COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Food photography for Choc affair
Commercial photography that involves food and the need for high end detail is my kind of gig! This was the final shoot in a series of commissions for Choc affair who are a fantastic chocolate producer in York. I shared a glimpse of behind the scenes at the factory in a previous blog post but for this session the objective was to go back to raw ingredients. The company prides itself on using top quality ingredients which are sourced from partnerships with Columbian suppliers.
Art direction for the shoot was provided by Owen Turner at United by Design. Location decisions are always a key part of shoot planning. After some research it was decided that the warehouse floor at the factory was ideal for requirements. A rustic look was provided by the concrete floor which gave soft grey tones on which to build different set ups. The set up was in the warehouse entrance so there was plenty of natural light. Raw cocoa beans direct from one of Choc affair’s suppliers worked as a starting point to demonstrate the journey from raw ingredient to final product. Different set ups were then created on the theme of raw ingredients finishing with some shots of chocolate bars posed against their key flavours.
Here are a handful of favourite images from the shoot. These and other images can be found on the Choc affair website and others will be cropping up in future blog posts and press campaigns.
Some background for those interested in photography. The method of photography used for these images is known as ‘top down shooting’. I placed my tripod at a 90 degree horizontal angle and carefully weighted it with sandbags to protect any accidental camera falls. I then used a cable release which can be a back saver for food photography shoots as obviously staying in a bent position to use the view finder for every shot isn’t good healthy! Food and props were then positioned into the scene. The great thing about shooting with this tripod method is that small tweaks can be made to give several looks to one theme.
Here’s a shot of my trusty Canon 5D Mk III in action. You can see here that the image is half way through creative production as the final image above had raw chocolate added in too to demonstrate the full list of ingredients in the company’s core product lines.
To view more food photography please pay a visit to my FOOD PORTFOLIO