Creating an appetizing food photo is much easier than it seems. Having taken a number classes and read hundreds of tutorials online, I’m here to redistribute the knowledge that I’ve absorbed along my quest to become a better photographer. But first, let’s dispel an important myth…
…so you want to get into food photography and take ‘good’ pictures of recipes. Before you can, however, you feel the need to save up and buy a fancy digital SLR. It is, after all, the camera (or lack thereof) that has suppressed your creative ability all this time…
This to me is the most common misperception among aspiring photographers. An SLR alone will not make you into a pro. If you don’t know what you’re doing, there’s a good chance your pictures will look just as good (or bad) as the ones you took with your iPhone. That said, I can’t tell you how often I see tourists wandering the streets of NYC, fancy new SLR at hand, taking pictures with their on-camera flash popping (NEVER use your on-camera flash!!).
Don’t get me wrong – a nice camera will help you and more importantly, motivate you to learn more (since you just spent so much money). However, a working knowledge of camera settings and fundamental photography concepts is critical to making the SLR become your friend. Without that foundation, the camera is worthless. This is no different than buying a fancy golf club, which by itself won’t improve your golf game.
The real trick to becoming a better photography begins with a solid working knowledge of basic concepts like exposure, light, and composition. We discuss these topics in future posts. For now, let’s see if you actually need an SLR.
Advantage of an SLR
You’re going to roll your eyes when I say this but you can take ‘good’ looking pictures with your iPhone! You’ll notice that I keep putting the word ‘good’ in quotes because it’s a subjective term – what’s good to you is different from what’s good to me. However, there are certain concepts and principles that photographers use as ingredients to producing a ‘good’ photo: exposure, lighting, and composition – these are important techniques that will transform the pictures you’ve been taking from ‘average’ to ‘good’.
A camera and lens serve as important tools that will help you utilize your knowledge in exposure, lighting and composition and ultimately capture mesmerizing pictures. I plan to discuss these concepts in great detail in future posts.
This section is dedicated to helping you decide whether or not you actually NEED an SLR. If you decide that you do, I provide some suggestions on camera and lens below. Before we get there, however, I’d like to provide a few reasons why one would choose an SLR over a standard point+shoot camera:
Control. An SLR camera grants you complete control over an exposure (picture). If you look at the settings knob of a Canon SLR, you’ll see many settings that include P, Tv, Av, M, etc. Most of these are automatic or semi-automatic settings, meaning that you can set your subject, snap the shutter and achieve a properly exposed picture. The “M” setting stands for manual (versus auto or semi-auto) and is the setting that will give you the most range as a photographer. When in manual mode, you’ll need to constantly balance three levers: shutter speed, aperture and ISO. I’ll go through these topics in detail in a future post (on exposure).
Ability to Change Lenses. Staying on the theme of control, An SLR gives you the option to physically change the lens on your camera, something that you cannot do with a point + shoot. Why would you need to change lenses? Lenses come in a wide range of focal lengths (think zoom on a camera) – some wide-angle (for landscapes or fisheye for special effect), some telephoto (for long distance shots like wildlife, sporting events). A good lens is the most important piece of equipment a photographer can have. As I mention below, my advice to aspiring amateurs is to buy the cheapest SLR on the market and save up for a snazzy lens.
Blurry Background. I find this to be one of the coolest photographic effects out there and one that many associate with a professional product. The proper term for this effect is shallow depth-of-field and is an important composition technique. You will need an SLR to achieve this effect by using a wide-open aperture or long focal length. I’ll discuss these in greater length in future posts (topics: exposure and composition).
Example: the image below shows the tomatoes and mozzarella cheese in focus while the chopped basil in the background is blurry.
ss: 1/30, A: 2.8, ISO 800 (shot with 24-70mm 2.8L @ 58mm)
Frozen Motion. This is less relevant for food photography since there’s rarely any motion. However, the ability to freeze motion (using a fast shutter speed) is another advantage of an SLR versus a point+shoot camera.
Example: the image below shows cupcake batter being poured into a cup. This effect was achieved using a fast shutter speed, which froze the liquid batter in motion. Point+shoots typically have long shutter speeds and are unable to freeze motion (this picture would come out blurry on a point+shoot camera).
ss: 1/160, A: 4.5, ISO 800 (shot with 24-70mm 2.8L @ 58mm)
Optical Quality / High Resolution. Consumers and manufacturers have become equally obsessed with tangible camera attributes like megapixels. Many cameras now come with over 10 MP. A high MP camera simply allows you to print oversized copies or digitally crop (using an application like iPhoto or Photoshop) while still maintaining high resolution. MP does not guarantee high optical quality (sharp focus).
