Transcripts
1. Class Introduction: [MUSIC] Welcome to this class about
Commercial Food Photography. My name is Rose,
I'm a photographer, videographer, and entrepreneur
from the Philippines. My husband and I started our photo and video business in 2017. I was more in charge of photos, so I do a lot of events, products, and food photography. I have helped several local
businesses increase sales, and boost online
presence through professional food
and product photos. Here are some of my
very recent work from my very recent photoshoots. [MUSIC] We live in a day and time when it is harder to compete for
attention online. If you are in the
food business and most of your
customers are online, it really pays to invest in professional and
inviting food photos. If you are an aspiring
photographer, then this is a great
opportunity for you. There is a saying that ''We
eat with our eyes first''. The same thing is true
for online buyers. They see the appetizing food photos and it
affects their decision This is why food photography is such a valuable
skill and that is what I will be sharing
with you in this class. I recently did a photoshoot
for a Taiwanese cafe and we were able to capture most of the behind the
scenes from this gig. In this class, you
will see me plan, prepare, and do the
actual photoshoot. You will see me
set up lighting, select props, style my scene, set up my gear, all of that. You will also see
me edit some of my favorite photos
from this photoshoot. Basically, I will share with
you everything I know about commercial food photography and you will see me
actually do all of it. This class is perfect for beginner food photographers,
for foodies, bloggers, for photographers who want to venture in food photography, for food business
owners who want to know what happens
in a food photoshoot, and absolutely
anyone who wants to learn something
new and exciting. You don't need a fancy camera to participate in this class Your smartphone camera is a
great way to get started, plus your hunger for
new discoveries. Here are some of the
edited photos from this commercial food photoshoot
to give you an idea. [MUSIC] By the end
of this class, you will know exactly how I was able to capture those images. We will be covering
food photography lighting setup, styling, props, backdrops, composition
techniques, shooting angles, photo editing, and
many, many more. Now if you're ready,
let's get started.
2. Class Project: Before we jump into the class, I just want to explain what the class project
will be because you know that
Skillshare classes are fun because of student projects This is our way of making
sure you really get involved, and you really get something valuable after
completing the class Don't worry, it will be
very easy and simple For your class project, you just need to take a photo of your favorite food
using fun backgrounds. Basically, you will just
be needing your camera, may it be DSLR or your smartphone, your favorite food, and your choice of background
or backdrop. You can find things at
home that you can use, or if you want to
go a little extra, you can shop at the
nearest dollar store or a bookstore for
additional supplies. You can even go all in by adding props like flowers,
antiques, etc. As long as you photograph your favorite food using your very own unique
background and styling, you are good to go. Upload your work using the "Create Project"
button under projects and resources so we can see
it and give it some love. I hope you are as
excited as I am. Good luck and have lots of fun.
3. How To Get Clients: [MUSIC] Welcome to this lesson. I wanted to make sure I cover as much as possible in this class, including how I got this client and some
ways you can get yours. This client found me through our Facebook page,
FPS Productions PH. I post most of my work
and classes here, so it helps with engagement and the
algorithm detected it. This is the second time
that when a client in our area searches for
a food photographer, our Facebook page is
being suggested to them. That is one way. If you are just starting out
and can't manage a website, you can start with
a Facebook page. The goal is to let
everybody know, especially people in your area, that you are accepting
food photography gigs. It will also help to do personal photoshoots
so you can build your portfolio and
add it to your page so it will look credible
and drive engagement. This is how I got this client, through our FPS Productions
PH Facebook page. If you will notice, we don't have a lot of
likes and followers yet, but that is not a reason not to reach your
target customers. Here are other ways you
can get gigs and clients. Number 1, take photos
for free at first. This is actually how I got
my very first paying client. What I did was order
their food online, then took a couple of
nice photos of it. I ate it and it was really good, so I also had really good
things to say about it. I posted it on Facebook
and tagged them. Then a few days later, the owner of this store or
this pizza shop contacted me and asked if I could do a professional photoshoot
of their entire menu. This actually worked
for me multiple times. You can do the same too. Just a couple of tips. Look for local
businesses that do not have professional-looking
photos on their website or
social media pages so you'll know that
there is a need. Another tip is to
choose products or businesses that you
personally believe in so It will manifest in your photos, plus it can help when
creating genuine captions. Next is telling your
friends and family, posting your photos on your socials and
letting everybody know. This can be a great
starting point. There are times when
our friends have a friend who needs
a photographer, but they just didn't know
that we can be recommended. Sometimes we are so
good at what we do, but we don't
advertise it enough. You grow and master a skill
fast when you do it a lot, so really build your skill and practice and let everybody know. Post often so the
algorithm will detect it Use 8-15 hashtags, use keywords, tags, all of that. The good news is, social media is
such a great way to market and most of it is free, so take advantage of it. Just a recap, ways that
you can get clients and gigs are number 1,
letting everybody know. Number 2, working for free
and giving value first, taking photos of
products and tagging businesses to introduce yourself as a skilled photographer. Finally, creating a
page or a website where clients can contact
you and see your work. Some additional tips are using 8-15 hashtags when
posting on social media, maximizing keywords, and
search engine optimization. In the next lesson, I will show you how I
planned and prepared for this photoshoot plus things I talked about with the
client during our meeting. See you there. [MUSIC]
4. Planning And Meeting With The Client: [MUSIC] Welcome back. In this video, I will share with you how I planned and the
things that were talked about with the
client during our meeting. This is one of the
most important stages when doing a
commercial photoshoot. This is where you set
expectations with the client. This is where you gather
what's in their thoughts or how they expect the
photos to look like. This is where you also ask who your client's
target audience is. This is where you
create a theme board or a mood board and gain
agreement with a client. I know we all have
our unique style and creativity but at
the end of the day, if we are doing a
photography for a client, we need to make sure we
are on the same page and that our client will be
happy with our photos. So first, let me talk
about the needs of this client and why they
decided to hire me. They wanted a professional
food photographer because their products
are really good. I mean, during our photoshoot, I was able to taste most of it, and it is authentic. It is authentic Taiwanese food. But they said they could not translate that to their photos. Most of their customers
or audience are online, so it is really
important to have appetizing and
inviting food photos. When you sell food on the
Internet or on Facebook, people will not know that it's
good until they taste it right? So here comes the "we eat
with our eyes first" That was their first concern, make their food look
inviting on camera. My game plan for this is to make sure I had the
best lighting setup, use my macro lens 90% of the
time to capture details, and do the rest in
the editing room. Next concern is their branding. They wanted for the final
photos to shout "Taiwanese" I personally don't know much about the Taiwanese
food culture, so I dedicated one day
researching about it. I collected photos
from different blogs, I created a Taiwanese
board on Pinterest, and check Instagram hashtags. So this is one of the theme boards that
I sent the client, and they actually liked it. For the drinks, I sent
them these photos, but they said this is not their branding or this
is not who they are, so I searched further and
found this on Instagram. I explained to them
that instead of yellow, I will replace the
other backdrop with red and they
actually liked the idea, and that is the story
behind these final photos. [MUSIC] Finally, their third concern is how to make one of
their bestsellers, the Jumbo Chicken Steak
look yummy and crunchy. My plan for this is the same as my plan with
their first concern, and that is to capture the
food in the best lighting possible using a macro lens and doing the rest
in the editing room. So that is it for the
meeting with the client. Basically, they just want
the photos to show how yummy their food
is, because it is. They want one of their
bestsellers to look crunchy and appetizing and they want to see their branding incorporated
with the photos. Their target audience will
be online and of all ages, so the photos need to be
eye-catching as well. Just to recap, the planning
stage is where you set up at least one
meeting with your client, this is where you
set expectations. This is where you brainstorm
and gather ideas. This is where you
decide what will be the final theme and final
vibe of your photos. This is where you take notes, research, and put all
your ideas in one place, and now that I have an idea
of the client's expectations, it's time to get to work
and maybe do some shopping. [MUSIC]
5. Selecting Props: Welcome to this lesson. We are now moving on
to selecting props and backdrops for our yummy
Taiwanese-themed photoshoot. Here are my props. For this photo shoot, it would be inappropriate to use irrelevant props such
as these wine glasses, this pink plate, but it would be appropriate to
use this bamboo steamer, especially for the dumplings, these chopsticks, and
these bowls for the soup. I wanted for the photos
to look colorful and red so I will bring these
place-mats as well. Maybe bring these
wooden props too. If you will notice, I am sticking with
neutral colors because they wanted red for one
of their backgrounds, so I have to select
colors that are complementary or
look good with red. For the other backdrop, they agreed for me
to use this design. Basically we will be doing
two sets of each dish. One on this background and another one using this red
and yellow background. But I don't have a red and yellow background yet so it's time for some magic. We are at a bookstore. It's a bit short
notice for me to get a waterproof backdrop so I will be just using this poster
papers, so let's see. For the bright red and
yellow background, I can use this one. This will do and then I think this will do
for the yellow background. Next, let's see if we can
get a few more props. Alright, so we are inside
Daiso Japan store. I know they have a lot of
cute kitchen stuff and home decor here so
let's see if we can find something
that we can use. I think we have
everything that we need. It's time to go
back to the studio. Well, that was fun. Now that I have
decided the backdrops, I have the backgrounds
and the backdrops, it's time to pack my gear, pack these props, and I'll
see you in the next lesson.
