# Food ... oh, I mean soap ... photography!



## DeeAnna (Mar 10, 2015)

Serious Eats is a great place to learn about great food. What's even better (from my geeky perspective) is they often talk about the science and technology that makes good food so wonderful.

Their most recent newsletter gives some tips for food photography. As I read the article and looked at the pictures, I thought their tips applied nicely to soap as well, if you don't mind translating a bit from their food-based slant.

Enjoy! http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/03/beginners-guide-to-food-photography.html


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Mar 10, 2015)

Now that is a great article.


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## LisaAnne (Feb 1, 2016)

Best article  I've read on photographing soap (food).


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## HappyBeeSoapCo (Feb 1, 2016)

Good article, thanks for suggesting it. The photography can often be the hardest part!


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## MySoapyHeart (Feb 1, 2016)

Great, now I am hungry...
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





But, I digress. The article was great, can totally be aplied to soaps too. I have always been interested in photography, but there is always room for improvement. Just like in making soap:mrgreen:


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## Arimara (Feb 1, 2016)

Oh NO!!! Food Pr0n... *drools* Lol, seriously, I love reading about food. It's helped me to branch out of my shell and try things... within reason. You will NOT catch me eating souse (with or without the pudding) or anything along those lines.


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## DeeAnna (Feb 1, 2016)

DH swears by their method for hard boiling eggs.


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## fuzz-juzz (Feb 1, 2016)

Thanks for sharing 
I was into food photography many moons ago so this article really refreshed my memory. 
I got away with a nice big window, $30 tripod and cardboard covered with alu foil as a reflector. Nothing too fancy. 
I fiddled with manual camera settings for ages but worked it out in the end.
I'm just way too lazy now. It's easier just to take horrible flash photos with my phone lol.


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## Arimara (Feb 1, 2016)

fuzz-juzz said:


> Thanks for sharing
> I was into food photography many moons ago so this article really refreshed my memory.
> I got away with a nice big window, $30 tripod and cardboard covered with alu foil as a reflector. Nothing too fancy.
> I fiddled with manual camera settings for ages but worked it out in the end.
> I'm just way too lazy now. It's easier just to take horrible flash photos with my phone lol.



I never owned a DSLR or anything past a point-and-shoot or a phone. But I so agree with you.


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## DeeAnna (Feb 1, 2016)

I think there are a fair number of Etsy and other sellers who are doing some amazing cell phone photos of their soap and stuff. I use a Nikon DSLR and a Panasonic point and shoot. I get more control from the Nikon, but the Panasonic does a surprisingly good job.


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## Arimara (Feb 1, 2016)

Good gravy. Now I'm reading an article about scallion pancakes (YUMMERS!) and they mentioned Yan Can Cook. You know you had an awesome childhood when you remember that show.


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## fuzz-juzz (Feb 1, 2016)

Arimara said:


> I never owned a DSLR or anything past a point-and-shoot or a phone. But I so agree with you.



I have DSLR, an older model of Canon Eos, but great camera. It really does make fantastic photos with manual mode.
My phone is quite average, Samsung S3... makes pretty bad photos haha.
But I guess with new phones getting better and better, it's easy to make great photos without DSLR. 
My stepdaughter just bought a new iPhone and holy moly it takes amazing photos.


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## IrishLass (Feb 1, 2016)

Awesome article! Thanks for sharing! I have a Canon SX130IS dual automatic point & shoot with manual capabilities. I'm lazy and normally just use it in point & shoot mode, but I should really get to know what it can do in manual mode.



Arimara said:


> and they mentioned Yan Can Cook. You know you had an awesome childhood when you remember that show.


 

I love Yan! I used to watch his show _all the time_ back in the '80's. I wasn't quite a child anymore by that time, but I was still quite young- 22 and newly-married. Between him and the Frugal Gourmet, I finally learned how to cook. Before then, the only cooking I ever did was out of a can or a box. lol


IrishLass


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## Arimara (Feb 2, 2016)

I remember the Frugal Gourmet though vaguely. I was real young then. I wonder if he was slotted to air shortly before Shining Time Station... I'm showing my age (not that it matters).


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## kchaystack (Feb 2, 2016)

IrishLass said:


> I love Yan! I used to watch his show _all the time_ back in the '80's. I wasn't quite a child anymore by that time, but I was still quite young- 22 and newly-married. Between him and the Frugal Gourmet



The Frugal Gourmet and Justin Wilson were my favorites.  Put a little WINE in it!  Hahahaha!


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## Sagebrush (Feb 2, 2016)

Great article! I'm still trying to get better at taking and making time for the photography of my soap. 
"If your mouth doesn't water when editing your photos, you did something wrong." We all have the same Pavlovian response to well-photographed soap, right? 

We watched a lot of PBS growing up, but we never watched the cooking shows. Maybe because my mom knew how to cook and she had her go-to dishes. She wasn't very experimental with food.


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## Arimara (Feb 2, 2016)

SageontheMountain said:


> Great article! I'm still trying to get better at taking and making time for the photography of my soap.
> "If your mouth doesn't water when editing your photos, you did something wrong." We all have the same Pavlovian response to well-photographed soap, right?
> 
> We watched a lot of PBS growing up, but we never watched the cooking shows. Maybe because my mom knew how to cook and she had her go-to dishes. She wasn't very experimental with food.



But that was half the fun of it. Even watching Julia Child was interesting, save the fact my mom elder sibling didn't like some of her kitchen habits.


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## Sagebrush (Feb 2, 2016)

Arimara, I realize that now that I'm an adult! Being the person I am now who loves to cook, I probably would've learned some tricks and recipes earlier on!  I would've loved watching Julia Child too. Instead, we just watched a lot of "boring" Nova and nature shows with my dad. Ha ha!


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## Arimara (Feb 5, 2016)

SageontheMountain said:


> Arimara, I realize that now that I'm an adult! Being the person I am now who loves to cook, I probably would've learned some tricks and recipes earlier on!  I would've loved watching Julia Child too. Instead, we just watched a lot of "boring" Nova and nature shows with my dad. Ha ha!



Actually, I loved watching "Wild America" growing up as well. It was the coolest show for me. Nova... I don't remember. :mrgreen:


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## Sagebrush (Feb 8, 2016)

Arimara said:


> Actually, I loved watching "Wild America" growing up as well. It was the coolest show for me. Nova... I don't remember. :mrgreen:




We definitely watched Wild America too. Nova was more sciency, but still involved the outdoors and animals a lot (I think...it's been a while).


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