As many of you know, I fell off my bike last week and injured my right shoulder. I always wanted to share more photo tips but when a new recipe was created, the photo tips sharing posts got postponed again and again. Since now I’m not doing the much serious cooking and not shooting new pictures. I finally got time to write some posts about food photography. I’m starting with very basic stuff. And I’m going to share more behind-the-scenes. So stay tuned.
Without a reflector
With a reflector
Do you see the difference between these two pictures, and you wonder why? Check the setup below.
Shooting macarons without a reflector
Shooting macarons with a reflector
This is how I was shooting these orange macarons. The photos were shot with Canon 60D, 50mm 1.8L (f/2.8, shutter speed 1/80sec, ISO 800 ). The camera was placed on a tripod and I used a shutter release remote to initiate the shots to maintain the stability of the camera since the shutter speed was low. I placed the window shutters the way that the light from the window will pour on the macarons, but not much on the black background. With some editing, the background can turn into a pitch black one.
It really made a big difference, is it?
In this case, the objects are placed between the light source (from left side window) and a reflector. A reflector, as its name says, is used to reflect light. So now the right sides of the macarons are more illuminated now.
I actually made this reflector for less than 10$, can you believe it? It is just 2 pieces of foam boards taped together. I made two and they are enough for most of my shooting sessions.
If you decided to make one for yourself, remember to leave some space between two boards when taping, about the thickness of a foam board. So the finished product can be folded in half. and can stand on its own. You can see since mine got so much use they don’t look new or clean but are still solid.
You can find the exact foam boards I used online. You can also get them at almost any craft or art supply stores locally. I use foam boards a lot since they are inexpensive and lightweight. I’ve cut them into name letters for my daughter’s birthday. I’ve also made some DIY photography surfaces with them.
Do you think this post is helpful to you? Leave me a comment or if you have any questions.
xo, Qi
*The photos in this post have not gone through any post-editing. The one you see on the front page is an edited version.
Photography tools I used in this post:
Leave a Reply