Commercial Photographers Network member for the South East of England, Roddy Paine, looks at interior and food photography for a recently refurbished pub in Kent.
The client required interior photography to not only showcase the bar and seating areas, but also for four boutique guest bedrooms. Roddy’s food photography expertise was ideal for taking tantalising images of their dishes from their renowned food menu.
Pointing the camera at a bright window in a dimly lit pub doesn’t always mean extra lighting has to be employed. Careful exposure and post-production ensures a natural atmospheric feel to photography of the pub’s interior.
Although the interior photography began a couple of hours before opening time, the bar area proved tricky to photograph, not only because of a constant stream of deliveries and cleaners, but also because of the mixed lighting sources within the old building.
Warm tungsten bulbs competed with daylight streaming through the pub’s small windows, so carefully assessing the lighting was crucial.
As experienced photographers we were able to cope with all these issues and provide images that capture the atmosphere of the establishment.
Careful composition and exposure, coupled with post-production, enabled us to achieve a ‘balanced’ image from this restaurant photography shoot without the need for extra lighting.
Judging when not to use supplementary lighting is just as important as knowing how to use it when it is needed.
For the food photography in the restaurant, we decided against using studio lighting and opted instead to control the room’s artificial light and shoot at a table by a window with good natural light. The chefs sent out a selection of dishes which we were able to photograph quickly and efficiently before they either lost their freshness, or in some cases melted!
Natural light and shallow depth of field draws your eye to the freshly cooked sheen on this dish.
Photography in the guest rooms involved not only wide angle shots, but a few ‘vignettes’ to convey the ambience and charm of the bedrooms, once again shooting on available light facilitated this.
Available light and a reflector was all the lighting required for this dish.
Studio lighting is a great tool to have in your arsenal, but there are times when the experience and knowledge of the Commercial Photographers Network members means that better results can be achieved by not being tempted to use it.
Simple lighting meant we were able to quickly photograph this dessert before it melted.
Knowing when not to add extra light to a shot is just as important as knowing how to. This guest room photography uses natural light to capture the ambience of the room.
If you have a project with challenging lighting, whether it be interior or food photography there is a CPN photographer near you to help document your project.
Please feel free to contact the CPN whether for one location or across the UK.
