Shooting food is one of the easiest ways to enjoy still-life photography. A bowl of fruit and a basic camera are all you need to get started. If you want to take it further, you’re only limited by your imagination and creativity.
Bea Lubas is a leading practitioner of food photography and will speak at The Photography & Video Show this month. As a Lightroom Ambassador, she will share her tips for editing food photos in the popular software application.
We caught up with Lubas to find out more about her and her upcoming talk. ‘Tools and techniques in Lightroom’ with Bea Lubas takes place at The Photography & Video Show on 18 March at 1pm, in the Editing & Post-Production Suite, and is free to attend. Click here to buy your tickets.
To get started in food photography, what would be a good subject to photograph?
Fresh produce and something seasonal. For anyone just starting food photography, or who shoots a different genre and wants to try food, the simplest way is to start with some beautiful seasonal produce – citrus or citrus-like fruit, oranges, satsumas, which are easy to find.
Tell us about this photo of satsumas – what kind of vibe were you trying to capture?
A wintry feeling, and I could have gone more than one way with that – dark and moody or really bright.
For me, winter is a season of contrast. It was a beautiful frosty morning when I took this photo, so if I wanted to reflect that feeling, which type of colour would I go for?
Or because the evenings are still quite dark, I could try something a little bit more dark and moody, with more contrast.
I think about the type of mood I want to evoke and, based on that, I will think about the different colours I want to select for it.
How do you light your photographs?
I love to use natural light, shaping it necessary with diffusers and reflectors.
Your studio setup looks quite minimal. Why is that?
My home studio space isn't large, so this definitely inspires my minimal setup. At the same time I’m a minimalist at heart, too, and the fewer things around me, the better my creativity and my ideas flow.
Over the years I simplified my creative process and my workflow and it has worked so well for me personally – it has made me pick up the camera and create much more often, too!
Do you make the food you photograph?
Most of the time I prepare the food but there are some assignments where I work with a chef.
It’s great to do this because I always learn new things and I get to work with someone else and look at food through their eyes.
Which camera setup do you use?
A Canon EOS R5. I started out with an EOS 600D DSLR and have used Canon ever since – I just find their cameras so intuitive to use.
Two lenses are always attached to my camera – not at the same time, of course! – the Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8L IS USM and Canon RF 100mm F2.8L Macro IS USM. The 24-70mm is a go-to lens - I find it so versatile for food photography!
I shoot a lot of photos from overhead, so I need a sturdy tripod. I use a Manfrotto 058B with a Manfrotto 131DB horizontal arm and a Manfrotto geared head, which allows me to make micro-adjustments to the camera position.
I also use the Canon Camera Connect app, which helps me check my compositions as I’m building them.
You’re a Lightroom Ambassador and your talk will be called ‘Tools and techniques in Lightroom’. Why do you like using this software?
Adobe Lightroom is such a powerful and user-friendly tool! I really love that I can view my folders and edit my images on multiple devices, like desktop and mobile.
The adjustments are organised in a way that makes the editing workflow smooth and intuitive, and they allow me to bring my own unique vision to life, help me create various moods depending on where my imagination takes me and fine tune even the smallest details, which is very important to me in food photography.
Can you give us a flavour of what you will be covering in your talk?
During my session I’ll be sharing three impactful editing methods to make the main subject stand out using powerful Lightroom tools like Masking and Blur.
I’ll share tips and techniques on how to shape the light in Lightroom, strategically adjust colour and separate the subject from the background to create stronger and more balanced images.
• ‘Tools and techniques in Lightroom’ with Bea Lubas takes place at The Photography & Video Show on 18 March at 1pm, in the Editing & Post-Production Suite, and is free to attend. Click here to buy your ticket for the four-day show.
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