Author Topic: Taking Quality Pizza Photos (Read 19733 times)

varasano · « **on:** August 18, 2006, 02:10:13 PM »

I came across this link. Is it me or do these photos look like a hundred times better than any of ours?

http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/projects/cooking/

Lately I've been lamenting how terrible my photos look. They just don't do the food justice.

Jeff

scott r · « **Reply #1 on:** August 18, 2006, 02:18:19 PM »

Notice the excellent use of shadows and light focus. Some parts of the food are very well lit, while others are dark. It looks like they are using outboard lighting for these pics.

DKM · « **Reply #2 on:** August 18, 2006, 02:18:23 PM »

Yes, they look better, but since I have a bother who is a pro-photographer I also know what it took to get them to look that way.

DKM

PizzaBrasil · « **Reply #3 on:** August 18, 2006, 03:41:33 PM »

Yeah!
Definitively a pro using external light thru a reflective surface.
Take a look to the pictures on 'empanadas recipe thread' just helped by a external light.

Luis

pizzagirl · « **Reply #4 on:** August 18, 2006, 09:57:48 PM »

I agree with everyone, nice post varasano. One thing I noticed later than sooner for me is to do my amateur snaps outside in full daylight. They seem much better outside for rookie shots, than indoors on the counter, without expense.

David · « **Reply #5 on:** August 18, 2006, 11:39:49 PM »

I think the restaurant mantra is "Location,Location,Location" and the Photographers is "Lighting,Lighting,Lighting".

varasano · « **Reply #6 on:** August 19, 2006, 01:16:17 AM »

I definitely did notice that outside shots are better, and even took some outside just to snap a photo. But I usually bake at night.

Jeff

gschwim · « **Reply #7 on:** August 19, 2006, 02:02:47 AM »

I guess you didn't notice, but this guy has a whole page of pizza photos:

http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/projects/cooking/pizza/index.html

varasano · « **Reply #8 on:** August 19, 2006, 09:55:07 AM »

That's what I saw first, but those photos don't look as amazing

Pete-zza · « **Reply #9 on:** August 19, 2006, 08:03:32 PM »

This one is mainly for scott r: http://www.raji.com/photoshare/110705grimaldis/index.htm. It takes a while for the photos to load and there is a lot of repetition, but I found the sequences fun to watch. The pizza photos are in the middle and can be found by placing the cursor over the little squares.

Peter

Pete-zza · « **Reply #10 on:** August 19, 2006, 08:20:07 PM »

One of our members, snowdy, took this photo of a Grimaldi's pizza, at http://www.dataheadz.com/nycpics/nyc-396.jpg. It's a great photo and one of my favorites. It's almost like looking down into a volcano.

Peter

scott r · « **Reply #11 on:** August 20, 2006, 01:52:50 AM »

Thanks peter that was a lot of fun to watch. It makes me want to go to NYC RIGHT NOW!!

enchant · « **Reply #12 on:** August 20, 2006, 03:22:42 PM »

Quote from: varasano on August 18, 2006, 02:10:13 PM

I came across this link. Is it me or do these photos look like a hundred times better than any of ours?

http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/projects/cooking/

There are several elements that add to the quality of these photos.

As others have pointed out, the light source is not a flash on the camera. However, I'm not positive it's natural light - at least not on all of the images. The shadows coming off some of the plates lead me to believe that it's a studio flash with a light-softening head - an umbrella or something similar.

Also, the food is attractive. The chef obviously knows a little about presentation. This isn't the short order cook at Denny's.

The dishware and surroundings are stylish, like what you might find in a high-end restaurant.

Also, notice that every photo is taken at a skewed angle for artistic effect.

The field of focus is short, drawing the attention to the food at the primary focal point.

Any of us should be able to do the same. Natural light from a single source (e.g. one, and only one, window) would work fine. Using an image editor, make sure that the shadows are deep enough - perhaps crank up the contrast a little.

It makes me want to make pizza on an off day just to replicate his efforts.

varasano · « **Reply #13 on:** August 29, 2006, 06:46:47 PM »

This is from the photographer referenced above:

"most of those photos are relatively
easy. for most of it i just used window light and a wide aperture on the
camera lens. i shot a lot of that with a 100 mm 2.8 macro i got at a yard
sale for $50, but a 50mm 1.8 would be good too."

I have no idea what that means, so I guess I'm stuck with my crappy cybershot, such as this masterpiece: This was actually a good pie:

tonymark · « **Reply #14 on:** August 29, 2006, 08:15:59 PM »

Quote from: varasano on August 29, 2006, 06:46:47 PM

"most of those photos are relatively
easy. for most of it i just used window light and a wide aperture on the
camera lens. i shot a lot of that with a 100 mm 2.8 macro i got at a yard
sale for $50, but a 50mm 1.8 would be good too."

I have no idea what that means, so I guess I'm stuck with my crappy cybershot, such as this masterpiece: This was actually a good pie:

1.8 and 2.8 refers to the f-stop (or aperture opening). On a SLR camera, the f-stop is adjustable (and some point-and-shoots). 1.4 is wide open on a good lens. This allows the user to take a photo in less light without a tri-pod. A wide aperture (low f-stop) provides less depth-of-field and more light to reach the film (or electronic light receptors).

Any good cybershot should have an aperture priority mode. It will allow you to set the f-stop to limit the depth-of-field. Don't forget to turn off the flash. On my cybershot the little hand pops up when there is not enough light and it knows I cannot hold the camera still enough. This basically tells you to use a tri-pod. I would guess that is why your photo is blurry. Your camera should be changing the shutter speed as you change the aperture setting. As a rule of thumb for a 55 mm lens, when the shutter speed drops below about 1/60 s (actually the inverse of the focal length) you need a tri-pod, especially if you had that extra cup of coffee. This actually varies with any kind a zoom lens that adjusts as with a point-and-shoot digital camera.

BTW, the photo manager Picasa (from Google) and probably others shows the aperture and shutter speed (exposure time) under "properties" when you right click on a photo thumbnail.

varasano · « **Reply #15 on:** August 29, 2006, 09:21:56 PM »

I'll try some of these things. Just turning off the flash was a big help and a surprise to me. FYI this pie was made with regular cheap White lily flour from the supermarket.

CDNpielover · « **Reply #16 on:** August 30, 2006, 03:52:39 PM »

sorry to get off topic, but that guy is AWESOME!

Easy bake oven pizza? genius!

varasano · « **Reply #17 on:** September 20, 2006, 10:52:16 PM »

Latest Photos. Not too much luck taking these. I have to make some pies during the daytime so I can use natural light. I had to photoshop these a little to balance the color and add back light.

varasano · « **Reply #18 on:** September 20, 2006, 10:56:54 PM »

The last photo is so photoshop'd it looks fake.

stevenmhinde · « **Reply #19 on:** October 09, 2006, 06:11:47 PM »

Here is a pic of a recent pie I devoured from my local Happy Joes. Used my crappy camera cell phone and it actually turned out pretty decent!