I posted a short tut about cookie photography some time ago , this is a post I really like. I want to show an other angle about food photography and showcase how easy it is to get really clean images and “catalogue” look by using your pocket camera, some white reflectors and up to one flash light (that costs less than 50$). This might be an intro to anyone who wants to take images with one light on a very tight budget. I know that I’m going to get fat because of this tut, but what the heck, I’ll do anything for some new readers `-).
The Pocket Camera Cookie Photography:
The Gear I Used:
Pocket camera – we got it 5 years ago when our first boy born. Now it is his camera, so you can get the idea we are talking here about very very basic gear. There are two important things your camera must have:
- Manual control – So you could set your camera ISO/Shutter Speed/aperture.
- Flash power control – You need your on camera flash only to trigger the off camera flash , so you must have the ability to shut it as a main light. Two options : 1.You can set it to under expose the scene (-2ev will make it really unnoticeable). 2. Power levels control – set it to its lowest power .
Off Camera Flash – I used here the YN460II. This flash is the cheapest flash on the market that still has all the strobist functions you will ever need. The best thing about it is that it has a great optical slave. This slave allows as to work or trigger it with our pocket camera’s flash.
Reflectors – In this setup I used simple white panel and a piece of styrofoam I found . You can use any white panel you ca think of…
The Pocket Camera Cookie Photography setup:
The setup is extremely simple, but I’ll break it into 3 steps:
Flash power and settings: Flash power set to a low power, its 1/32th full power and pointed to the wall behind the cookie plate. Now its time to choose between the optical slave modes , S1 optical slave mode works the best with the pocket cameras.
Camera settings – Work in manual mode!! Manual focus is a must. Camera other settings :
- Shutter speed – 1/400th sec. Digital cameras has some kind of electric shutter so the flash can sync in most of them upto 1/500th sec.
- Iso Settings – 80ISO. tryied to get the image as clean as a 5 years old pocket camera could.
- Aperture – f/8. thats the max i can get with this camera, not much of DOF, so thats why perfect focusing is essential. You should set your camera to the smallest aperture you can set.
General tips – Try some angles (shoot from above and so on). Change reflectors positions and find your sweet spot. Don’t eat all the candy by yourself, let your kids get some after…`-)
Using your pocket camera combined with an optical slave flash can add some creative ideas.
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My house is currently full with small little lego part, as my son is now into the lego phase, which is fun, because lego has much more figures and themes compared to the variety I had as a kid. It realy develops the kids coordination and if a kid is into it , it helps build his patience too.
your bath clean) I really wanted to try this too, so a couple of weeks ago as we where at ikea, I bought those nice San Pellegrino Aranciata Juice. There were forgotten in the refrigerator since… But my wife didn’t forget about them to easy and wanted to drink them (cause that’s what you usually do with them) and forced me to write this post, so here we go!!!
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