It’s hard to believe that it’s the last week of the online food photography and styling for bloggers workshop that started in early January! It’s been a great experience. Most of the photography classes I’ve taught have been one or two days events. While the face to face work is great… having 4 weeks to work with someone and see how they take your feedback and apply it to their work has been really amazing. I love to see those “a-ha” moments!

It’s also been great to work with photographers from around the world, and learn about some beautiful new food blogs, like The Winter Guest and AgoisFoto, both Spanish blogs by workshop students.

Here’s how the classes work. Ron Goldman & I craft 4 different lessons about various aspects of food photography, from the lighting, shooting angle and camera aperture to how to pick props and make the food look the freshest. We also cover some basics of how to prep your photos for the web so they look the best online. The lessons are packed with sample photos and setup shots (with natural light as well as with artificial light of various types).

Each week, students download the written lesson (in PDF form), and have the week to study it and practice shooting on their own schedule. Each lesson includes an assignment that introduces new skills to practice (as well as continuing to work on the skills from the previous weeks). Ron and I (and often, other students!) are available to answer questions on a Q&A forum, whether they are questions on the assignment or other aspects of food photography. In January’s class, this message board was very active with questions from everything from how to deal with reflections on silverware to what the best way to manage long term image storage to how to setup a blog.

If you wanted to attend the workshop that Béa & I were teaching in France but weren’t quite able to make the timing or the finances work, these online classes might be a great option for you! Sure, it’s not France, but you’ll have lots to learn from!

The class starts again this Friday, February 3rd, 2012 and again on March 2nd if you’d like to attend.

Hello everyone,

Thank you for your interest in our Food Photography & Styling Workshop! We are opening up official registration today, as of now.

Here’s a little more about the workshop:

Student rate: $2250 US
Non-student rate: $1650 US (includes accommodation, same meals and drinks only as those offered in the workshop). There are limited spots.

Beside soaking in the French culture (hello farmer’s market and village life!), and a lot of hands-on exercices to teach you food styling and photography (we’ll cover from camera basics, use of Lightroom and Photoshop, to lighting), included in the workshop are:

- 5 night accommodation (May 19th to 23d) Note that rooms are shared
- 5 breakfasts
- 4 lunches
- 3 dinners
- Food/drinks we will shoot with the workshop
- Soda, coffee and tea all day
- Wine during critique hour
- Bikes which will be available for your use at no charge Saturday through Tuesday
- Transportation to and from group activities
- A goodie bag from Béa & Lara

We strongly recommend that students who want to attend the workshop own an SLR camera, if their main interest for attending the workshop is food photography.

Update: The workshop is now full, but we are taking names for the wait list if you are still interested.

To register, please send an email to lara AT laraferroni DOT com, that includes:
– Your name (and name of your traveling companion, if applicable. Non-student companion prices are listed above.)
- Your mailing address
- Your blog address, if applicable

(If you are concerned about potential email server delays, you can leave a comment here first, followed up by your email with your details.)

Registrants will then receive an email (and contract to be signed and returned), and details on how to submit a $300 non-refundable deposit to confirm their registration. In case the list is filled, they will be placed on a waiting list.

Confirmed attendees will then receive a detailed (but tentative) itinerary, and more details about how to complete the full registration.

We hope to see you there! We are excited to make this happen with you all.

Béa & Lara

What a difference a few years makes. These days, pro food photographers and stylists share all sorts of fantastic tips and behind the scenes on their blogs. There are two food styling books by folks by long time industry pros (both of which comprehensively cover both commercial and editorial work). There conferences, and more conferences. There is, right at the moment I’m typing this, a freaking amazing 3-day class with Penny de los Santos, going on. Not to mention, classes and multi-day workshops in amazing locations coming up later this year.

There is also a new book out on the subject, Plate to Pixel, by my friend, and very talented food blogger/stylist/photographer, Helene Dujardin.

“Plate to Pixel: Digital Food Photography & Styling” (Helene Dujardin)

Helene is a gal with style. Her French accent is peppered with a twangy Southern drawl, which is so charming it’ll make you feel like she just gave you a hug. And her book is kind of like that too. Filled with photos with her signature light and clean styling, she invites you in and tells stories about her work, sharing her working style and philosophy, and inspiring you to go out and find your own photographic style.

