The Photography Blog

Food photographer Darrin Jenkins answers lots of questions about food photography from how he found his studio to claims of fame...

Great to be doing another 3 day food shoot in my Hertfordshire studio. This was for a national consumer brand that we all know of (at the present time I need to be keep the client secret). The studio space worked well with the fitted kitchen studio, I guess this set up makes it the best food studio in Hertfordshire....

Is ‘having an eye’ for composition enough to creating great images?

We call ourselves ‘creatives’ and we want to work creatively but as many creatives know it is not a case of sitting down and waiting for ideas to pop up, those ideas can be very elusive and not willing to show themselves on demand. No amount of brain storming sessions and staring at websites are going to make them flow in perpetuity.

This year I've been commissioned to make some new exciting content for a new wine brand called Madame F. The content had to be quirky, fun, eye-catching and true to brand but also with an 'honest' feel. Madame F is a creative collaboration with Queer Britain, a charity that is working to create the UK’s first national LGBTQ+ museum.

There are lots of things to consider before a professional photoshoot, find out more about some essentials.... The brief, Budget, Estimate, Locations, Lighting and composition, extra expert to hire.....etc...

Occasionally I get hold of a particularly good looking wine label to photograph, this being one of the best but also one that needed more attention to the lighting that the average bottle

I like to try out different techniques from time to time, this one involved a set with a bottle of wine on a rotating table, the camera and lights were off the table and static. The table was rotated whilst the camera filmed the light falling on and off the subject.

There were so many different ways to photograph this handbag, but not all of them would make the image pop out of the page and grab the attention that it deserves.

Using a high viewpoint looking down, plus rotating the camera has made a less symmetric composition, shifting the face to the top left and feet to the bottom right, also creating negative space in the top right and bottom left balancing the shot