A Tradition I didn't know
Noche Buena, my mother exclaimed, is what we will be having for Christmas Eve! I was certain that it was a food-related event, but I didn't know the term that she exclaimed since nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Some Google sleuthing revealed the intent - a Christmas Eve feast celebrated in Filipino and Latin American cultures. Apparently, this was something in which I partook for many years without knowing that it had a name. This year, my mom decided to prepare the meal at my home.
Over the years, as my brother and I started experimenting with "photography," we started capturing images of Mom's holiday meals. It was a rough start, but our persistence in trying different techniques we learned over the years turned our "Can we take photos of the food?" attitude to a "Bring your camera!" promotion. The meal ticket cost became food photography and family photography, with my brother, Joe (https://www.josephpaguio.com/) taking care of the family photos and myself taking care of the food photos. This Noche Buena meal was no exception.
To achieve the look I wanted for this dinner, I set up my off-camera flash on a light stand with a 32 inch shoot-through umbrella. The flash is a bare bulb unit with an attached 5 inch reflector. Placing this modified flash unit about 5-6 feet away from the food created shadows that gave the food more depth. Because I was photographing around a table full of food that was actually meant for eating (as opposed to a staged food photography or studio food photography setup), I was limited to where I could place the flash unit. Luckily, there was enough space for me to move the flash around the table for each subject.
With the exception of the entire dinner flat lay photo, I used a Nikon Nikkor 60mm f2.8D Micro lens for each dish. The goal for each dish was to provide my mom with one flat lay and one detail shot, and having this macro lens (Nikon has always labeled macro lenses as "micro" lenses) can do almost anything. Its biggest strengths are the magnification and close focus abilities, both of which I utilized for the detail photos. Despite it being a decades old lens introduced in 1993, it is still a solid choice for photographing food and products. It is sharp, has character, and doesn't break my wallet.
I'm biased, but I can tell you that this feast was very tasty. We had collard greens, honey ham, dinner rolls with sliced cheese, crackers with a homemade topping, and pecan tarts for dessert (a family and friends favorite). For the chef, this was a small meal - an introduction to the big feast on Christmas Day.
