Christmas Cookes taken with Flash

Many photographers prefer not to use a flash. Personally, I'd rather carry around my tripod for almost any picture over using a flash.

Well, I broke down the other day, pulled my flash unit (Promaster 7500 EDF) out of the closet and went to work last Friday night.

I was fortunate enough to go with my family on a walking tour of Palm Springs boutique hotels. Located up against giant Mt. San Jacinto, most of the hotels have a mid-century modern theme. The hotels were: Korakia, Casa Cody, Orbit Inn, Chase and Viceroy.

Most hotels served cookies, coffee, tea and hot apple cider. The shot of the cookies in this post was taken at Spenser's restaurant at the Palm Springs Tennis Club. With my camera set, I got in a long line not only to get cookies, but also to take pictures of the cookies. I knew I had to be fast because people behind me were waiting with impatient anticipation to get their paper plate filled with the home-made gems.

Three things I had to make sure of before using my flash unit were that it was turned on, and set correctly. I pretty much intuitively knew to set my shutter speed about 1/50 in shutter priority mode. This is not the same you you would set your camera for an image without flash. I also had my ISO speed set at 400.

When my turn came to get some cookies, I immediately went to work, shooting away. I wanted to get a unique look at some of the cookies with the focus on the ones with the Christmas theme. I know that getting them to fit diagonally in the frame would make the shot interesting.

After I finished shooting, I grabbed the tongs and quickly picked out six cookies to eat, juggling it, my camera and the paper plate to get what I wanted. Of course I had my camera hanging around my neck so I wouldn't drop it on the ground. I looked at the pictures and was satisfied with them as I ate the cookies, which were made fresh that evening from scratch.

I've learned that food photography isn't an easy subject for on-the-spot photography. While the picture is satisfactory with sharpness in the right areas, it could have been much better using product lighting, something which I'd like to do when I get some time to set it up.