Food Photography

I think in my next life I might like to be a food photographer.

This was our dinner tonight: a simple chicken fried steak with homemade coleslaw (cabbage from our garden) and fakie garlic mashed potatoes (using powdered garlic, ack!) covered with packaged sausage gravy (eww!). Not a real homemade meal to be sure, but it would pass the mustard with Sandra Lee. It really wasn't too bad.

Well, as far as food photography goes, this particular photo is not really all that good. It looks like the flash was blocked or something. But I do love taking photos of food stuff with my camera. My nifty Nikon D40x camera. Sometimes the pictures just come out so right.

For example these lemons. I juiced a ton of lemons today (at least it seemed like a ton!). The last time I waited too long before I picked and juiced the lemons and we had a bad freeze which virtually ruined most of the crop.

I'll tell you all about the juicing tomorrow.

The truth is, with a camera like mine this kind of thing isn't too difficult. You may have heard it said that photographers take dozens and dozens of photos before they get a good shot? I've found that to be true. It also seems that I may think I have a good photo but once I blow it up on the computer it may not be all that. And the same is true for other shots I took that I think may not be that great but once revealed on the computer they are better than I thought.

Another thing is once you get them on the computer you may see things you weren't aware of originally. Like with these lemons in the bowl. The reflection on the bowl is showing more lemons in the sink. I didn't notice that until after I looked at the picture on the computer.

I've taken many pictures thinking I'd post them later on my "Daily Photos" site, but after reviewing them I changed my mind. If you are a beginner and new to all this stuff like I am, then my point is to practice, practice, practice. Take a bunch of pictures using different settings and see what happens.

One piece of advice I would give would be to take your camera with you everywhere. Unfortunately I don't follow that rule myself and have missed some really great sunsets. Today is a perfect example of that. I was coming home from the store and the sky was filled with brilliant specks of gold, orange, red, and purple. By the time I got home it was gone. So do as I say, not as I do.

And have fun doing it.