Last updated: 19 June 2023
Earlier this month, I was invited along with a select number of fellow bloggers to explore low light food photography at the Nikon School in the heart of London. Invited to an event with the promise of fun photography and food, how and why would I say no?
Armed with just about every piece of camera equipment I own I headed for Oxford St. I was ‘that’ person on the Tube with an excessively large bag full of camera equipment hoping today wasn’t the day for a mugging. I must say it felt weird and uncomfortable to know I’d be in low light conditions but without a tripod for stability, but I had faith in the Nikon crew they’d show me the way.
So first up was a quick meet and greet. A hello to some familiar faces I’ve met at other events and we sit down to be briefed about the night ahead.
A quick intro about Nikon’s menu structure and how to use a camera plus loaners handed out to anyone that didn’t have one. Good start I’m thinking, I have my camera and I know the menu structure. Sweet! I have to admit, if it was any brand other than Nikon I would have been madly scribbling notes on my notepad. As a Nikon user for many years I felt confident I knew where all the settings were, or so I thought!
Altering ISO, aperture and shutter speed were glossed over with a fairly assumed knowledge. I noted some bloggers looked a bit overwhelmed by the terminology but fortunately there were Nikon experts on hand to assist us.
Food was our Subject
Our subject for the evening was food. Plated up, foods with a mixture of texture and colour were set up on podiums and each lit slightly differently. Some with white light, others with defusers which required us to alter the settings on our camera each time.
I really wanted to try out one of the macro lenses that were made available for us to try, but as you can imagine the demand for these was high and I missed out. There’s always next time! However, armed with my preferred lens, 50mm prime, I was sure I was going to get some amazing depth of field and bokeh; that’s camera-talk for blur.
What’s depth of field?
Depth of field is distance between the nearest and farthest objects that appear in acceptably sharp focus in a photograph. As bloggers armed with some expensive equipment, we all went our different ways, approaching the subjects at different angles.
I found myself getting very frustrated by the defusers so I sat and fiddled with my camera. Madly turning dials determined to get the results I wanted. Click, click, I took pictures trying to get ‘that shot’. I found myself turning more. Click click. Bargh! I got yellow light when I should be getting white. Why? why? why?? I told myself;
I can take better pictures than this!
Resentment was setting in, so I wondered the halls of Nikon School seeking serenity. Adorning the walls was some inspiring images. It made me wonder who had the patience to take some of these amazing shots. It reminded me that, you can too. You have to struggle, you have to find your balance and remember that you can’t get shots like this on day one.
Practice, practice, practice
After struggling, fiddling with settings and results failing to deliver, I bent the ear of one of the Nikon staff at the end of the session. I knew the results I wanted to achieve but couldn’t figure out how to manually preset my white balance to give a more accurate representation of the colours in my setting. Turns out, my camera was a bit more complicated than some of the others so it’s taking some practice to get that sorted.
My takeaway from #LightsCameraCurrys at Nikon School
Every class I’ve ever been to I’ve always learnt something. My time at Nikon School was no different.
- Custom white balance. Learn how to custom set white balance on your own camera!
- Don’t be afraid to fill the frame. You don’t have to show the whole cake/sandwich or plate. – Show the detail. Get in close and really get the texture into your frame.
- Low light is tough. You turn your ISO up equals more noise. So play it safe and take 10x more shots than you think you’ll need. Otherwise you might get home and realise a large portion are blurry and you’ll have to be creative with your edit!
The Essentials | Nikon School
- Where: 63-64 Margaret St, London W1W 8SW
- When: Nikon regularly runs classes.
- Verdict: Recommended!
- Interested to know more? Currys wrote a blog post on the night too.
- Disclaimer: While I was a guest of Currys & Nikon, all opinions, as always, are our own.
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