What an impact lighting can have on pictures!

Photos tend to be a big part of a good food blog.  Who would want to try making food that looked horrible in pictures?  Tom and I got a SLR camera a number of years ago which I still haven't learned how to use properly.  When we decided to do this blog I have done my best to have decent lightening but I have very much depended on Photoshop to correct the pictures.  See an example below.  The top picture is unedited and the bottom picture is after corrections/edits in Photoshop.  You can see the red hues and the blandness of the picture.  When you edit in photoshop you can brighten and enhance the colors.  As you can see I was able to edit to get the plate back to its normal color! 

Before 

After edits

I have very basic knowledge of photography but know that lighting is key for good pictures.  So I thought I would do some research on artifical lighting.  Most of what i found were small spot lights that you would be outside of a tent.  That wouldn't really work well for food pics if I ever wanted to have more than a white background.  I found a website that talked about a food blogger using a free standing light.  I found it on amazon and it was ~$150.  I thought that was a little pricey.  So I googled DIY light boxes and was able to find sites that walked you through how to make your own light.

DIY Soft lights  

See below for my final products!  I made two "light boxes".  My lampshades were not the same type from the directions as I was not able to remove the metal frame.  However, I was able to work around this and they still work great!

I'm challenging myself to use manual settings rather than just have the lights on and use auto settings on the camera.

When using artificial lightening the key is to turn off all lights and minimize any natual lighting.  I have found that clamping one box to the chandelier and leave one on table has produced decent lighting and angles.  I will continue to work on light set up as we continue this adventure.  The pictures below are examples of unedited pictures taken with the light boxes!  What an improvement from before!

I am looking forward to improving my food photography skills to showcase the great food Tom makes for us!