photography

Holiday Fun: Puppy Love

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning

With the holiday taking center-stage this week and 2 sets of guests to get ready for,
let’s have a little photo-fun today, shall we?

In the eternal battle of cat vs dog, on which side do you generally fall?

Todd and I? Are dog people. Even though we are currently sans canine companionship and laugh at the LOLcats with the best of ’em, we swoon over some floppy-eared, waggy-tailed goodness.

And combining bow-wows with the vows? That brings the ‘awwwww’ to a whole ‘nother level. Take a look at these pretty pooches hamming it up for the wedding photographers:

Photo Collage of dogs in wedding photos

Sources: Style Me Pretty 1, 2, 3, 4

Photo Collage of dogs in wedding photos

Sources: Style Me Pretty 1, 2, 3 and Flickr

Photo collage of dogs in wedding photos

Sources: Style Me Pretty, Offbeat Bride, Lauren Kinsey, Style Me Pretty

What I find interesting, though, is something I stumbled upon while researching wedding traditions (ages ago, for a writing project): it was considered bad luck for a dog (or any creature, really) to walk between the bride and groom at the wedding so dogs used to be absolutely verboten at weddings! This harkens back to a time when it was thought that evil spirits would routinely inhabit animals, thus the spirit walking between the bride and groom was a very bad thing.

It’s a lovely thing being enlightened and not having to worry about those things anymore, but a great man once said not to work with children or animals as both are unpredictable. If you do choose to have your 4-legged friend as a part of your wedding, keep these tips in mind:

  1. Designate a handler for Fido, someone who’s already in the wedding party or maybe a House Party member, that Fido knows and is used to taking orders from.
  2. Do not entrust the real rings to your canine ring-bearer (dogger?) as even the most obedient dog is still a dog. One good “Squirrel!” at the wrong time and you’ll be borrowing bands for the ceremony.
  3. Be prepared. Scout out of good spot for Spot to take a walk both before and after the ceremony and have your designated dog walker equipped with baggies, etc. Wet wipes are good if paws could get muddy pre-pictures (don’t make the photograph Photoshop paw prints from the wedding gown).
  4. Remind all small children that chocolate is very dangerous for dogs and not to feed any groom’s cake to them, no matter how much they beg!

But if you’re the superstitious (or just cautious) type, you might want to save the furkids for the family holiday card.

And if you’d like to see more picture-perfect pooches, check out my Dogs in Wedding Photos board at Pinterest.com

Pretty Book and Flower Icon

Meanwhile, Todd and I will be checking out the National Dog Show hosted by the Kennel Club of Philadelphia after the Macy’s Parade. We’ll be rooting for the Basset Hound, the French Bulldog and the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

Will you be watching?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Foodie Photography

Nibbles

About 10 years ago or more I read an article about all the different “tricks” food stylists would use to make food look good on camera. Everything from cellophane “ice” and “milk” glue to browning agents and tweezer-applied sesame seeds–the works!

Oh, sure, we know folks put their best food front-loaded and forward when it’s time for an advertising campaign or cookbook shoot, but can the average foodie can make their not-so-average food stand out in a still shot?

Lighting

Regardless of subject, lighting is one of the major factors between blah and beautiful. Natural light is, by far, the most prized but, well, Mr Sun and my dinner don’t always cooperate. Not only is a lot of my cooking done in the evening when the light’s not so hot but it’s not always feasible to cart each item out onto the deck for a few snaps before supper. A well-lit window is the next best thing to the great outdoors, I’ve read, but it brings with it some of the same issues.

Stuffed Mirliton--no retouching!

What I found, completely by accident, was a way of working around the wonky indoor light. It happened while trying to take a picture of our Christmas tree this past December without each and every light looking like flares. Turning the setting dial on my Canon PowerShot S2 I came to “SCN” and it turns out it had tons of useful pre-sets that saved me having to crack open a dusty manual and figure out how to manually set the white balance and so forth. The “Fireworks” setting turned out to be great for the lit Christmas tree and the “Indoor” has done a wonder for my food pics!

Angle

Okay, so we’ve figured out the lighting situation, what else is there?

Do you find yourself automatically aiming the camera straight down onto the plate or platter? Do you do this because maybe there’s other stuff around the dish that you don’t want to be in the shot? Not that I’d know anything about that…

I blame part of this habit on my early experiences with food photography. A lot of decorated cakes look the same from a side view, the fun stuff is on the top! So you shoot the top. Then, in culinary school and after, at the Plantation, the point of taking photos was usually to see the plate clearly so someone else could recreate it. (Very useful in buffet settings or when you want to avoid having to work the dinner shift yourself but must ensure consistent presentation–again, not that I would know anything about that).

Anyway: overhead shots are second nature.

Salsatini

Bar towels make an instant backdrop!

I’ve been trying to remind myself, though, that it’s not the only way to go and practice close-up shots at a 3/4-view–hey, it’s flattering for faces, why not food? And when the counter isn’t providing the right backdrop do you know what can come in handy? A hand or tea towel “hung” in the door of the cabinet above. Keep a few of different colors or materials on hand and you’re golden!

The Extras

Which leads me to another thing… Props. I’m not a huge fan of too many props in a food picture. If you’ve ever seen those recipe cards from the 60s and 70s with their odd table-dressings, you know exactly what I mean! But a well-chosen plate or place mat certainly would not go amiss.

The plate, glass or other vessel should be your main prop and, in a perfect world, would contrast the color of the food nicely. Does this mean you need a butler’s pantry worth of serving-ware in order to take good food shots? Absolutely not! First of all, most foods fall into the white, red, green, brown or orange color-categories. Having a few white, yellow and purple plates for picture-purposes will cover most contrast requirements along with whatever other fun pieces you might find at thrift stores and garage sales. Choose a few cloth napkins or placemats in fun colors or patterns from a housewares open-stock section and you’ve got your primary needs covered! Keep in mind that salad plates rule for this sort of thing and are generally less expensive than the full-size options.

Catching mouth-watering images of your favorite foods doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. Keep your shots simple, your props uncomplicated and the focus on the food. My camera now hangs out in the kitchen while I cook, where’s yours?

Happy snapping!