lighting food

[scorsesefan]

Hi, all... I'm shooting interview style food segment where chef walks into dining room with dish, puts it on table and host interviews him. The problem is getting light on the plate and making the food pop. We use a three light tungsten (1000w) kit, with soft boxes. I generally stay away from hard light sources (for subjects at least), but of course my problem is having to move the lights too close to the subjects/table and limiting my frame. Any solutions?
Thanks

 

[James Fox]

How many cameras? One on the food? One on him? Is the food in the same shot with the chef? I've heard good things about light for food lighting:

http://www.lowel.com/ego/

 

[scorsesefan]

We only have one operator, so one camera. I stop them to get coverage (closeups, etc.)

 

[scorsesefan]

Thanks for the link, James, but the problem is that at this point we're talking about one constant lighting set-up that I can frame two shots/one shots/and food close-ups in (the food is prepared to be eaten by the host and breaks down quickly), and it seems the lowel light needs to be placed close to the food.

 

[PerroneFord]

Can you snoot a fixture from well above? Make it read just a bit brighter than the keys on the people? That should make it pop a bit, and shouldn't cast any real shadows.

 

[James Fox]

Ah well, knowing that, I like PerroneFord's idea, I'd try rigging a light above the food, some sort of fesrenl or snoot and aiming it down at the food to get as even as light as possible.

 

[scorsesefan]

I don't have a snoot. Do you think if I put a pro light high and focus the beam a bit it might work?

 

[PerroneFord]

Make a snoot. Coffee can and some tin foil. Or maybe just some heavy-duty tin-foil. This isn't hollywood. Do the best you can. I keep a roll of foil in my production bag... I'm not trying to impress anyone.

Just roll it like a cone, cut off the bottom, and voila!