It Was Nice While It Lasted...

The inevitable and perhaps obvious is here.  I've decided to stop blogging.  If the lack of posts was any indication, this was a long time coming.  Although I've enjoyed every single second of running this site life has certainly gotten in the way.  My teaching job has gotten much more demanding, my art career has begun to flourish, and my boyfriend and I just got an adorable Boston Terrier puppy, so yeah, my life is quite full right now.

Thanks to everyone who supported me and encouraged me along the way.  I really will miss this community.  I'm going to keep the site up for another week or so just incase any of you want to copy or print any of the tutorials, but after that I'm literally taking the site down.  I might transfer it over to a free service like blogger (if I can figure out how to do that) but I cant promise anything.

I might make a return someday, so don't count me out completely.  But for now I bid audie!

Sincerely,

Danny-

Build Your Own Collapsible Lighting Tent For Quick Professional Lighting

Combo Diffuser and Bounce Card

What on earth is a lighting tent and why would you want to build one?  A lighting tent is like a combination difussion screen and bounce card all built into one.  I've been experimenting with ways to speed up my shooting process and one of the things  I loathe doing is setting up the lighting devices.  I know it only takes a few minutes (especially if you are using a folder bounce) but I'm always looking for ways to simplify my workflow and this lighting tent allows you to set up just ONE lighitng device since it combines the bounce AND the diffuser.

Why Use A Lighting Tent?

When shooting food with natural light it is super important to control the quality and intensity of the light so that your food isn't blown out by bright light or covered in dark shadows.  A lighting tent (or any manipulation device) allows you to even the light so that your highlights and shadows are closer to even, giving you a soft even glow.  Below are two examples that can help understand this concept.  The first utilizes just the natural light coming straight from my window while the second is shot with the lighting tent:

Notice how the top image has very bright light coming from the right and the lower left side of the wood is covered in shadow?  Now look at the bottom one shot under the lighting tent---the light is soft and evenly distributed.  There is still shadow on the wood which gives the image depth but not so much that it distracts.  This type of lighting requires diffusion and bounce cards but with the lighting tent it's all done at once.

Materials Needed For This Tutorial

2 Sheets of White Foamcore 32 x 40 inches

3 Large Sheets of Glassine (Glassine can be found at any art store or photo supply shop.  If you cant find it, parchment paper or white tissue paper will also work)

Strong Packing Tape

Blue Painters Tape

Instructions

The assembly of the lighting tent is really simple.  I'll let the images do the talking with simple explanations when needed.

Line up the two pieces of foamcore and leave a slight gap between the two.  You are going to make the "hinge" so the two pieces cant be touching.  Tape along the seam on both sides.

Now it's time to cut the window for the diffuser.  Draw a rectangle on one sheet making sure to leave about four inches on each side (these are the "legs").

Now take an x-acto knife or box cutter and cut the window out

The legs need to be re-inforced so I made these splints out of the extra foamcore.  Simply cut strips the same size as the leg and tape in between the window and the rest of the board

Here's the tent standing up with the window cut out...now it's time to add the diffusion

To add the diffusion just lay down three sheets of Glassine paper or parchment.  You want three sheets so you can vary the amount of diffusion

Make sure to stagger the sheets so that all of them get taped to the foamcore

And that's all there is to it!

Here is the tent being used.  The way this works is the light travels through the diffusion window, hits the food and then bounces off the inside back on to the food.  If you need less diffusion all you do is roll up one or two sheets of the glassine paper, leaving only one.  Need more diffision?  Just un-roll the other two sheets.  You'll want to watch your composition to make sure the tent doesn't enter the frame.  Best used for close cropped shots but can be made versatile by opening the tent wider or narrower, depending on your set up and composition.  Have any of you developed your own version of this?  Would love to hear about it in the comments.

Learn The Basics Of Flash Lighting Part 1

Image above shot with natural window light and off-camera flash as fill light

Although I have a monogamous relationship with natural light, every once in a while I cheat and have a brief romance with artificial light.  Can you really blame me?  Artificial light has this certain edge and appeal that is really hard to resist.  I’ve been avoiding talking about flash lighting here because utilizing it presents certain obstacles that can easily overwhelm a beginner, but I just recently developed a simple system that I think almost anyone can use.