Plate to Pixel does a lovely job walking through the basics of using natural light, composition and food styling. It’s a book you’ll need to spend some time with, but Helene’s conversational tone makes that easy and entertaining to do. I think the thing I appreciate the most from this book (beyond the fact that it is really the first food photography to really cover natural lighting and styling techniques) is that Helene doesn’t preach or assume that there is a right or wrong way to make photos. She shows you her way in this book, but really pushes the reader to experiment, work and play with their photography; to drop any fear and dive in; that it is ok to make mistakes (if you aren’t, you aren’t trying hard enough!) and that from trial and error you’ll find the picture that really tells the story.

If you are really interested in technical studio lighting for commercial food photography, Plate to Pixel might not be quite the right book for you. Helene covers working with off camera strobe and small studio lights some, but really her preference is natural light, and that’s where the book’s strength lies. Given there are countless books on studio lighting, that is really not an issue; simply pair Helene’s tips for natural light with any lighting book (I’d suggest anything by the one-light master), and you’ll make yourself some gorgeous photos.

Food Photography & Styling Resources

Here’s a list of food photography resources that covers what I know about, but is probably woefully incomplete… if you have suggestions for the list, please add them in the comments!

Websites

Learn Food Photography

WrightFood

Penny de los Santos’s blog

Lara Hata’s blog

What Katie Ate

Charlotte Tolhurst’s Shoots, Eats and Leaves

Paula Walters’ Still Life Style blog

Jennifer Davik’s Dish on Photography blog

Steven Hamilton’s Restaurant Project

Food Blog Forum Food Photography and Styling

Nicolesy

Plate to Page

Culinographie (en Français)

Great Food Photos

Released (or soon to be) Books

“Plate to Pixel: Digital Food Photography & Styling” (Helene Dujardin)

WrightFood Food Photography Manual (all proceeds benefit Japan Earthquake Relief)

“Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots” (Nicole S. Young) (pre-order)

“Food Stylist’s Handbook, The” (Denise Vivaldo)

“Food Styling: The Art of Preparing Food for the Camera” (Delores Custer)

“Food Styling for Photographers: A Guide to Creating Your Own Appetizing Art” (Linda Bellingham, Jean Ann Bybee)

“Digital Food Photography” (Lou Manna)

Workshops

Food and Light

Lighting Techniques for Food & Still Life

Digital Media Playground

Penny de los Santos workshops (on location)

Travel and Food Photography Workshop with Ignacio Urquiza

Culinary Entrepreneurship (Denise Vivaldo’s classes)

Cook, Shoot & Eat Gascony

Food Photography & Styling (Ireland)

Travel, Food & Photography

Natural Light Food Photography

Natural Light Natural Food

Fresh from the Garden to the Studio

Plate to Page Workshops

Conferences

BlogHer Food

IACP

International Conference on Food Styling & Photography

International Food Blogger Conference

So one morning I woke up and thought, “Hey, how about a class where we make doughnuts and take pictures of them? What could be better than that?”

And, what do you know. Here it is!

Join me as I demystify making doughnuts with my family’s favorite: Crullers, those beautifully twisted fried treats.

The class will be held on Saturday, April 23rd from 12-4pm and then again on Monday, April 25th from 12-4pm (for those who can’t make a weekend class) at Spare Room. Class size is limited to 6 people, so don’t wait too long to sign up!

This class starts out with an interactive demonstration of how to make 2 different types of crullers… hearty cake doughnut crullers and the heavenly, airy and just a little bit eggy bites of bliss otherwise known as French crullers (or honey crullers for those Tim Horton’s fans out there). You’ll also learn my fool-proof, no measure technique for making glaze which is yummy on all sorts of things.

Then, between nibbles, we’ll pull out our cameras to learn and practice the basics of food styling and natural light photography. And try not to get our cameras too sticky.

The class also happens to include a copy of Doughnuts: Simple and Delicious Recipes to Make at Home and a few tools to help make crullers, so you can go home and tempt your friends and neighbors with your own homemade treats.

You can sign up here:

Saturday’s Crullers & Cameras (sold out)

Monday’s Crullers & Cameras

Don’t forget to bring your cameras and your sweet tooth!

I’m happy to announce the first of what I hope becomes many food styling and photography workshops in my new studio space, Spare Room! The classes are small, so if you are interested, you’ll want to get your tickets soon before they fill up!

You can purchase tickets on Brown Paper Tickets:

Natural Food Styling & Photography

This 1/2 day Natural Food Styling & Photography Workshop is for anyone interested in learning the basics of food styling and photography for editorial purposes. We will focus on simple plating and propping of food for the most appealing photos without resorting to tricks that render the food inedible. We will also cover creative lighting techniques using natural light. Students should have a working knowledge of their camera setting. This class is limited to 6 people.

