The perfect window light for Food

Photography and our TOP food photo techniques

on how to get amazing results:

Ever since we received our first Ultrasoft panel back in July 2017 at the SMPTE tradeshow, we knew
this was going to be a very popular item, but we didn’t know what field was going to like it more.
Food photography is by far one field that the light is the most popular for, and I couldn’t agree more.
When you a photographing food with either your professional camera or smartphone/iphone, you
want to have a natural feel to the scene, and most people resort to using window light to achieve
this type of shot. 

Luisa Brimble, is a Professional Photographer who specialises in Lifestyle and food photography.
Lusia has worked with some of the World’s biggest publishing houses and magazines and her work
can be seen in such cookbooks like the Wild Adventure Cookbook, which has absolutely beautiful
work.

When Luisa came into the Store last year she explained that in her field of work ‘Natural’ is what people want to see and that she has always photographed with natural window light. It is evident in her work that natural light is by far her most used tool in creating her images but the weather plays an important role to whether or not that image is created. Some days you are shooting and the sun is high causing harsh light, some days it is overcast creating a cooler soft light. In both situations the light can change day to day. At night you can't shoot and storms cause wind and a darker cooler colour of light.

Thinking of this, we showed her the Ultrasoft light 600c and 780C LED Panels, and the light that we fell in love with the moment we saw it, she fell in love with too. 

The Ultrasoft does just that – it is an ULTRA - SOFT light

1. The quality of light gives a good wrap of light (softlight with low contrast shadows) instead of the harsh shadows, you get with a slow soft fall off.

2. The light doesn’t require a large bulky softbox, but it is built in. This means that you don’t need to have a light that takes up half the room, it takes up 13cm from the back of the light to the front.

FOR MORE OF LUISA'S WORK, CLICK THE LINK: 
http://www.lbrimble.com/

FOLLOW HER ON INSTAGRAM:
https://www.instagram.com/luisabrimble/

For example, take this delicious looking image of the bundt cake: 1. The light fades softly without a large amount of contrast. 2. The right of the image is brighter, so we can assume the light is to the right of the image. 3. Based off the shadows, the light is closer to the person, if not slightly behind the subject. This causes a soft shadow on the wall as well as lighting up the background. 4. This will also give you the shadows on the back of the arm.  5. Because the light has the ability to adjust the colour temperature minutely, I would say that the light is on a cooler temperature at about 5600K Daylight.

PHOTO FOOD TIP: Learning from Food photographers by studying their images, can help increase the
quality of your imagery. Look at how they use softlight or harshlight, shadows or no shadows, colour
or contrast, to create an image.

Bonnie Coumbe, a Food photographer from Sydney also used the Ultrasoft 600C for her delicious food photography. 

Bonnie blends her passion and creative background with a distinct style of story telling through the lens, often involving in the styling process, as well as creative direction.

The images above were shot with this light, and allows for the soft light on the background as well as lighting up the cake/pudding.

The round light, because it is already diffused, doesn’t LOOK like it is an LED. It doesn’t show each individual LED diode like majority of LED panels, and that in turn makes it look like a natural window light. It also gives a beautiful wrap and lights both the subject and the background, this means when she shot on location for a garden related shoot, the light was able to evenly light the white portable paper roll background.

FOR MORE OF BONNIE'S WORK, CLICK THE LINK:
https://www.bonniecoumbe.com/

FOLLOW HER ON INSTAGRAM:
https://www.instagram.com/bonniecoumbe/

BASIC FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY TECHNIQUES 

Shoot in Natural Light - we achieve that look with the Ultrasoft Round LEDs.

Think about the shadows - understand how less can be more and how shadows play with the scene.

Add props – try and create a sense of familiarity between the viewer and the subject. Add coffee mugs, drinks, vases, chopping board with knife etc.

Expose for the highlights – this will ensure that in post you haven’t blown out any section in the frame. Usually I’ve seen this happen when someone is photographing a very white scene, i.e. white plates, white table cloth. Just make sure you slightly under exposed.

Neutral Backgrounds are KEY – When the food and props are a lighter colour, pick a darker background to ensure they pop. We love the new LightPro Mottled Grey Background for this.

Colour can enhance - Think about how colour can be used to enhance the food.

With these techniques, you will be able to achieve high quality images for both your professional photography portfolio and capture those much loved Instagram food photography shots as well. The categories of what you will be able to create are endless, the only thing stopping you will be your imagination.

If you want to see more about the LightPro Ultrasoft lights please see the below video: