Preparing for your food images

By JKQ Design / Galley and Beyond ?

As a yacht chef you have very little time on your hands so to take photos of your creations during service is seldom feasible and in your downtime it may not be your highest priority to recreate that superb dish just to take a photo of it, nor may you have some of the ingredients available off charter.

How many times have you put that camera close by and in the swing of things you have no other thoughts than putting that dish out in the utter most perfect way to your charter guests’ or owner?s delight while the stewards and stewardesses are waiting patiently to serve, or you are saying ?go, go, go?.

Ideally you would do the photos off charter but I am sure you have seen those plates leave the galley that makes you feeling very proud only to kick yourself later for not having a photo of them.

Here are some small tips that might help you on the mission to have some great shoots for your portfolio whilst not taking any time from your guest?s culinary experience nor giving you any stress.

– When you have time, experiment see what you can do to the area where you normally plate to improve lighting for the purpose of taking a photo, a simple white board or reflector (aluminium foil may work well) on the wall behind the plates might be enough to give that extra back or side lighting. Know your galley outside the cooking, what lights you have, what angle would work best, do test runs with different cloths underneath the plates etc.

– Prepare your camera – you do not have to have an expensive one but you will benefit from a camera where you can control the aperature so the food can be sharp but background blurred. Do test runs see what works for you, with your camera and in your galley. Try taking a step backwards and zoom in, it might give you a better shoot.

– Make extra – I am sure you do this already, if not, add an extra plate for yourself or crew member that way you can take the shoot as the other plates leave the galley before you turn around to the next dish.

Below you find some excellent tutorial links and videos from a photographic perspective, see how you can convert this over to your galley.

http://kelbyone.com/blog/two-light-food-shoot-tutorial
http://kelbyone.com/blog/natural-light-food-photography

To go with those excellent images of your sumptuous dishes you may need a web-site to show the world your creativity and excellence, check out the Profile page – extended here at Galley and Beyond or contact us to find out more about the special deal for Galley and Beyond contributors.