My coffee t a b l e e - bo o k
How I style and photograph my food and floral images By D i a n a L o v r i n g
My coffee t a bl e e - bo o k
How I style and photograph my food and floral images By D i a n a L o v r i n g
“My coffee table e-book” © 2017 DIANA LOVRING Photography, graphic design, text and concept by Diana Lovring. All material in this e-book is protected by copyright. Copying, distribution or other use is not allowed without prior permission. Thank you Anders Falk Jensen and Eline Engen for all your help.
This e-book is a combination between a beautiful coffee table book with inspirational images, and a ‘how to’ book about how I style and photograph my images. For 22 years I have worked professionally with visual communication, and I have a degree in photography and graphic design as well as an education as a sign painter. Today I work full time as a photographer, graphic designer, concept creator and prop stylist. And you know what; #ilovemyjob Diana Lovring
1. Floral Faffing
Story telling
The star
Angle Colours Space
2. Artistic food
Natural light
Texture Contrasts Backgrounds
3. Out & About
Location
Grey & cloudy
4. Treat yourself
Mood or moody
Be bright
Practice makes perfect
Floral faffing
Story telling Every photograph (the better ones that is) begins with a story. Actually an image is like writing with words, but instead of the letters you replace them with props and elements and light and backgrounds. When you are telling a visual story, you want the viewer to understand your message, just without words. If the viewer can’t read your image, she or he will just move on to others. So before you take an image, think about what story you want to tell. And this applies to both styled images as well as your holiday snapshots. Except with a styled image you have more time to think about your story. I have chosen to show you story telling with these stunning orange tulips. I found them one day I was in the big city, and I fell in love with the colour and the texture of the tulips. In this story I want to show you what it was about the tulips that I fell in love with. I have enhanced the vibrant orange against a dark background, I have photographed the tulips twice to show you the different stages of a flower and the stunning texture of it. I also got my darling husband to pose for me, because to me flowers are romantic and my husband often gives me flowers (I know; lucky me). So you see, a story doesn’t have to be complicated, and sometimes simple is more readable to your viewer.
The Star To make your image stronger and the message easier to read, find out who the star of the image is, and then focus on bringing out just that. Like in these images with the cotton flower I wanted to really tell the story of the beautifully fluffy texture of these beauties. And at the same time enhancing the simplicity and cleanness of the plant. With the camera I “spiced� it up with playing with the sharpness of the images.
Angles Basecially there are three angles; from above, from below or face on. And then of course the different degrees and how close you get to your star of the image. Which angle you choose is up to your leading star; is it tall, short, flat, round etc.? The Drumstick Scabious is an amazing flower and with so many details. So I got as close as I could with my 50 mm lens on the first image. The angle is straight on but close. Notice the earthy tones - that make the image calm and bring out the green in the plant. Image number two is also straight on, but further away. The blur gives a bit of movement - ah, well it is a drumstick right!? The last image in this story is about a person cutting the flowers, and who is just about to arrange them in a vase or similar. I wanted to show the scissiors properly because they are a big part of the story telling. Without the scissiors it doesn’t say ‘arranging flowers’. That is why I chose the from above angle. And also I wanted the texture from the background to really stand out.
Colours The subject of colour is such a massive and beautiful universe. Where to start ... where to end! Well, to simplify the subject of colours, some work really well together and some don’t. There ... oh you want a bit more info. What works well in my imagery is the muted tones, and usually the earthy and burned ones. Wooden tones, black rustic, green from the leaves and sometimes adding some pretty pink lemonade, orange or the gorgeous indigo blue. And white of course. Even when creating the moody and dark images, white is always great for creating contrast. I use these colours to make calm, poetic and moody photographs. A rule of thumb is that to create colour contrast you can use the complementary colours. Just a bit of one of them and lots of the other (or mix with the burned tones). Orange / blue Green / red Purple / green If you want to know more I recommend you to look up www.design-seeds.com.
Space To me space (or negative space) is about creating calmness or speed to your image, all depending on what feel and mood you are going for. In these faded rose images the negative space creates calm, because the roses are not moving. If you have a person in your image or a car, the rule of thumb is that the way the person is looking / the direction the car is moving, this is where there should be the most negative space, to give that a feeling of movement. (Once you know and master this you can break the rule). The faded roses story is about calmness (whoa, what a surprise. I do work with portraits too, but that is another story). The focus in these images is to tell the viewer that faded roses are beautiful too (did it work?). When roses are faded they become like a sculpture and this I am showing you in images number 3 (you can’t do this with a fresh flower).
