You may be asking “What is PTVs?” 

PTVs is an acronym for Photo Tips Via skype.
Due to popular demand at the rate of $30 per 15 minutes or $50 per half hour and  $90 per hour, I will tutor you and show you whatever you’d like to learn about digital photography. Understand your camera, metering techniques, lighting for portraits and objects, using mirrors, post production, and so much more…

Simply contact me at loumanna@gmail.com

I’ve expanded the walls of my studio to the unlimited virtual space on the worldwide web.

For those of you who thirst for photographic knowledge, need help photographing something, don’t want to travel to sunny and warm NY City and would like to tap into my 35 years of experience on a wide range of topics, I’ve come up with this new solution.

PHOTO TIPS VIA skype (PTVs)

I’ve successfully begun to give private tips for a nominal fee on the web via Skype. If you’re interested and would like more info, please email me at loumanna@gmail.com with some of the questions that you have and put in the subject line: PTVS info please. I’ll get back to you within a few days, unless your needs are more timely, then put in the subject line: PTVs soon please. Then I will respond as soon as I can!

Enough with the HYPE…Once you’ve had the free 5 minute introductory tip, you will exclaim “I WANT MY PTVs!!!” often.

All my best,

Lou

www.MrDigitalPhotographer.com

The response to all of my workshops, seminars, webinars, podcasts, book, articles has been overwhelming!

THANK YOU ALL!!!

a recipe for spicing up your marketing

Please join me by registering at:

http://www.livebooks.com/community/events/webinars/manna/recipe/index.php

Dear Ian,

It is my distinct pleasure to inform you that you have won the BEST LOOKING FOOD OF 2009 CONTEST.

I’d like to thank you for your hard work and inspiration. The judges and I do love pizza and I like the color combination. I might add a few items just to spice it up a bit for my cover!

Please call me at your earliest convenience to discuss your prizes.

All my best,

Lou

I’d like to personally thank all of you who entered and expressed interest in the BEST LOOKING FOOD OF 2009 CONTEST.

The enthusiastic response and great entries have been wonderful to behold.

The contest drew participants from all over the United States and the World.

Some of the foreign entries were from Switzerland, Qatar, Italy, Malaysia, Canada, Australia, Portugal, India, and Hong Kong.

This reinforces the well known idioms that “A picture is worth a thousand words” and “You eat with your eyes first”!

Please keep checking back for more updates and useful tips on Digital Food Photography…

All my best and Thanks again,

Lou

This is an arduous process compiling all of the wonderful entries that were submitted. The judges will have quite a task selecting the winner. I will announce the winner on this blog and send them an email on Monday, February 23rd, 2009.

Thanks again to my generous sponsors:

OLYMPUS

KINGSTON

CALUMET

LIVEBOOKS

CITYSEARCH

Best Looking Food of 2009 Contest

In an effort to capture the beauty of food photography and styling, award-winning Olympus Visionary food photographer Lou Manna announces a unique “creative concept” contest for the Best Looking Food of 2009.

The winning concept will be used as the inspiration for the cover of Lou’s forthcoming second book, More Digital Food Photography, coming out Fall 2009.

The quality of your photo does not matter; it is all about how the food looks. 

Cell phone photos are acceptable.

The contest began on January 1^st and will end on February 16^th, with the winner being announced on February 23^rd. This contest is open to worldwide participation.

The prize package, valued at over $3,000, includes an Olympus camera kit equipped with Kingston memory cards, a Calumet lighting kit, a free liveBooks website design and hosting, dinner for two at a restaurant courtesy of Citysearch, and complimentary admission to a Digital Food Photography Workshop with Lou Manna.

The winner will receive a brand new 12 megapixel Olympus E-30 DSLR camera with incredible Creative Features built in and a Zuiko 28-84mm Digital lens.  The camera’s Art Filters, Multiple Exposure and Multi Aspect Shooting mean you’re limited only by your imagination.

