I’ve just gotten home from another day on the creativeLIVE set with Andrew Scrivani. I’m one of the students in his Food Photography workshop this week and so far it’s been quite wonderful. See my write up of Day 1 here.
Today’s class began with some camera basics on setting your ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed and White Balance, how these affect and work together to create an image. We also reviewed the use of a Light Meter. A great tool for photographers to have and use.
From there we moved on to a basic studio setup, for shooting. This is very similar to that which Andrew uses in his own studio. It’s really a rather small setup, but it’s good to have room around you for items like ladders, prep and prop tables and even a camera stand if you have one of those. He uses a Foba stand, those are pretty pricy, but there are alternatives out there for folks who want to do overhead shots.
These cupcakes are from Cupcake Royale, shout out to Jody and everyone there for sending us some cupcake love for the worskhop!
After the first break the students were paired up to create an image, from selecting a food item to propping, composing the image and snapping the shutter, each pair of students had a mere 15 minutes to make an image.
My partner was Paola. Once I heard the assignment, I immediately knew what I wanted to shoot, we agreed on a plate and a surface and were good to go.
Here’s my first snap from this setup.
Andrew then encouraged us to do more, shoot more, experiment. We changed out the plate to a weathered wooden plate/cutting board and I captured this image.
During lunch we had another assignment, to style and shoot our lunch. I’ll hold off on sharing that image for now, as Andrew will be doing a live critique of all of our images during tomorrow’s class. Scary, but good… it’s important to get feedback on your work, especially from someone you look up to and admire.
In the afternoon Andrew spoke through his workflow. Now for photographer’s this usually means post-production and editing of images. While that was a part of the discussion, he went through from the very beginning of choosing a recipe to buying the food, selecting props, etc… then moving into how he edits his work.
And we wrapped the day with the fabulous Shauna James Ahern of Gluten Free Girl & the Chef. Andrew and Shauna had a very engaging discussion on photography, the growth you experience as you continue to shoot over and over, and of course writing and blogging.
Overall another fantastic day and experience. I’m so very happy I’ve had this opportunity to be a part of it.
Tune in tomorrow for the Business of Food Photography, Andrew is going to talk through the questions you should ask any potential client to copyright and much more. Don’t miss it, it’s free! And I imagine all of what he’ll discuss could apply, in some way, to all avenues of Photography.
Hope to see you there!
~ kate
