Rules, London: Food Photography Blog

Since 1798 Rules restaurant in London has been delighting and inspiring its patrons with its gorgeous, typically English food.

Its signature dishes include; Steak and Kidney Pie, Steak and Kidney Pudding and Potted Shrimp.

Many who know me know that I have only a few really intense passions in life: 1. travel 2. photography and 3. food!

In addition to my photography blog, which you are reading now, and which is a definite extension and showcase of my work as a professional photographer, I also have a food and restaurant blog, in which I endeavor to go to every village, town, city and country on Earth, eating my way across the land.

This particular entry is not to go into detail about the food, but to give a photo essay of it instead. A full review can be found on my food blog.

Food Photography Shoot; Ramallos Chocolates

Ramallos Gift Pack

Ramallos chocolates is a recent startup by a very dedicated person. He called me last year when he was building his site and had me take some photos of his initial product line. And I think I said it then and I’ll say it again, they were super yummy. He really has an incredible product. They are all hand-made in Belgium and then shipped over to him, boxed and sent to his customers.

When I had the opportunity to photograph his most recent lineup of chocolate truffles I jumped at the chance.

This line included some very special chocolates for Valentine’s Day and I think and hope I captured these chocolates in all of their beauty.

Sussex Landscape Photos in the Snow

View of the Ashdown Forest

A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to get a bit of snow and I was lucky enough to go out and enjoy myself for the day. My brother and sister-in-law came by and brought their dog Monte with them. We drove all over the area looking for fun places to drive and take photos.

The next day I went out with a photographer friend of mine, Sam Wordie, and we took some photos of the forest. She took some of me and I took some of her. It’s always good to have friends as photographers as they can take free photos to post on my website, blog, etc.

I haven’t had the opportunity to photograph much of England in the snow and this gave me a little preview of just how beautiful it is when it’s white outside.

: View of the Ashdown Forest

: Me in my Element

: Photographing in the Ashdown Forest

: Me @ The Ashdown Park Hotel

: Monte Looking Scary

: Monte

: The Hatch Covered in Snow

New Canon 24-70mm f2.8L II Coming Soon!

Feb, 20 2012
By admin
Camera Gear
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The New Canon 24-70mm f2.8L II

In the world of technology news this is actually quite old, but I wanted to get it out there for my readers. On February 7th 2012 Canon announced that they would finally be updating the long awaited successor to the hugely popular Canon 24-70mm f2.8 L lens. The 24-70mm f2.8 L II will sport a sleek new design, better optics, more compact body and lighter weight. Anyone who has ever owned the original 24-70mm 2.8 L will undoubtably appreciate the smaller size and weight, it was a monster lens. I had to sell my second copy because it was just too heavy and big for what I do. I need speed and agility to capture weddings in an unobtrusive way and the old 24-70mm was anything but discreet and agile.

An update is certainly due as the original 24-70 was released in 2002. Just as the digital revolution was beginning. Today’s optics just can’t handle the large file sizes that camera manufacturers are producing, 21, 24 and soon (with Nikon’s new D800) 36 megapixels, lenses now need to be way sharper than they did in 2002. It’s only natural that Canon took its time to produce this lens. I hope it lives up to the hype and delivers what the current 24-70 can’t. We’ll have to wait until next month to find out. But with a price tag rumored to be much more than the current edition it will have to be good to get the current owners to switch. One thing to note is that the new 24-70 does not have Image Stabilization, which was definitely on the top of everyone’s list when asking Santa for a new 24-70 from Canon. Not sure what the thought process was there, but perhaps it would of been too expensive for most.

As well as an updated 24-70 Canon has also said it’s going to update the even older 24mm f2.8 and 28mm f2.8. Incorporating Image Stabilization into both, this is sort of a strange move for Canon. Wide angle lenses aren’t known for needing IS as camera shake isn’t prevalent. Rumors have begun to fly that Canon is producing these lenses to please the film makers out there looking for a bit more than is currently offered. Going on specs alone, I’m pretty excited about all of these lenses and can’t wait to try them

: The New Canon 24-70mm f2.8L II

: New Canon 24mm f2.8 IS USM

: New Canon 28mm f2.8 IS USM

How to Take Great Photos in a Restaurant: Part 1

How to take photos in a restaurant for your blog, Facebook, etc.

Shot using techniques described.

We’ve all been there. Sitting in a dark, corner table of a fantastic restaurant, wishing that we had more light, so we didn’t have to use that terrible built-in flash. Perhaps the meal was one of the best we’ve ever eaten and the one thing that would have made it better is gorgeous photos to post to our website, Facebook page, or blog. When we get home the results are less than spectacular. Usually, the flash creates hot-spots on anything reflective on the table. Including, stemware, cutlery and crockery. The grain from the high ISO used also is a very annoying factor in low-light, restaurant photography. There are some easy solutions to this.

How to get great photos in any restaurant:

Outside with no diffuser. Quite harsh!

