Food Photography - Tomatos

[Manfred M]

I'm taking a food photography workshop that runs all day over two Saturdays. The first class was just completed and the assignment was to photograph some fresh tomatos using flash without creating a lot of reflections.

This is virtually SOOC (I removed a piece of fuzz from the cloth).













The setup is anything but simple and includes a studio light with softbox, a scrim. a flag to reduce the light closest to the scrim. The background is black velvet cloth and the foreground are some tiles left over from some recent work we had done on a bathroom.

The lighting setup is 100% non-intuitive, but it works extraordinarily well and is typically used when shooting feature films as well as in commercial food photography.

[xpatUSA]

Thanks for sharing the lighting set-up which appears to work very well, Manfred.

I use a similar set-up for table-top work but on a much smaller scale and with continuous lighting -but the principle is the same.

[ScottO]

Very nice. The tomatoes look delicious; clearly you've succeeded in your assignment.

[pschlute]

You have succeeded in giving the tomatoes "form" with no hint of reflection or distracting highlights. A painter would be proud of this result.

Job done I would say

[ST1]

Thanks for posting the set up images Manfred. It seems a very complicated arrangement when reading your description of it but the images makes the complex simple.
The use of the material bag to contain the bowl that the tomatoes are in works well though the rim of the bowl if that's what it is, is just visible at the right side.

Was it a deliberate decision not to show the stalks of the tomatoes?


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[bje07]

Very nice result Manfred.
Thank you for sharing your tips.

[mugge]

Lovely tomatoes. I hate them. My beloved say they are good for me. I wonder. I still have to eat them. It is not fair.
Cheers Ole

[DanK]

Very well done. Thanks for posting the photos of how you did it.

[Jim A]

Very interesting Manfred, and a very nice result. The bag is very nice and really enhances the shot.

[Chataignier]

Interesting that you use flash. Given that toms dont move, I would have thought continuous lighting at a lower level so as not to heat anything and longer exposures would work at least as well and be easier to manage...?

Splendid shot by the way.