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| Sony A7R and Samyang AF 50mm f1.4 FE |
Over the
last few years I have developed my skills and focused (excuse the pun) more on
food photography as I regularly shoot for a host of clients throughout the UK
including restaurant chains Wildwood and Dim T amongst others. Despite being a terribly
fastidious eater, shooting food is my favourite photography discipline. I love
the detail, colour and texture that each dish can offer and the challenges of
photographing them at the right angle with the correct lighting, camera/lens
combination and settings.
I have
recently started to rely more on my range of Samyang lenses to get the images
the clients need. My favourite Samyang lenses that I regularly use on food
shoots are the AF 35mm f1.4 FE and the AF 50mm f1.4 FE which I use on my Sony A7R. I
also use a 90mm macro lens for some close up images of the food but I would
love to replace this lens with a Samyang macro lens at some point. Perhaps
Samyang will release an AF version of their 100mm macro lens one day. Who knows?
The
reason why I like to shoot with Samyang's AF 50mm f1.4 FE and AF 35mm f1.4 FE
is that these lenses offer great sharpness with a beautiful fall-off from the
point of focus when used at a wide open aperture. With a fast aperture you can
achieve a shallow depth of field which can help isolate a particular item in
the image or lead the viewer's eye to a specific part of the dish.
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| AF 35mm f1.4 FE @ f1.7, 1/80th, ISO 250 (cropped) |
When it
comes to my lighting setup I usually like to have a good mix of natural light
and add in some strobe lighting via a battery powered studio light mounted in a
huge octagonal softbox. This softbox produces a beautiful soft light due its
size and level of diffusion. However, it’s not always possible to have access
to natural light on some food shoots so in those circumstances I just rely on
the studio light to get the job done, the same high quality is there but the
images have a slightly different feel.
Food
photography Essentials
- Camera body - Pretty
obvious. I shoot with a Sony A7R. Yes, it's a few years old but it gets
the job done for me and produces stunning, detailed images with a fairly
high 36 mega pixel resolution.
- Lenses - Again stating the
obvious. You can get reasonable images from a kit lens but they won't
always offer the best image quality. Invest in some good lenses like the
Samyang AF 50mm f1.4 FE or the Samyang 100mm Macro. These lenses are
capable of a wider maximum aperture than kit lenses so will be able to shoot
with a shallower depth of field. These lenses will be sharper, resolve the
details a lot better and give you better quality images.
- Tripod - having the ability
to have a slower shutter speed but keeping the ISO down to a minimum is
very critical when shooting food. You want your images to be sharp and
full of detail.
- Shutter Remote/Trigger -
with your camera mounted on a tripod you'll need a remote to trigger the
camera. Using your finger on the shutter button can cause vibrations in
the camera which will then make your image blurry. The slightest movement
can be picked up by the camera so you really want to minimise this. You
could set your camera on a 2 second delay (or whatever your camera is
capable of) but this just wastes time when you could just use a shutter
remote.
- Lighting - I use a mixture
of ambient/natural light plus a studio strobe with a softbox. I have shot
food shoots with just natural light with good results but as I travel to
different venues all the time to shoot I can't rely on there being a
perfect setup next to a window every time. The studio strobe with softbox
light modifier provides a lovely soft light which is perfect for food
photography. It's also possible to use a speedlight mounted atop your
camera and bounce the light off the ceiling. It all depends on the colour
of the ceiling though. A white ceiling is perfect as it won't cast any
colours onto your subject.
- Props - Don't underestimate
the importance of setting the scene in your image. Placing props that
help tell the story of what's in the food gives context and makes the
image so much more interesting.
Here's some of my images that I've shot for various different clients using Samyang lenses. The lens used is labelled underneath each image.
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| AF 50mm f1.4 FE @ f2.5, 1/20th, ISO 50 |
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| AF 50mm f1.4 FE @ f5.6, 1/100th, ISO 250 |
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| AF 35mm f1.4 FE @ f2.2, 1/100th, ISO 80 |
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| AF 50mm f1.4 FE @ f3.2, 1/50th, ISO 125 |
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| AF 35mm f2.8 FE @ f7.1, 1/5th, ISO 125 |
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| AF 35mm f2.8 FE @ f5.6, 1/60th, ISO 200 |
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AF 50mm f1.4 FE @ f2.2, 1/160th, ISO 125
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| AF 50mm f1.4 FE @ f6.3, 1/80th, ISO 250 |
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| AF 50mm f1.4 FE @ f4, 1/100th, ISO 160 |
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| AF 50mm f1.4 FE @ f4, 1/100th, ISO 100 |
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| AF 50mm f1.4 FE @ f4, 1/100th, ISO 100 |
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| AF 50mm f1.4 FE @ f2, 1/160th, ISO 64 |
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| AF 50mm f1.4 FE @ f2.2, 1/160th, ISO 50 |
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| AF 50mm f1.4 FE @ f2, 1/160th, ISO 50 |
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| AF 50mm f1.4 FE @ f3.2, 1/400th, ISO 160 |
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| AF 50mm f1.4 FE @ f3.2, 1/80th, ISO 160 |
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| AF 50mm f1.4 FE @ f3.5, 1/80th, ISO 64 |
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| AF 50mm f1.4 FE @ f3.2, 1/125th, ISO 100 |
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| AF 50mm f1.4 FE @ f5.6, 1/125th, ISO 200 |
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| AF 50mm f1.4 FE @ f4, 1/60th, ISO 100 |
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| AF 35mm f1.4 FE @ f6.3, 1/100th, ISO 320 |
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AF 35mm f1.4 FE @ f2.2, 1/60th, ISO 320
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