Lara Ferroni, Seattle-based publisher of [Cookbook 411](http://www.cookbook411.com/) (and Roots and Grubs reader), has started a new blog called [Still Life With](http://www.stilllifewith.com/), all about food photography. If you’ve been wondering how to improve your food photography, ride along with Lara and she will no doubt explain it all.
On the other hand, if you’ve wondered why Roots and Grubs has few photos, I can explain that. A few years ago I was writing a column for eGullet called Desperate Measures. Their policy was that every article they published required a photo or other illustration.
One of the editors was Ellen Shapiro, a very talented professional photographer. She patiently explained the basics of closeup photography to me, told me what kind of lighting to buy, and gave many hints about presentation and props. I ended up taking some pretty good pictures, such as:
Apparently I did especially well with starch.
Anyway, these days there’s just no way I’m going to haul out the lights and shoot several dozen exposures of, say, the delicious cheesy grits I made for breakfast yesterday. Sure, I could forget the lights and post photos that aren’t as good, but when it comes to pictures, I’m too much of a perfectionist to do that. And my camera has terrible low-light performance.
But maybe I’ll pick up some tips from Still Life With.
Yes, wanting to photograph everything before you eat it is really a bit of a sickness. My daughter just looks at me and rolls her eyes. But, she also gets to eat a bunch of yummy food, so she tolerates me (well, as much as any almost-12 year old can tolerate their mother).
Thanks so much for the link!