6. The Day Before The Photoshoot: Welcome to this lesson. We are now preparing for
our photo shoot tomorrow. This is what happens the
day before the photo shoot. Number 1, I create a shot list. I create check
boxes of the shots that the client
expects and wants, and I make sure I go
through all of it and I countercheck it with my
props and my backdrops. I have one written down
on this index card, and I have one on my
phone for backup. Creating a shot list is
very important when doing photo shoots to
make sure you don't forget or miss anything. Next, I prepare
and pack my props. I will be using this
Megabox for the props. Starting with the plates, I am wrapping each plate using this yellow paper to make sure they won't break during transit, especially the porcelain ones. We are done with the props, all packed and ready to go. Next will be the
equipment or the gear. I have my to-bring list here
so I will not miss anything. So yes, it is very important
to write everything down, have a list, and stay organized. I will be using and
bringing this box. This is actually where I
store my cameras and lenses. I have a dehumidifier
device inside so the camera and lenses will
not develop moist and molds. I will just make sure I have
everything I need inside. First will be the
camera, then lenses. The macro lens is
the most important. Later on, I will
show you why I could not stop talking
about my macro lens. Next will be extra batteries. You don't want to run out
of battery when shooting. That's a no-no. Related to
extra batteries are chargers. Just in case my extra
batteries are not enough, I can charge the spare
bear while I am shooting. Next, SD cards. I have one already
installed in my camera, so that's good, but I also bring an extra just to be sure. This brush to clean the lens, lens cover to
protect the lenses. That is it for this box. Next on my list is the tripod. I have monopods and this tripod. But for this shoot, I will be using
this tripod only. Later in the photo shoot, you will see why I
love this tripod. Making sure I pack this too. Finally, my lighting setup. I am still deciding if I will
reassemble the whole thing. This lighting setup
is my favorite. You can definitely stick
with natural lighting, which is light from the
sun when starting out, but you can consider
using artificial lighting like this because it
is more manageable, it is predictable, and honestly, easier to work with when doing commercial
food photography. This is a Godox SL-60W with 120-centimeter octagon
softbox Bowens mount ring with grid. I really saved up for
this setup, but honestly, it's not that expensive
and it's worth it if you are serious
about food photography. It's not limited to just food. You can also use it for
product photography, for a studio portraits, and I personally use it for all my video lessons
here on Skillshare. My husband suggested that I
just remove the light with the octagon softbox and put
it in the car this way, so it will be easier to assemble once we are
at the location. Making sure I get the
light stand as well. Finally, my reflectors. Don't you worry, later on I will explain further why these
reflectors are important. The next lesson is
photo shoot day. Yay! See you there.
7. Photoshoot Day: Hi again. This is the day. You saw me back my things. They're all in the car. Now, it's time to go to
the photo shoot location. It is going to be an hour and a half drive
according to Google, so call time is 9:00 in the morning and being early
has lots of advantages. We're leaving at exactly
7:00 in the morning, so we can arrive 30 minutes
before the call time. It's going to be exciting. Let's go! We are now at the location. We arrived early, so I will use this time to
scout the place and find a spot where I can set up our food studio or food
photography studio. Let's go. When we arrived, the first thing I did was to introduce myself to the clients. This is actually the first time that they will
meet me in person, so breaking some ice
and getting to know the business a little bit
are good ways to start. In case you haven't it's actually the
best time to ask more about their business, their products,
the brand history, or the story of their business. This way it will help you in your photo shoot and
in styling your scene. In my case, it got me
really inspired because these clients were really passionate about their products. After catching up
with a client and finding the best spot to
setup the food studio, the next step is to
set up the lighting. Since I did not disassemble
my Godox SL-60W, it was easier for me to
just install it back. Unfortunately, we were
not able to capture the part where I set up
the lighting and T stand, so I will be doing it here in my studio just to show
you the whole process. First is to set the light stand to the appropriate height. Then we install the Godox light
with the octagon softbox, then connect it to
power and turn it on. Just to make sure I
share everything. I set the lights to just 30 percent and it's already giving me
a good exposure. Next is to set up the T
stand for the backdrop. Same thing, set it to
the appropriate height, connect this rod to
form a T, then lock it. I have these clamps to
attach the backdrop. We now have our
light and backdrop. Next is to put the
table where we will be placing the food products,
then our background. Now, you may ask why I
positioned the light this way. For food photos or
in food photography, the goal is for the food to
look inviting and appetizing. One way to achieve that
is through lighting. When you position your food
lateral to the light source, it will create nice
shadows that will add depth and texture to the
overall look of the food. Photos are 2D in nature, but using the lateral
light setup can help make your food
look three-dimensional, which is super cool. I use lateral lighting in
most of my photo shoots. Just remember that
to achieve this, the light and the food should
be lateral to each other. Imagine that the center of
the clock is your food. Light should be at three
o'clock or nine o'clock. You might say, "Well, Rose, that's nice and good, but this setup also
produces dark shadows." This is why I bring
my reflectors. They come in different forms, but the goal is to reflect the light back to the
food or the subject. It can be a white folder
or a white piece of paper. In my case, I like using this multi-purpose reflector
that I got online. As you can see, the difference between the one with a reflector and the
one that doesn't. I also use this 5-in-1
portable collapsible round 60cm reflector
for bigger scenes. When doing commercial
food photography, it is very important
to consider lighting. You want your food
to look clean, balanced, well exposed,
and professional. This is why investing in
lighting gear is worth it, and this is why I am taking my time to explain all
of these things to you. Since we are already
on the topic, you might be wondering what this big octagon softbox is for. This is used to
diffuse the light. Food looks better
and appetizing on camera if the lighting
is soft or diffused. This is an example of food with harsh light or light
without a diffuser. Direct lighting can result
in harsh light and shadows. When using natural
light from the sun, diffuse lighting is when the clouds are
blocking the sunlight, creating a soft and
balanced lighting effect. Finally, mixed lighting. You will notice that we close the roll-ups
to block the light coming from the sun outside
to avoid mixed lighting. Mixed lighting is when you have multiple sources of light. It could be light from the sun, light from the restaurant
or your house, and light from your
artificial lighting. When doing food photoshoots, it is best to use just one light source
and to achieve this, you simply turn off all
the other light sources. Use a blackout curtain to
block light from the sun, from your window, and in our case, closing the doors
and roll-ups as well as turning off the
restaurants lights. This is how our final
setup looked like. Here are some of the
photos as a result. We will be taking pictures of
drinks such as bubble tea, milk tea, and fraps. Then for the food,
we'll be taking pictures of their
jumbo chicken steak, Taiwanese sausage,
dumplings, bentos, soups, and other Taiwanese food. This is actually allowed
for a one-day shoot, but I'm sure it will be fun too. Just the recap, to
start shooting, I set up my food studio using an artificial light source
with a soft box diffuser, a T stand for my backdrop, a table with the background and reflectors to reflect the
light back to the subject. Next, lateral light is the best light direction
or position when doing photography because it creates depth and adds texture. To achieve this, you
position your food or subject lateral
to the light source. Finally, mixed lighting is when different light sources are touching your subject and
being captured by your camera, creating an off white balance. We want to avoid
this altogether. In the next lesson, we will set up and style
the scene. See you there.