Artistic food
Natural light As you (hopefully) know by now, I only use the natural light. It is soft and gives the most authentic images. It takes a bit of time to learn and master the use of natural lighting, but with practice it is totally worth it. (I most say that if you photograph packshots, flash is the very best, because you don’t want any flattering shadows and the tiny details are important to show). Once you know how to use nature’s own flash, it is pure joy to photograph all kinds of fantastic objects. In this chapter I show how artistic some vegetables can be in the right light. This first little story is ginger. I love the texture and shapes of these healthy vegetables, but the colour is a bit ... well boring. So by putting the ginger on a cake stand, on a beautiful plate, creating a pattern and stacking them (in a way that seems impossible), it gives the images and vegetable a more sophisticated and twisted look. And they really stand out because the background is dark and lovely moody.
Texture I have talked a lot about texture. To me texture is (almost) everything. It’s what brings life to an image. It can be a flower (ah, yes I do love flowers), fabric, background, bricks, wood, colours or as here food. Mushrooms are perfect to show texture. The shapes and form of a mushroom is divine, don’t you think so too? Really I don’t need to say more just look at these images to see for yourself. Also notice that in this story I have used muted colours to emphasize the earthy feel and softness of the mushrooms.
Contrasts Imagine an image with only small objects in it. All you think about as the viewer is where to to focus your eyes. When you create contrasts you show who is the star (focus point). You want people to say; ahhh; that is what the image (story) is about. You can create contrast in the size, texture, colour, shape or choice of material. In these images with the lovely physalis, I have created contrasts in the choice of background and the colours. In the first image it is about the contrast of texture; crispy leaves and smooth berries up against a raw painted wooden background. In the second image the contrast is still what was in the first image, but then I have added a white element (the porcelain tray) to really make the berries stand out. The last image is more about the tray and not so much the berries. The berries are merely elements to show off the tray, and this effect I gain from not creating a contrast in colour between the tray and the fruits, but in shape and size (the tray is the biggest).
Backgrounds Ok, I really enjoy working with burned colours and wood … oh and black too. Especially when I create moody and dark images, and the backgrounds are so important in this process. I guess this is the way I create ‘hygge’ in my photography #ilovehygge. And there is nothing like afternoon tea and great bread that says ‘hygge’. The background is not supposed to be the star but to enhance the story of the leading character. The kind of background you choose is important for your whole mood and what you want to tell. In this series of images, I have used wood and an indigo painted background. The bread is rustic and to make that stand out, a wooden background is perfect to emphasize this. And the blue matches perfectly with the wooden earthy colours. They are complementary (orange / blue).
Out & About
Location When you decide to take your camera outside for a shoot, there are several things you need to consider. One of them is of course where to shoot. Now this isn’t just everywhere. The location has to enhance the story / concept that you have worked on. In this case, where I wanted to tell the story of an ‘outdoor afternoon tea party referring to past times’, the location had to be just right. I found the perfect spot in an old garden with unpicked winter apples and old apple trees. The little white bridge over the river just added to the mood of a gothic time period.
Grey & cloudy I love a moody image and for this gloomy universe (you know I am from Scandinavia) a grey and cloudy day is the very best. There is always the chance (ok, risk), that this kind of weather will turn into rain, so I always double-check the forecast. If you have a client with you, make a plan B in case the weather changes dramatically.
Treat yourself
Moody Some would say that images tell a lot about the person behind the camera. Well that might be true. I have become addicted with creating those moody and dark images. Technically it gives me more joy, than “just” shooting on a white background, because I am playing with shadow and light. Also with me being a romantic and poetic soul (you know the sensitive and sometimes annoying type), the ‘moody’ speaks to me in a different way than a bright and light image does. Never the less a bright photo can also be moody, just in a more clean and pure way.
Brig ht We just talked about the dark and moody. Here are some bright and light photographs of a very lovely raspberry cake from my local bakery. It’s not as poetic as with the previous story, but with a clean and white backdrop you can create upbeat and fun images, with the star player right there in focus.
Practice makes perfect I have told you some of my secrets and how to tools. I have just really scratched the surface, but hopefully given you inspiration to try out yourself. One thing about photography (and everything else in life) is that you must practice, practice, and practice. Learn from your mistakes. Write down what you do. Take images of your teddy bear (I am sure that you have one) at different camera settings; notice what you do and what happens. Try out different backgrounds and in different light (close and far from the camera). And if you feel lost take a break and start out again tomorrow.
Diana Lovring is a lifestyle and commercial photographer, stylist, graphic designer and concept creator based in rural Jutland, DK. From Bournemouth University, UK, she has a Photography BA(hons), and is also educated Graphic Designer and Sign Painter. ​ The photography of Diana Lovring is said to be poetic and her graphic design clean. But in the end it all depends on what look is needed for the assignment. ​ iana was interviewed by Design Seeds in DeD cember 2016 about the way she uses colours and story telling. Diana has also been Weekly Instagrammer at BoligMagasinet, A Danish interior magazine and made Favorite Instagrammer by Plum & Ashby, who also asked Diana to write a guest blog post on how she styles a photo.
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