I have some wonderful glittery desserts to shoot for a small family bakery. I have tried to show of that very fine glitter by trial and error but I got stuck at some point.
This is about the smallest DOF I can manage with my Nikkor Micro 85mm lens.
I used artificial light and blocked out all the diffuse light, keeping the bavarois slanted to illuminate the sides. I have no external flash or special gear, so all I can do is be creative with what I have in my kitchen.
Please let me know what you think and how I could do better next time. It's gone now (eaten) but I'll have to shoot more during the next few weeks. Because this is a perfect glazing for the holidays!
Having sent your photo albums to two friends this morning, and loving your pictures of these decadent taste treats, I'm probably not the one to ask about little details! In your bottom photo I did immediately think it looked beautiful "sugary", but it might be taken for "moisture" on a soft surface. As the holidays are upon us now, I'll, too, watch for photo suggestions as to photographing "glitter". If I'm lucky, I just might find a taste treat like this to photograph as well!
@laetitiapetrussa ... Just a suggestion, maybe a little biased because i strenuously avoid using any kind of artificial light source -- but have you thought about trying a shot by direct natural light from a window?
@wordpixman Yes, I tried, but I only have direct sunlight during a few hours a day during winter (I live in the city).
This kind of glazing is also called 'glamour glaze' and when I google these images I find that it works best with a large light source, always from an angle.
Maybe I should look at nail polish photos or something...
@laetitiapetrussa My recommendation is complicated since it would involve focus stacking if you're trying to get details of the small subject on the top and sides ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_stacking). If this is too complicated then shoot at a f/7.1 or above as far away from the subject as possible and crop the result to your liking. If you're just planning on-screen viewing or web posting you can probably get away with the second approach and still have good focus and details. Use a tripod for sure in either scenario since your shutter speed will probably be slow depending on the lighting you can get.
@laetitiapetrussa ... No, not sunlight, bright daylight --- and yes, definitely at an angle; turn it around and watch how the highlights and shadows change.. Good luck!
@mikegifford@wordpixman Thanks, guys! I am familiar with focus stacking, I just wouldn't have thought of it. I'm used to shooting glitter with very shallow DOFs. But then it's usually in the background.
The bright daylight just made everything look flat yellow.
Would it work better with another colour, that is not so challenging for my camera? Blue?
But next time I'll try to shoot everything sharp, to use more than one lighting source, put it on a reflecting surface and to compose with two ore more cakes. At least one of those things should help. Also, I'm looking into buying a (cheap) starburst filter.
@laetitiapetrussa ... You're certainly putting a lot of energy and thought into this and deserve to succeed I agree that "everything sharp" would help (small aperture and forget macro), but feel I have to disagree with you about using more than a single light source would be likely to kill the glitter because what you are looking for is very bright spots of light emphasised by shadow, and multiple lighting would reduce the effect. And as for star burst filters ..... hmmmm ..... too gimmicky.
(These suggestions are offered in good faith but I have not tried them on this subject)
for me, i actually think your DoF is too shallow.. youre using a macro lens right? When i first tried shooting food, i went really shallow and shot, but there just wasnt enough in focus. I get what youre saying when you want to focus on the sparkles, but for me on this, I really want to see the writing as well... I really dont think you need focus stacking here
I also think the background needs work... i dont know but to me the chocolate has no sense of "place".. its almost like its floating in a sea of black. And while I understand that youre trying to focus on the sparkles, It feels like the chocolate has no context or connection to the background
lighting... as you mentioned, you dont have an artificial light source... but do you have a torch? Do you have some plastic cellophane? do you have a mirror? Do you have a lamp? How about some strong carboard and tape? You can try using all these tools for lighting - use cardboard if you need to flag off certain parts to prevent spill. You'd even be surprised at the little bit of punch just a small square of aluminium foil can make to reflect light back into the front of an image.
Fine tuning the work... Ok so can you see at the bottom left and bottom right of the diamond, the yellow is encroaching on the black chocolate and youre left with something that.. i dont really know what it is. Maybe its due to the DoF, maybe its the glittery coating being partially transparent, but it kind of looks messy here - like someone colouring outside the lines. If the owners are on hand, it may help to do fine tuning.. maybe they need to coat it less on the insides just for the sake of your photography, maybe you can edit it after the shoot to just clone out the strange slightly transparent yellow
Tweets ahoy!
Join the Group
Pin With Me
This kind of glazing is also called 'glamour glaze' and when I google these images I find that it works best with a large light source, always from an angle.
Maybe I should look at nail polish photos or something...
The bright daylight just made everything look flat yellow.
Would it work better with another colour, that is not so challenging for my camera? Blue?
But next time I'll try to shoot everything sharp, to use more than one lighting source, put it on a reflecting surface and to compose with two ore more cakes. At least one of those things should help. Also, I'm looking into buying a (cheap) starburst filter.
(These suggestions are offered in good faith but I have not tried them on this subject)
for me, i actually think your DoF is too shallow.. youre using a macro lens right? When i first tried shooting food, i went really shallow and shot, but there just wasnt enough in focus. I get what youre saying when you want to focus on the sparkles, but for me on this, I really want to see the writing as well... I really dont think you need focus stacking here
I also think the background needs work... i dont know but to me the chocolate has no sense of "place".. its almost like its floating in a sea of black. And while I understand that youre trying to focus on the sparkles, It feels like the chocolate has no context or connection to the background
lighting... as you mentioned, you dont have an artificial light source... but do you have a torch? Do you have some plastic cellophane? do you have a mirror? Do you have a lamp? How about some strong carboard and tape? You can try using all these tools for lighting - use cardboard if you need to flag off certain parts to prevent spill. You'd even be surprised at the little bit of punch just a small square of aluminium foil can make to reflect light back into the front of an image.
Fine tuning the work... Ok so can you see at the bottom left and bottom right of the diamond, the yellow is encroaching on the black chocolate and youre left with something that.. i dont really know what it is. Maybe its due to the DoF, maybe its the glittery coating being partially transparent, but it kind of looks messy here - like someone colouring outside the lines. If the owners are on hand, it may help to do fine tuning.. maybe they need to coat it less on the insides just for the sake of your photography, maybe you can edit it after the shoot to just clone out the strange slightly transparent yellow
This is my progression from when I was shooting food.
The final images at the end were http://365project.org/discuss/critique/25569/food-photography-critique
These articles may help you get ideas of how else you can do this https://fstoppers.com/gear/food-photography-gear-guide-8468
and to construct a VFlat (just buy an A3 piece of card / foam etc and cut it in half) https://fstoppers.com/bts/studio-essential-how-construct-high-quality-v-flats-and-why-30377