In addition, the winner will have the exclusive opportunity to attend the photo shoot with Lou Manna at his studio in NYC (travel not included) to watch his vision for the cover of More Digital Food Photography come to life.

Please click on the CONTEST tab above to enter or click here: www.digitalfoodphotos.com/blog/contest/ 

For a brief video about the contest, check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHCSv22OESA 

For starters…

Having a digital camera that has a macro mode and saturated color reproduction will greatly help you capture the beauty of your dish. Most Olympus cameras have an exclusive Cuisine mode setting that does all that for you just by pressing a button. Now you can capture your recipe with ease. Always pay attention to the picture on the LCD screen to see if you have the right exposure, if not take another shot and use the exposure compensation button to lighten (+) or darken (-) the photo. 

Here’s what to look for…

Pick a location in the sun or in the shade. Try not to have your dish in both since the contrast range will be too great for any digital camera sensor.  

When shooting in the sun…

The heat will cause delicate herbs to wilt, cheese to melt and other problems, so work fast! Try to have the sun at your side or behind the food, just not at your back since that will flatten the look of your food. You can use your flash to fill in the harsh shadows, or try mirrors and aluminum foil to bounce some light back into the food. By doing that you’ll create some specular highlights and give your dish more appetite appeal. White paper will bounce soft light back on the subject, or try gold foil to add some warmth to the shot. Placing wax paper or a white shower curtain between the sun and the food will diffuse the light and soften the shadows.  

If you choose the shade…

You’ll have a bit more time to shoot, but you won’t have any sparkle in the photo. You can add some specular highlights with mirrors or aluminum foil. A tripod might be needed since the light level is lower and you may shake your camera when taking the photo giving you a blurry result. The auto white balance feature on your camera may not compensate enough for the bluish color cast that you get when shooting in the shade. Try using the preset white balance settings in either the cloudy or deep shade modes. This introduces a warmer tone to the photograph and makes the food look more appealing. 

Food Tips…

-Consider contrasting colors and shapes of the food items

-Undercook the food so it doesn’t look dried out

-Use a brush with light oil to add shine to the food

-Spraying a mixture of glycerin and water will add droplets to vegetables and glasses

-Manipulate small elements with tweezers

-Watch for reflections in the silverware and use a small piece of putty to angle it

-Clean up the plates with q-tips, paper towels, and glass cleaner

Composition…

-Look at what elements are around the plate and move them so they frame the dish and complement it

-Try to create a circular composition, which keeps your eye moving through the photo and directs your attention towards the food

-Shoot from various angles till you find what looks best, you’ll know it when you see it

-Throwing certain objects out of focus, tilting the frame, and tight close-ups are some of the techniques to get the viewer’s attention and achieve desired effects

-Most of the time, simplicity rules… less is more when it comes to food photography  

Your photo will look like this if you are shooting under tungsten light such as a light bulb and you don’t set your white balance to TUNGSTEN

Your photo will look like this if you are shooting indoors with a flash and you have set your white balance to DAYLIGHT

Your photo will look like this if you don’t set your white balance to CLOUDY. This setting adds a little yellow and orange to compensate for the color of this light source

Your photo will look like this if you don’t set your white balance to SHADE. This setting adds more yellow and orange to compensate for the color of this light source

Your photo will look like this if you are shooting under fluorescent light, found in most commercial kitchens, if you don’t set your white balance to FLUORESCENT

Custom White Balance adjusts the presumed white point for digital cameras. Aim the camera at a white card and capture the white balance setting so that anything white will be white in your photo. I always set the white balance to manual mode. Often, I create a custom white balance to get better color rendition. Sometimes when using electronic flash, the white balance has to be set manually because the light doesn’t exist until the flash goes off. A setting for daylight is usually close.

Food stylists  are required to create beautiful dishes that can hold up for several hours on and off set, not to mention withstand hot, harsh lighting conditions.

To create the effect of grill marks on food, some stylists use metal skewers heated over an open flame, while others prefer to use an electric charcoal starter.  The electric starter makes a wider mark and minimizes your chances of burning yourself.