I was working on an outdoor summer party for a magazine feature when I shot the blueberry sorbet on the next page. Yet it was the middle of winter! So I tried to capture the feel of summer by shooting on a bright sunny day. To help me manage the changing light situations throughout the day and filter the light coming directly from the sun, I set up most of the shots under the patio awning. The light in that location was nicely diffused and fell evenly in the frame, minimizing shadows and reflections in the glass.
This outdoor dessert table is evenly lit on an overcast day.
f/5.6, ISO 100, 100mm, Macro L
No matter where you choose to shoot, remember that outdoor photography during daylight hours will enable you to keep your ISO relatively low (try 100 to 250 and up to 400 if the weather is overcast). Also remember to set your white balance appropriately when outdoors: usually Daylight or Cloudy. And pay attention to the season. The quality of the light will be different in winter than it is in summer, so be sure to make the proper adjustments as covered in Chapter 2.
Window Light
This blueberry sorbet was photographed under a balcony, where there was nice, even light.
f/4.5, ISO 100, 100mm, Macro L
When not diffused, direct light coming through a window on a clear and sunny day can be just as strong and harsh as unobstructed sunlight outdoors. Even if you set your exposure properly, you’ll notice that direct window light creates dark shadows and strong highlights. And perhaps this is perfect for the story you’re trying to convey. But if you prefer a softer light with less contrast, try shooting under early morning or late afternoon light, which tends to be gentle and easy to manage.
The soft light of an early Fall morning is coming through the window to cast an atmosphere of openness.
f/3.5, ISO 640, 100mm, Macro L
This cupcakes image was set up indoors in a place where light streamed directly through the window on the left. The light was undiffused to create lots of highlights in the scene and even blow out some of the whites. To me, this conveys an airy mood … light-as-a-feather cakes on a cold winter morning. The shadows were very strong, and to reduce their impact and retain the lightness, I bounced the light with a silver reflector that was positioned on the right.
Remember, diffusing light coming through your window evens out the quality of the light. This diminishes the hard contrasts and softens shadows. As a result, diffused light makes it easier to set your camera for a proper exposure, which can be key when time is an issue—such as when you are photographing food that melts or wilts quickly, or when you have a very hungry family waiting on you to finish photographing their dinner!
Here you have it, my favorite diffuser is actually a recycled bed sheet!
f/3.5, ISO 320, 24-70mm, L
Even after diffusing the light, you may notice that shadows and highlights are still too strong. In these cases, you need to decide if and/ or how the available light can work with the frame you’re trying to shoot. If you want to incorporate a dramatic dimension to your picture, leave it as is. Or, consider bouncing the light so it hits your subject from the opposite side as well. This may help fill in some of the dark spots.
The setup for this photograph of a salad featured light coming from the left side, diffused with a bed sheet and unbounced on the right.
f/3.5, ISO 250, 100mm, Macro L
This is the same salad with the same left incoming light, which is diffused with a bed sheet. But this time, a white board bounced the light from the right.
f/3.5, ISO 250, 100mm, Macro L
In the pictures of the salad bowl above, the light came in from the left. I used my bed sheet diffuser to soften the direct window light, and I did not bounce the light to illuminate the other side of the bowl in the photograph on the left. Therefore, shadows naturally fall at the bottom of the bowl onto the table. They’re not ugly, but they make the overall composition a bit stern. By using a simple piece of white foam board for the image on the right, the light bounces back onto the bowl, filling in the dark areas.
Depending on the quality and quantity of the light coming through your window, you might find it necessary to make some adjustments to your camera settings. That is, it may be helpful to bump up your ISO or decrease your f/stop to allow in more light. Or, if you don’t want to compromise grain quality by increasing ISO, think about setting your camera on a tripod and using longer exposures (slower shutter speeds) to prevent camera shake, which would result in a picture that’s out of focus or blurry.
Golden Hours
During daylight hours in a well-lit area, you’ll probably notice that low-light adjustments are unnecessary. Prime natural light is typically available for an hour or two after sunrise and an hour or two before sunset. This is known as the Golden Hours.
Of course, hour should be perceived loosely since the photographer’s location in regard to the Equator will affect the duration of the amount of time that this soft light is available. Close to the Equator, less time is available for Golden Hour light. As you get further from the Equator, this superb lighting lasts longer.
If you cannot shoot your images under this prime natural light, then you’ll probably need to use longer exposures or adjust your ISO to accommodate the light you have.
Among my most precious pieces of photo equipment is a 99-cent piece of foam board that I use as a bounce to fill in troublesome shadow areas.
f/3.5, ISO 250, 100mm, Macro L
You might also want to adjust the white balance depending on your window orientation, the time of the day you’re shooting, and/ or the season. (The light carries a warmer tone in the summer than in the winter, for example.) Refer to Chapter 2 for examples of white balance adjustments.
