One to One
Each month we join a top pro on a shoot. This time, Lauren Scott shadows John Nassari as he captures the flavours of an award-winning Italian restaurant
Behind the scenes at a restaurant shoot
Usually in this feature, we have a professional photographer all to ourselves for the day. This time around, however, it was a real insight and a treat to shadow a real-life shoot for a real, live, commercial brief. The location? An Italian restaurant called Margot (www.margotrestaurant. com), situated in the heart of Covent Garden, London.
Margot’s cuisine focuses on quality seasonal ingredients, and service is welcoming yet elegant; but when I arrive in the morning, the main restaurant has been kitted out into a mini photo studio and the first lighting setup is being tested by John Nassari and his team (assistants Emily and Felix). John might be best-known for wedding photography, but today, he wears a different hat.
He has been developing a piece of software called Nassari 360 for several years, and his brief from Margot was to create a 360 panorama for their website. John’s ‘immersive experiences’ take you right into the heart of a location: as a viewer, you can click on parts of a scene to find out more. On the day of our shoot, for example, John’s aim is to furnish a 360 image of Margot’s two private dining areas, by shooting video interviews with owners Paulo and Nicolas, as well as stills of the surroundings and the beautiful dishes being served up.
While the lighting accessories (an LED panel and reflector) are being positioned for the first interview, our conversation naturally starts with John’s gear. Many photographers can cite the major turning points in their career, from a big break or an award win to a new camera. For John, one big turn came in 2013, after his studio was broken into and all his gear was stolen. Of course, this sounds like every photographer’s worst nightmare, but looking back on the experience, John says it wiped the slate clean and gave him the chance to start all over again.
He began to think more carefully about what kit he actually needed, as well as what he wanted from it. Originally a Canon user, John started shooting again with an Olympus system, after getting his
hands on an early model of the EM-1 before its major release. “I did some tests, then decided to make the full switch,” he says. “Within 10 months, they made me an ambassador.”
John loved the small size and discreet nature of mirrorless cameras immediately. “I realised that I was looking for lighter kit, a compact system that I could take around with me, in a bag I could take on a plane as hand luggage,” he recalls. Even for large-scale weddings, John uses the Olympus system.
Back to Margot, though, and I was curious about John’s specific plans for the day. What were the key elements to cover? What exactly goes into making a pro Nassari 360 project? First up, John directs co-owner Nicolas for a video interview, asking key questions about the restaurant that prompt his answers. Assistant Emily records the footage in 4K, checking the audio levels meticulously through a pair of headphones. After this section, John prepares for stills portraits of co-owner Paulo. He reassures and directs both subjects, bringing up some of the best takes on the camera’s LCD screen to put them at ease (and show how good they look).
John shoots in Manual mode, with his flashgun set on manual power. In terms of settings, his aperture is set to around f/2.5; as the light levels in the restaurant are fairly low and ambient, the ISO is set at 400. Along with his two assistants, John alters
the lighting with a reflector, and focuses with precision to capture several different options.
“I was getting the aperture right for the face, then moving the shutter to expose for the ambient light and highlights coming from outside,” he explains. “I always prefer soft light, either from the front with a reflector under the chin, or soft light from the side.” A flashgun is set to the side of Paulo on a stand, but John tells me there’s no fixed way to light someone. Next in the day’s shooting menu, John gets set to photograph a range of detail shots that will help to bring Margot alive for viewers of the final 360 image. He’ll be capturing eight of Margot’s dishes (a mix of old favourites and new additions) as well as intimate behindthe-scenes shots of food prep.
Inside the busy kitchen, it’s important to stay unobtrusive and move out of the way quickly, so John shoots handheld using the wide maximum aperture of the 25mm f/1.2 lens. For the more composed food shots, he mounts his camera onto a tripod and uses an LED panel for added illumination.
The last (but certainly not least) element is to capture the two panorama images of the dining areas themselves. If you’ve ever shot a panorama, you’ll know how important it is to keep your exposure settings consistent in each frame. With Manual mode engaged, John takes 16 images at 20-degree increments, using a stable Manfrotto tripod and panoramic head that enable www.digitalcameraworld.com