I thought I would go straight to bed today. Without dropping by to say hello. Oh yes, I thought of my very favourite blanket and the quietness of the snow-coated night ahead.

What I didn’t think about was that, no matter how long was my day or how tired I feel, the cab driver who is, more or less, safely taking me home will always make me smile. He will sing like there was no tomorrow, he will rant about the latest game of his favourite team, or he will make me swear three times that – no – I am not Billie Piper.

So well, since today started with a picture of the smallest apples covered by snow taken with my beloved Pentax ME Super, it seems evident to end the day with a special feature about this special camera.

I got it back in 2008. Another summer day. A lovely vide-grenier [garage sale] in Fouras. After a difficult start – and by difficult, I really mean a blank first roll – I started to fall in love with it.

This camera might be my favourite. And it shows. Just a short year later, it’s spent so much time in my bag or around my hand that I’ve had to tape it up together.

It’s the perfect camera when I want to slow down and take the time to see – or more accurately, notice – the beautiful things that surround me.

Especially with the 50mm f/1.7 lens. A gem. Or perhaps, even more fitting a description, a dimestore diamond.

At the moment, I’m only using Kodak Gold film and I became best-friends with my picture-developer-boy. But things I’m really hoping for are trying new films and developing myself.

I also really want to use it more for food photography because the results always feel so right.

And yet, I somehow, almost exclusively use it for often-overlooked everyday-details. I remember a movie where the girl would pretend to take pictures to lock memories somewhere safe. Well, this is my very own memory catcher.

Good night my little monsters.

This Minolta Instant Pro is the latest camera I got. Another day of summer. This one, three years later and a thousand of kilometres away.

It landed in London after a night made of biding on ebay. Which happened after a night made of words from Molly. Which happened after a night made of the pictures she took.

At the time, I already had a Polaroid SX70. My love. And yet, the rectangular format of the 1200 film felt so right.

And indeed it was. In just a short four months, more than ninety of the so-peculiar-sound produced by instant cameras have been heard.

Ninety pictures. Some of them blurry, some of them with flaws, some of them sharp. All of them perfect.

This camera is matchless when I need instant pictures that illustrate, not what I see, but what I want to see. I find it to be the most amazing thing for journalling and food photography.

Especially with this film and a close-up lens, also purchased from ebay.
And, even though, it is sometimes difficult to judge the right distance between the object and the camera, it is – and I’m certain, it will stay as such – a process I love.

Until today, I thought you had to pull the little cord in order to enable close-up. And a friend pointed out that it might be a way to measure the right distance. No more out of focus.

Until today, I had never seen so much snow in a city. Whether I see the world through a close-up lens or not, it is here. On my window – one foot away – or on the pavement.

The diptych above might be a bit blurry, because I went sans-flash – as always – and my whole body was shaking from the cold wind sneaking its way to my bedroom, but it shows quite nicely the role of the close-up lens.
Everything one-feet-far will be in focus and surrounded by a gorgeous haze. Just like it would if I forgot to put my glasses on.

And for the little monster du jour.

I got the Canon 400D during a perfect day of summer, back on the cote d’azur – la cote or le sud, as we call it, us expats.
It was around July 2007.

I bought it new, with the kit lens – a 18-55mm, which is still used when pictures of polaroids are needed – and the 50mm f/1.8.
A few months later, the macro 100mm f/2.8 followed.

It feels like a long time ago. And I still love this camera endlessly. It might not be my favourite or the most practical for travels, but it’s perfect when I want immediate pictures that capture or, even, enhance the reality.

In fact, when day-light becomes what should be called day-darkness, my Canon is priceless for all the photography your eyes can see around here.

The proof is this picture taken today at five pm, when all I could gaze at through my window was the rain turning into snowflakes. And really, it might be five pm, but it’s been dark ever since I woke up at ten am. Fact.

For this same reason, I shoot everything in RAW mode. A RAW image is just like JPEG, except that when I click on the vignette of my Adobe Bridge (which is my photo management application), the Camera RAW software launches.
And just like I would do it in Photoshop, I can tweak the settings – colour, exposition, contrast, saturation, luminosity – until I reach the desired state. At which point, I open it in Photoshop to resize, crop, and save into a JPEG file.

One thing that particularly makes me feel in love with this camera is the ability to shoot in continuous mode.

It’s very nifty to create the animated gifs I like so much.

For example, this one, created after Anna-Sarah and I made an apple and cinnamon strudel.

And because this little monster is possibly the one thing I photographed with all my cameras, it will make the perfect reference.

For the record, here are some of my favourites for the year that has passed. As you can see, they aren’t too many.

In fact, over the last months, I’ve been using my film cameras more than ever.