Your ideal light orientation depends on your location and personal preferences. The irony … and interesting quality … of natural light is that it’s never the same from one day to the next or from one location to another.
Where I live in the southeast US, I very much prefer a south-facing window, because I prefer the many variations of light that this orientation offers throughout the day. But I know other photographers who love northern light above all other options. So if you intend to shoot as long as possible throughout a given day, observe which part of your house or locale receives the most light and for the longest time. Or, if you’re more concerned about color casts and contrast, try different window orientations to find the one that meets your needs.
Northern light is known to be soft and consistent. This is its upside and downside. Southern light, on the other hand, offers a variety of strength and shades of light. This requires a photographer to be aware of and prepared for these variations. Start with one orientation, move to another. See how one light source affects your subject versus another. Play and practice.
Just keep in mind that things change with the season. During winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the sun is positioned low, near the southern horizon, so more direct sunlight may come through your south-facing window at this time. In the summer, the sun is oriented higher in the sky, so this affects the angle of light striking that same window.
Light As Story Teller
Above and beyond the props, color palette and styling of your photo setup, light—the lack or abundance of it and your manipulation of it—is integral to creating images that reflect the mood, the ambiance and overall tone, you envision. As emphasized so far in this book, thoughtful management of light helps you to draw and hold the attention of your audience. A picture is worth a thousand words, yes; let the first one be Wow!
Whether you choose to photograph in direct sunlight outdoors or with a natural or homemade diffuser indoors, always photograph with intent. Some questions to help define purpose:
• Why are you outdoors (or next to this window or in a corner) anyway?
• What are you trying to convey about this food with your image?
• Can the hard light and highlights of direct sunlight help enhance your dish by adding texture and shape, o
r will it completely ruin the tones and colors you’re hoping to capture?
• Will high beams of sun help to tell the story of your dish?
When managed appropriately, the quantity, quality and direction of the light will enable you to tell your story in a visual way. Some light situations will be more useful to you than others.
As already mentioned, the first step is to choose your light source and then decide whether or not to diffuse it and/ or bounce it. Then, think about the direction of your light. Where is it coming from? And is it appropriate for your shot? Let’s explore the impact of the direction of light.
Finding Direction
For a photographer, trying to manipulate a natural element as fundamental as light is a constant. You simply must know where the light comes from and understand how each direction impacts your shot. It impacts the overall look of a picture tremendously. Natural light changes all the time, keeping you on your toes and your creative juices flowing.
Front Light
When a photograph is shot using front light, the photographer is placed with the sun to his/ her back so the light falls on the subject from the front. Front lighting produces a rather flat light which makes it relatively simple to set the exposure. By the way, a light is said to be flat when it produces very little contrast, which reduces the multi-dimensional nature of a subject. You don’t have to worry much here about shadows and highlights.
Yet this is said to be one of the main drawbacks of front lighting: the light is rather dull. This kind of lighting won’t bring forth the textures and shapes of the food you’re photographing. To help, try standing further away from the subject—and maybe use a telephoto or macro lens. This will let some of the sun beams go right above your shoulders and fall onto your dish.
Back Light
When you use back light, the light source is directly in front of you, behind your subject. I know, this goes against the first bit of photography-lighting advice you probably ever received. At least in my case, when I was a kid playing with my first camera, I was told to never shoot with the sun directly in front of my camera. Doing so would produce strong highlights and silhouettes instead of people.
It’s true, back light tends to have a strong effect, no matter what its size. And even diffused, back light can be tricky. When handled well though, back light produces beautiful highlights and contrasts. Use it when you want to accentuate the shine of liquid surfaces, such as beverages. It also works well when photographing jellies or chocolate, because it helps hide some surface flaws and casts a nice silver shine on chocolate items.
To accentuate the gloss of the gel surface in the picture below, I used back light. And to ensure there wasn’t too much going on in terms of shadows on the sides, a silver bounce was positioned on the right. Finally, a white foam core was placed right in front of the glasses to reduce shadows. This kept the main focus on the top of the subject.
For the photograph of the chocolate tart, I used back light to hide my setup challenges. The tart had been frozen because I wasn’t able to photograph it right away; and when I let it thaw, little beads of condensation formed on the chocolate. To minimize this, I sprinkled some cocoa on the top and used back light to accentuate the shine, which smoothed out the surface visually.
A back-lighting situation helped to enhance the shine on the top of this Citrus Tea Jelly dessert.
f/3.5, ISO 290, 50mm
This Chocolate Tart was backlit. The light was diffused but not bounced, which resulted in pronounced shadows against the pie plate.
f/3.5, ISO 400, 100mm, Macro L
Back light is also great for frames that include minimum styling and props. The strong highlights coming from behind the subject tend to swallow background shapes and textures anyway, so back light naturally flatters the foreground of a composition.
