Sunday, October 9, 2011

Guest Photographer Michael Long - Tips on Indoor Photography

Michael, thank you for your guest appearance today. Not only do I love both your blogs, Michael's Kitchen and Photography By Michael Long, but I have learned much from each of them. Your blogs discuss two of my favorite subjects, food and photography. 


First, tell us a little about yourself:


"I retired in 2002.  In 1973 got my Degree in Photography, freelanced doing mostly Modeling portfolio's, Beauty Pageants, Country Western Singers, and finally worked for one of the major news agencies. Decided it was time to get into something else so I got into furniture making and did that for a number of years. until my health started down hill. Married to a wonderful lady with a lot of patience. After retiring I got into Gourmet Cooking, and from that French, Italian, and Chocolates. Oh, yes I have my time in commercial kitchens, working as a line cook. And now back into photography, doing mostly still life, photo work for my blog and several small customers, doing mostly catalog type things. And enjoying my retirement to the fullest."


Michael, you've had a very interesting and varied career and put two of your loves, photography and cooking, to excellent use. I know my followers will enjoy viewing your blogs and following you. 


Here's some of Michael's photography and his description of some tricks of the trade:




Photo #1


Michael's description of Photo #1: Vanilla bean sugar cookies done for one of my blogs.  The background was peel and stick lino tile, on a piece of particle board, the plate was fiesta ware, and the napkin was paper. Light was from left side window. and a white card reflector on the right.  This was photographed shooting straight down. Photo editing was slight, with a darkened corners only. The camera was a point and shoot about 10 years old.


In photo #1 Michael showed us some great tips. I love his use of the peel and stick lino tile as a backdrop, his use of a while card and the point of view. Very interesting and great ideas.


Photo #2


Michael's Description of Photo #2: this was a practice photo to test for lighting, reflectors, etc. And just for fun. I know that I should have made a batch of cookies for this,  but these were close by. I used defused window light, with black background for the contrast,  on the right side was a gold reflector some distance away.  I was just trying to get a hint of gold in the reflection fill on the shadows. The main cookie on top was hot glued.  I had to do that since that puppy kept falling over. Camera angle was head on at cookie level. Camera was a Nikon D3000.


In photo 2, I love how Michael hot glued the cookie so it wouldn't fall over! Another great tip - use your imagination to solve problems.


Photo #3


Michael's description of Photo #3: This was one of the first food photo's that I had done.  I mean really seriously did.  Home made soup with a window light coming in from the right this time and a single card reflector overhead to get some highlights in the beans.  This was also done with a point and shoot.  The camera angle was about 45 degrees. 




Thank you, Michael, for visiting and sharing your photo tips and photography with us.


Please visit both of Michael's blogs and leave comments. We all love those!
Michael's Kitchen for great recipes and Photography By Michael Long for more great photography and tips.




If you'd like to share a photo in your comment box here, open a comment box, click on the + sign in the lower left corner and upload a photo. Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.


Happy Clicking!







32 comments:

Michael Long said...

Mari, Thank you so much,  This made me a little light headed !!!!  Thank you again. mike

Dawn said...

I am a fan of Michael Long - of his writing, his photography and his great big loving heart.  I hope many people visit his blog from this guest post.  Love you, Papa!  Mari, I'm so glad you featured his work here!  :)

Savy1920 said...

these pictures are making my mouth water.....

Rogueartist said...

Several years ago, I spent many hours photographing food for a series of pastels I was doing.  It was called "The Health Food Series"  and I sold every last one!!  Some great tips here.  Thanks so much!!

The pastel below speaks for itself!

Bongo said...

I know nothing about photography but these are awesome shots ....As always.....XOXOXOOX

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Thank you for being a guest! I love your photography and recipes. Charming and beautiful rose photo you've posted in your comment. I'm sure I'll have you as a guest photographer again.

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Dawn - I discovered Michael on your blog and immediately starting following his recipe page. I was thrilled to find out he is also a great photographer. 

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Isn't he amazing? Be sure and visit his blogs.

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

What a gorgeous pastel! Thank you for sharing it. Hmmmm - maybe you'd like to be a guest at some point and give us tips on photographing then painting/sketching food. I'd love it!!! I know you're busy but pretty please??? :D

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Welllllll....grab a camera and start clicking! All of these were taken with a Point & Shoot camera not expensive gear. One of these days I'll do a post with some of my old and awful photos as encouragement to everyone. You have to start somewhere lol. Hope you are well.

cookingvarieties said...

hi mari , thank you soooooooo much, i was also glued to the photos especially the first one.
i learnt so much from this post, cos foodie blog involved a lot of indoor photography.
thanks so much to michael for sharing this with us...it's fantastic.
i definitely will go over and visit him one day...soon, thanks mari, i benefit so much from your blog. have a wonderful day

Jimshu said...

Very interesting tips Michael. I think I'll practise on the casserole I'm cooking. I suppose best to let it cool down in case lens gets all fogged up.

Anna Sides said...

Interesting tips Mari.  So glad Michael shared :)  I especially love the tip about 'glueing' the cookie.

Janaki Nagaraj said...

Amazing pictures. Nice tips too.

PK Talli said...

great photographs and a great write up on photography. Marking a start next to this post in my google reader.

#_#
24x7Clicks

DangerousLinda said...

Fun photos and great tips!  Thanks!

I love your interpretation of 'retirement' ;-)

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Yes - I guess you'd have a tasty casserole and possibly a ruined camera lol. 

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

I love that one - wouldn't have thought of it myself. :D

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Glad you enjoyed the post.

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Glad to hear that! I loved your last set of photos.

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Me too! :D

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

cookingvarieties has left a new comment on your post "Guest Photographer Michael Long - Tips on Indoor P...": hi mari , thank you soooooooo much, i was also glued to the photos especially the first one.i learnt so much from this post, cos foodie blog involved a lot of indoor photography.thanks so much to michael for sharing this with us...it's fantastic.i definitely will go over and visit him one day...soon, thanks mari, i benefit so much from your blog. have a wonderful day 

Michael Long said...

I wish to THANK EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU for taking the time to come over and look at my blogs and for CookingVarieties for signing on as a follower.  And to the rest of you,  Thank you for all your wonderful comments.  It truly means a lot. Mari I would love to post again,  This is fun for an old guy!!!
Again, thank you all very much, Mike

Michael Long said...

Just a thought about your casserole,  Try shooting with a dark background back light if you can and shoot while the casserole is hot.  You want to use that steam as much as possible for action.  if you have problems with the steam, try using a clothes steamer of one of those Shark steamers.  Have your key light source coming in from about the 10 oclock position in relations to the plate.  This way you'll be doing some back lighting and still getting texture of the food.  Good luck with it and I would love to see how it comes out.  Take care, mike

Kristy Dolha said...

Very cool tips...loved the photo #2!

Ravenmyth said...

I loved the colour in photo #1...it looked like something out of Tuscany...not only a beautiful photograph, but would make a wonderful painting...I enjoyed the inovation Michael used in all 3 photo's to get the affect he was looking for...really enjoyed your work Michael....and thank you Mari for sharing this talent with us...

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

That particular photo does remind me of something from Tuscany - oh how I'd love to go there. Michael has such a wonderful sense of color and style. Also check out his black and white photos on his photo blog from the 60s and 70s - amazing.

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Love the idea of using hot glue - who'd have guessed lol.

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Michael - you can count on being back as a guest! :D Thank you for posting the cookie photo in your comment box - yum!!

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Wan - your photos are beautiful. I'd love to also have you as a guest.

BlogNostics said...

Loved the Oreo shoot

xoxox

jessica

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Me too - loved the hot glue tip!