Can you create great food images from a ready meal?

As a photographer I love challenging myself and this week is no different. I popped down to my local Tesco and picked up a ready meal, some fresh herbs at a cost of £4.50 all in. The challenge that I set my self was to photograph this £4.50 meal to look like a fine dinning meal.

What I bought from Tesco:

1. Ham & Mushroom Tagliatelle

2. Chives

3. Basil

My setup was quite simple here is the list of items that I used for my set:

1. Bone china plate that I had that most high end resturants use for spagetti

2. White napkin

3. Knife and fork

4. Wine glass

5. Salt and Pepper grinders

6. Dinning table or a nice looking surface

For the lighting I also kept this very simple and lit the complete scene with a single light, GODOX AD600, this is a cordless monoblock light that is battery operated, natuarlly a wired monoblock light will work the exact same. I also used a 60cm Octobox to modify the light and with the baffle in place. Finally I used the Sony A7RIII full frame camera with Sony 90mm f2.8 macro lens attached.

Below is the final settings to produce the images.

1/500 sec

f7.1

ISO 100

All the images have been captured with Capture One through tethered shooting, this is avoid moving the camera in anyway.

I finally edited the images in both Capture One and Photoshop to up the usual exposure, brightness and sharpness, I have not manipulated the images by adding or removing items from the image.

I hope that you have enjoyed how I have captured the images.