8. Setup And Styling: Hi again. In this lesson, we will
style and set up the scene. Food styling is
simply the process of making food look
attractive on camera. You don't just photograph
the food as it is. You carefully and
artfully arrange the food and the props to make it
appealing and inviting. Using these two
burgers as an example, the one on the right is
definitely a styled burger. There could be
toothpicks inside it. A heat gun may be used to make
the cheese look like that. The one on the left looks like a burger that we get
when we order online. The bread looks uneven as
well as the toppings. The thing is, if they advertised
this burger this way, I don't think people
would buy it. That is why food styling is very important in commercial
food photography. This is our way of
telling our audience and viewers that
the food is yummy, even if they haven't
tasted it yet. We need to translate the
perception of taste, aroma, and appeal that one gets from an actual dish to a
two-dimensional photograph. Going back to our photoshoot, this is how the food looked
like before I styled it. Then this is how
it looked like in the final photo after styling. In commercial photo shoots, most of the food may not
be safe for consumption because of how it was handled during styling and photoshoot. For example, for this
Taiwanese sausage, I had to use this tissue
paper to elevate it, and to give it this final look. Although I am using gloves, I would not be
comfortable eating this after everything
I did to it. Styling can be as
grand as setting up a whole buffet table or
it can be as simple as wiping smudges from the
drinks or glass or adding garnishes such as parsley and basil for that
fabulous final look. Basically, you think of
creative ways to make the products or the food look
attractive and inviting. If you want a more in-depth
class on food styling, you may check my other class about food styling techniques. But to quickly show you and explain the story
behind these images, let me share a couple
of styling techniques. For the dumpling, since it
looks pale and a bit boring, I created this
setup to help make the final photo look
exciting and inviting. I used two techniques
to style the scene. First is layering. Layering means
using props to add different layers apart from
the food to add interest. For this setup, my first
layer is the red background, second layer is the
yellow place mat. Then the third layer
is the bamboo steamer. Then, of course, the food. Another styling technique
is using contrast. In this case, I use contrast
in texture and colors. If you will notice the
background is matte. The place mat has a
different texture as well as the bamboo steamer. These contrasts and
colors and texture, add drama and interest
to the final photo. So you can do the same
thing when you are styling for your food
photography shoots. Take advantage of
different colors and texture when selecting
props and backgrounds. Just a tip, it is
recommended to style your scene first before
bringing in the food. Food can change its
appearance over time, so what I do is make
sure everything is set up and ready before bringing
out or cooking the food. Another styling tip is using
the ingredients as props. If you'll notice here, I placed the two
main ingredients of this drink in this
neutral colored saucer, and positioned it this way
so it will look balanced and won't distract from the
subject or our hero Instead it will support, and help tell the story that this drink is made from
these two ingredients. I also included fresh tea
leaves in most of the shots because we are photographing
bubble tea and milk tea. I actually brought
the whole plant, so every time the leaves
will look sad and wilted, I can just cut another branch and use it to style my scene. A common technique to
place the props to effectively style your scene
is using leading lines, meaning you use the
props to form lines and draw or lead your viewers
eyes to the main subject. So just a recap, food styling is the
process of making the food look attractive in the
finished photograph. This can include arranging the positioning of
food and props, brushing oil to make
food look fresh, adding garnishes for that
fabulous final look, shopping for a fresh
looking ingredients, using layering and contrast all to make your final
image irresistible. In the next lesson, I will share with you more
composition techniques to help you in
styling your scene, in positioning your props, and composing your
shots. See you there.