But more to come on this tomorrow…

It might be my very own wish-list, but I’m pretty sure you know someone who loves capturing the everyday through a camera. Happy shopping (only two weeks to go!).

A little album. To store all your polaroids and instax minis, on ebay.
A beautiful print by my favourite photographer. To remember, at etsy.
A cute diana F+ camera with an instax mini back. For party fun, at lomography.
A cherished mamiya universal with a 100mm f/3.5 lens and a polaroid back. For life, on ebay.
A small calendar for the year to come. For taking the time to see the days replace days, at etsy.
A gorgeous strap. For tokyo dreams, on photojojo.
A simple but clever camera bag. For your loves and more, at kelly moore.
A few pack of instant film. To win against the impossible.
And some kodak spectra. Just because one can never have enough of it.

I now have an online portfolio to display some of my pictures and crafty projects. Please do check it, you’ll make me super*happy.

PS. I know it’s cheaply coded in dirty html, but damn, it was 4am!

Edit (january 2010): my portfolio is now heeeere. Less dirty coding, more pictures.

Fifteen days went by since the last time I talked to you my friends. But what feels even more unusual is that today is precisely foodbeam’s third birthday. I can’t believe you guys have been reading me and sharing your stories for three whole entire complete years.

Things haven’t changed; or so I tell myself. In fact, I’m now a grown-up, and part of this, is clearly seeing where and what I want to be. Such a pleasing feeling.

Pâtisserie has become a true passion of mine over the years, and hopefully, I’ll be able to call myself a pâtissier next year, on this exact same date.

Keep your fingers crossed for me, not that I’m superstitious or believe in luck, but well… your support truly is amazing and an actual happiness shot. Through this little unpretentious blog, I’ve had the chance to make great friends, to meet some respected writers and pâtissiers; and perhaps, most importantly, to find what makes my heart all happy inside. You know, the thing I can wake up at three am for; the thing I can work for countless hours for. No, not boys, you silly. Pâtisserie. And that’s totally thanks to you guys who encouraged me, supported me and helped me having the life I had always dreamt about.

Sure I always get distracted by other things; prints, illustration and polaroids (I seriously considered enrolling in a CAP Polaroid, until I found out it doesn’t exist; damn, we need to find a solution).

But pâtisserie do and always will mean happiness for me.

Ok, enough for the tears-inducing words. Let’s move onto the real thing. The blog. And the pictures. First off, let me tell you I don’t consider myself a good food photographer. My pictures are decent, not terrific. But since I get so many requests about how I get such pictures, I thought I could share how I do it.

Along with the food, the camera is the only thing you really need to become a food photographer.

Yes, it’s that simple, or it’s at least what you think when unpacking the camera from it’s shiny cardboard box and before you actually spot the five-hundred-page manual, waiting there, just for you.

Manuals are like those guys who, sticky-with-love, always want to be by your side. You don’t want them, but certainly need them from time to time. Well, may I suggest you both get a little closer (or more accurately, you get closer from him), and you’ll find out how wonderful they actually are.

So yes, whether you have a Chelsea camera or an East-End one, read the manual. And try the different functions, get to see how it works and how you can get the results you want.

I now have a DSLR – read: digital single lens reflex. A canon 400D (or XTi, for you guys across the ocean). But back in the old days, I had to make the most of that other less fancy camera I had. But I have the feeling I succeeded. Not that my pictures were perfect – I’m pretty glad I never took the time to re-upload the pictures from the archives (after I moved foodbeam from blogger to wordpress).
Basically, you just need to know your camera, and how to set it; which is something we’ll discuss a little further.

Make it. Have fun. And don’t take it too seriously.

Did I say that all you really need are food and a camera? Well, seems like I was lying. I love to have an assistant handy as well.

My assistant – or slave, you choose – is most of the time my little sister or boyfriend. Pick someone you can harass, manipulate, and judge without going through much trouble. Yes, your eight-year old cousin will do.

While it’s not compulsory to have one, it might help you through tricky issues. I mean, which colour should I pick for the background? Or how in the world am I supposed to keep those delicately piled choux in place with such a wind?
See, very handy.

So, yes, as soon as the food is made, get ready to take the pictures. Get your assistant to measure the distance between your camera and the food, to determine the best focal length to choose considering the light conditions your assistant (again!) assessed using his new luminometer.

Or in the real world, find a place where you have access to natural light. I love natural light, but not when it’s too harsh; that why late summer nights and me have such a special relationship.
Don’t put the food in direct light either, but behind a window or under a porch.Thus, you’ll have soft shadows and a sufficient amount of light coming through your lens.

You can certainly invest in both a good tripod and flash; I can’t since I have other things in my to-buy list, which come first far away from this useful duo. Just don’t use your built-in flash. Never. It makes the food looks flat, with no contrast except for that bright white spot on the shiny surface of the chocolate jelly you’ve just made.