Cost: $99 (plus ticket fees)
April 17, 12:30pm to 4:30pm

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/104299

Natural Food Styling & Photography

This 1/2 day Natural Food Styling & Photography Workshop is for anyone interested in learning the basics of food styling and photography for editorial purposes. We will focus on simple plating and propping of food for the most appealing photos without resorting to tricks that render the food inedible. We will also cover creative lighting techniques using natural light. Students should have a working knowledge of their camera setting. This class is limited to 6 people.

Cost: $99 (plus ticket fees)
April 28, 12:30pm to 4:30pm

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/104302

Low Light Food Photography

This evening photography workshop is for anyone interested in learning how to deal with low light situations when photographing food. We will focus primarily on using off camera speedlights to replicate a natural, daylight look for food, but also cover a few tricks for getting the best results from alternative light sources such as candle light. Students should have a working knowledge of their camera setting. This class is limited to 6 people.

Cost: $99 (plus ticket fees)
May 3, 5pm to 9pm

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/104305

Hi All! Happy Belated New Year!

Sorry for the long silence, but I’m excited to let you know that there are some big things coming up this year! For starters, I’m beginning to teach a few classes on food photography and natural food styling. These will be small, hands-on classes where we will focus more on the ins and outs of food photography (plating, lighting, lens choice) rather than camera basics.

The first class is coming right up! Thanks to the wonderful efforts of Seattle Bon Vivant, who will be hosting the workshop, a group of 10 of us will meet in downtown Seattle on February 16th. To sign up and for more details, email seattlebonvivant (at) gmail.com with a subject line of Lara Ferroni’s Workshop. The cost of the class will be $65 per person.

I’ll also be offering private one on one and small group (up to 4 people) workshops this year. For more information on those, send me some mail on what you are most interested to learn and we can talk about what works.

I’ve been looking forward to today for many weeks now, as soon as I heard that Penny De Los Santos (National Geographic photographer as well as a significant contributor to Savuer) was coming to Seattle to give a talk on her work and food photography. It’s an early Christmas present for me. Last night, I had the pleasure of meeting of meeting Penny at an informal potluck welcoming her to Seattle, and she shared a few of her stories while we sat around on couches and a fire twinkled behind her. I could have sat there for hours listening to Penny. She is a delight, and I found myself quickly caught up in her passion. It’s exactly what I needed to inspire me and get me to think about my work in a new light… something I think we all need now and then.

I’ll have more on the today’s workshop later in the weekend, but until then, you should check out some of Penny’s work.

Photo by Penny De Los Santos

Matt & I finished up the visual track with a talk on Advanced Photography, which was more about workflow and some thoughts on taking your photos to the next level than f-stops and ISOs. I had an absolute blast!

If you missed the talk, or wanted to revist the slides, I’ve posted them here. The PDF file is a little on the large size, so be prepared for a bit of a slow download.

If you have other questions, as always, feel free to send them my way.

Thanks again to the folks at BlogHer for inviting me to speak!

PS – If you missed BlogHerFood, why not head to Ixtapa in January for the Food Blogger Camp? I’m thinking about heading down myself!

These two women (as well as their fantastic assistants and stylists) are some kind of angels for not only sharing their time and knowledge but doing it in such an elegant, patient and down right entertaining way. The folks that were able to attend this session were incredibly lucky to be hosted by such a wonderful team (and I’m pretty sure everyone felt that way).

Secondly, Francine & Deborah were throwing out so many ideas and tips and tricks during the day that it’s impossible to remember them all. This post will probably be more photos than anything because I had a camera clicking away in my hands “taking notes” rather than pen & paper. The ideas will probably come to me now and then over the next month or so, and I’ll post them as they come. Just realize that any tips listed here are really the tip of the iceberg and that next time, get yourself to the conference so you don’t miss them!

So with that, the day. After a quick bus ride across town to Francine’s studio that is located down by the shipping docks (I’m sure there is some name for this section of Boston, but I’m not that familiar with it). About 30 of us from the conference wandered into the studio really not knowing exactly what to expect. We were a motley crew of photographers, stylists, graphic designers, art directors with quite a lot of “oh, I do this and that and a little something else” thrown in. Photographers, of course, immediately grabbed cameras to capture all the incredible props.

Francine was shooting with a Hasselblad back on a very cool Rollei bellows system tethered to FlexColor and her set included 3 strobes. One was positioned behind a diffusing sheet on a wooden frame. The benefit of this setup is that the strobe could be adjusted to achieve just about any effect… moving it closer to the diffusion screen or further away for more intense or diffuse light, or positioning it lower or higher on the frame for more direction or top light. I think it might have been my favorite thing out of the whole experience… I loved the crafty nature of this big wooden structure with all of the high-end tech. Two other lamps placed below the diffusion screen were used to add highlights and fills. I’m quite intrigued by her tiny dedolight spotlight which she used to illuminate the prawns in her first shot… it had the effect of making the food glow, but somehow without looking fake or unnatural. In fact, this is a running theme throughout Francine’s work. She is a master at using strobes look as though she were shooting in the most perfect, beautiful daylight.

