Is it just me, or are the days starting to get a lot shorter? I’m not sure how it is for you where you live, but here in Norway we’re entering what I’ve so loving come to call “the dark times.” Sounds ominous, right? Well, in terms of food photography, it kind of is. As you probably already know, the best lighting for food photos is natural lighting. That’s great here in the summer where we only have 2 hours of darkness during the longest days (yipee!). But during the shortest days of winter, it’s the opposite. Yes, that really does mean just 2 hours of glorious, direct sunlight. And, of course, most of those precious daylight hours fall in the middle of the day where many of us are at work. Booooo! For those of you working on your food photography, you’ve probably quickly realized that night photography is a-whole-nother ball game when compared to daylight photography. I certainly know I’ve struggled with it!
Take a look at the photos above. You probably wouldn’t be surprised to hear that they were taken at night, right? They’ve got that characteristic yellow tint to them and shadows from poor overhead lighting. Not great. Certainly not what I want to be uploading to my blog (which isn’t to say I haven’t upload all of these at one time or another… No, don’t go find them). Now look at the photos below. Which ones were taken at night and which ones were taken in the day?
Was it a little harder to tell the difference? Hopefully it was (for those of you that want an answer, the top left and bottom right were taken at night while the top right and bottom left were taken during the day in natural light). We want our photos to have consistent, good lighting, and for it to be difficult to tell whether we took the photos during the day or at night with artificial lighting. So let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of night photography!
The Set Up
Everybody’s a little different, so I’m not going to tell you that this is the best way EVER to take photographs at night. Rather, I’m going to tell you what works for me, and hopefully give you a place to start in setting things up to take food photos at night. My set up has 3 important components: an external flash, a light diffuser, and a reflector.
The External Flash
My external flash is the DigiFlash 3000 by Sunpak for Canons. Keep in mind what you use will likely depend on the brand of camera you use (the camera I most often use is a Canon EOS Rebel T3i, and yes, I know the one in the previous picture is a Sony) but Sunpak makes external flashes for most of the big camera brands. This was by far the most expensive piece of my set up, and cost me just uner $100 at Walmart. Since we’re not going to be using this flash on top of the camera, you’ll also need to pick up a transmitter of some sort (this can be a pc sync cable or a wireless transmitter) to synchronize your camera’s actions (i.e. taking the picture) with your flash’s actions (i.e. setting off the flash). Again, what you use may depend on your camera and the flash, but I personally use the Pawn Wireless Flash Trigger by Pixel Enterprises Limited for Canon. I picked it up on Amazon for about $10.
The Light Diffuser
There are a lot of commercial options out there for photography light diffusers, but I made my own using a large picture frame and some white fabric. To make it, I simply removed everything from the frame (glass and all) and rolled the fabric under the metal pieces meant to hold the glass and picture in place. All in all, I think the entire thing cost me about $10-15.
The Reflector
Like the light diffuser, there are plenty of commercial options available for reflectors for photography, but honestly, you can very easily make your own at home as long as it meets two criteria: it has a reflective surface and it can stand on its own. I’ve heard foam board with a shiny finish is a great option, but I often just use a box lid or two with tin foil taped to the top. Since I just use stuff already lying around at home, I don’t really have a cost for this item, but I’d guess a few dollars if I had to.
Other Helpful Items
A tripod is really helpful, freeing you hands up to hold other things when necessary (like the reflector when you need to adjust the angle it’s reflecting at).
Putting Your Set Up Together
So now that you have all the pieces, it’s time to set it all up. There are lots of different ways to do this, and I highly recommend checking out Pinch of Yum and Photographing Food issue #3 for some other options, but I like to set mine up so I have my flash on one side (doesn’t really matter which), followed by my diffuser, whatever I’m photographing, and then the reflector. Because this flash doesn’t have anyway to adjust the power of the flash, I do it by physically moving it farther away or closer to my diffuser and what I’m photographing.
Camera Settings
Not surprisingly, night photography also requires some special settings on your camera. Although you’ll likely have to take some practice pictures and make adjustments to get it perfect for each shot, I recommend starting with an ISO of 100-200, a shutter speed of 1/125-1/200 (over 200 is often too fast for the flash and will result in dark spots), and an aperture from 3-10. Here are some examples with the settings I used for each:
Wow! You made it to the end and you’re still reading! Yay! I know it’s a lot of information to take in, but hopefully it helps get you pointed in the right direction to take some fantastic night food photos! If you’re still hungry for more food photography information, check out these other posts on:
Editing Your Food Photos
10 Ways to Improve Your Food Photography
Have you been working on your night photography and found something that works great for you? Share your thoughts on night photography in the comments below!