Optical quality is a much attribute to quantify and something left for techies who like to interpret MTF charts. An SLR will, however, give you better quality in lower light situations. A point+shoot with by default either increase its ISO (which adds a ton of grain/noise to the photo) or use flash; neither of these will lead to an attractive photo. When shooting still objects in low light, an SLR can be set on a tripod with a long shutter speed, which in turn allows more light and captures an image with little to no grain (assuming no external light like a flash). More on this later, but take my word that an SLR (in combination with a good lens) will achieve higher optical quality in most (but not all) cases than a point+shoot.
RAW Image Format. An SLR camera captures a picture using one of two formats: JPEG or RAW. JPEG takes up much less memory and is the more popular of the two. RAW, while more memory intensive, is an unprocessed format that gives you much more flexibility (in the post processing / Photoshop stage) to touch up your photos. For example, if you you took a picture that was too dark (i.e. underexposed), RAW will allow you to make that adjustment after the fact without compromising the image quality. I take all of my pictures in RAW and adjust using Adobe Lightroom (this process is known as post-processing).
These are the main advantages of using an SLR over a regular point+shoot. There are obvious disadvantages, too, like cost and size. I’ve gone on vacations to Europe where my SLR (and crazy lens) was so heavy that I found myself using my iPhone most of the time.
Selecting the Right Camera
So you’ve done your homework and are convinced that you want to invest in a digital SLR. The two leading manufacturers are Canon and Nikon. I happen to use Canon, mainly because my friends have Canon cameras and lenses. This makes it easier for me to share lenses with them. It’s really a matter of preference – both are good.
Best Camera for Aspiring Photographers: Canon Rebel T3, $499
My recommendation to aspiring photographers is to buy the least expensive camera and focus (no pun intended) on building a good lens collection. Canon makes a great intro series called the Canon Rebel. My first SLR camera was the Canon Rebel XTi, which I paid $800 for in 2007. Canon changes the name every year (XTi became XSi in subsequent years). Today, the intro Rebel camera is called the T3 and goes for $499 at retail. That’s a great deal. If you want an even better deal and are willing to take the risk, you can buy a used camera for as cheap as $200 on ebay. I’d search for “Canon Rebel” and maybe the specific model (ranked oldest to newest: XT, XTi, XS, XSi, T3). They’re all more or less the same. The newer models have bigger LCD screens and more megapixels, which might not matter to you. The T3 also shoots video, a cool feature but one that you will probably not use. Video on an SLR can come out great, but only with the necessary equipment (tripod, stabilization rig, external microphone, post processing software).
My recommendation for an intro SLR: Canon T3 ($499)
Best Intro Lens: Canon 50mm 1.8 prime lens, $107
The lens that comes with the Canon Rebel is a basic zoom lens that ranges from 18mm to 55mm. It’s enough to get you by but ranks low in the context of Canon’s amazing library of lenses. I personally believe that you should invest in a better lens if you’re going to make an investment in an SLR camera.
Canon makes lenses in all shapes and sizes ranging from beginners to pros. One easy way of telling where a lens stands in the Canon hierarchy is to look at the color of the lens’s outer ring. Silver is the beginner series, Gold for amateurs and Red (also known as “L” lenses) for professionals. An “L” lens will run you at least $800 and in most cases over $1,000. The retail price of the kit lens (that comes w/the Rebel) is around $150.
That said, you don’t need to go out and splurge on an “L” lens right off the bat (unless you have the budget, in which case go for it!). A really good, affordable lens in the market is Canon’s 50mm 1.8 prime lens that retails for $107 on Amazon. There are endless reviews on this lens online, but here’s the quick & dirty – as a fixed lens (i.e. not zoom), this lens is equally amazing at taking portraits and food photography.
Fixed (also known as prime) lenses are typically less complex in construction, lighter, smaller and cheaper and offer better optical quality than their zoom counterparts, which offer the sole advantage of flexibility (a zoom range), but at the expense of money, weight and lower optical quality.
The 1.8 represents the f-stop or aperture (more on this in a future post). What you need to know for now: the lower that number, the more expensive the lens (a lower f-stop / aperture number will give you more background blur and more light). There are two upgraded versions of this lens: the 50mm 1.4 that goes for around $450 and the 50mm 1.2L that goes for $1,500. This 50mm 1.8 lens is a steal!
My recommendation for an intro lens: Canon 50mm 1.8 ($107)
That’s all for now. Stay tuned for future parts to this food photography tutorial series.
