Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to attend a photography workshop taught by food photographer Melissa Skorpil. I first met her at the Austin Food Blogger Association‘s Photography Camp last September.
While I’m pretty good at taking photos of dogs, cats, bugs, and flowers, I found food photography pretty darned complicated.
Just an hour or so of listening to Melissa at the photography camp showed me how to turn this:
into this:
I was hooked.
I was so impressed that I was eager to learn more. Melissa teaches a course, The Art of Food Photography, at Precision Camera & Video‘s Photography University. So the first chance I got, I signed up.
The class is divided into two sections. The first section is lecture-based. Melissa goes through the basics, including camera settings and equipment needed. The second part is all about hands-on shooting. Working with awesome food stylist and blogger Kristina Nichols-Wolter of Girl Gone Grits, she set up three stations. After each of us took a turn photographing the foods, they set up three more stations.
As with any equipment-heavy hobby, hands-on is so valuable, because you learn what your equipment can do and what you can do with it. Melissa was with us at every step, showing us how to get the best pictures and how to alter our camera settings and the lighting to get different kinds of shots.
Here are my favorite shots of the afternoon:
Sushi
Candy Hearts
Macarons (my most favorite)
kristina
February 21, 2014 at 10:36pmWhat a great post-and I’m blushing on the complements. It was so fun watching you shoot away. I agree, I love your macaroon shot!
margaret
February 22, 2014 at 8:16amThanks, Kristina! I had such a good time, and I thought your food styling was fantastic.
Melinda
February 21, 2014 at 10:42pmI really llove your pictures. The composition is awesome. I think I like the candy hears the best. The way they kind of melt into the top left corner is great. The sugar sprinkles are in such good focus it looks like I could lick my finger and scoop some up. Yum.
margaret
February 22, 2014 at 8:16amThanks, Lindy!
kristina
February 21, 2014 at 11:39pmOuch spelling. “compliments” and “Macarons”
margaret
February 22, 2014 at 8:15amI knew what you meant. 🙂
Melissa Skorpil
February 22, 2014 at 1:10pmYour shots look awesome! Great job. I especially love the macarons; great composition, perfect exposure, and your white balance looks spot on! So glad you found the class helpful.
margaret
February 22, 2014 at 2:11pmThanks, Melissa! You’re a great teacher!