Although I think I should have probably spent more time with Francine to learn more about strobes, I did tend to gravitate to Deborah’s set (she was shooting with a Phase One medium format tethered to Capture One) and working with natural light which I love. It was an overcast day in Boston, so Deborah couldn’t show us many of her tricks for dealing with harsh light but she still managed to fill my head with more than I can remember. Mainly she emphasized that it is still important to control the light, even when using daylight. She has all kinds of tricks, which mostly amount to grabbing whatever is close at hand (my kind of shooter!) to use to modify the light. Plastic bags, bottles, small mirrors, black pieces of poster board, plexiglass and perhaps my favorite, post its! A post-it note, which comes with it’s own adhesive, can be stuck just about anywhere to soften or reduce a highlight. And, different colors of post its can make for some interesting effects. Brilliant! As soon as I got home, I ordered some of the little plastic blocks I had seen on her set. These are incredibly handy if you need a little bit of light modification, or you just need something to hold something in place.

A few other great ideas & reminders from the day:

Level the set! This is particularly important if you are shooting liquids such as cocktails or soups. But it is good practice for anything you shoot and will save you time later. Little pieces of stick-tack work great for making small corrections.

If you can, buy any herbs or greens as plants. They’ll stay fresh longer and often it’s cheaper than buying the little clamshell packages. Plus, they can act as potted plants for a background in a pinch.

For backdrops, be creative! Deborah shot one or two of her shots with a gold bounce (it’s silver on one side, gold on the other) as the backdrop which ended up looking like a wonderfully, light filled, warm wall.

Try Deborah’s 15 minute photography exercise. Take a subject on a set and shoot it, just for practice, for 15 minutes. Then STOP! Now, do something else with the same subject. But shoot it from a new angle, in a new set, on a new plate… do something different. Rinse & repeat. This is a great way to really push yourself to think about your shots creatively and get you out of a rut.

And finally, Deborah shared with us some of her favorite quotes about photography and art, and I’ll close by sharing one of them with you.

“Never try to be an artist. Just do your work and if the work is true, it will become art.” – Duane Michaels, Photographer

Thank you Deborah & Francine for sharing yourselves with us for the day!

Although turnout was a little lower than the previous conference in 2007, the speakers were fantastic. Photographers included Christopher Hirsheimer, Francine Zaslow, Deborah Jones, Steve Adams, Beatrice Peltre (yea Bea!), Lou Manna, Jim Scherer, Teri Campbell, Mette Nielsen, Pornchai Mittongtare, Greg Bertolini, Stef Culberson, and James Tse. Stylists included Clare Ferguson, Melissa Hamilton, Lisa Golden Schroeder, John Carafoli, Marcela Sorondo, Delores Custer, Francine Malalon-Degni, Peggy Chase Jordao, Lorna Rhodes, Laura Shapiro, Alice Hart and Catrine Kelty. We were given a glimpse inside of Maxine Kaplan’s amazing NYC prop rental house. Harold McGee gave the key note!

Frankly, as soon as I saw that Christopher Hirsheimer was talking, I knew I’d be attending. It was quite a way for me to kick off the conference too, as the first talk I attended was with Christopher & stylist Melissa Hamilton. There seems to be an unwritten rule in my world that if I pick up a book and instantly fall in love with the photos, 9 times out of 10 they will be Christopher’s. In addition to loving her work, I love her story. She started as a caterer for Metropolitan Home, and was asked to fill in for the food stylist one day. That led to a full time food styling gig, even though she really didn’t know a thing about food styling. She just made the food look the way she wanted it to look… messy crumbs and all… which led to a whole new way of styling food for editorial publications. Step forward a few years, and she stepped into food photography in a similar way as she became the primary photographer for the newly formed Saveur. Melissa’s story has a similar windy path… a love of food led her into the restaurant business (Hamilton’s Grill Room) with her family doing thing much differently than other restaurants in the area, with amazing success. A chance opportunity with a friend led her to her first food styling job, and an entirely new and beautiful career working with publications like Martha Stewart Living and Cooks Illustrated before eventually working with Christopher.

