rene, it would be perfect for E-bay stuff. My brother uses it to shoot products that they sell on their site and his photos are awesome.
Karina, I love the rebel. I got a good deal at Costco, of all places.
Christine (and Karina) he's such an awesome brother. Christine, when you see his site you'll see how creative he is.
This is a real temptation ... for sure.
What a great idea! Right now, I take my photos outside on the deck, most of them anyway. But winter is long and cold here in Wisconsin.
My husband bought me a Nikon Cool Pix S4 so I'd stop using his Rebel! But I intend to sneak it when he's not around — it's wonderful!
Thanks so much for posting this Kalyn. I'll bet Rand is going to get a lot of orders from this post. I'll be one of them!
Kalyn,
thank you so much for the link and info, I think I'm going to buy one! I always face another problem from taking photo with natural light (e.g. light too strong the image looks too harsh/flat; some hours the light just too grey or blue...) I'll look up that web site. Thanks again Kalyn!
No doubt about it, your photos look luscious. I've tried rigging up a similar thing -- very rustic! -- a cardboard box sliced open, and strung with white kraft paper. But I love the idea of being able to enclose the object, or plate of food, or whatever, and then create even light all around. Thanks for sharing your source.
Wow, that's really cool. I try to do natural light, but it always turns out a bit blue.
Ryan and I realize that we need to start looking for a new camera as ours is going downhill.
Your pictures look GREAT!
-Crystal
Yes, those light boxes are a wonder. I don't use one, but I do have a handful of reflectors, diffusers and mirrors to get light in to crannys. For quick grab shots I use a shoe-mount flash and bounce it off something white. These would usually be an open kitchen cabinet door.
Personally I find natural light a pain in the ass. You can't count on the sun being where you want it, recreating shots is near impossible, shiny reflections on food nearly always turn blue, if you forget you have an old incandescent bulb on half your food is red and half is blue, there's less of it in winter, an junk like that.
I'll take 2 UV balanced photo floods and see ya in morning.
Biggles
What a cool thing, Kalyn! I can't imagine that I'd be able to use something like that though. It's all I can do to take the quick snaps I do before it's time for the plates to be wisked away to the table. (Wouldn't do to allow hot food to get cold or cold food to melt!)
Your photos sure do look beautiful though!! I suddenly have a deep desire to have shrimps, cucumber salad and gazpacho!!
-Elizabeth
Hi Kalyn ~ Just wanted to say 'thanks' for highlighting this. I ordered one and absolutely love it. I still use my own tripod and will say it helps to have a place where the whole thing can remain set up. But it is really great, especially during now that it's getting dark so early. Alanna
Ok, found the necessary information re: photo studio in a box:) I'll speak to my kitchen/photography assistant about it:)
I am very happy to find your blog.
Awesome! I wanted to get one awhile back but they were out of stock. Now if only I could get that SNL song Dick in a Box out of my head we would be good to go...
Someone just sent me a link to this post today because I was taking pictures of food and my kitchen lighting sucks. This looks pretty awesome.
Thanks!
Kalyn, my photos suck! What I'd like to see is before-and-after shots: what the shot would look like if you took it on your kitchen table vs. what it would look like with photo in a box!
Val
Sorry Valeree, don't have any of those.
I bought this one, too! It is really a great tool as I get home from work very late and most of my cooking I can only do then.
I want the Ego lights so baaad...but to cough up $200 for light bulbs?
LaLaine, the bulbs are only $20 each, and since you have the PSiaB you don't need the screens. Just buy cheap desk lamps to hold the bulb. The whole set up only cost me about $60 for two EGO lights.
I visited your blog through Google and found it to be informative and interesting. Really it's a good blog
Your photos are great. I am happy to find your blog.
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