The strong highlights created by the light coming from the back of these onion flowers helped draw the eye to the one in the center of the frame.
f/3.5, ISO 100, 100mm, Macro L
The light in the photo of onion flowers was very strong, even though it was diffused, and this created a shallow depth of field. The back lighting blurred out the shape of the bowl in the background and minimized the stem of the onion flower. This worked well here, because these elements weren’t too visually appealing. And with everything so highlighted, the overall feel of the image is gentle. Yet the foreground subject pops.
When using back lighting, bouncing light back onto the front and/ or sides of your subject will often be helpful. It will help you maintain a nice balance of lighting while retaining the benefits of back lighting … without having to increase your ISO too much.
One thing to remember about back lighting is that it can create lens flare, a term that describes the hazy look and/ or polygonal shapes in a photograph caused when uncontrolled light (like the sun, the moon or artificial light) hits the lens at sharp angles. Lens flare is sometimes used artistically for portraits and lifestyle photography—think: picnic setting on a sunny summer day—but less frequently (if ever) for food photography.
One easy way to avoid lens flare is to use the hood that came with your lens. Think of it like the hat you put over your head to protect it from the sun. If for some reason, your lens did not come with a hood (they are brand- and model-specific), then I recommend that you purchase one. They are an inexpensive and can be easily found online or at any good camera store.
Side Light
When light comes from the side of a subject, it’s known as side lighting. To visualize placement of side light, imagine a clock. If a subject is positioned at the center, then side light comes from the space between two o’clock and four o’clock … or eight and ten o’clock.
The crabs are positioned with the main light source coming in from the left side at an eight to two o’clock angle.
f/3.5, ISO 320, 24-70mm, L
Side lighting adds dimension to your images by bringing forth the shape, textures and shadows created by the food and props. Since the light falls primarily on one side in this setup, shadows on the other side are accentuated. Depending on the time of the day, you might find that the shadows are too strong for your liking. This is where reflectors, bounces, flash fills and other lighting accessories can really help.
Ingredients for s’mores are dynamic in natural sidelight.
f/2.8, ISO 125, 100mm, Macro L
In the picture of s’mores ingredients, the table is positioned between two large windows (instead of one), which provided more light to work with than I usually have. To convey an autumn feeling, I wanted lots of light in the composition … with sun beams coming through the room. The longer shadows and the golden glow from the sun splashes helped me create a Fall mood in this image.
The window on the left took a secondary lighting role, but it kept good light on the foreground of the composition. The other window, positioned at a side angle, provided the primary light for this image.
If you’re new to food photography or photography in general, I suggest starting with side lighting. This is probably the most dependable orientation for light during most hours of the day. And I think you’ll find that it’s easier to control exposure, highlights, shadows and other lighting considerations in side lighting situations than when working with front light or back light, which typically require more thought and technique.
All I had to do for the eggs and asparagus photo was bounce the light on the right with a white foam core and diffuse the light on the left. In almost no time at all, we were able to enjoy a warm and satisfying meal.
Be Quick
I was shooting for my blog when I captured the image of eggs and asparagus, which were indeed our brunch following the snap. But when I shoot for a magazine feature, I may or may not eat the food I photograph. It depends on how long it sits out. If I know a dish is going to be eaten and time is short for getting my shot, then I like the reliability of side light.
Side lighting, when diffused, provides a soft and reli
able light that helped me take a good shot very quickly before brunch.
f/3.5, ISO 640, 24-70mm, L
If this had been something we could have refrigerated to eat later or if more time to capture the dish had been available, I would have photographed it in both side light and back light. I would’ve experimented with undiffused and unbounced light. Instead, I used the go-to side light to get the shot fast so we could eat.
The Lemon Flan was side lit in late afternoon.
f/3.5, ISO 250, 100mm, Macro L
Here’s one more example to remind you to move around your setup. I was glad this came to be, because when I began shooting the lemon flan, the main light source was coming from a window directly to the side of this dish. It was alright, but not great. So I adjusted different elements to improve the setup. But I just wasn’t happy with the results. It was late in the afternoon and I realized that the light was just all wrong. It looked flat and gray—not very interesting.
I considered packing away the flan and starting over the next day, but … motivated mostly by my sweet tooth … I decided to take a step back and reassess the lighting situation before giving up. There was plenty of light in the room after all. And I realized that I didn’t have to stay in the same usual spot.
I moved the table closer to another window in the room, where direct sunlight was coming through. Positioned at a ten o’clock angle to the light, this setup allowed me to use some of the soft sun beams coming in through the window to convey an inviting mood of tranquility, as if telling the viewer, “Come sit and have a piece of cake.”
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