1. Diffused sunlight – The quickest and easiest way to get great photos is to shoot with available, indirect sunlight. This could be choosing a table outside, under an umbrella, where the sunlight would be diffused by the umbrella. This method is by far the best for achieving excellent photos.

2. Get a table by the window – If there are no outdoor tables available, or it’s too cold, rainy, etc. there are other methods. One trick is to ask the reservations desk if you can have a table by the window when booking. If they say no, than ask when the next available seating is when a window is available. Don’t be embarrassed to push it and insist. They are there to serve you.

3. Use fast lenses – Outdoor and window tables work during the daylight, but what about dining in the evening, when the sun is down and there’s nothing but the available light in the restaurant? This is where it gets tricky. For those with point-and-shoot cameras you don’t have many options. To achieve really brilliant results indoors, using dim light, you need to get yourself a DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera, which has the ability to swap lenses. That is, one that doesn’t just have a single fixed lens. My favorite beginner camera (as of this writing) is the Nikon D40. But any of the newer Canons, Nikons, etc. will work. I don’t use Nikon anymore, but I’ve found that you can get a really good deal on the D40 on eBay, or Amazon. The lens is really what matters. You want a fast lens. Meaning, a lens which lets in a lot of light. One that has a large aperture, (amount of light let in reflects aperture size) f1.8, or f2.8 lets in lots of light and are called large apertures, or fast lenses. Despite their small numbers. Anything smaller (f4.0 and above) and you’re going to have trouble. Unless you have IS (image stabilization) on your lens.

4. Use image preview – I have found that having image preview on my camera works very well for restaurant photography. This is built-in to almost all point-and-shot cameras, but is still very limited on DSLRs. The reason I find it so helpful is because I don’t have to hold the camera up to my face to shoot. This can be very distracting when taking photos in nice restaurants especially. With image preview, you look at the LCD screen on the back of the camera and focus your photograph without having to bring the camera above your food.

Get down low!

5. Shoot at table level, not eye level – When shooting food you want to always strive to photograph at an angle which is 10-40 degrees from the table. Meaning, don’t take food shots at eye level. We humans always see our food at eye level and it’s more intriguing when we see it at the actual level the food is at. About 10 degrees above the plate is perfect.

6. Get in close – I see way too many food bloggers shooting with wide-angle lenses and as a result the photographs aren’t attractive. There is way too much going on in the foreground and background, when really, all we want to see is the food. So unless you want to highlight some specific areas of the table, or the restaurant, get in close.

7. Don’t use your built-in flash – Built-in flash tends to flatten an image and make it dull. Try to utilize one of the methods above first and if all else fails, flip that flash, but only in an emergency.

And finally, don’t discount your photo editing software. Even bland, flat images can be saved using the curves function.

Today you can find top quality, used equipment for a fraction of the price new. Get yourself a good DSLR and 50mm f1.8 lens and your restaurant and food photography will really start to shine.

Food Photography – Crostinies in Dorking

If there’s one thing I like to do it’s help people. I translate that into my photography by helping local businesses get really nice photos of their products, staff, etc. And such is the case with Crostinies Pizza and Take-Away in Dorking. I have worked with Crostinies a couple of times and every time is great. They have really good people working there that always make me feel welcome.

On this occasion I was photographing their line of pizzas for their website, menu, etc. The idea was to highlight the food itself, but also to ensure that the food didn’t look like something it wasn’t. We didn’t want it to look like a gourmet restaurant, because it’s not. It’s just a good, local take-away restaurant and it was important that we didn’t make it look too fancy. I think we did just that. Taking several of their pizzas and photographing them on a wooden surface with some wax paper made the images look really authentic.

Thanks to everyone at Crostinies for your help and patience!

How to Take Great Photos at Night

Taken at Just Before Midnight.

How to take great photographs at night

Have you ever tried to take a photo at night, outside, and it came out terrible? Perhaps you were on vacation and saw a postcard of cars whizzing by the Eiffel Tower, streams of light from the headlights in the foreground and the beautiful monument in the background. When you tried to replicate the image, it was a far cry from what you envisioned.

There’s a reason for this. Night photography follows the same rules as any other photograph. That is, when an image is not taken using the general principles of photography, errors occur. Photography literally means, writing with light. If you don’t have enough light, or you don’t take the available light that you do have into account, you’re going to end up with rubbish photographs.

Here’s how to take great photos at night. Obviously, like with anything in photography, this is subject to various techniques. My technique for getting the shot may be different than others. But, as you can see from my photography website I have taken some decent night shots.

1. USE A TRIPOD! I cannot stress this enough. In fact, as your photography skills grow, you will find that it is almost impossible to live without a tripod.

2. Learn the manual setting on your camera and what shutter speed and aperture have to do with it. I’ve written an article on that also.

3. Use a shutter release cable. These can be purchased at almost any good camera store. This will help with the camera vibration. It’s a small cord that can be attached to your camera, which allows you to take your finger off of the shutter release button. Dampening vibration.