[Photos by Christopher Hirsheimer]

I’m going to go quickly over a few of the next talks, or I’d be writing for days, and you’d get bored. In the next talk, Pushing the Limits between Advertising & Editorial Photography, we learned how the advertorial, or shooting an ad like it was part of the magazine complete with a bit of branded content, was born and successful. Advertisers are definitely watching what happens in the more loose world of editorial and bringing those ideas onto their work, and presenters Mel Mooney (who works for Saveur) and John Carafoli see the trend continuing. Next up was Clare Ferguson & Marcela Sorondo talking about trends in styling outside of the US, including some of their own work over the years. Like in the US, trends are going toward the natural and “unstyled style” of food that looks doable rather than perfect. Clare touched on a few other trends that I’ve seen here as well… empty dishes (or half empty) communicate life going on in the image, that the food was so good it didn’t even last long enough for the photo, that most food photos are now more budget conscious than five years ago (as the downturned economy continues to play a role), and homage to regional traditions and culture but with a younger more fashionable twist. Clare is someone you could spend days and days listening to and never get bored… you just might want a little break because your stomach will probably be cramping up from laughing so much. Buy her books, they are lovely.

The next talk is critical for those in the commercial styling industry: sustainable styling. If you are a home blogger or work for small or medium sized business the ideas probably apply less or maybe not at all. But on large commercial shoots, the amount of waste that can be generated is huge. Boxes and boxes of product are shipped all over the country, mostly to be thrown away. Many stylists these days donate their unused product to shelters which is a great benefit to everyone. However, it’s still better not to truck all that product around in the first place. Just a few ideas from presenters Mette Nielsen and Stef Culberson include talking with clients about using less product in the first place, getting the product locally if possible, using seasonal garnishes and composting leftovers of opened products. Other ideas include buying & growing your own potted herbs instead of those in the little plastic clam shells which will usually be cheaper and give you better photos. Stef has started offering a Green Styled Food Seminar for stylists and photographers on her farm in Wisconsin and includes how to more sustainably source your ingredients and shooting with available light. The next one is in early July.

At that point, we were all pretty cooked for the day. But, I was lucky enough to have been able to meet Aran of Cannelle et Vanille and we went for dinner together and talked about blogging, photography, kids and life. Aran’s work is truly stunning, and I’m sure you are already reading her blog… but if not, do start! Her pastries are exquisite and she has an amazing eye for both styling & photography, not unlike one of my other favorite people, Beatrice Peltre. Which leads me to the next morning…

The first talk on Sunday was about business, and featured panelists who looked at the industry from different perspectives. First was Eugene Mopsik from ASMP. If you are a professional photographer (or on your way to becoming one) and shoot for the media, this is a good organization to join. Eugene shared many thoughts on how the downturned ecomony and greater emphasis on web advertising may impact photographers in the future. The biggest issue he sees has to do with copyright laws, and like the last conference, he reminded us all that if your images aren’t registered and they are used without permission there is no financial recourse you can take. Register your images! The ASMP site has very good information on how to do this along with other very useful info like a licensing guide, release forms, and terms & conditions forms. Ilise Benun was up next to talk about how to market yourself (get a LinkedIn account and use it for research, make personal connections, follow up!). Tim Foley of Full Contact advertising studio gave this piece of advise for photographers and stylists: understand what the client is looking for. If you are asked to give a bid on a job, make sure you communicate that you get the vision of the client and not just your own vision.

[Photos by Beatrice Peltre]

The rest of the sessions were more on the inspirational side, looking at photo after photo of beautiful food, props and locations while the stylists and photographers echoed much of the previous sentiment… listen to the client, but don’t be afraid to take chances. Shoot what you need, but then take the time to try alternative shots. Work deliberately and thoughtfully on your shots to really capture the essence of the form, color and textures. I truly enjoyed each of the presentations, but I’d have to say my favorite of the day was by Pornchai Mittongtare.

[Photos by Pornchai Mittongtare]

Pornchai is from Thailand, but has been in the US shooting food for many years. He started as a product photographer, but after sending his work to Bon Appetit, he moved into shooting food and has been with it ever since. His work is lovely in general, but I particularly his photos from a trip back to Thailand where he shot many of the fruits that are local to the area. This work isn’t on his portfolio unfortunately, as I’d really love to share it with you.

It was an amazing two days, but the best was still to come.

On Monday, I attended the optional hands-on workshop at Francine Zaslow’s studio with Francine & Deborah Jones. As great as the rest of the weekend was, if I had only been able to attend this class, it would have made the whole trip worthwhile. There is so much to share from this day though, it really deserves a post (or 50) of it’s own. So, I’ll continue with that tomorrow.