Heya Fox! Thanks for your honest opinion! Being a real beginner, I'm thankful for such channels tat I could extend my queries and to receive such valuable tips without yrs of shooting experience. I will certainly take note of those u had mentioned. Thanks!! I would had really gone without really proper planning otherwise!!
No problem, happy to help out.
There are things we can prepare for, like equipment & art direction. Discuss art direction first, if your friend has prior photos taken or has an idea of how to be then take direction from him. Otherwise you 2 need to sit down and discuss how to make it work for him & simple for you. Do this asap to ascertain if it's doable and at what cost (money/time). Best to have the discussion at the restaurant, so you can plan/test shoot for shooting angle/background, working space, and variety of food. You also need to be aware how a different method may give a different result, for example, if using a LED torch will result in a more 'light painting' photograph. Whether this is in line with the art direction agreed upon earlier, or something the client is acceptable to. You can do a mockup/test shoot for the first meeting.
You also need to plan the order of appearance, to make things easier for you and not necessarily the chef. For example, all small dish -> all big dish or all dry dish-> all soup dish or by colour. Essentially you want to shoot in 'similar groups' as much as possible, and not having to change your setup too often because it wastes time. Remember the chef is preparing the next dish, so you don't have a lot of time to experiment if it cannot be shot 'cold'. You need to know roughly how long you take to shoot each dish, so you can order the chef how constant they arrive. Don't you wait for me, I wait for you. Maybe at the moment you might feel it's all the same, this is something you'll understand through the shooting process and when you're looking at a higher (more complex) quality of photography.
Once you know what's in front of you, you can work on eqpt. Normally as commercial photographers we feel safer to bring a little more than what's required (if possible), because it gives the ability to change on the fly. Since you only have a limited equipment set, and not a professional, it's advisable to work with what you already have and what you're comfortable using. For every job, we try to keep it simple and manageable. But the most important tool is your brain/your smarts. With limited resources, how do you expand your capability to shoot?
As a hint, start gathering bounce cards, small mirrors, cleaning cloths, tweezers, toothpicks, etc. Never expect the restaurant to provide all these small items for you, better to bring your own supply. If you lose in lighting eqpt, make up for it in other areas.
What you cannot plan for is the quality & standard of food and amount of styling afforded by the chef. If the chef is in a hurry or tired or in a poor mood, the quality of dishes also suffer. This is something you need to take note and perhaps remedy to a certain degree. What you waste, is time.
I am taking the safer approach or rather something I would choose to do. Unless the project really calls for it or if the opportunity presents itself, I wouldn't change my shooting style. In the end you may be a natural or can grow to be a very good 'LED food photographer', this is something you may want to investigate and perhaps even take on for the stated project.
All directions are available, all the best!