9. 9 Easy Composition Techniques: You might have heard it a couple of times that composition is one of
the most important, but also the most
complex tool in photography and that it
can take years to master. In this lesson, I
will share with you nine easy composition
techniques to get you started. I was able to use most of the composition techniques
in this photoshoot starting with leading lines. Leading lines is a composition
technique where you use natural lines to
lead your viewers' eyes. You can do this by
positioning your camera or props in such a
way that it creates a natural line that most of the time points to
the subject or hero. Next is using shapes
and patterns. Our viewers are humans, so it pays to understand how the human eyes work or
how humans see things. We are drawn to
shapes and patterns. Remember when you were younger, we like to look
at the clouds and guess the shapes and
patterns we see. We can take advantage of this human behavior
in photography. We can use props, styling, and the way we position
the elements in our scene to create
shapes and patterns. Another composition technique is diagonals or using diagonals. Just like how we are drawn
to shapes and patterns, we're also drawn to diagonal or to the diagonal
flow in an image. Same thing with the other
composition techniques. You use diagonals
to guide you in styling and composing
your shots. The next composition technique
is the rule of thirds, which is very famous
among photographers. By positioning your
main subject as well as other important parts of your photo a third of
the way into the frame, you'll often get a
very pleasing result. Imagine that your
image is divided into nine equal parts by two equally
spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical
lines then you position important compositional
elements along these lines or their
intersections. Most cameras and smartphones have the rule of thirds grid by default so you can just turn it on whenever you
are taking photos, so you can use it as a
guide to compose your shot. Another famous composition
technique is symmetry. This is achieved when two
almost identical halves of an image seem equal in
balance and importance. The next composition
technique is quite contradicting but can
result in powerful images. Negative space is related
to minimalist composition. It emphasizes not
just the subject, but the empty space
around the subject. The viewer's eyes may be
drawn to a central figure, but they can't help noticing
the large section of emptiness that surrounds
and define that figure. The space surrounding
your main subject in the photo is called
the negative space, whereas your main subject
is the positive space. I use this composition as
well to give space for text, especially for photos
that will be used for posters, ads, and promotions. The next composition
technique is my favorite. Human touch is what
the name suggests. Using human touch to
make your photo look more interesting and
to help tell a story. There was a survey done that a photo of a product with a hand got more engagement than the
photo with just the product. You can combine this composition with other techniques
like placing the human element in the rule of thirds or use it
as a leading line. The key is creating a balanced, eye catching and
pleasant-looking image. The second to the last
composition technique is quite tricky, but I will try my best
to share what I know. The golden ratio is a ratio of approximately 1.618:1 It has been used for centuries
by artists, architects, and musicians, but it can also be found everywhere in nature. To use the golden
ratio in photography, you simply apply it to the
placement of objects in your composition or follow the golden crop or the Phi grid. To observe this rule, you need to place your subject on the golden mean intersection. You might notice that it looks the same as the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds is actually a simpler version
of the Phi grid. Another way to follow the
golden ratio rule is using the Fibonacci spiral
as a guide in the placement of your
props and subject. Honestly, it took me some time to use this
in my compositions, but after a lot of practice, I am naturally using it
and applying this rule unconsciously to most of
my styling and my shots. Finally, the last
composition technique is your very own technique, your own unique style, your very own creativity. My top tip is this, memorize the
composition techniques and rules, then break it. Keep practicing! Negative space, the golden ratio, symmetry, shapes, and patterns
are all around. The more photographs
you compose, the better you'll get at
recognizing and using it. Just to recap, The nine composition techniques
that you can use as a guide in photography are leading lines,
shapes and patterns, diagonals, rule of
thirds, symmetry, negative space, human touch, the golden ratio, and your very own composition. In the next lesson, I will show you
the four shooting angles and how it helped me in commercial food
photoshoots. See you there.
10. Famous Shooting Angles: [MUSIC] One of the questions I had when I was just
starting out is this, how many photos do
I give the client? Or how many photos of
the product is enough? With education and experience, I concluded that
3-5 strong images of a product is enough, and the tool that
really helped me get these 3-5 strong images
are shooting angles. If composition is the way you arrange the elements
in your photo, the shooting angle
is how you position yourself and the camera
when taking the shot. The four famous shooting
angles are top view, 45-75 degrees angle,
eye level, and details. Each angle has its
effect and advantages. For example, the top view angle is perfect for
photographing soup, but not very flattering
when photographing drinks. The top view angle is famous on Instagram and it's also
known as flat lay. Just take note that
with this angle, you have to carefully
and creatively arrange your props to create a
visually appealing photo. To get this angle, I usually use a chair or a stool to get
everything in the shot. Next, the 45-75 degrees angle is achieved when you position
the camera this way, creating a 45-75 degrees angle. This is appealing because
this is how we normally see food on the table when
we're sitting down to eat. This is great for
almost all food items and gives an effect that you
are peeping into the food. Next is the eye-level angle. This is the best angle
when photographing drinks. Basically, you position your camera on the same
level as the subject, making it look
balanced and tall. This is also best for
stacked food like pancakes, hamburgers,
and sandwiches. The last shooting angle is my favorite when
it comes to food. The close-up or details angle is a shooting angle that shows
how yummy the food is. This is where you show off details like the food's texture, the ingredients, the tastes, the aroma, and the appeal. You can combine the close-up or details with the other angles. This is an example of a
top view detail shot, a 45 degrees detail shot, and eye level detail shot. Now that you know the different
composition techniques, different shooting
angles, styling, selecting props, and
setting up a food studio, I hope you are becoming more confident with your
future photoshoots. Just a recap, the four famous shooting
angles that you can maximize in food
photography are top view, 45-75 degrees angle,
eye level, and details. In the next lesson, I will quickly go over color
theory or color harmony. Another important tool in food
photography that can help with branding and creating powerful images. See you there.
11. Color Harmony: [MUSIC] Color is another tool that we can use in
commercial food photography. Combining the correct colors in our scene can greatly help in communicating our message
and telling a story. Color harmony is the display of two or more different colors in close proximity that compliment each other and look
appealing to the human eye. When I was just starting out, I made a lot of mistakes when
it comes to using color. I would combine
incorrect colors in my photos that result
in confusing messages. I have learned the hard
way how to be careful with combining too many
colors in my images. When selecting props
and backgrounds, the first thing I consider is the color of the main
subject or the food. The colors of the props and background should
complement the food. My top tip is this, stay with three
color combinations or follow the color schemes. The three of the most
popular color schemes are complementary, analogous,
and monochrome. Complementary colors
are the ones which sit completely opposite
one another on the color wheel and they
complement one another. For example, dark blue
compliments with yellow orange. That is why I selected
this plate for this dish. The plate is dark blue and the dish is somehow
yellow orange in color. Other complementary colors
are yellow and purple. Now, colors which sit next to each other on
the color wheel and share a similar colors are
known as analogous colors. They will have one
dominant color in common, most often a primary color, but can also be a
secondary or a tertiary. I follow the analogous
color scheme in creating this photo. I have shades of green, yellow, and orange, which are
analogous colors. Finally, monochrome
or monochromatic. You may be familiar with monochrome referring
to black and white, but it actually refers
to anything which uses solely one color value. For example, this macro image of the jumbo chicken steak has
one overwhelming color, which is color yellow. Now you may be thinking
that you need to memorize all of this
just like composition. The good news is, there are a lot of
mobile apps and computer software that can
help with color harmony. I personally use
color harmonizer for Android when planning
for my photoshoots. Basically you just select the color of your main subject, and from there you can select different color schemes
and combinations. This can greatly
help when deciding what color of the props
or the background to use. It is also worth noting that different colors have
different meanings. If you will notice, I use this red and yellow
background a lot in this photoshoot
because the red color encourages people to eat more, whereas the yellow encourages
them to move quickly. Just a recap, color harmony is another
tool that we can use in commercial food photography to help communicate a message, evoke a feeling or emotion, and to help in selecting
colors to style your scene. In the next lesson, we will delve into cameras
and settings. See you there.