What Is Flash Lighting?

Flash lighting refers to a compact flash device that when triggered, releases a quick and bright burst of light.  Most cameras have a built-in flash that produces awful pictures---I will not be discussing this type of flash.  If you’ve read any food photography posts you will inevitably run across advice telling you to turn OFF your on-camera flash, and I would recommend the same.  JUST SAY NO.  The reason this type of flash is bad for food photos (or any type of photography for that matter) is that the flash is positioned directly in front of the food creating harsh light with deep flat shadows that make any dish of food look totally unappealing.

So what type of flash am I talking about?  I’ll be talking about Off-Camera Flash.  This type of flash sits on a stand which can then be positioned anywhere you like.  Having the flash off of the camera allows you greater control over direction which in turn gives you better light to work with.

Why Use Off-Camera Flash?

An Off-Camera Flash can be used in a number of ways but I mostly use it as a fill light.  A fill light is used to fill in the shadows created by the main light (natural window light) thereby creating an even soft glow.  Having the Flash Off-Camera  gives you the freedom and ability to position the flash in the perfect position to fill in the shadows and in this set-up replaces a bounce card.  An Off-Camera Flash can also be used as a main light when shooting at night but then you’ll need TWO flashes so that the shadows can be filled.  I’ll mostly be talking about using one flash to fill the shadows, but if readers are interested in how to use two flashes (total artificial light set-up instead of mixed) then let me know in the comments and I’ll whip up a post up.

What Do I Need To Get Started?

One of the biggest reasons I’ve hesitated talking about Flash lighting is the price.  Buying an off-camera flash can be pricey.  Flash kits run in a variety of price points so I’ll simply tell you which flash I purchased.  I like this flash kit because it contains all of the features necessary for what I do yet the price didn’t give me a heart attack.

There are two main components needed for Off-Camera Flash work: The flash and a wireless receiver.  The first is obviously the most important and will be what you spend most of your money on.  I purchased the LumoPro LP160 Manual Flash for $159.95.  There are a couple of things that are absolutely necessary when buying a flash---don’t bother buying a flash if it doesn’t have these two things: Ability to control the power of the flash manually and a swivel for moving the position of the flash head.

Controlling the power of the flash manually is really the most important feature and many cheap, entry level flashes won’t give you this option.  In a later post I will explain why this is so important, but suffice it to say that you will be using this feature A LOT!  The second component is also very important in that a swivel head allows you to control the direction of the light which really makes a difference when shooting food.  Remember, shooting with flash is all about control---the more you have of it, the better!  This LumoPro model does everything that I need and the price is (believe it or not) the cheapest I found for a good quality flash.

The second main component is a wireless sync device.  A wireless sync devise allows your flash and camera to communicate accurately with each other thereby triggering the flash at the exact moment that the shutter opens and closes.  In the old days the camera and flash were connected by a wire, but now a days a wireless transmitter does all of the work for us.  I bought the Cactus V4 Radio Slave for $45.95 which again, is cheap for a transmitter.  A wireless sync isn’t absolutely necessary since the LumoPro flash can be triggered optically, but this adds another layer of complication, so trust me, spend the 50 bucks and get yourself a transmitter.

You’ll also want to consider purchasing a stand to hold the flash which will also run you another $100 dollars or so.  Now you know why I’ve avoided flash.....it’s expensive!

So those are the basics of getting started.  In the second post I will dive into the more technical aspects of Off-Camera Flash photography like exposure, distance, and flash power so stay tuned.  If you have any questions about anything in this post please leave a comment and I’ll get back to you soon.

*Please note that this is not a sponsored post in anyway.  I will not benefit financially at all from purchases made from this post.  This recommendation is solely based on my experience with this equipment.  Just thought I'd provide full disclosure.

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Are YOU Ready For Google's New Recipe Search Format?