Caroline @ shrinkingsingle says
November 16, 2014 at 10:22 pmSuch a great post. I really need to get my head around shutter speeds etc. This gives me a good place to start.
The Simple, Sweet Life says
November 17, 2014 at 10:23 pmI’m so glad you found it helpful! Photography can be really tricky, especially since tweaking one setting usually means tweaking another and understanding how they interact with each other.
Jolena @TheRubyKitchen says
November 16, 2014 at 1:59 pmThis is a great post thank you for sharing. I struggle with the shorter days and it is frustrating when you make something on a whom at night and cannot get good shots. Thank you!
The Simple, Sweet Life says
November 17, 2014 at 10:21 pmI totally get that! I actually stopped baking at night because I couldn’t photograph it properly, so I’d rush home from work and whip up things as fast as I could before I lost the light… Kind of made for stressful evenings!
Sue says
November 17, 2014 at 6:06 amThis is great Claire. Your photos really illustrate what you’re saying and that helps 🙂 Thanks!
The Simple, Sweet Life says
November 17, 2014 at 10:24 pmThank you! 🙂
Rachel @ A Sweet Muddle says
November 17, 2014 at 8:24 amHi Claire, thanks for sharing. At the moment I only shoot using natural light and have been wanting to try different light set ups for a while, so this has inspired me to give it a go! Just wondering, would you mind sharing where you got your backdrops from and what size they are?
The Simple, Sweet Life says
November 17, 2014 at 10:27 pmI’m so glad this post has gotten you inspired to try night photography! 🙂 The backdrops I use most come from Ink and Elm () and I’ve found I really don’t need anything bigger than their smallest size (2ft x 3ft) since I typically combine my backdrops to create a “wall” and a “floor/counter.”
Rachel @ A Sweet Muddle says
November 19, 2014 at 1:41 amThanks Claire, this is really helpful 🙂
The Simple, Sweet Life says
November 24, 2014 at 9:53 pmI’m so glad you found it helpful! 🙂
Robyn @ simply fresh dinners says
November 16, 2014 at 11:32 pmI really needed this right now, Claire! thanks so much for the great tips. I definitely could not tell the difference between daylight and night. Have a great day…errmm..night! lol
The Simple, Sweet Life says
November 17, 2014 at 10:24 pmSo glad you found it helpful! I will definitely be enjoying my evenings and not having to rush home to catch that last little ray of sunlight for my blog. 😉
Laura says
November 17, 2014 at 10:26 amThis has been really useful so I’m really grateful for you taking the wine to write about night food photography. I’m having to take a break from blogging (cutting back rather than giving up) while I complete my final year of university but I’ll be studying this in the meantime =)
The Simple, Sweet Life says
November 17, 2014 at 10:31 pmI’m so glad you found this post helpful! And I commend you for continuing to blog (even if it’s not as much) while you’re finishing up school. Seriously, that last year is always so grueling!! Good luck with your studies! 🙂
liztiptopshape says
November 17, 2014 at 4:25 pmThank you for this post! I always struggle with nighttime photography.
The Simple, Sweet Life says
November 17, 2014 at 10:32 pmI hear ya! Nighttime photography has pretty much been my blogging arch-nemesis up until now, but I think we’re finally on speaking terms. 😉
Karen says
November 18, 2014 at 11:07 pmThis is an awesome post! I really needed this! I totally hear you on total darkness, but where I live in Canada, I still get daylight for a good 8 hours or so….while I’m at work, lol! I love the sun, I would love a Summer with only two hours of darkness. 🙂
I have to try out your tips, they are fantastic! 🙂
The Simple, Sweet Life says
November 24, 2014 at 9:52 pmThe two hours of darkness in the summer sounds a lot better than it is in reality… Really messes with your internal clock, but more importantly, we’re far enough north that our summers are particularly warm (we’re talking like 20*C), and I miss that. But the short days in the winter, definitely a bummer here! Glad to hear you get a little more sunlight. 🙂
Espirational says
November 18, 2014 at 10:33 pmGreat article! My food photography can use all the help it can get.
The Simple, Sweet Life says
November 24, 2014 at 9:50 pmI know the feeling! But I’m glad you could find some useful information in this post! 🙂
Kim @ The Baking ChocolaTess says
November 20, 2014 at 5:11 amThank you so much for sharing. I so needed this! You have beautiful photography! 🙂 Stopping by from Tasty Tuesday.