12. Gear And The Best Camera To Use : We are almost done. Now that you know a lot of commercial food
photography tools, it is time to delve into
cameras and settings. I have been using this two crop sensor
mirrorless cameras for most of my photo shoots. But what camera is the
best camera to shoot food? The annoying answer to this
question is this - It depends. It depends on your
needs and your budget. When starting out, it
is reasonable to get a secondhand entry-level
DSLR camera if you're really serious about
food photography and you want to get paid for it. If you are just exploring
and you want to develop food photography skills
and you don't have a budget for a DSLR camera yet, then your smartphone is a
great tool to get started. If you are ready or if
you're already accepting clients and you feel like you need a more advanced camera, then follow your
intuition and go for it. The truth is, it does
not end with the camera. You also need lenses
to go with it. For example, to get these shots, I used a 60 millimeter
equivalent macro lens. I can't get the shot using the kit lens that came
with my mirrorless camera. I had to buy lenses separately. If you will be photographing
big table setups, then you may need a
wide-angle prime lens. If you want a lens
that you can also use for different
purposes such as family photo shoots and
travel then getting a 50 millimeter prime lens
first will be a good choice. Bottom line is that cameras and lenses have strengths
and weaknesses. You have to take note and seriously write
down your purpose, budget, and priorities,
and decide from there. In my case, we got these cameras because we do photos and videos. We had to choose a
camera that can do both. This camera may not be the best camera out
there for photos, but I'm happy with what I am getting considering that I can also use it for videos to
make lessons like this, accept videography gigs, and
create other video contents. I also love that these
cameras fit my budget. For the lens I have three
that I purchased separately. I have a 50 millimeter
equivalent prime lens. I have a 60 millimeter
equivalent macro lens and a zoom lens. To show the difference, I took a photo of the same subject using
these three lenses. Observe the difference
with depth of field, the sharpness, and
the overall look. Another tool that
greatly help you with my food photography
is this tripod. Your tripod holds your camera while shooting so
your hands are free. When shooting food, there are times when you
need to move something on your scene and you want to see it's effect on your camera. Tripods are also best because they eliminate
camera shakes. One of my mistakes as a
beginner is shooting handheld, which can result
to blurry images. When doing commercial
food photography, you want to avoid
this altogether. Using a tripod can
be your best friend. Just a recap, the main
gear I use when doing commercial food photography are camera, lenses and tripod. The best camera to develop your skill is the one
that you have right now. But if you plan to
buy or upgrade, make sure to consider
your purpose, your budget, and
your priorities. Your lens choice
will also depend on the photos you plan
to create the most. A macro lens is best for a close-up images and a 50 millimeter prime
lens is best if you plan to take photos
of different subjects and a wide angle lens is best
for capturing larger scenes. In the next lesson
we will quickly go over a camera settings and a file format I used for this
photo shoot. See you there.
13. Camera Settings: Welcome to this exciting lesson. One of my fears when
I was just starting out was operating
my DSLR camera. It was intimidating and
overwhelming at first, but a tool that really helped me is the exposure triangle. Exposure is the amount of light that reaches
your camera sensor. It is a crucial part of how bright or dark your
photos appear. By understanding how to
expose an image properly, you will be able to capture photographs of the
ideal brightness, including high
levels of detail in both the shadows and
highlight areas. The histogram is a
great way to tell if your image is
properly exposed. When looking at the histogram, you will see this graph. If there is more
weight on the left, it means your photo
has a lot of shadows. When the weight is on the right, it means that the scene is too bright and there is
a lot of highlights. Exposure is to the photographer, what measuring is
to a carpenter. It's a significant tool. To properly expose a photo, you need to understand about the three most important camera settings of all: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Aperture is like the
pupil in your eye. It can open or shrink to change the amount of light
that passes through. At night, your pupils dilate so you can see
things more easily. The same is true for aperture. When it is dark, you can open the
aperture blades in your lens and let in more light. Aperture values are given
in terms of the ratio of the focal length of the lens to effective diameter
of the aperture. For example, F1.4, F2.0, F2.8, F2.4, F8.0, F11, and so on. F simply means fraction. Just like in mathematics, 1/4 is larger than 1/32. That is why a higher
aperture, for example, F22 means less light is
entering the camera. On the other hand, a lower
aperture, for example, F1.4 means more light
is entering the camera, which creates a nice depth of field making the
background blurry. Just remember that a lower
number means more light and a higher number means less light entering your camera. The aperture you use is a crucial factor in the
design of your photos. The use of blur enables you to direct your viewer's eye toward the most important
part of the subject and give emphasis
to certain details. Again, aperture affects
your overall exposure and the blurriness
of your background. Next is shutter speed. If the aperture is
like your eyes pupils, then the shutter speed
is like your eyelid. They act as a pair
of blinds that open and close
extremely quickly. A low number of shutter
speed allows more light into the camera sensor
and are used for low-light conditions,
particularly night photography. It may not be that useful for a commercial
food photography. Fast shutter speeds
help to freeze motion. This is where I find
shutter speed useful. I like incorporating
human elements and imply movements to my food photos
and shutter speed help me to achieve a sharp image of moving subjects like
pouring and splash. Finally, the ISO. ISO is a setting that
will brighten or darken a photo and it is
pretty straightforward. Low ISO number
equals darker photo, high ISO number equals
brighter photo. This is handy when your
priority is the darkness or brightness of the
image in a photo shoot. Just bear in mind that the
higher you set the ISO value, the more noise or grain
will appear in your photos. So to be safe, make sure to keep your
ISO as low as possible. Ideal ISO when doing
indoor shoots with decent lighting is 400-800, 200 when shooting outside and 100 when the sun is up
and bright in the sky. If it's your first time
holding a DSLR camera, I recommend taking photos
using the auto mode at first, just to get the hang of it. The auto mode is letting your camera balance
the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. I used auto mode for a few months when I
was just starting out. After I got comfortable
with composition, shooting angles and styling, I took time to practice and slowly transition to
shooting in manual mode. Meaning I set the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO myself. The auto mode is really helpful. But at the end of the day, our eyes and brain
are still superior. So if you want more
control and be able to expand your creativity, I encourage you to really practice and shoot
using manual mode. If you want to dig deep into the technicalities of
DSLR cameras settings, and transition to shooting
in manual mode fast, I also have a class
dedicated to it. For this photo shoot, I shot all of the photos in manual mode and in a raw format. In the next lesson, I will share the reason
why. See you there.
14. File Formats: You have reached the
final technical lesson. I actually thought twice, if I will include this
lesson in this class, but I honestly
think that choosing the best file format can help in your commercial food
photography journey. Here we are. Just like my other mistake in
food photography, it took me a while to
transition from shooting in JPEG format to shooting in RAW. You might have heard
other photographers recommended it all the time, but what is RAW and JPEG anyway? A RAW image file contains minimally processed data from the image sensor of
a digital camera. RAW files are named so because
they are not yet processed and therefore are not ready
to be uploaded or printed. Similar to raw food
ingredients that need to be prepared and cooked
before consumption, a RAW image needs to
be post-processed using a software before it
is ready to be printed, shared, or shown on
a display device. Imagine this, let's say
you want to eat cake, you can either buy a baked one or buy ingredients
such as flour, sugar, vanilla
extract, salt, etc. You bake it yourself. Let's say you bought
one that is already baked and realize that you
want it to be sweeter, you cannot just add sugar
and mix it to the cake, it will taste funny, and that baked cake
is like a JPEG file. Your camera made all the
adjustments for you, processed it, and compress it to a smaller file size
ready to be uploaded. On the contrary, when you buy your cake ingredients
and bake it yourself, you can adjust the
amount of sweetness and other ingredients
to your liking. That is what a RAW
format does for you, your camera preserves all of the data in the way of color, highlight, and shadow detail. Now going back to the baked cake ready for consumption, JPEG images are fully
processed in camera, and all settings such
as white balance, color saturation, tone curve, sharpening, and
color space are all already baked in or
applied to the image. You do not need to spend any time on
post-processing the image. It is basically ready to use. Just like the cake,
ready for consumption. JPEG is not well-suited to files that will undergo
multiple edits, as some image quality is lost each time the image
is recompressed, particularly if the image
is cropped or shifted. This is why I transition
to shooting in RAW. I edit and post-process all the images I take
from photoshoots. I make sure that I
edit and enhance the photos before I
deliver it to clients. Most of the time, images
will require cropping and a couple of exposure
and color correction. If I shoot in JPEG, even basic adjustments can affect the quality of the image. I want to give my 200 percent
to each and every client. I take the time to edit and
enhance all the photos and I export for different purposes to match the client's needs. Just a recap. The RAW format is used
if your photos will undergo editing and
post-processing, JPEG is designed to produce a good-looking image
right out of the camera, and this processing
cannot be undone. In the next lesson, I will share some tips about communicating with the client. See you there.
