Hi Lentil,



Doesn't seem that there are any photography experts out there to answer your question so I will take a stab at it.



Yes, food photography is a whole other line of work compared to taking photos of people. Same thing for photography of watches. There are specialists for both.



The question really depends of what you are trying to do as well as your budget. If you are just taking photos of packaging, getting reasonable results from a regular photographer (with the right equipment and studio set up of course), should not be too difficult. The real expertise comes out when you have to photograph a plate of something that you have cooked/prepared and make it look good.



If you just need photos for a website, you don't need to be too fussy.



The best place to start would be to have someone talk with one of the advertising agencies in Geneva (sorry, I don't know anyone) and ask who they would use. This would be your quickest route.



Be prepared for the price shock!



Good luck.



Verbier



Verbier, Jun 10, 2008 @ 23:54

Thanks for the tips. The photos would be for a book so they need to be taken by someone who's got experience in this field.
lentil, Jun 11, 2008 @ 12:09

Hi, I studied photographing but I am not working anymore as one (still have everything, flashes, hasselblad camera, studio, but not its just for fun but I aint no food photographer).

Food photographing is a bit different from portrait, building/landscape or jewelry (the three major categories). First the scene and flash setup is different but the main different is that food photographing is an art of deception. I dont have any statistics to show, but I would guess that 99% of all cookbook out there are pictures of food that has been painted on, so you need both an photographer an food stylist (just they exist) and a food artist. Now, not all cookbook is this way, but the good one is, if you dont go this approach it will be very expensive and you need to find an super food photographer to get the same result.

Just one thing that not many people think of is the steam that you can see from the food in the cookbooks, this is created by altering the plate by drilling small holes in it and let water steam to sip up through the food to control how much steam that comes from the food.



I dont know a single food photographer in the area, so cant really help you, but if would recomend that you contact an photo agency in the area, they will probably know.



Here is a video about Edward Gowans, if you have a good (read huge...) budget then he should be your nr 1 pick ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HMAHlqm4GU

(in this video they use real food, but his studio is part studio part professional kitchen... he also has one of the best cameras in the world, a Hasselblad 500 C/M.... ) In the video he uses on food stylist along with a second food stylist.



good luck

Anders
sandholm, Jun 11, 2008 @ 12:56

My wife is not professional but she has special interest in food photography and a food blog with high hits.

Check her flickr page and let me know what you think. I can arrange a meeting.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zezes/

thanks
fotomy, Jun 12, 2008 @ 18:13

Thanks for the information Sandholm. The uTube video was really interesting.

Fotomy, I've checked out your wife's website and am sending you an email.
lentil, Jun 12, 2008 @ 18:29