The Simple, Sweet Life says
November 24, 2014 at 11:14 pmThank you! I’m so glad you were able to find some helpful information! 🙂
Audrey@That Recipe says
November 20, 2014 at 10:13 pmI get very little direct light in my kitchen so step by step photos can be a challenge. I have been known to take the final product outside just to get some light. Thanks for the tips.
The Simple, Sweet Life says
November 24, 2014 at 11:16 pmGoing outside is a great idea if you have the space! Honestly, I don’t actually take any of my photos in my kitchen anymore because the light is so poor, and there’s not enough room for a good photography set up. I actually carry it all upstairs to my office. Talk about a pain!
christine (@foodyschmoody) says
November 20, 2014 at 11:38 pmThank you for sharing this at The Wednesday Roundup. I struggle w/ food photography during the winter. In the summer, I just take it outside, but winter and nighttime are terrible. I still need to learn all the gadgets my camera has to offer. I’ve never seen the flash used like that before.
The Simple, Sweet Life says
November 24, 2014 at 11:19 pmNight photography has been the biggest obstacle for me in terms of blogging, outside of just generally getting better at taking photographs. It’s so different from daylight photography, and there are a lot of gadgets to figure out! I like to use the flash because it does a better job of mimicking daylight, but I put it off to the side, behind a diffuser, because straight on, it’s just too bright and harsh.
Emily Thompson says
November 22, 2014 at 2:01 pmawesome!! thanks for linking up to the Create Link Inspire party. I found this super helpful… I often plan my whole day around taking photos in good light and it would be great not to have that! Pinned!
The Simple, Sweet Life says
November 24, 2014 at 11:22 pmI totally used to do that too, and it made blogging SO much more stressful! It was such a relief to figure out the night photography so that I could relax and bake more at my leisure. So glad you found the post helpful! 🙂
Laura@Baking In Pyjamas says
November 23, 2014 at 7:37 pmThis is very helpful, I’ll be bookmarking it for future reading. Thanks for linking up to Sweet and Savoury Sunday, stop by and link up again. Have a great day!!
The Simple, Sweet Life says
November 24, 2014 at 11:22 pmSo glad you found it helpful! 🙂
Britney says
December 2, 2014 at 4:11 pmSuch a great post! I am pinning it and you are being featured at The Wednesday Roundup this week! Thanks so much for linking up!
The Simple, Sweet Life says
December 4, 2014 at 12:39 amThanks so much for the sweet feature! I’m so glad you liked the post! 🙂
Frances says
December 2, 2014 at 6:37 pmExcellent post!! Thank you for sharing all of this great information!!
The Simple, Sweet Life says
December 4, 2014 at 12:40 amYou’re welcome! I’m so glad you found it helpful! 🙂
MyAdventuresInDinnerTime says
December 3, 2014 at 3:23 pmI love all the tips… thank you so much!! I have to wait until the next day and photograph the leftovers to get my natural light… it’s a pain
The Simple, Sweet Life says
December 4, 2014 at 12:43 amI’m so glad you liked the post! I, too, was making my food in the evening and then photographing it the next day in natural light, but it meant all of my process pictures looked really… sad… Learning to photograph at night has been a lifesaver for me! 🙂
Bedhead Designs says
December 4, 2014 at 5:05 amThank you for this! My hubby was a pro photographer for several years til burn out set in! We sold all the stuff that was just lying around a couple years ago. Wouldn’t you know that within a year I started my own business where I could REALLY use every. single. thing. that we sold! I had a whole set up. Now I have to start over. Haha. Your pictures are stunning. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
The Simple, Sweet Life says
December 16, 2014 at 12:13 amOh no! I hate it when that happens! But I’m glad you found this post helpful! 🙂
Julie says
December 4, 2014 at 7:29 pmThank you! I too live in a northern climate and many of my photos have to be taken at night. It is especially useful to see the ISO settings and shutter speeds right on the photos.
Your set up is brilliant! It is wonderful to see how other people set up their shots. I am new to photography and didn’t realize how much planning and effort went into all those beautiful photos.
The Simple, Sweet Life says
December 16, 2014 at 12:14 amI’m so glad you found it helpful, and that I’m not the only struggling with the northern hemisphere! 🙂
Mrs. Leal @ The Cooking Hat says
January 8, 2015 at 4:39 pmThank you so much for this post! Love how you explain everything. Can I use a lamp instead of the external flash?
