A 30-Minute Food Photography:
My Sister's (short-lived) Kimbap Business
During the early weeks of quarantine, my sister thought of putting up a business, a food one, just like everybody else is doing. And because of Filipino's growing love for South Korean culture, that business came to be tasty KIMBAP rolls.
She offered two flavors: ORIGINAL and TUNA.
The original one is made up of the classic ingredients: dried seaweed, rice, carrots, pickled daikon radish, cucumbers, Korean ham, fish cake, and egg strips.
The tuna variant uses the same ingredients but only with the additional spicy tuna mixture - a favorite at home.
They were delicious, of course. She was the cook in the family, and I, the ever-so-excited taste tester.
She needed photos for her Facebook post, wanting to sell kimbap rolls ASAP. Although, being in quarantine, I was also loaded left and right with online video meetings. Hence, the birth of this 30-minute food photography.
I had to quickly get this done before the next meeting. This happens to be my first time of dealing with food styling, if you do not count my Instagram food posts, which aren't even that plenty and pretty.
I only used the natural light coming into our garage, a Canon DSLR camera with standard kit lens, and my mom's old tea set.
HOW I DID IT
As I've mentioned, I was a first timer. When my sister asked me if I could take photos of her kimbap, this is how my process went:
○ Research on the food and the type of photography that goes with it.
○ Find a spot with natural light.
○ Gather props, simple is good. Less to work with.
○ Prepare your equipment.
○ Make it mouthwatering by focusing on the food's details: ingredients, filling, crust, toppings, etc.
○ Add life to it. Pick up the food with the proper utensil for it. Or maybe just your hand if it's a snack kind of food.
○ Basic composition!
That's it. Although I am interested what serious food photographers would do first in a case like this. It's always good to learn from the pros.
I did enhance the photos on Lightroom after my online meeting marathons. My Lightroom experience is limited within cosmetic products only that I post on my beauty blog, nothing about food. So this was a challenge. I also discovered the screen color difference between a laptop monitor, an android phone, and an iPhone. My head exploded.
Why was it short-lived?
Well, the quarantine measures have tightened and the number of cases were rising. She didn't want to risk our health with her going out for the kimbap deliveries.
Maybe the kimbap rolls need to rest for a while.. in my tummy.