As much as I would like my pictures to look like pretty pages from my favourite food magazine, I just can’t. And I totally grown over this.

First, overstyled shots just don’t feel right to me; not that they don’t look good, they certainly do. They’re simply not – embodying – me.

Second, I don’t have enough money to buy tons of props, not enough time to style the food. It’s meant to be eaten after all and I’d much prefer my friends to enjoy the food rather that having them to wait angrily until I finished the styling and shooting. Two words: Ikea and garage sales. Those are the places where I find my tableware. I love Ikea for the cheap white plates that make any food look great; while the garage sales – or vide-greniers as we call them here in france – are a wonderful way to find lovely vintage scorched pans and plates.

Third, my approach to food photography is more food-geared than anything else. I want the bread* to stand out, not the neat polka-dot ribbon that’s tied around.
* replace with any food you plan to shoot.

That’s why in most of my picture you’ll find a container – plate, jar, cake stand – holding what matters most; the delicious food. Nothing less – and most definitely – nothing more.

By now you should all be aware that I love clean pictures. And needless to say, simple background. White cotton fabric is my favourite. Ever. But coloured – and even illustrated – fabrics are ranked high amongst my top-ten.

What I do is usually ask my assistant to bring a cardboard box, place it on the table and cover both with the chosen fabric. The food is placed on this, around 15cm in front of the box.

This is probably the trickiest part for those of you who don’t know a thing about how cameras work – basically, this description fitted the person I was three years away from now.

Consider your camera as a small window through which light beams. The amount of incoming light is what makes the picture, so this is most definitely a critical point. For a couple of minutes, please excuse me if I stop sounding silly. We need to concentrate.

When I take pictures, I always work in manual mode and pay attention to:
- the shutter speed
- the aperture
And then tweak the ISO settings so I have enough incoming light.

The shutter speed is the time during which your shutter will stay open. Quite obviously, the longer it remains open, the more light will go through it, and the brighter your picture will be.

It is a fraction that looks like 1/3000 or 1/100 or 1/3 or 1/10″… the longest being 1/10″ and the quickest 1/3000. I recommend not using a shutter speed lower than 1/100 or your pictures might turn out blurry.

The aperture is lens-dependent. I currently own two lenses: one 50mm (focal length) f/1.8 and one macro 100mm f/2.8; which I both have now words for except they’re the real thing. The 50mm is cheap and totally amazing; while the 100mm is somewhat more expensive, but worth every cents.

The mean f-slash-number represents the maximal aperture of a length. The smaller the number, the wider the lens will be open and thus, the brighter the picture will be.
But what makes aperture special – more special than shutter speed, at least in food photography – is its ability to produce a lovely blurry background, while the main subject is well in focus. To get that depth of field, I tend to use the wider aperture possible: f/1.8 with my 50mm lens and 2.8 with the macro one.

Now, the hard thing is to combine both the shutter speed and aperture to produce a beautiful picture with just the necessary amount of light. If too much light comes through the lens, then the picture will be overexposed. In the other case, it’ll be all grey – or even worse, black.

These misfits would happen all the time if the exposure bar didn’t exist. You know that -2…-I…0…+I…+2 at the bottom of your viewfinder. It helps you see whether the picture is underexposed (negative) or overexposed (positive).

Sometimes, when I have both the shutter speed and aperture set in order to have the maximum amount of light coming in, but it’s a little too dark outside, my pictures look greyish. Well, in those situations, I just increase the ISO speed from 100 to 200 or in extreme conditions, 1600.
Increasing the ISO speed does affect the quality of your picture by adding graininess to it; but this is totally worth it when you don’t want the party layer cake you’ve spent hours making look like a pantone shade of black.

Do you need actual help on this?

Once the pictures are in and the cake eaten, I will transfer the pictures onto my laptop. And then, I edit all my pictures using Photoshop CS3. Yes, all of them.
In fact when you see a strawberry cake, it is really a chocolate flavoured one.

Oh yes, I do use Photoshop for every single of my pictures, but that’s mostly to crop them into neat 410px-wide rectangles so they fit perfectly into the little food heaven that foodbeam is.

Sometimes, I will tweak the levels or colours, but only when much much needed – read: when you can’t clearly recognise what’s in the picture.

Oh damn, I could talk about food photography for hours. There is so much to say I’m crazy to try and express how I feel about it in just one post. I certainly don’t want to bore you. Getting you grab your camera with excitement is what I aim for. So please, experiment, take your time and enjoy yourself. With this, I’m positive that your pictures will look beautiful.

And, remember:
- natural light
- simple composition
- good framing
- macro or manual settings
- love

Oh what about that last picture. Yes, it is totally a delicious blueberry focaccia, which recipe will come soon.