5.18.2009

i am not a photographer, but I have fun anyways

I guess you could call this food photos for dummies. But for inquiring minds, or those that might be curiously bored; here's how I do my photos. It can be pretty fun! I take photos with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II. canon-eos-5d-mkII I love, love, love it. LOVE IT. The Mark II is 'da bomb. Like super-ridiculously-I-don't-have-to-think *that* GOOD. canon-eos-5d-markii Here's all the stats you could ever need or want (I think.). I used to use a Rebel XTi with a Canon 50mm f1.8 lens. It was good, but I had to work a lot harder and my food would get cold.... glorious figs I eat warmer food now, with this lens - Sigma AF 24-70mm f/2.8 EX-DG (macro). Here is what I do with my pics, to make them look better and fit into place on the blog. I am NOT an expert, and just have fun with it. I hope this gives you a place to start, or something new to try. Once I have assembled all the photos on the computer (I have a macbook), it's really easy. I add the photos to my flickr account by clicking on the icon in the bottom right-hand corner. You can add photos manually on a pc. iphoto Let's edit a photo of my my Mom's blueberry buckle (yes, she brought it over for Mother's Day, pathetic, I know). blueberry buckle In flickr, first click on the photo you want to edit. Then click just above the photo, on "edit photo". edit button This will take you to picnik. Picnik is amazing. You can also use picnik outside of flickr. It is what photoshop would be like if this was heaven. I use "Auto-Fix" 99% of the time. picnik I resize my photos in picnik too. Photos on my blog are 600 x 400. Press "OK", and make any additional changes. resizing I often adjust the exposure, and the contrast; in this case by quite a bit. Press "OK". exposure adjustment You will be redirected to flickr. Click on "all-sizes", and then, on the next screen, scroll down to get the html code: all-sizes photo The finished product! blueberry buckle1 Before & After before after A little ethereal, but today I like it. I might change my mind tomorrow! blueberry buckle1 I muck around with photoshop sometimes too, but find it too time-consuming when I just want to get the job done. I'll talk about my attempts to have technique when taking photos in another post. Mostly, I just hope that it's not dark outside due to early winter evenings, and the light on the kitchen table is just about right, most of the time.

9 comments:

Suzie Ridler said...

Excellent! What a difference eh? And not all of us can afford Photoshop, goodness knows I can't so I use Picknik too.

I have a Canon Rebel which is awesome but do not have the macro lens yet which drives me nuts. One day! Sigh...

Angry Asian said...

thank you for posting this! i'm always curious to know what other food bloggers use to take pix and their post-processing. i only have a point/shoot, one day i'll splurge and get a DSLR. :) i also use picnik which i find to be so much easier than photoshop.

The Benny's said...

THANK YOU! I have been dying to know how your pics turn out so great! 1 question; I usually take my pics at night, and my kitchen does not have the best of lighting, would you use additional lights and if so, what type? Merci :-)

Jen said...

Thanks for sharing your tips! If Picnik is what "photoshop would be like if this was heaven" then I must check it out.

Andrea said...

Thanks so much for this Gail! I need to start doing better with the photos on my blog, and this is great advice! I'm not really "in" to photography, but it makes such a difference!

gail said...

The Benny's - I did buy a "light box" in the winter, and that helped. It is a little annoying though... as in it takes a bunch of time to set-up lights and the box etc. Call me lazy, but.... The best bet is to find a light-source that could back-light the food and try that.. that works sometimes. I have no fantastic answers for working in the dark, yet. ;)

The Benny's said...

Thanks Gail! Your the best!

Carolyn Jung said...

Thanks for the great photo tips. I am still finding my way as a photographer. As a long-time professional writer, the words definitely come easier. I use PhotoShop now, but just the very basic fixes. My head spins to think of all the tools you can use on PhotoShop and how time-consuming it all can be. Picnik sounds like a great alternative.

Anonymous said...

This is fantastic information. Thank you sooooo much. I too have mac and use iphoto. I notice that when I upload pictures they don't look the same on my blog as the original. Do you know anything about this? I will start using flickr instead but was wondering if you knew anything about the problem I am having. Thank you.

Related Posts with Thumbnails