15. Communicating With The Client: [MUSIC] We are done
with the photo shoot. We are able to take these images using the
lateral light setup, our DIY backdrops, styling,
composition techniques, shooting angles, color harmony, and the exposure triangle. This can differ with
every photographer, but in my case, I show my first
couple of shots to the clients to see if they
are happy with my setup. I inform them that
I will still be editing the photos
for best results. When they approve, I just go
on and finish my shot list. When I am done, I just inform the client and if they don't
have any other requests, I pack up and finalize a
couple of things with them. First, is the delivery
date of the photos. It will depend on your
availability and schedule But in my case, I told the client
that I can deliver all the edited
photos in one week. I also informed the
client that I will be sending the photos
via Google Drive. You can use other
file sharing tools for delivering photos
to your clients. I am just sharing
what worked for me. Next is the payment. Again, it can be
different for all of us, but in my case, I get the payment right after
I finish taking the photos. You can do the same or have them send you
a reservation fee, then another percentage on
the photo shoot day and the remaining balance
after you have delivered all of the photos. I also included a copy
of our contract in resources in case you want
to use it as a guide. The contract is where I get
the client's information and their signature agreeing to the service terms
and conditions. Finally, addressing concerns
with copyright and usage. It is best that you inform the client of their
rights to the photos. By law, we, the photographers have the
full copyright to the photos, but we can give the same
copyright to our clients. You can also apply additional charges to the
usage of the photo if they will print it in
billboards, posters, etc. The key is to let the client
know and make sure it is also stated in the
contract and that is it. After I am done packing up, it's time to go home. The last step before
I sleep is to import the files to my computer, so I would have two copies. One on my SD card and
one on my computer. Just to be sure, I recommend that you follow
the same practice. You don't want a whole
day of hard work and cooked food to go to waste, just because your one and only storage of photos
got compromised. In the next lesson, you will see me manage
and edit some of the photos from this photo
shoot. See you there.
16. Photo Management: [MUSIC] Welcome back. Today is another day for me. After the photoshoot, I rest one day and proceed with managing and editing the
photos from the photoshoot. I do quite a lot of
food photoshoots, so it helps if I stay
organized with my files. After I imported the
photos to my computer, I also copied them
to my hard drives. Another tip when managing
files is proper naming. This can help when
you need to find a particular photo and
in staying organized. This is my hard drive, 2022 photo and video. When I click on this, this is what I will be getting. Since we're still starting 2022, I have just a couple
of folders here. As you can see, this is the Taiwanese photoshoot or the Taiwanese Cafe photoshoot. I have the date. I have these numbers here, 01 because I want the
dates to be organized. I want to easily sort it. That is why I have
the complete date. It will be easier
for me to find and remember what happened on
that date and It's also helpful If I can't remember
the date and I just remember what the
project is all about. That's how I name my
files and my folder. When I click on this, I have photos and videos, yes, because I also took videos
of the Taiwanese photoshoot. I can use it here in
my video lessons. For the photos, I created another two folders. One is to edit photos and one is the Lightroom
edited photos. Now for "to edit" photos, what I did is grouped
it into kind. We shot a lot of food that day. It will be overwhelming to just put everything
in one folder. With this, I was able to group
each food into its kind. I have all the Bento meals. Bento, it's in this nice plate, and then all the food is there. I have the drinks. They're all here
together. That is it. What I do is, I will import these folders to Lightroom
and start editing. I know it looks
obsessive compulsive, but I have a confession, I did not start this way. It took me years
before I got fed up with lost files and
wasting an hour just searching for one photo before I decided to
be really organized. I took a little time sharing this to you because it is really beneficial for me and I
know it can be for you too. Lastly, photo management
helps me to reduce this huge task of editing thousands of photos
to manageable chunks. It will be easier for me
to edit these photos per folder rather than importing
all of them at once. Our brain is lazy. If I see that I need
to edit 1000 photos, I am sure I will procrastinate. But if I give myself
a smaller task of editing just one
folder at a time, it will be doable. Plus I can have a hit of
dopamine or happy hormones every time I finish each
small task [MUSIC].
17. Photo Editing: After I managed my photos, I import them to Adobe
Lightroom Classic. Yes. This is my go-to editing software for
most of my food photos. You can also use the
mobile version for free on your smartphone
if you don't have the desktop version
or you can use any other editing software that you are most
comfortable with. You can apply most of the
principles I will be sharing in this lesson even if you will be using a different photo
editing software. I chose Lightroom
because for me it is user-friendly
and it provides me with all the functions
and features I need to enhance and properly
export my food photos. To import your
photos on Lightroom. So first is dragging
and dropping. You saw the folders earlier. I grouped the photos
into clients. Let's say I want to
import the snap. Just the snacks folder. You'll see all the photos
inside that folder here. I can just choose which
one I want to edit. I'll just cancel this to show
you another way to import. You can just click on "Import", the import button here
on the left side. Then on the left side,
you'll see my folders here. I have the additional
food, the bento, drinks, the group food
photos, the platters, and then I can just choose which one I want to edit first. Again, it really helps with my workflow that way
I don't get overwhelmed, like editing all of
these photos at once. I can just select maybe
just the bentos for today. Basically, that's
it. I just check the ones I want to edit
so I can just uncheck. Then from here, I can just check the ones I want to edit. This is also a good place. Let's say you have this
photo, we import it. The library tab is
where I do rotation. If let's say you shoot
products in portrait and they're not appearing
in the proper position, you can do that here, and you will also see
here on the right, you can do a quick develop. Meaning you can do basic edits. You can change the white
balance and apply presets. But I will be doing most of the editing using
the develop tab. I want all of the options
here to be available for me. I will show you one by one, what are the features that
I'll be using from here. First, let me just select the photos that I want to edit. The snacks are my favorite, so sorry, not that
one. This one. Sorry. Import and then
I want the snacks. I want to edit the snacks. I've been showing you the
photo of the dumplings, so let me just uncheck
and select the dumplings. Maybe this one is
good for stories. Let's see. Maybe just
choose one here. You can also do the
loop view here. You'll see it at the bottom. You can see the whole picture. Her hands is quite blurry, but the food is in focus. I like this one. I don't like to edit
the fish fillet. Yes, for the jumbo chicken. This one I wanted to edit. Yes. This one too, and this one, and this one, this one, and this one, this one. Just to show you
the different backgrounds because we have the
yellow background of the jumbo chicken and the wood background or
the neutral background. Just making sure we have enough photos to
edit so I can show you. I think that's it done, and then I just
click on "Import". Now, I have this photos. You can even do rankings here, you can rank it to your most favorite photo,
the least favorite. Let's say I wanted to
edit this photo first, I can just click on five on my keyboard and set
the reading to five. Later on when I do the filters and I just click on the rated, then this photo will appear. When I click on "Develop", this is the only
photo that I have. But then if I turn off the rating or if I
turn off the filter, then I will see all
of the photos here. You can do that if you just want to edit a couple of photos and you want to edit your
favorite photos first. You can do ratings, you can even do color label, setting flag, all of that. We now have this photo. The first thing that I do when editing food photos is
to correct the crop. It depends where you will
be using the photos. What is your purpose? For Facebook and Instagram, the most popular crop
is the four by five, and you have that option
here on Lightroom as well. When you click on crop, on the crop icon, and then you have all the
brain stored crop here. When you select four by five, it will give you
the square crop. But for this photo, it
does look very appealing. I'll just stay with
the original crop. But just showing you that
you can do that here, and that's the first thing I do. I'm happy with how
this photo is cropped, so maybe I'll just
straighten it out, just a little bit. Then the next thing is
to correct the exposure. For me, this photo
is well exposed, but you can add just
a little bit here. Don't go crazy with the sliders
