I’m kidding. This post doesn’t have much to do with food photography as such. I have to revive that series, I know I know.
But meanwhile, I am going to answer the question many of you have asked me through comments and emails.
“What’s that white background that you use in most of your pictures?”
And today, I present to you.. TADAAA..
OOPS! Oh wait! That’s my extremely cluttered, not-white-at-all coffee table.
Here’s my white table I use for food pics.
He may look a bit confused but that’s because he is not used to being photographed without food on him, you see.
Its very convenient to have a hard, white base that easily cleanable and portable. The table weighs less than 
See what I mean? A white base reflects light well and enhances the picture when you later edit using Picasa or any other software. I love using a plain white base most times partly because I am too lazy to do an elaborate set up but mostly because I love the simplicity. Try it!
The table is from Ikea. Its a Lack Table that I bought for 20 SGD. I tried searching the Ikea website for the link but looks like they have stopped this product, maybe temporarily.
Moral of the story: grab the white table the moment you see it because by the time you consider it and decide, it may be too late.
Happy clicking on white!
** Coming up: a post dedicated to my oven which is another topic I get the most emails on. Looks like nobody is really reading my recipes eh? Ok, kidding 😀
Hi..just stumbled upon ur blog…just a quick one..i noticed there are shadows on the pics and what can you do about that? I seem to face the same prob. Im thinking about getting a diffuser..any other suggestions?
Open Book, you can use some stuff in Photoshop to get rid of shadows in your photographs but I haven't tried it myself. The "highlight" feature in Picasa takes care of some small ones but nothing major.
AHHHH you got this from ikea???if only i knew abt this before I set for dufaaii :(..
in fact I dont have a table for food fotography…I use my chair..a cutting brd on top..and some napkin above..hmm below the food :)…
how much does this table cost ? 😉 ;)..
P.S- you never asked me what you want akka when amma and gang get back from singapore 😉 😉
hehe. this was 20 SGD, about 650 rs 🙂 err.. i can send this thru them if you want 😀 but BUT, it may be a tad too heavy..
Thanks Nags for connecting with me at this point of time , it meant a lot !!
i enjoy reading all your posts and this one is no exception….reading all this beautiful stuff will surely bring me back to blogging..
😀 Nags lovely post, had to comment here, hv the similar black table (5 Kwd ) n both my kids use it for studying, painting, sometimes it is full of cars frm my 4yr boy, sometimes dolls frm 5 yr old etc etc 🙂 Tks for food photography idea 🙂 And yes..I love love IKEA things, hv been collecting many over past 6 years! 😀 Ur apt is marvellous, so is the couch, so is the view , french windows n all! 🙂 Tks for sharing, just went on wt a loooong comment 😀 Hope u dont mind it! Coming to food, the click looks great!
I have a small ikea white table, too small unless I do a straight top view. Good idea. I got some foam board and white poster paper. If there is a reflection from the shiny surface does it interfere with the picture? or does it act like a reflector? I never can figure out these things.
White surface make wonderful backgrounds. I agree that white table would do the same.
Caution:
There is one thing to remember though, while white surface makes a wonderful background for food photography, it can also confuse your camera sensor.
Solution
The solution to that is to adjust your settings to compensate the "whiteness". If adjustments are not made, food make look darker than it should because, camera senses that things are brighter than they really are.
This is a tricky subject and frankly everything cannot be included in comments.
If any of you have questions about adjusting for white background, I will be happy to help.
Thanks,
Neel
Great post! Do you do custom white balance? I dont have a white table, so most the time I use a piece of white foam board.
how come i did not see the white table during my visit? nice and useful post.