On the menu this week, red velvet cupcakes, mascarpone cream, “Baci di Dama” (lady’s kiss) and Tiramisu. All prepared by Chiara Scipione of Italian Food with Style.
On the photography front, we were to use one artificial light source and a reflector for this assignment. I placed a speedlight in a Wescott softbox camera right and used a reflector on the other side to open the shadows.
Compared to window light, the speedlight in a softball gave me a more directional light, and hence the texture of the food is better revealed. Also, the light is more consistent in power and colour temperature. That means that once one is set up, one can do several dishes pretty quickly. In Scotland, the light can change quite a bit and when clouds come and go, the exposure and colour of the light changes. With natural light one has to constantly monitor the light in order to get consistent results.
The two set-ups for the red velvet cupcakes and the Baci Di Dama (lady’s kiss) were shot in succession in a relatively short time. I then decide to try something else with the tiramisu in the glass. I wanted it on a reflecting surface, and after a few tries, I settled on a mirror. I lit the scene from above, but it took a fair amount of time to get it right. I most certainly didn’t want the light from my softbox to be reflected by the mirror into the camera. That would have totally ruined the shot. In the end, I was quite happy with the result of the ‘tiramisu lighting challenge’.
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