"From plate to pixel" is the title of Helen du Jardin's excellent book on food photography. It takes the reader through buying a camera and lenses suitable for taking photographs of food, to styling and shooting great images.
I always recommend this book to my students because if they do not understand anything I say on the course they can refer later to Helen's book. She explains the key concepts better than I might.
I run a number of food photography courses at the School of Artisan Food in Nottinghamshire and Aspire Photography Training in Cumbria. There are five dates for next year. The main differences between the two courses are they are aimed at different people.
Aspire specialises in training competent photographers who are looking to gain further expertise in photographing a particular subject. They may have little experience of handling and working with food. Having said that we all eat food and have some experience of handling it. Not being a cook should not deter a photographer from coming on the course.
At the School of Artisan Food the students tend to be great cooks who have camera skills which need upgrading. There is some cross over between the backgrounds of people attending the courses but by and large they fall into these two camps.
I also run bespoke courses in cooking schools, restaurants and from my own home.
On each course I show students what is involved photographing food using simple but beautiful projects which are designed to illustrate the key factors a photographer needs to take into account when photographing food.
The project themes are inspired by the seasons and by nature.
The photographs above demonstrate this. The baked produce is photographed cold so the students have time to study it before it begins to deteriorate. The soup on the other hand has to photographed warm because it settles out and any fat present begins to solidify creating an unappealing line around the rim if it is left too go cold.
We explore when to use a tripod, what camera settings to use, the range of angles to photograph food from, lighting and composition.
For many of the students the courses are transformational.
The feedback tells me the students get an awful lot from the courses.
So if you fancy coming along do get in touch. I would love to hear from you.
Here is a selection of images from my last autumn themed course at the School of Artisan Food.