The Simple, Sweet Life says
January 14, 2015 at 11:14 pmI’m so glad you found the post helpful! 🙂 I haven’t had any luck personally with lamps (I’ve tried floor lamps and desk lamps with various bulbs), but I also haven’t tried any sort of photography lamp. If you do try out a lamp, please leave another comment here and let us know how it works out for you! 🙂
tedisarah says
March 9, 2015 at 1:44 amThis post is so helpful! Thank you for sharing!! Your photos are beautiful. Couldn’t tell at all which ones were taken at night versus during the day.
The Simple, Sweet Life says
March 13, 2015 at 11:55 pmI’m so glad you found it helpful and I’m so glad you like the photos! 🙂
Janise says
March 26, 2015 at 9:49 pmThis is such a fantastic post! So easy to understand and follow. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. Which LENS did you use for these shots, specifically for the aperture: f5.6, shutter speed: 1/160, ISO 100?
The Simple, Sweet Life says
March 30, 2015 at 3:32 pmI’m so glad you found this post helpful! 🙂 I shoot all of my photos with the same lens, which is the kit lens for the Canon EOS Rebel T3i. Specifically, it’s a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6.
Crista says
April 2, 2015 at 4:20 amsigh, photography is so tricky…. even with all these great tutorials, i still feel like i’ll never get it down perfect! ha! this was a great post, however – you take beautiful photos!
The Simple, Sweet Life says
April 3, 2015 at 9:11 pmThank you! 🙂 Photography was by far, hands down, the absolute MOST difficult part of blogging for me when I first started out. I swear I’ve read just about every article on food photography I’ve been able to get my little hands on. But I promise, it gets easier and you’ll eventually find your photography groove. 🙂 P.S. I checked out your blog, and your photos look pretty darn stunning! 😀
Megan Marlowe says
June 19, 2015 at 3:13 pmThis post is great! i just started my blog so lucky for me I have the bright summer sun to help in the evening, but when fall/winter rolls around, this will be perfect. thank you so much for the great tips. Your photography is amazing! So inspirational!
The Simple, Sweet Life says
July 14, 2015 at 12:28 amThank you for the sweet comment! 🙂 When I started getting serious about my blog photography, I was working with the summer sun too, which was fantastic here in Norway where we practically have it 24/7. But the winter (and lack of light) sure threw me a curve ball! Hopefully your transition will be smoother than mine. 🙂
Marsha @ Marsha's Baking Addiction says
August 24, 2015 at 8:08 pmThank you for this, so helpful! Now I just need a DSLR! 🙂
The Simple, Sweet Life says
August 26, 2015 at 9:05 pmSo glad you found it helpful! 😀
Joyce says
November 22, 2016 at 12:44 pmAhh I love this post! 🙂 Thanks for this. Winter here in Canada means it gets dark at 3:30 sometimes!
I’m completely new at this, and I had a noob question. haha! 🙂 I also use the Rebel T3i, but I can’t for the life of me figure out how to get the speedlite working without trigger the camera flash as well. It looks like they either both trigger, or neither trigger! :S haha How did you set that up so that only the speedlite triggers? :O
The Simple, Sweet Life says
November 28, 2016 at 10:02 pmI’m so glad you enjoyed this post! 🙂 And also that I’m not the only one that struggles early arctic nights! 🙂 Hmmm, I’ve never had both flashes trigger at once with this set up. That being said, my first guess would be that there’s some sort of setting on your camera that’s causing this to happen. When I shoot using this set up, for example, I use manual and have my flash set to “custom wireless flash shoot.” There are also a number of flash setting in your menu (the first tab, all the way at the bottom under “flash control”) that you might have a look at to make sure nothing is interfering there. If that doesn’t solve the problem, I’d be inclined to suggest looking at how you’re connecting your camera to the external flash. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions, or need a little more clarification on anything. Happy blogging! 😀
Joyce says
December 8, 2016 at 9:19 amOh noes! haha I totally missed the part about your transmitter! I think that is probably what I am missing! Doh! haha When you mentioned on your reply on how I am connected to my speedlite, I was scratching my head thinking….doesn’t it just trigger and connect automagically? haha. Thanks so much for the reply, without this post I would be so lost 🙂
Lauren Snyder says
December 21, 2016 at 8:10 pmThis is so helpful!!!! Thank you!
The Simple, Sweet Life says
February 19, 2017 at 9:33 pmI’m so glad you found this helpful! 😀
fitfoodiele says
January 26, 2018 at 12:07 pmwhat a HUGE help this was! I did my best with what I had and it turned out pretty darn good. many, many thanks.