Food Photography – Miso Soup Marathon

1273406705 441.388235294 740 441.388235294 740

Food Photography – How I photographed my miso soup.
These things start so innocently like…”hey I’m craving some miso soup. How about I make some and photograph it?” Well, five hours later, I finally finished the dishes and reassembled the kitchen. I’ve determined that pro food photographers and food stylists have to be a little nutty. It’s a ton of work making something look so simple and elegant!

Here’s what I did: 
1 ) I simplified our tabletop. Moved chairs, angled the table, etc. (i.e. dismantled the kitchen)
2 ) Using one light, a Nikon SB800 (or SB900) on a stand, I lit the scene opposite the camera. This provided nice backlight.
3 ) I checked various camera angles and made test shots with an empty bowl.
4 ) The miso soup recipe was started.
5 ) Then I fine tuned the lighting. I used a large 3 foot diameter circle diffuser directly over the bowl to soften the light.
6 ) The camera side of the bowl was too dark, so I lit it with a piece of foam board as a reflector.
7 ) Finished the miso soup and added it to the scene and started shooting
8 ) I saved sliced green onions aside and added these as I was shooting so they didn’t get too soggy.
9 ) The soup needed to be stirred frequently in order to maintain consistency.
10 )  Finally I tried various positions and different bowls, etc.
11 ) Then I cleaned up and rebuilt the kitchen!

Here’s a sketch of what the set-up looked like. Essentially the camera was shooting through a narrow tunnel made up by the diffuser and reflector. Being by myself, I actually hand-held the diffuser and reflector in place. The camera was fired with the timer delay.

The benefits of a simple reflector board are huge. Take a look at the difference below.

Now if I’ve inspired your taste buds as well as your photography soul, I’ll share the recipe. It’s not my recipe, but the great Alton Brown’s miso soup recipe. It’s a bit involved, but if you love miso it’s well worth it. You need to make the base, otherwise known as Dashi first. By the way, save yourself gas money and time driving around. Two of the ingredients are not easy to find, unless you have a big asian market nearby. I found these two allusive ingredients, kombuand katsuobushi,online. This saved alot of headaches. There you have it Photography and Food, what could be better?

GEAR USED: Nikon D700, Nikon 105mm Macro Lens, Nikon SB900, 38″ Circle Diffuser, Manfrotto Tripod