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DIY: Photo backdrop stand, $10 and 10 minutes

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Written by  Jen  /  Photography  / February 20, 2017 I take a ton of pictures, not just of my children, but also for the blog. I’ve been in the process of setting up a home photography studio in the basement for the past few months. (My post  here  about how to set up a home studio on a budget has been hugely popular!). I had ordered a number of vinyl photography backdrops from China and as they’ve arrived, I’d simply been taping them to the cinder block walls to use. However, this method was messy (talk about sticky tape everywhere) and since the wall is in the basement, it’s cold and the tape never stuck well. Enter the need for a better solution. I’ve seen a lot of tutorials on how to DIY your own backdrop stand out of PVC pipe, so I grabbed my trusty notebook and drew up a quick sketch of what I’d need. Because my space in the basement is limited, I decided to go with a stand that was 54-inches wide and just over 60-inches tall. This is the perfect height for (smaller) kids l
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FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY 101: UNDERSTANDING NATURAL LIGHTING

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My friends at FBC, Melissa, Mardi, and Ethan have kindly asked me to write an article on lighting + food photography. Although I’m a food blogger by night, by day I work in design…more specifically interior + lighting design. Given my background along with my love for photography, they thought I’d be able to offer some words of wisdom to you all just starting out. Needless to say, I was thrilled. Let’s keep this simple. Generally, the most readily available light is natural daylight. It requires very little equipment and will make your food look more natural, more appealing, and incredibly appetizing! For today’s article, let’s focus on getting great shots using this natural daylight. Now, how do we get these wonderful photographs you ask? Let’s break it down. COLOUR TEMPERATURE + SHIFTING LIGHTING I won’t go in-depth as it’s a hefty topic but it’s a rather important one, so I’ll be brief. You don’t want your food shots to look “off” do you? White Balance Not Corrected The col
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Food Photography For At Home Cooks

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By:  eastshores A lot of people that really love food, like talking about it online. If that weren't the case,  cheftalk.com  might be reduced to just a professional discussion board with a post a day discussing the latest professional equipment, or religiously zealous debates over which knife manufacturer is superior. So to fulfill this need, many have turned to online blogging, or something like cheftalk, where they can go and share with others their unique take on food. One thing is certain, images go a very long way toward expressing those food experiences. I wanted to take a moment to share with others a few pointers for doing food photography at home; hoping it will give you a new voice, one with visuals as enticing as your words!   Throughout this article I'd like to maintain an easy read, without diving too deep into details. After all, if you really wanted to be inundated with all of the science of photography you probably wouldn't have started your research
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Basic Color Theory

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Color theory encompasses a multitude of definitions, concepts and design applications - enough to fill several encyclopedias. However, there are three basic categories of color theory that are logical and useful : The color wheel, color harmony, and the context of how colors are used. Color theories create a logical structure for color. For example, if we have an assortment of fruits and vegetables, we can organize them by color and place them on a circle that shows the colors in relation to each other. The Color Wheel A color circle, based on red, yellow and blue, is traditional in the field of art. Sir Isaac Newton developed the first circular diagram of colors in 1666. Since then, scientists and artists have studied and designed numerous variations of this concept. Differences of opinion about the validity of one format over another continue to provoke debate. In reality, any color circle or color wheel which presents a logically arranged sequence of pure hues has merit.
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How to Pick Props for Food Photography

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By Ashley McLaughlin We all love to post a pic of dinner once in a while (#tacotuesday, anyone?). But if you want to get serious about  actual  food photography, you'll need more than a phone and a hashtag. There's the camera to think about, plus lighting, the food itself and — our topic here — the right props to set everything up in style. How to pick props for food photography Think small It only takes a few test shots to learn that smaller is almost better for food photography. Bowls, plates and other containers generally look best when they're nice and full, and that's just easier if you start with a small prop. Plus working on a smaller scale gives you more space to play when fitting everything in your camera frame. The upshot: reach for a tiny appetizer plate when plating a dessert, even though in real life you'd probably serve it on something larger. Swap full-sized dinner plates for salad plates, and so on. Keep it simple Food photography's a
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HOW TO: USE APERTURE TO IMPROVE YOUR PHOTOGRAPH

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First things first.  Aperture is the size of the opening in your lens when you’re taking a photo. Think of it as how wide open your eye is when taking in a scene. Aperture manipulates a photo more than any other mechanism on your camera, because it affects both level of brightness and degree of focus in a single click. How it works.  Increasing your aperture (wider, more light, smaller focal point) is achieved by lowering the physical number of your f/stop. While lowering your aperture (narrower, less light, larger focal point), is achieved by increasing the number of your f/stop. A large aperture is a smaller number, and a small aperture is actually a high number. For example: f/1.4 is a LARGE aperture f/10 is a SMALL aperture Got it? If not, it’s OK. Practice will do you more good than any amount of technical advice you’ll read here or elsewhere. Now let’s talk about how aperture can actually improve your food photos. It’s all about focus. What it does.  A larger aperture (i.e. f/1.4
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Expand Your Skillset: Commercial Food Photography

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Photography is an enormous, multifaceted industry that ranges from portrait and product to macro and landscape. As photographers, we owe it to ourselves to learn as much as we can about each specific genre of our trade. Even if you only shoot weddings or cars, it’s important to learn and practice new techniques, which will allow you to hone your skills and can keep you out of creative ruts. Recently, I have had the opportunity to take on several types of shoots that I either have never done before or have had very limited experience with. In December, I was approached by a friend at  DailyBurn , a leading health and fitness site, who was looking for a food photographer and wanted me to point him in that direction. Even though I had limited experience in shooting food or products, I offered him my own services to shoot their upcoming vitamin and nutrition shake line, and he was willing to give me a chance and let me run with it. Prior to him contacting me, the only experience I
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