Republic of the Philippines

ZAMBOANGA PENISULA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY

Region IX, Zamboanga Peninsula
R.T. Lim Blvd., Zamboanga City

LEARNING MODULE
Date Developed: Document No. ZCSPC – LM2020
HMPE 411 Issued by: APPROVED
CODE Date Revised: ZCSPC-SEM

Food Styling and Developed by:

Design
Ms. Emy Antonette S. Traifalgar
COURSE

VISION MISSION INSTITUTIONAL OUTCOMES CORE VALUES

ZCSPC Provide effective and Globally competitive graduates Love of God;
as the leading efficient services through who can perform advanced Social Responsibility;
provider advance technological technological competencies in Commitment/
of globally studies and researches their field of specialization. Dedication to the
competitive for the empowerment of Service; and
human resources. the nation’s human Accountability
resources.
 MODULE 1: PHOTOGRAPHY EQUIPMENT

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

After studying this module, you are expected to:
1. Understand the importance of choosing camera in
Food Styling and design.
2. Identify different lenses and its uses.
3. Recognize other tools and equipment use in food
photography.

Topic Outline

1.1. Choosing a Camera

1.2. Lenses
1.3. Other Equipment
1.4. Editing and Organizing
1.1 Choosing a Camera

Digital SLRs for food styling photography

Although an astounding number of digital SLR (single-lens reflex) cameras are available,
you can narrow down your choice by considering the following questions:

• What’s your favorite brand?

• How much camera can you afford?

• What features are important to you?

• How much do megapixels matter?

• What about point-and-shoot-cameras?

 1.2 Lenses

A. 50mm prime lens – is a ‘what-you-see-is-what-you-get’ lens. It is suitable for multi-

purpose use. It is particularly useful for overhead shots, and when you want to get
several items into the frame.

B. 80/85/90/100mm prime lenses – Lenses in this focal length range have multiple uses.
Not only are they excellent for food photography, but they are also useful for portraits
and general photography. (Note: a 50mm lens isn’t always ideal for portraits because
you’ll often have to position yourself too close to the subject for comfort if you want a
closeup shot). For food photography, the extra focal length helps to create the kind of
shots that have lovely blurred out areas.

C. Zooms lenses – Zoom lenses are great because they allow you to reframe your image
in an instant. — ie. great for portraits, travel and general imagery.

D. Tilt-Shift Lens – this is a very specialist (and expensive) lens. It is used primarily by
food photographers and architectural photographers. Food photographers love it
because it allows you to choose the focus area very selectively, in a way that other
lenses can’t. Architects love it because it helps to overcome the warping of straight
vertical lines that are caused by circular lens.

1.3 Other Equipment

❖ Extra battery
❖ Tripod
❖ Remote trigger
❖ Lens filter
❖ Gray card
❖ Styling tools
❖ Styling tools
 Styling tools
A. Rolling cart – When you’re chasing the light, it’s important to be able to move freely.
B. Tweezers – A couple pairs of kitchen tweezers (in varying lengths/shapes) are extremely
useful for placing delicate garnishes (like individual sprinkles and sprigs of cilantro),
repositioning wonky noodles and the like.
C. Pipettes – I use these to strategically place drips of sauces and salad dressing.
D. Squeeze and spray bottles – For the perfect drizzle of chocolate or caramel, use
a squeeze bottle. And these smaller squeeze bottles are perfect for piping intricate details
(they’re compatible with any standard size piping tip). When a dish starts looking a wee
bit dry, a fine mist of water usually perks it right up.
E. Paint brushes – Useful for painting tiny bits of sauce and dressing exactly where it needs
to go, also brush used for removing stray crumbs.
F. Sheet pans – set it all up on a sheet pan and carry it all at once.
G. Toothpaste – Toothpaste (the old-fashioned white paste kind, not the blue gel!) will polish
silver flatware to a clean sheen without removing all of the beautiful patina.
H. Dulling spray – Reflections are tricky. If you’re working with some extra shiny flatware,
give it a spritz of dulling spray to give the shiny metal a more matte finish.
I. Straws – Paper, metal, silicone, bamboo and even glass: drinking straws come in all
sorts of materials these days! They’re also helpful for lightly melting the edges of ice
cream (just gently blow where you want to soften the ice crystals) as well as quickly
clearing out errant crumbs.
J. Sticky tack – Sometimes a prop just won’t stay where you want it. Maybe a round object
keeps rolling so the label is facing down, or a fork won’t stay propped at just the right
angle on a plate. White or clear sticky adhesive is perfect, as it will temporarily hold an
object where it’s supposed to be, without being overly obvious in the final photo.
K. Double stick tape – Another useful tool when you need something to stay put.
L. Clamps – Useful for propping up backdrops and foam core.
M. Peelers – A julienne peeler is a great way to get beautiful ribbons of carrot for salads and
noodle dishes. And a bare bones metal vegetable peeler is a great prop in and of itself.

1.4 Editing and organizing

In food photography, you need image management software to help you identify and organize
your best photos. When choosing an application to manage your photos, you want to look at a
few important features — ease of use, pricing, off-site image access, and integration.

Ease of use

One of the first criteria to look at when deciding what photo management program to use
is whether it’s easy to navigate. Before purchasing new software, first try it out to make
sure you’re comfortable with its user interface (or UI) and its look and feel.

The software you decide on is a personal choice based on how well the software fits with
your work style and your image management needs.

Pricing

Both Apple Aperture and Adobe Lightroom, the two main photo management programs,
run about $150 or so. You can find several other photo management programs that are
a bit slimmer on features — okay a lot slimmer on features — but they’re either free or
cheap.
 If you decide not to use Lightroom or Aperture to manage your photos, other free or
inexpensive software options include the following:

• On the Mac side, you can use iPhoto to organize your images, which you can
purchase separately for only $14.99. You won’t get many of the bells and whistles
of the more popular programs, but it may be a good starter program for some folks.

• On the PC side, you can use the Windows Photo Gallery, which is similar to iPhoto.
Again, this software is very limited, but some folks are more comfortable with how
it works for them. Windows Photo Gallery is a free download for Windows users.

• Picasa software, available from Google, is another great option for organizing,
editing, and sharing your photos. It’s free and works for both Macs and PCs.

Off-site image access

One advantage that Aperture has over Lightroom is that it allows you to store and access
your images from an external drive. This feature can be a huge benefit if you have
thousands and thousands of photos and limited disk space on your computer.

Integration

Because Adobe Photoshop is the main application of choice for photographers, making
sure your image management software works well with Photoshop is another important
feature to consider when choosing a program. This integration should be seamless to
help with your workflow.

Apple Aperture and Adobe Lightroom both work well with Photoshop, although Lightroom
gets the higher marks, which makes sense because it’s also an Adobe product and is
seamlessly integrated with Photoshop.

Enrichment Activity 01

For this activity, I want you to have your camera/ phone camera. And take 5
photos of foods or beverages.