Food Photography - Capture every delicious angle perfectly
When it comes to Food Photography, you need to make sure that you create appealing and interesting images to capture the viewers attention. To do this, you need to make sure that the lighting, modifiers, and additional equipment you use are capturing the best possible image. In this blog, we take a look at a selection of pre-made kits available that have been specifically designed with Food Photography in mind.
LUMI II 400 Single-Light Food Photography Kit
This lighting set-up is an affordable flash lighting set-up, with a single 400Ws flash unit and a selection of modifiers that have been tailored for Food Photography. The benefit of using flash lighting compared to continuous lighting is that you will receive a higher quality image due to the precise and powerful quick burst of light. The lighting unit included in this kit is the LUMI II 400, which is our 400Ws mains powered flash unit that features an easy-to-use interface to remove any possible confusion.
The LUMI II 400 offers an adjustable range of from 1/1 power to 1/32 power in 1/10th increments, to allow you to adjust the required lighting to better suit the size of the food you will be photographing. It also features super-fast recycle times which is useful as it reduces the waiting time between each shot that could possibly affect the food. The LUMI II 400 also comes with a Bowens S-Type mount so that it can be used with a range of different modifiers to control and adjust the lighting, such as the 120cm Octagonal Softbox included in this kit.
The included softbox features an octagonal design to produce a more soft-wrapping lighting compared to a rectangular softbox and creates pleasing circular highlights which is great when shooting glossy foods such as berries. The softbox also comes with two layers of diffusion to create a softer lighting and to reduce any hotspots in your photography.
Also included in this particular kit is our 60cm 5-in-1 reflector that offers a collapsible design and comes with a selection of 5 different colour options to choose from, each offering their own unique lighting effects. We would recommend placing the reflector behind the food and using the white/translucent colour options to reflect the lighting back onto your subject to reduce any unwanted shadows that may be cast. The light stand offers an adjustable height range of 75cm to 240cm to adjust the lighting placement to offer the best possible lighting for each specific food subject.
LUMI400II One Light Setup Food Photography Studio Flash Lighting Kit
DAYLiTE60D MKII LED Food Photography Lighting Kit
This lighting set-up is similar to the previously mentioned kit, as it is a single lighting unit kit, but it differs as it includes an LED lighting unit rather than a flash lighting unit. The benefit with continuous lighting is that it is much easier to use as it shows exactly which lighting you will use during your shoot, which could save vital time as the food subject may not be suitable in photography settings for an extended period of time.
The lighting unit included in this kit is the Daylite60D MKII, which is a 60W LED continuous lighting unit that offers a CRI of ≥95 to help accurately capture the vibrant colours in your food photography. The Daylite60D MKII offers an adjustable brightness range of 100% - 10%, to better match the lighting to each specific food that you are shooting. It also features a built-in cooling fan and heat sink to reduce the risk of overheating due extended periods of use.
To help with control of the lighting, this kit also comes with a 130cm Umbrella, that features a parabolic design to focus the lighting more efficiently onto the subject. This umbrella also features a white interior to produce a super-soft and diffused lighting and comes with a detachable diffuser to soften the lighting even further, perfect for a more natural look from your lighting.
Also included in this kit is our 5-in-1 Reflector kit, that comes with a stand and arm to hold your reflector securely in place and offers a selection of 5 different colours to choose from that each create their own unique lighting effect. We recommend placing the reflector behind the food and using it to bounce the lighting back onto the food to reduce any unwanted shadows in your final shot. The light stand included offers an adjustable height range of between 75cm and 240cm and features an air-cushioned dampening system to prevent any sudden drops that could cause possible damage to your equipment.
Bi-Colour Flat Lay Overhead Food Photography Lighting Kit
This kit is similar to the previous kit as it comes with a LED continuous lighting unit, but the design of the kit differs as it has been designed to specialises in shooting your food photography from above and to create a flat-lay style of photography. The included lighting unit in this kit is the LED100B MKIII, which is our 100W LED lighting unit that offers bi-colour lighting to allow you to adjust the colour temperature of the light between daylight balanced and tungsten to match any possible ambient lighting in your shooting environment.
This lighting unit offers an adjustable brightness between 100% - 10% to better suit the size of the food being photographed and comes with a built-in receiver to be used with a remote control (sold separately) that lets you adjust the settings of the light without needing to manually adjust them on the unit directly. It comes with a Bowens S-Type mount as standard to be compatible with a range of different modifiers including the 90cm softbox that comes as part of this kit. The softbox features an easy-open mechanism, similar to that of an umbrella, for quick set-up and storage when finished.
It comes with two layers of diffusion to create a soft and gentle lighting to bring out the small details in your food subject, and a honeycomb grid to offer better control of the lighting to focus this onto your subject. Finally, this kit comes with a 2-in-1 boom stand to allow you to position your lighting above the food subject to create a flat-lay style of photography. This stand offers adjustable height range and an extendable boom arm to offer a wider range of lighting placements to capture a better image. It also comes with a sandbag that can be used to securely hold the lighting unit and modifier in place during your photography.
LED100B MKIII Bi-Colour Flat Lay Overhead Food Photography Lighting Kit
GLOWPAD Food and Beverage Photography Complete Lighting Kit
Whilst this kit is also a LED lighting set-up, it includes three LED Lighting Panels rather than a single LED lighting head, to offer a complete surrounding of light for your Food subject. Included in this kit are two GLOWPAD350S LED Panels that can be used as main lights or as fill lights and one GLOWPAD450S LED Panel that can be used as a background to create a perfectly pure-white background for your food photography. Each LED panel features built-in diffusion to produce beautifully even diffused lighting onto the food and reduces the need for larger modifiers such as softboxes.
Both the GLOWPAD350S and GLOWPAD450S units can be dimmed between 100% - 10% power output to better suit the required lighting for each subject and can be used either with mains power or using two Sony NP-F batteries if you wish to move between locations for your photography.
Also included in this kit is the 90x90cm Foldable Diffuser Panel that features a high-quality translucent-white Nylon build to diffuse any harsh lighting that reduces specular highlights, perfect for diffusion any ambient lighting in your shooting environment. For this set-up, we would recommend placing this diffusion panel above your food subject, to reduce any ambient lighting so that you receive a clean and professional lighting from your multiple GLOWPAD units.
Each part of this kit comes with a stand that features a central column that can be lowered down to be used as a fourth leg for extra stability, and a air-cushioned design to prevent any sudden and unwanted collapses of your equipment.
Conclusion
Food photography requires you make sure that the food is appetising and appealing to the viewer, and each specific type of food comes with its own unique challenges and requirements. Each of these kits have been designed to offer a range of different photography styles to capture the perfect food photography.
