Originally Posted by
Bernice Loui
Food or product Foto with view camera and color sheet film?
How far does one want to go? All out image excellence or hobby tinker images?
All out image excellence with color transparency film today is IMO.. not possible due to the realities of what IS available in the color transparency film support system and industry.
Lighting, camera support, product table are more important than camera-lens.
To do this at a high level means controlling any lighting required and this demands stable color temperature strobes with a LOT of power. This is required due to the apertures required coupled with light modifiers as required. Diffused curved product table allows lighting from the bottom as needed. Ideally a studio stand which is BIG, stable and easy to maneuver the camera as needed makes a BIG difference in easing of required camera position. Using a tripod with head could be more difficult than believed. Ideal camera for this type of work is a Sinar P with your choice of lens, typically 240mm (APO artar, APO ronar or similar) for 4x5.
Then comes light color balance control. This means zeroing in the color transparency film processed by the E6 lab of choice using gray card test, lighting system with and without light modifiers and applying CC correction filters on camera or on lighting system as needed. This is essential as post color alteration of color transparency film is far less desirable. It is far preferable to get the color balance correct on the film for each sheet of film exposed. Back up aid that works well is a Minolta color meter III, does strobe and continuous light color temperature measurements with CC filter correction suggestions on the read-out.
Hire a food stylist for anything with serious pay for work involved. They know all the tricks, rules and requirements if they are any good and can make a huge difference in how the resulting images will be.
These are some of the basics from food and product Fotos made back in the day. For tinker-hobby food & product images, use the above as possible and as a guide only.
Bernice
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