How We Shot It

The “How We Shot It” series is composed of images submitted by our writers! But, did you know that we also have a segment called “How You Shot It”? If you enjoy sharing how your images were created, please send us an email at contact@slrlounge. Of course please understand that we receive innumerable emails every day, and only select a small percentage of article submissions for actual publication based on image and tutorial quality.  Thanks, and enjoy!

The Photo

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The Background & How I Shot It

Yesterday I posted about some great food photography tips and I wanted to try some of them out. So I grabbed my equipment and setup in my dining room. I wanted to get a shot of something that was delicious, something that could inspire my wife to cook me more goodies. So I chose to shoot one of my wife’s homemade sticky buns.

The setup for this shot was simple enough. I placed the sticky bun on a small plate in the center of the table. For light I opened the big window next to the table and setup a white foam board on the opposite side of the sticky bun as a reflector. Then I set the camera to around a 45 degree angle and was ready to shoot.

The only problem was that the sticky bun was not all that appetizing on its own. I needed something to spice it up a bit, something to grab your attention. As you can see below the original shot was not all that appetizing. So I went and grabbed some honey and began to drizzle it on the sticky bun, and I loved the results.  The only problem was that I felt like my angle was a bit steep, so I pulled down the shot a bit and I feel like that angle was much nicer that the original one.

(Before Honey)

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(After Honey)

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Now that I have sat on the image for a bit longer I can say that I feel like my depth of field is a hair too shallow, and I probably could have done with an aperture setting of F4 or even F5.6. I still like the shot, but if I had to find one thing to change it would be that. I feel like the background of the plate and the far side of the sticky bun are a little too blown out. Pull it back a bit and I think we are golden.

Overall this shoot took me about 20 minutes, and did not cost me a dime so I would be perfectly comfortable calling this a success.

The Equipment

  • Nikon D300S
  • Nikon 50mm f/1.8G
  • An Old Clunker Bogen Tripod with Vanguard SBH-250 Ball Head
  • White Foam Board (Available for under $2 at any crafts store or even Walmart)
  • Standard Home Items such as Dinner Table, and Plate

The Settings

  • RAW
  • 1/125th of a second
  • F2.8
  • ISO 200

The Lighting Setup

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