[Phillip Seitz]

I’d say you don’t have much to worry about. If it’ll make you feel better, there are a few options you could look into:

Option 1: Use a mirror at a 45° angle, shoot the camera towards the mirror off to the side canted 90° clockwise and reverse in post to match other shots. Be sure to have a spare rag to wipe off any condensation that may appear on the mirror.

Option 2: Put a 1/4″ pane of clear glass in front of the lens while shooting down towards the food. Rig the camera on a jib or something similar and maybe the glass on a couple of c-stands with padding on the edges where the clamps are. Again, may have a rag handy.

Regardless, you’ll want to keep your distance if you can. If possible, use a location with enough overhead space where you won’t have to worry about the steam and heat, like a cafeteria and a stove with an open stove top. That way, you’ll have plenty of room for lighting and the camera rig. Do a couple of test-shoot and a boiling pot of water to see what problems may come up.

You may find this link helpful, how BuzzFeed does their Tasty videos: https://www.quora.com/How-does-Buzzfeed-shoot-their-Tasty-videos

[Phillip Seitz]

Question: Have you tried to remove any unused footage and files? Upon testing it out because I was receiving the same problem, taking my 189gb project and removing unused footage dropped it dwn to 50gb, and that seemed to do the trick.