because when you do that, it will look funny
and all of that. I just do very basic
and subtle edits, just to make it pop
and make it look 3D and make it more
inviting and appealing. Just add a little
bit of contrast. Another thing is
the white balance. I did not dig deep
on white balance during the camera
settings because you can actually edit that here on Lightroom or you can do
that in post-processing. But of course, you want to take great photos straight
out of camera. But just sharing with
you that in my case, especially, this is a
fast-paced photoshoot, so it wasn't able to set my auto-balance or
white balance manually, so it's just in auto, and if I need to correct it, I can do that here
in the editing room, so you can see the before and after just changing
the white balance. The colors here looks correct. Moving on, so I have
added exposure, I adjusted the white balance. Next thing I do is
decrease the highlights. You'll see here on the right. I do that to give me
back those details, as you can see. When you adjust the highlights, it gives you more
details of the food. I do that a lot. It also do that with the
shadows, but instead, I bump it up a little bit, just a little bit,
just 30 maybe. Of course, I will lose
some of the contrasts. I'll just compensate that here
using the contrast slider. It depends on how well
expose the photo is. Sometimes I don't touch
the whites and the blacks. But then one of my favorite
slider here in Lightroom is the texture because we like
food with all the textures. You can do that here too. But don't go crazy with this slider because it will look real and it
will look funny. Just a bit. Just to show us those details. Yes, I add clarity
because we want our photos clear and sharp. Let's see the before and after. You're already seeing
a lot of details. You're seeing a lot of
texture, well exposed. The colors are correct. As you can see, just a
couple of adjustment can really transform
your photos. Yes, I can add a bit of
vibrance to add more color, but I don't really use
saturation because it saturates like all the
colors in your photo. Sometimes it looks
too much for me, so I avoid saturation altogether,
especially with food. I use vibrance or I
use the HSL or color. You can adjust the
colors here separately. Let's say I want to desaturate
the red as you can see. You can just adjust it here. Let's say I want
to torn it down, just a little bit, maybe 10. Then the yellow as well, just a little bit. Then if you want to adjust
the browns in your photo, you can do that using
the orange slider, so maybe choose. Actually I'll leave
the orange as it is. Then you can also use
the tone curve to adjust your highlights, your shadows. You can do that here. Then if you want to add more
shadows just to make it look dramatic and to add more
texture and depth to it. Now for the sharpening, like I mentioned earlier, you want your photos to be sharp and clear so you can
add sharpening here. by default, it's already
setting it to 30 something, so you can actually bump it up. Then you don't want to sharpen the part of the photo
that has noise. As you can see, there are
some noise in this photo. So as you can see,
there's noise there. What you want to do is to just sharpen the details
with the lines. When you click on "Masking"
and press the "Option Key", and then it will just
sharpen the ones in white. Basically just the lines
but not the noise, and you can do noise
reduction here. Observe what happens to
this noisy part here. Now it looks smoother. I'm actually quite happy
with the result here. Basically that is it, and this is the
before and after. As you can see, the
final photo looks more vibrant, balanced,
and appealing. This is why I edit all of my photos to make sure I give the best output to my clients. Even just a couple
of adjustments can transform your raw photos into eye-catching and
professional-looking images. The best part here
in Lightroom is that whatever settings and edits
I apply to this image, I can simply copy and
paste to other images. I can just right-click, then go to "Develop
Settings", "Copy Settings", then select the settings
I want to be copied, then go to the image
I want to paste the settings to, then paste it. I simply click
"Command V" for Mac. But if you are using Windows, it will be "Control
V" and voila, all the settings are now
applied on this image. I don't have to do the
whole thing all over again. But it does not end there. I can also do it to
multiple images. So basically same thing. I just select all the images that I want to apply
the same settings, and click on "Command
V" again for paste, and there you have it. This feature speeds
up my workflow. This feature helped me to finish editing 1,182 images
in just two days. Let's go back to
Lightroom and this time edit the jumbo
chicken steak. If you will remember, one of the client's request
is for their bestseller, this jumbo chicken steak
to look yummy and crunchy. We will try and achieve that
here in the editing room. Again, first in my workflow
is to correct the crop. Let's see if we can
get a good four by five crop for this image, just making sure that
chopstick is not awkwardly chopped or cropped. This is good for me, and then for the chicken, again, we want to
adjust the exposure. For me it's well exposed, but I just wanted
to add a bit of exposure so it will look bright. Then for the white balance, just point to something white. The white balance
will be correct as you can see the difference. Now it looks correct. Earlier it looks
yellow and warm. Let's continue editing. After we've corrected
the white balance, let's decrease the
highlights so that we can retrieve those details
of the chicken steak, and then again add or
remove the shadows. I'm bumping it up really high because for me it
looks more flattering. You can do the same,
you can experiment with your highlights and shadows. Basically, those are one of the best settings to play around with when editing food photos. For me, it looks more yummy, it looks more pleasant. Going back to our
editing sliders here, we want to add more
texture to this. I'm going to bump
it up to around 44 to 40 and we want
to add more clarity. Again, I'm not messing up with my saturation because
it will look too much. We're just adding
a bit of vibrance for that pop-up color. I'm actually happy with my
highlights and shadows, but let's see if we can add
just a bit of shadows here, and just a bit of highlights. As you can see, we are
now getting more texture, more details of
the chicken steak compared to its
originals earlier. It doesn't look that yummy, but now you can really
see those cramps. It's now well exposed. I'm actually liking
where this is going. I'm happy with that. Do I want to adjust the orange or the chicken
steak? Let's see. Again, brown is equivalent
orange in your sliders. You can do that here
if you want to make it look a little orange
or a little darker. You can do that here
to add more color to our chicken steak,
maybe just five. I'd go crazy with that and just desaturate the yellow
just a little bit, maybe 10 or negative 10. I won't be doing the split
toning and for the sharpening, yes, let's do that. Bumping it up to 60 and making sure it doesn't
sharpen the noise, as you can see here. It actually sharpen the noise. So let's do the masking. Again, option and then make sure to sharpen just
the ones in white. Note the noise there. Again, for the noise, let's try to do some
noise reduction. There you go. But
that is too much. It actually affected
our chicken steak, so we don't want that. Maybe just 25. Let's see. Okay, it's looking better. I don't mess up with
this settings right here because my lens is
not being detected. That's good. I'm happy except I'm seeing smudges
here on the left side. There's a full feature here in Lightroom
wherein you can actually remove smudges like this using this here
or a clone brush. You just click this
brush and then you just select the one that
you want to remove or fix, and then you point to
something that you want to imitate or clone,
and that's good. I like that. See, that's gone, and I have some here. That's it. We have some here. Here's the before and after. Let's see if there are other
smudges that we can remove. Let's remove, I can see just a little bit
of wrinkle here , and some here. You can actually do this when
you're editing portraits. If your clients want
to remove blemishes, if you're doing
portrait photography, you can definitely apply this to different types of photos. If you want to
remove imperfections and things that you
don't want in a photo, this is a really cool
tool to do that. Here is our before and after. I think we were able to achieve that crunchy and yummy look
for our jumbo chicken steak. Again, whatever
changes I made here, as long as I apply to the same setup or the same photo with the
same lighting conditions, same lighting setup, I can get the same results. I just copy all the white
balance, all of that. Then I just select
all of this ones, the one in yellow background. Then paste it, and
as you can see it, these are the settings
for those six images. Let's see the before and after. Perfect. In here it looks overexposed so we can
definitely adjust that. We can adjust it
manually for each photo. Then that's it. Now, if you will notice, I did not apply the
settings here because this is a totally
different background, so it may not be as effective. As you can see, it's a bit blue, but then maybe we can just
adjust the white balance. Let's see. That looks good. You can do that here too, and then just adjust the white balance to
match this scene. That is it. In the next lesson, I will share with you
exporting tips in case your client will
use the photo for different purposes. See you.
