Normally I use Studio strobes when producing the majority of my food photography. However when a client needs Video the modeling lamps in my strobe lights are not quite bright enough to get the best results.

So all the light modifiers I would normally use to control those lights are unusable as well, making it quite a challenge to adapt the techniques to the LED system I am currently developing for video use.

Colour balance is critical to food imaging in order to accurately depict the items. I have selected 5000º Kelvin LED lights as the most practical base colour temperature calibration and this seems to work in most all locations, provided that there is not an over abundance of ambient light and matches the colour of sun light making it blend better when there are windows nearby to the shooting set up. Also this reduces production costs in that expensive specialized Bi-colour LED panels are not required. Standard off the shelf LED are far easier to acquire and modify plus a verity of beam widths are available making for even more light focus control.      

More experiments in lighting to come.

©2021 Eric James Swearingen