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Starting to get a little discouraged with my food photography. Can Fuji X compete with DSLR? Critique requested.


oxjox

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I started this food blog about six months ago because I love to cook and have always loved food photography. As I start taking this a little more seriously, I'm looking around at other food photography on blog sites and I'm getting a little discouraged with the FujiX platform. I feel like it's pretty obvious most bloggers are using $2,000+ DSLR bodies and my XT-2 just can't keep up. I'd appreciate some critique on my photos (links below) and some tips on how I can maybe get more out of the Fuji system.  

 

I feel like I'm having difficulty getting the correct exposure out of the XT2. I always have to stop up in post because doing so in-camera seems to over expose. Adding more lights just seems to blow out the highlights and increase the contrast. So light is one problem. The other problem, I think, is the lack of a full frame sensor. I can't describe it but there's a clear difference between my images and those from a 5D iii. Sharpness has always been an issue as well. I've moved from Lightroom to Capture One for better RAF rendering but I'm still not okay with the sharpness. I typically shoot on an inexpensive tripod with a 2 second timer.

 

I'm by no means a seasoned photographer or even a professional cook so I know I have a long way to go. I typically shoot with either a Touit 32mm 1.8 or at the 56mm 1.2.  My kitchen is smallish so anything more than 56mm is going to be tough - still eyeing up that 80mm though.  I started out with a 3x2 box light but have been using an Neewer LED panel light for a few months now. I haven't really used a flash or speedlight. I have some bounce cards and a diffuser for fill and to reduce contrast. 

 

I LOVE my XT2 and all the lenses but I'm not so confident that they're the best tool for professional still / studio photography. By the chatter I see on the FujiX sites, it doesn't seem like there's many studio photographers around here either. Here's a link to my Flickr album https://flic.kr/s/aHskBzAS5Y and here's my website http://eatup.kitchen. Those are all low quality JPGs but I can post more elsewhere if requested.  Thanks.

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Food photography is all about styling. Photography is simple, use a sturdy tripod since exposures can be on the long side, normal lens for natural perspective, f/8.0 or f/11 for adequate depth of field, base ISO setting. The Toit would do fine. Since the food is not in motion, there is no problem doing a four-second exposure at f/11 at ISO200.

 

Unless you just can not get the whole image in focus, don't go much beyond f/11. Diffraction has already begun at f/11, though it is still not noticeable. Beyond f/11 it increases substantially. Do a test shot. If it is over or under, use the exposure compensation dial to nail it. The food is totally patient, so there is no need to rush while getting it right. Manual exposure works fine as well.

 

Avoid wide apertures. Food really needs to be fully seen and shallow depth of field simply looks out of focus. Consider the background. Unless it carries with it some meaningful information, a bit of softness does not hurt. Of course, this nullifies the prime advantage of the 56mm, which is far more suited to photographing people where shallow DOF can be useful. If I needed the added focal length, I would trade for the brilliantly sharp 60mm f/2.4 which also gives you much more closeup capability.

 

If you have not studied food styling, you will be amazed at the voodoo that goes into it. Most photographed food is inedible. That perfectly done turkey has been varnished the perfect colour and shine! Ice cream melts, so mashed potatoes or lard are used in its place. Ice also melts, so ice cubes and crushed ice is clear plastic. Sparkling vegetables have been sprayed with glycerine. Grapes get their patina via talcum powder. It is well covered on the web. Search for 'food photography tricks of the trade'.

 

If anything the X-T2 is overkill. The images on your page are less than one megapixel. You are throwing away more than 23MP of detail. What could a more expensive camera possibly give you? If you were shooting food professionally, it is fully capable of display prints for use in mall food booths or restaurants, of enormous size and clarity. If you have doubts, don't take my word for it. Rent a dSLR and try using it and the X-T2 on the same setup.

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Are you really having trouble or just thinking you have hit the limits in what you can achieve in your present setting?

 

Try this for some new lighting approaches:  https://lightpaintingbrushes.com/collections/fiber-optic-light-painting-brushes

 

As far as sharpness goes, on the other forums you will find lots of carefully worded discussions about which raw convertor will get you that last bit of detail, so .... try all of them and use the ones that best suit your budget and approach, -- sometimes one you do not use regularly will bring out what you need better than the others -- this happens with the DSLR bodies as well.

 

If you do not trust your camera's light meter, perhaps it is leading you to over expose your shots as you suggest, rent a manual light meter and check one against the other. And listen to Larry. :)

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  • 2 years later...

Is this thread still a thing? I know I'm late to the party, but after looking at all that food, I feel compelled to comment. But first, I must say, many compliments to Chef! Your food looks awesome. As the second post notes, this is real food, not the staged stuff. 

I'm probably not smart enough to just stay out of this, especially since the thread is so old. However, I looked at all your photos on Flickr, and noticed a couple things. First, I see that every shot was in Auto Exposure mode, and your metering mode varied some. Your lighting also seemed to vary from ambient to occasional flash, although I didn't see any utilizing TTL. 

I haven't photographed any food, but I've done some product shots for my wife's craft endeavors. As a starting point for a shoot, I would suggest the following:

  1. If you're having trouble matching your lens to the framing in a manner that suits you, consider a small telephoto, but from what I see, your 50 mm lens should do OK.
  2. Put your camera in Manual mode. You'll need to know more about the scene than your camera does.
  3. Set your metering to Multi mode.
  4. Use a good speedlight off-camera with an umbrella or softbox. 
  5. A light stand for your key light, and a tripod for the camera.
  6. Have a white reflector or two to control the shadows.
  7. Set the aperture wide open for framing only.
  8. Set the shutter to sync speed, or slower.
  9. Set the flash on manual at 1/4 power, and face it into the umbrella.
  10. Now set the aperture to f8 or f11. You won't be able to see the shot well, but the flash is now essentially your exposure, shutter speed, and key light.
  11. Take a test shot and evaluate. Move the flash power and/or compensate it until you get an exposure that suits you.

If you don't want to go so far as the umbrella, you can probably do well bouncing the flash and using a reflector or two. You also mentioned you're working in a small space. I find using Camera Remote works well when you can't huddle around the camera body. Once you get a composition and light coverage you like, make the flash power the fine tuning for the exposure.

I don't see a scenario such that the flash will do a good job on-camera. It needs to be off. Did you get an EF-X8 flash with your camera? I find that little flash in Commander mode works extremely well triggering any larger flash with an optical slave mode.

I hope this helps literally anyone, but I can't write more right now; I'm going to the OP's website to look at more food right now.

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  • 2 months later...

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