Food Photography-XP 85mm F1.2

Food Photography-XP 85mm F1.2

Samyang´s stunning XP 85mm f1.2 lens is not just a great lens for portrait photography, it´s also a lens that can be used to create beautiful food photography. Due to it´s manual focusing system, still life photography seems like the perfect match. With food photography the photographer has time to compose each frame so a speedy auto-focusing system isn´t a necessity. I use my XP 85mm via an adapter on my Sony A7RIII and the images that this combination produces are stunning with razor sharp details, vibrant colours and punchy contrast - just what you want when photographing food to make it look as appetising as possible.

When it comes to food photography, getting the right light is essential. As I shoot for a lot of different restaurants it´s not always possible to have a location at the restaurant to setup near a window or space where there´s a good source of natural light. For that reason I always take a studio strobe and a large softbox. This allows me the freedom to setup anywhere in the restaurant and gives me a powerful, controllable light source that is softened depending on the size of the light modifier - in most cases I use a 120cm x 80cm Phot-R softbox with double diffusion.

Here´s my usual setup for food photography

In terms of getting the composition and point of focus perfect using the XP 85mm f1.2 lens I occasionally use a tripod but most of the images in this article were shot handheld so I heavily rely on the amazing focus peaking feature built-in to my Sony A7RIII. This feature shows exactly what´s in focus in my EVF or on my screen by detecting edges of high contrast (and therefore most in focus) and displaying a red border around them. I then zoom in (using the camera´s focus zoom feature) on the specific area that I want in focus and then rotate the focus ring until it has perfect focus - a very easy process for me with my mirrorless camera. Due to DSLRs having an optical viewfinder this whole process could be a lot more difficult and I´d imagine a tripod would be essential.

I love the bokeh (out of focus blur) that the XP 85mm f1.2 lens is capable of producing. It can help to isolate the subject from the background. Perfect for a side on shot like some of the cocktail images towards the bottom of this article. With a minimum focus distance of 80cm it allows me to get close enough to capture some of the finer details of a dish with precise sharpness. This lens really is a joy to use especially for this specific application. Check out some images below that have been taken with it.

Sony A7RIII - f4, 1/80th, ISO 160

Sony A7RIII - f4, 1/125th, ISO 160

Sony A7RIII - f4, 1/80th, ISO 160

Left : Sony A7RIII - f4.5, 1/200th, ISO 100 Right : Sony A7RIII - f4, 1/60th, ISO 100

Sony A7RIII - f4.5, 1/60th, ISO 64

Sony A7RIII - f7.1, 1/160th, ISO 160

Sony A7RIII - f6.3, 1/125th, ISO 160

Sony A7RIII - f5, 1/160th, ISO 100

Sony A7RIII - f8, 1/160th, ISO 125

Sony A7RIII - f9, 1/160th, ISO 200

Sony A7RIII - f5, 1/200th, ISO 800

Left : Sony A7RIII - f3.5, 1/200th, ISO 250 Right : Sony A7RIII - f2.8, 1/200th, ISO 250

Sony A7RIII - f2.8, 1/125th, ISO 160