4. If your camera has it, use the mirror lockup function. All DSLRs have a mirror, which, when you look through the viewfinder, reflects the image from the lens, so you can see what the lens is seeing. This causes vibration in the camera and can lead to blurry photos.

Ok, you have all the ingredients to make a great photo at night. Here’s how to put them all together:

Using your tripod, set up the shot which you think is most pleasing to the eye. Set your camera to manual and if possible, set your mirror lockup function. Use your in-camera light meter to determine what the best exposure will be. For instance, if you’re using an aperture of f11 and an ISO of 100, you might get a reading of 2 seconds, or more. Here is where it gets interesting; the slower your shutter speed, the more action you’re going to record. Meaning, if you have a shutter speed of 10 seconds and within those 10 seconds 35 cars speed by your image, in your foreground, you’re going to capture a lot of streaming lights. This is quite a nice effect in night photography. The shutter speed and aperture will work together to give you the sort of image you’re looking for. Maybe you don’t care about streaming lights, then don’t worry about having super long shutter speeds.

One thing to make a note of, the aperture really doesn’t matter here. Anything above say, f5.6 is fine for night photos. You’re not too concerned with capturing depth of field in the foreground and background. This is especially true for cityscapes. I have shot at f2.8 at times and had very similar results as f11. Because everything I’m shooting is so far away. My lens is focused at infinity to be exact.

Also, ISOs of 100 or 200 are fine here. In fact, they’re preferable. Remember, we’re not trying to stop the action. We’re trying to capture it in the timeframe of our shutter speed.

It’s really no more complicated than that. Think about the effect you want to create; long shutter speeds to capture the foreground and background movement and making sure your camera is steady and that there is no vibrations, which could blur your image.

That’s how I do it anyway.

Shutter Speed and Aperture? Explained!

Basic photography lesson – What is Shutter Speed and Aperture?

When I first started taking photos I was 14. I had a Minolta (something or other) and the manual that came with it was far too confusing. So, I set it to auto and let the camera do all the work. I was shocked to find that most of my photos were completely useless. Not at all like what I saw in the photography magazines I would peruse on occasion. The automatic and program functions on your camera do one thing, they get a neutral image that most people will be happy with. But what if you want more? What if you want to take a photo at night? What do you do then? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people standing in front of the Eiffel Tower hand-holding their cameras, using their built-in flash and expecting to get a good result. Your flash is powerful, but not powerful enough to light up the Eiffel Tower. What if you want to stop a car going 60 miles per hour? There is a way to improve your photography and get away from the dull, boring automatic and program buttons.

But first, you need to understand what these terms mean:

8 Bladed Aperture Diagram

Aperture – If you’re using a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera with interchangeable lenses, aperture actually has nothing to do with the camera itself. The aperture blades reside inside the lenses. They open and close depending on the amount of light you want to enter the camera and hit your sensor. A wide aperture, one that is lowest in number, for instance f1.8, will create a very limited depth of field. That is, if you’re focusing on the subject in the foreground, the background will be completely blurry. And likewise, if you’re focusing on a subject in the background your foreground will be blurry. With aperture it’s possible to create very nice, artistic effects. It’s as simple as that.

Fast Shutter Speed to Freeze Motion

Shutter Speed – The shutter speed monitors the amount of time the light coming in from the lens, regulated by the aperture, is allowed to hit the sensor. Fast shutter speeds stop motion, slow shutter speeds give a nice blur effect. However, too slow a shutter speed, without enough light being let in will produce very blurry, unusable shots.

And there it is. So, get out of the habit of taking photos in auto, or program and use your manual, shutter speed, or aperture setting. And have fun!

In summary: Aperture = the amount of light let into the camera by the lens. Creates depth of field.

Shutter Speed = the time the light is let in for.

Combined they create Exposure. And photography is all about getting good exposures. More on that later.

Genevieve and Richard’s Engagement Photo Shoot in Dormansland, Sussex

This past weekend I do what I always do with a couple when I’m photographing their wedding, I take free engagement photos for them. This gives me the opportunity to get to know the future bride and groom and gets us used to each other and they can see how I shoot and we can tell each other what we expect of each other on the day. This always makes nicer photos when the actual wedding does occur.

Genevieve and Richard were marvelous, even in the rain, to photograph and I’m really looking forward to their wedding!

Thanks for being such good sports and I’ll see you soon!

Engagement Photo Shoot

Food Photography Shoot in Crawley, West Sussex

I love food photography. Along with weddings it is my favorite thing to shoot. I’m a devout foodie and have a restaurant blog that I’ve been running for over 2 years now Passport Foodie. So when I get a call to photograph local restaurants it really makes me happy and I try and go the extra mile. Like when I shot Cinnamon Indian restaurant in Crawley this week. The owner asked me to capture the restaurant’s main features and appeal. And it was easy. He did a fabulous job decorating the restaurant and truly thinks about the details, such as plates and bowls that are trendy and more expensive than normal. The decor is also extraordinary and it made my job much easier.

Thanks to everyone for making it easy for me and a special thanks to the owner of Cinnamon for letting me and my wife eat all the props.