Shooting Chef Mark Farmer

July 14th, 2011 | Blog Post | Justin | No comments

We shot in the kitchen of his house which is not made for camera’s and lights like the kitchen sets for cooking shows. In fact, most of his time spent cutting and preparing food at the counter meant he was facing the wall or cabinets. Lighting this was a chore. Add in the fact he is bouncing from counter to counter, to the fridge and all over the kitchen.

We did 2 sessions, the first I actually closed the window shade and pointed my strobe at the window. I had it on a stand on top of the counter near the sink. This let the light bounce off the window shade and light him from the wall side. There was another strobe on the other side of the kitchen to give him some rim light and illuminate the kitchen behind him a bit.

The second shoot I tried shooting all with natural light from the window over the sink and other side of the room. This required a high ISO along with a lower percentage of usable photos to movement. But there were some great images that came out of that session.

Gear: Canon 5D, Canon 24-70mm 2.8L, Canon 50mm 1.4, 2 400watt strobes, Lowepro Phototrekker AW II, Lowepro S&F Harness System, 3  GoPro HD’s, various Manfrotto mounts.