Paulchens FoodBlog?!

Daaarling – I need your help!

5 July 2011 9 Comments

Darling I need your help... When I moved into my new home and built my “dream kitchen” it very quickly was clear to me that even tho I loved my kitchen and it had everything I wanted and all it really really has shitty *sorry* light to take pics there.

I will tell and show you why a little later in this post.

So what does a woman do if she is not a 100% pleased with a situation?

She – in this case me – seeks for alternatives… and as soon as there is a plan emerging on the horizon of her imagination she pouts about this unbearable situation in every imaginable situation her Sweetheart is within hearing range…

Good plan , huh?

Well, as much as Sweetheart is a sweetie, he also is a man with selective hearing abilities when he does not want to notice the pouting of his loving other half…

But would that ever stop me? NO! …I know that sooner or later he gives in… he IS a Sweetheart after all and a very handy (and handsome) one too!

Shortly after moving in there were a lot other things to be fixed and done so the task of finding me a special place to do my photographic setups was put on hold - but not forgotten, mind you!

Earlier this year, when we nearly finished the “guest room” and had set up the last very much needed Billy bookcases the topic became evident again and that’s where this story really begins…

To make the necessity more clear you can see a picture of my kitchen below:

my lovely kitchen... all I ever wanted

As you can see above the kitchen is rather dark and has no strong light sources… and although there is a huge window front to the left there is not coming enough light through to help with photographic light issues. Even more because just outside this big window front is my little loggia, which due to the building characteristics of a loggia blocks a lot of light for every room behind…

my little loggia - my little piece of green heaven in the big city

I would not want to give up on this little piece of heaven tho!

Another fact that is against me: this part of the flat only has sunlight from about 7 am (in summer) to somewhere around early noon and even less in winter… being the night owl that I am I am not doing much productive work during this time in the kitchen other than grab a cuppa coffee and my muesli…

So the later the day, the darker it gets in here – making it almost feel like a cave at my most productive times: the evening and later in the evening… well you get the point!

A window, an old IKEA table and an empty Billy bookcase

After finishing with building the missing bookcases there was a little space left between in the corner of the window.

The place has a nice light during the afternoon and enough space to place an expandable table and photography stuff.

The only downside is the very yellowish street lamp directly in front of the window that makes it difficult to control light later in the evening.

With the black roller blind I can shut out the yellowish light tho and it works most of the time quite ok.

I already had a small light cube I bought a few years ago and one small lamp with a daylight bulb (especially for photography, Sweetheart found that for me…), plus a small tripod.

As you can see the bookcase is slowly filling up with stuff too. I find it convenient to have everything within reach…

But still I struggled with some things there:
…the table was to small and I had little place to position the lamp. Also I was lacking a possibility to position backdrops.

starting with improvements

So the first step was to install a fixed white tabletop that fills up the space between the wall and the bookcase. High enough to make it quite comfortable for me to shoot pics and use the tripod.

It's a hard days work to please a foodie on a photographic mission...

Sweetheart was not happy but helped me to build the setup, following my wishes and instructions. Sally (my girl cat) was not happy that she has to share her favorite window now… We used a plain white chip board, three brackets and a plain table leg. We bought everything for less than 25 EUR in the hardware store. back in the corner we mounted a multiple outlet power strip to plug in the light sources.

we needed something to hold my various background cardboards in place

Next we needed something to hold various background cardboards, fabrics, etc in place. As you can see in the picture above we used a curtain wire with clips I bought at IKEA for 2 EUR. its adjustable and perfect for clipping various things in the background and hold them in place for the setup.

nearly finished set

Now, doesn’t that look nearly fantastic? My Lowel Ego Light (again thank you ProkitUK for sponsoring this wonderful gadget!) fits perfectly in the corner and my old lamp on the other side can be moved back and forth according to where I want or need the light. The old table is placed under the new one and can still be used as expandable when needed. Mostly it is used now for storing my cardboards and reflector sheets.

On the left hand side you can see the black roller blind, it’s also perfect for clipping on reflectors. ’cause I only have 2 hands and need them to hold the camera rather than hold reflectors and other stuff…

For now I am pleased with what we have achieved so far. For my nitpicking mind there is still room for improvement. I would love to hear your thoughts and maybe you have suggestions for improvement too?

Sweetheart got rewarded for all the hard work afterwards of course!

Oh and Sweetheart of course was rewarded with some yummy food: Jamie’s Cinnamon Chocolate Marbled Cake and he loved it :)

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

So what do you think?
Where do you shoot your food pics?

Now that I shared my thoughts, would you share yours with me?

9 Comments »

MyKitchenInHalfCups said:

I’m afraid I’m jealous … no, but I do think it is really fabulous! I’d love a light box.

