Restaurant Photography for Applegarth Farm Shop post Lock Down
Wonderful to return to the restaurant and farm shop at Applegarth farm to update their photographs of food, drink and kitchen garden, in view of reopening and changes to the business. We shot all the images in the garden, as that is where people will be sitting for the moment.
Applegarth Farm
I love working for this restaurant as so much of its produce is locally grown and sourced. For over forty years, Applegarth has been growing, farming, producing and selling food from the family’s farmland on the Surrey Hampshire borders of Grayshott.
What’s it like working in post Lock Down
Well, we did the whole shoot outdoors – so were reliant on booking a day when the weather was good! We were lucky as the day we picked was beautiful. However, it did then mean I was chasing sun and shade around the garden eating area. Other than than it was relatively normal as far a shoot goes. I only wore a mask when I went inside the restaurant and the deli shop area. Lots of washing of hands!
Shooting Food Outdoors
It was a beautiful sunny day which was delightful but comes with its own problems when you photography food and wine. Some of the time I could move my table around to ensure the sun was glancing the side or backlighting the dish and then I could bounce as much as I wanted back into the dish with a reflector. However when this was not possible, I set up my flash on a tripod with a soft box and set a low level of light to bounce across the textures of the dish, and used a diffuser to filter out the harshness of the sun. I had a remote shutter lead to help as help the diffuser in place.
Shooting tethered
All my food photography is shot tethered so that I can check the image is how I want immediately. It is invaluable to ensure the image looks good, and whether anything would be improved by moving things around.
Equipment
Canon 5D mark III
Flash 580 exII
Diffuser
Reflector
Tripod
Softbox
Remote shutter lead
Laptop and tether lead.
