DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Spice up your food photography by backlighting it with a light box

Mar 22, 2017 by John Aldred 1 Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Backlighting translucent objects is always great fun to experiment with. Sometimes it’s quite easy. You just put a light on a stand, place it behind your subject, and start shooting away. But food can get a little messy, and it’s not easy to just hang up in front of a light.

This is where a light box comes into use. Some of us might still have one of these laying around from the days of film. But, they can be quite inexpensive to buy. Or, you can build your own. This video from photographer Doug McKinlay shows us how to use it.

It’s not a new technique, and it’s fairly simple. It was quite common in the 80s. But, it’s one that doesn’t seem to pop up as often as it once did. And it’s still quite visually appealing. The trick is having foods or other objects through which light can shine. With food, most whole items won’t let light through. But, when you slice them up, you start to see it coming through, creating a lot of vibrant colour and detail.

To shoot the images, Doug uses a Canon 5D Mark III, along with a 24-70mm f/2.8 and 100mm f/2.8 Macro. He shoots the camera parallel to the surface of the light box. In Doug’s case, that means putting it on top of a chair seat. You may need to put it on the floor to get the perfect angle. You might also find that a tripod and cable release are very handy if you’re not very stable. Remember, this is continuous light, not flash.

With the items laid out on the table, it’s then just a case of turning on the light, getting above it and taking a shot. Doug shoots at f/8 to ensure the sharp point of the lens, and to provide enough depth of field to get everything in focus.

If you’re relying on your camera’s built in meter, it’ll probably want to underexpose everything. The light table is a light source, and your camera will generally want to make it average out to around 18% grey. So, you may have to overexpose what your camera thinks it should be by about 2 stops to get those bright whites.

Even though it’s technically spring now, the weather still hasn’t perked up yet. So, this is a great exercise to keep you going until you can go and play outside.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

How to make the best of backlighting in landscape photography Spice up your fall photography with glowing mushrooms: here’s how to shoot and edit them 8 fun ideas to spice up your instant photography Why backlighting is this photographer’s favourite lighting technique

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: backlit, Doug McKinlay, food photography, inspiration, tutorial

John Aldred: from diyphotography.net

About John Aldred

John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

« How to remove eye bags under 1 minute in Photoshop
5 tips for beautiful and natural-looking couple portraits »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Here’s a bullet time video booth you can build yourself
  • Ricoh has discontinued the HD PENTAX-DA 21mm F3.2AL Limited silver lens
  • This “stellar flower” unravels the twilight’s evolution in 360 degrees
  • Strobes vs Continuous LEDs – Which is right for you?
  • Wave goodbye to Apple’s My Photo Stream next month

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy