If you have any questions at all, please ask! I know I could spend a month writing about what I do and not cover it all here. I am just giving a basic list of what has worked for me.
There is a plethora of books and blogs that instruct on how to take good photos. Just as a FYI, here is what is in my photo bag:
-Nikon D80
-50mm 1.8D lens
-18-55mm lens
-55-200mm lens
-Adobe Photoshop CS4
What I wish I had in my photo bag would be a Nikon D300s
I use the 50mm lens to take almost all my photographs of food and all indoor photo session shots. Here is the latest from my daughter’s 1 year old photo session:
Having your own little closet studio lets you take photos whenever you like and bypass the hideous photo mass market places. If you don’t have a DSLR, then you can wait until Christmas or try this with a point and shoot. Those point and shoots are getting smarter and smarter!
What you need for a People Studio:
-a big white sheet, or black, or whatever color you like
-a window that faces somewhat east in the morning, or west in the afternoon but the photo area does not get direct sunlight
That is pretty much all I used here. And my 50mm lens allows me to kick the aperture (using Aperture Priority Mode) to 2.8 which lets in adequate light for photos. If the shutter speed goes below 1/60 of a second, especially with children, then you will probably get blur. ISO was set at 250 since we were indoors. Note, my window faces the backdrop/white sheet. This helps lighting the face evenly and helps get that “sparkle” in their eye which is a reflection of the window.
What I use to take Food Photos:
–anything I can find around the kitchen
-50mm lens. But this is not a requirement. The lens was $100 – not bad for a lens. You CAN use a point and shoot camera. bakeat350.blogspot.com does it all the time
Use various items as backdrops. For my red velvet cheesecake and Fall Vegetable Medley, I wanted white, so I placed a white binder standing up behind the cake and put another white binder under the cake.
Behind the Carrot Cake Cupcakes is my curtain to the backporch and the sliding window door provides enough natural light for the shot.
Butternut Squash Pizza with Crust is simply a very close up shot that can be taken with any camera.
What you need for a Inexpensive Product Studio:
-large cardboard box
-1 piece of poster board. I used white, but you can always change it out
As you can see from the photo below, I removed certain parts of the box like the top and cut two large holes in the sides. I have used this outside and inside near a window and lamps shining in. But there you have it. A product studio that cost you 50 cents.