New Format, New Headaches

The food blogosphere is in a tizzy over google's recent announcement of their new recipe search format.  If you haven't heard already, google just rolled out a new way to search for recipes that uses "rich format" to find recipes by ingredients, cook time, ratings, etc.  Although this seems like it will give users a more refined searching experience, it's leading many food bloggers to question the effectiveness and amount of work it will take to convert all of our recipes so that they will comply with the new format.

There has been tons of information written about this topic so rather than reword all of it I'll just link to some of the most important posts I've found:

What's Not To Love About Google's New Recipe Search? - Blogher

Google's Recipe Search And Rich Snippets - Food Blog Alliance

New Google Recipe Search Means More Coding For Food Bloggers - Will Write For Food

Am I Switching Over?

After reading all of the above information I'm still on the fence about whether I'm going to start using the new format.  Many of the sites above mention a few cool plugins and apps that will allow you to enter your information and will automatically reformat it in the new compliant code, but none of these worked for me...I kept getting errors so there is no way I'm going to add ALL of that code manually.  Secondly, it's still very unclear whether google is currently adding ANY blogs to the search result, regardless of whether the posts are compliant.  I mean sure, Simply Recipes and Smitten Kitchen are included, but other than that, I haven't seen any evidence that smaller blogs are being included.

It seems like this is the new frontier of recipe search but personally, I'm going to wait it out a bit longer.  I don't necessarily have a problem with the new format...I actually think it will make finding recipes (and potentially new readers) easier, but until there is more information out there, I'm going to wait.

Besides, this places search traffic at the center and makes it seem like it's the holy grail for food bloggers.  The more and more I blog, the more and more I feel that this is a self-perpetuating illusion.  It's not all about search traffic!!!!  It's about connecting with readers and converting them into LOYAL visitors that will return again and again---and I don't think search traffic is the best way to accomplish this.

So what about you?  Are you switching over to the new format?

Introducing The Folder Light Reflector Version 2.0!

The New And Improved DIY Light Reflector

I'm very excited to introduce the second version of my original three-ring binder light reflector.  The original used aluminum foil as the "reflecting" surface which worked great.  The only problem was that after a couple of shoots the foil would start to crunch up and I'd eventually have to replace it.  The other problem was that I sometimes wanted a softer white reflection and adding parchment paper to the folder wasn't as easy as adding foil.  What to do, what to do?

When brainstorming a solution I settled for making a longer lasting, versatile, and removable "sock" that would easily go around a three ring binder.  My original plan was to find fabric that had a "foil" or silver metallic coating on one side, and white on the other so that the "sock" could be flipped inside out depending on what quality of light you needed that day.  The "sock" would involve sewing a small elastic band around the outside so that the fabric would fit snugly on to the folder, yet be easy to remove if it needed to be flipped or washed.

I immediately went to my mother since she worked as a seamstress for over 40 years.  She quickly---and I'm talking in 5 minutes---whipped up this sample out of white cotton jersey (basically t-shirt fabric).  You would think that I would've picked up some sewing skills having a seamstress mother, but unfortunately I can't sew a thing, so the instructions for this hack aren't as precise and concise as I'd like.  I'm going to basically describe what I saw her do and hope that if you're interested enough to make this, that you have the sewing skills necessary to make it.  It's not as easy as wrapping tin foil around a folder, but with a little work you can have a washable, versatile, and powerful light reflector.

Basically what she did was first cut a rectangle of fabric that was bigger than the folder on all sides by about four inches.  Then she rounded the corners because she said that this would make it easier to add the elastic.  Once the corners were rounded she took the fabric and elastic to the sewing machine and starting on one corner she started sewing the elastic to the edge of the fabric.  While sewing she also pulled the other end of the elastic taught and kept it that way while she continued to follow the edge of the fabric.  I'm assuming this pulling is what gives the elastic it's "spring" and makes it stretchable.

Once the elastic was sewn all the way around, she added small squares of velcro along the edge.  She did this to add an extra level of security when opening the folder.....she was worried that when I opened the folder the fabric might slip out of the folder but if you cut the fabric big enough this shouldn't be a problem.

Although this was just supposed to be a sample, I ended up using it quite a bit.  I'm still going to make my original idea with the foil on one side and white on the other, but in the meanwhile this will work just fine!