There are about 4 hours of the morning/early afternoon that I get direct sun into my kitchen, so much of the time I have really excellent (sometimes in some places actually too much direct sun.
When we built this house I put in florescent lights under my upper cabinets, so when all else fails (like the sunshine) that usually gets me excellent light. What I don’t have are the backgrounds to change things up. Guess I should work on that.

Texas has more sun than most places so I really don’t have too much problem.

Astrid Reply at July 18th, 2011 9:37 AM:

@MyKitchenInHalfCups, aye the light concept in the kitchen is one thing I did not think of too carefully. it’s ok for me and enough for working in the kitchen but if you want to snap proper pictures it’s more than insufficient – maybe I’ll come up with an improvement any time in future, we’ll see ;o)

Good idea to have florescent lights under the cupboards.

# 5 July 2011 at 11:31 PM

Jeanne @ CookSister! said:

Oooh – so there we see Mr Paulchen’s Foodblog! ;o) I have to say a handy husband is worth his weight in gold… Love the setup that you have there (and your kitchen with the 2 anatomically correct kitty ornaments hahaha!) – I see the Lowel Ego light fits right in!

For the first 5 years of CookSister I had nowhere at all to shoot. I used to shoot under the naked bulb don’t ask) on the drawer unit by the front door and spend my life trying to get rid of the fellow cast ad ugly shadows. Everything was super zoomed in because if I zoomed out you would see the telephone, my keys the stairs…!! Then we moved into our new house and I got my heart’s desire – a conservatory!! On paper, this is now my studio, but I still can’t leave things set up full time as I shoot on our dining table! Also, the room is hellishly hot in summer (don’t attempt to shoot ice cream there!) and freezing in winter (steam from the food fogs up the camera lens!!) – so let’s just say that my studio is still a work in progress!! I do have a proper prop cupboard and shelf now though!

Astrid Reply at July 18th, 2011 9:40 AM:

@Jeanne @ CookSister!, hehe Mr Paulchen’s Foodblog is a very shy Mister ;o)
haha Jeann you crack me up! the anatomically correct kitty ornaments say thank you for the reassurance that their anatomy is correct and send rumbly purrs!
You *gasp* have a conservatory? WOW!

# 7 July 2011 at 2:30 PM

Simone said:

We finally get to see your sweetheart! Yeah… :) I love the setup you’re having Astrid. Ofcourse there is always room for improvement in any situation and I’m sure you’ll be wanting more before you know it.. When I’m at home I shoot fairly simple in the kitchen on our dining room table. Same as Jeanne though I have to also eat there so that means setting up every time and taking it down again. But the only things I use is a reflector and some backgrounds (o ok and whatever props I can find ofcourse) and my tripod ofcourse, but still after shooting a few things the entire kitchen looks like a bomb exploded… So I struggle too. The window is south faced so I can only shoot there until the light comes in. It’s too strong when it gets into the kitchen which is usually around 3.30.. Also not ideal..
Also I have to say; your kitchen looks fantastic and those two kitties on top just make it even better…lol (Mine’s too old now to get on the counter, but she used to do that all the time!)

Astrid Reply at July 18th, 2011 9:45 AM:

@Simone, hehe yes and I am lucky he does not very often read my blog LOL…
aye kitties love to be on the counter, but they are only there when we are not eating and I am not cooking – otherwise they are not allowed and shooed off.

# 7 July 2011 at 7:10 PM

Elle said:

My kitchen counter has light from the east and south most of the day so I can do daylight photos there. Generally I drape dishtowels or fabric over my appliances at the back of the counter for a backdrop, or prop a gold toned piece of cardboard against an appliance if that looks right. Lots of tight close-up work, too. After the sun goes down the photos look pretty bad…lots of shadows and off colors, so I try to take photos during the day.
Astrid, your kitchen is gorgeous and I am truly envious. The cute cats only add to the charm. Fortunatly mine avoids the counters but seems to think the dining table is OK so I don’t leave breakables on it. Your Sweetheart is also pretty cute and made you a great photo area. Will work for sweets?

Astrid Reply at July 18th, 2011 9:46 AM:

@Elle, you are lucky that you have the possibility to shoot in your kitchen .As nice as my photography spot is, it always requires some extra time and thinking/planning LOL and I am not good at planning.

Aye, Sweetheart will work for sweets for sure ;o)

# 11 July 2011 at 6:04 AM

Jamie said:

Oooh yeah we finally get to see Sweatheart and can we call him… Cutie? He is! And how nice to help… and thrilled you chose my cake to make for his reward. Love the set up and glad the Ego Light worked! Yay!

# 18 August 2011 at 3:29 PM