18. Exporting For Different Purposes: [MUSIC] Have you ever taken a really nice and sharp photo
and then uploaded it on your social media
and noticed that the image quality got degraded? I experience it a lot and I found out a way to avoid this. Exporting your images to match the platform you are
uploading it to, can really help in preserving the quality and resolution
of your images. Let's go back to
Adobe Lightroom. To export, you just click on the image that you
want to export, so let's say we want this
image of the dumpling, this chicken steak, and this close-up photo of the chicken steak and this one. You just click on File
and then click on Export. You know me, I want to keep
my files organized so I choose the folder where I
want for these photos to go. I want it to go to my hard
drive and then Photos and Videos and the Client
Shoot, then the Photos, and then Lightroom
Edited Photos, so I'll just choose it here, and I'll put it in a subfolder, let's say for Instagram. All of these photos will follow my export specifically for Instagram and these photos will, obviously go to Instagram. I can rename it to just
custom naming sequence, so I'll just put
here Taiwanese Food. Then I'll leave the
quality to 100, so I want to make sure I preserve the resolution
and quality of this image. I won't be limiting
the file size, but I will be resizing to fit. For Instagram, standard
is 1080 or 1,080. Then for the resolution, if you go above 72, it's not very
noticeable when you're viewing it on a digital
product or on your screen. Bumping it up to, let's say, 300 won't make much
of a difference, but then it will just
enlarge the file size. Let's keep it on standard, which is 72, standard for digital devices. Then sharpen for screen and
just personal preference, you can do low,
standard or high. You can even check your images, try to export it
in different ways, but then this is just how I do it for most of
my photo shoots. Then yes, I include all the metadata and I
don't do watermarking. I don't do anything after
exporting or post-processing, so basically that is it. Then I just keep hit on Export. It will export these files, so it will go to this folder, so my hard drive, and Photo and Video, Photos, and Lightroom
Edited, For Instagram, and here are my photos for Instagram ready to be uploaded. Now, what if I want to
upload it to Facebook? Same thing, same selection, and I just go back to
Lightroom and then go to File, Export, and then this
time for Facebook, so we are organized and
they don't mix, of course. For Facebook, same custom name. Then the quality, still 100. Now for the image sizing
for Facebook standard is 2048 or 2,048 pixels. Again, resolution, same thing, 72 pixels per inch, that's the standard for
digital products, same thing, sharpen for screen, and just standard for me in keeping the rest of
the settings the same. So basically I just changed the image sizing and that's it. Same thing, Export it. Now, what if you want
to export it for best and high-quality because the
client wants to print it, let's say for a poster
or any type of printing? What you can do is export
it in high resolution. Same thing, Export, and then this time
let's rename it to For Printing or For Print. Same name. Again, quality, make
sure it's always in 100 to preserve all the resolution
and the best quality. Don't resize to fit, and then what I do is
change the resolution to 300 or to the maximum, or depending on the
requirement for the print. Let's say if it's a really
big print then maybe you can bump it up to 600, I don't know, but for me for client
requests or for prints, I just bump it up to 300 and
then I change the sharpen for matte paper or glossy
paper, it depends. Lets say matte, and
then you can go high here as you want it to appear high-resolution
when printed, so you can go with that
and just click on Export. Just note that it will just
take a little longer to export because the
image file is bigger, but then that's it. You were able to export
or we were able to export our images for
different purposes. For Facebook, for
Instagram, and for print. Here are our images. Don't worry, I have
included a PDF file with the exporting settings
that you can use in your future food
photography photo shoots. Next is sharing your work. Sharing it with your
client and with the world. Remember the tips from
the earlier lesson, one way to get clients
is by constantly sharing your work,
especially online. Make sure you don't
skip this part. I also give my 200 percent
for every photo shoot so I can get repeat clients or
I will be recommended. My favorite way of
getting clients is through recommendations
and referrals. You know how the
old saying goes, there is no traffic
after the extra mile, so don't hesitate in going the extra mile
for your clients. It is really worth it. Well done, this is the
final step in my workflow. The next video is just a little
recap of all the things I shared in this class and
a cheesy goodbye message. I hope to still see you there.
19. Final Thoughts: I know that was a lot, but I hope you learned
something new. To recap everything that
we covered in this class, here are my favorite shots. I achieved the shot using a Godox SL60W artificial
light at 30 percent with softbox and a multipurpose
reflector to bounce light back to the subject resulting in a well
exposed photo. Here are the camera settings. For this shot, I used layering to
style the scene, the rule of thirds
for my composition, and 45 degrees shooting angle. Here are the camera settings. For this next photo, I used the analogous
color scheme from the color harmony lesson. Basically, I used only
three color combinations, yellow, orange, and green. Here are the camera settings. That is it for this class. You have seen my entire commercial food
photography workflow. You have seen me plan, prepare, and actually do all of the basic things in a
food photography shoot. Hopefully, you were able
to gain new ideas and confidence for your very
own food photo shoot. If you have questions or if
you want me to create a class about a certain topic that
I forgot to include here, please let me know by
starting a discussion. You can also follow me here
on Skillshare so you will be notified once I publish new photography
classes like this. If you want to go
a little extra, you can also follow
me on Instagram. My handle is @rosellenene. I share updates there, my recent works, photo shoots, behind the scenes, food
that ruins my diet, and random home life
and vacation photos. If you haven't already, please don't skip the
class project because that's where the real
magic can happen. You can watch all of
my video lessons, but nothing will
change until you get that camera and take
that delicious photo. If you've never done
food photography before, the class project
is a great way to jump start your new
creative journey. If you are a food photographer, I'd love to see where you're
at and learn from your work. Plus your fellow students
can learn from you too. I am super excited to see your work and
give it some love. I hope you had so much fun
and find this class valuable. But either way, please leave a review because
I'd love to hear from you. Thank you and congratulations
on finishing this class. I am excited and I am rooting for you. All the best and see you soon. Bye.
Rose Nene, Photographer and Videographer
