candle lighting

When I get asked to travel overseas to make photographs, my immediate concern is about the amount of equipment I need to take along. Today's strict airline regulations make it harder for photographers to travel with alot of equipment. I usually try to consolidate lenses to a few zoom lenses, and also try to leave any bulky lighting equipment home. But most japanese editorials in general require some food photography. If food is the main thing, then I wouldn't hesitate to pack a monobloc strobe, light stand, a roll of diffusion, and an umbrella. But if it's only two or three food shots that are going to be used small to compliment the article, I look for other ways to shoot so I don't have to carry all that equipment.
One way to do it is to shoot in diffused daylight by the window, but these kind of shoots often take place at night in the restaurant where we end up eating. Using a small Nikon speedlite is one way, but this tends to disrupt other dining guests. Last thing I want is to attract the attention of the entire restaurant with the popping of flashes. Back in the days of film, there wasn't much of a choice but with digital there is. The sample pictures above taken during a recent trip to Portland show that it's possible to shoot with those small candles on the table, and correct the color shift in Photoshop. The restaurant was very dark, so these were shot around a 2~4 second exposure time. You just need a good compact yet sturdy tripod.
The more candles, the better. You can put one in the back as a separation light to open up the dark background, and put a few in the foreground to light the subject. Having your company hold his/her napkin as a relector to pump more light back helps as well.
It's not the greatest but it works, and I can live with it if I don't have to lug all that lighting equipment from Tokyo.