Photography is an incredible class of art which captures the moment and saves it as a memory for life. If you are a foodie by heart and a photographer by passion, ‘Food Photography’ is the genre where you belong. The sharing of photographs has become so easy because of the social media platforms. There are check-ins on Facebook with pictures, descriptions and location, or pictures and stories on Instagram with hashtags which adds to the publicity of that particular place.With the sharing becoming so easy and adding to their publicity, most of the restaurants or cafes across the world have started working on every little detail. From the ambiance to platting of food everything is taken into consideration and the team works on it so hard that it attracts more and more visitors. Because of this, the visitors who visit the place, click pictures and share the same with their loved ones which indirectly leads to increase in the number of visitors.
Food photography is a challenging type of photography. When you start painting, you start with a blank canvas and end up with a beautiful picture. Likewise, in food photography, you add layer upon layer and build a beautiful picture to get the perfect balance between art and reality. Are you one of them? Do you want to improve your food photography skills? If yes, here are some tips that will help you to capture mouth-watering pictures of your food.
Let’s start our food photography lessons
- Choose the right angle
Choose your photography angle wisely. Every dish has its own different quality which makes it stand out from the rest of the dishes. It is in your hands how you portray that particular quality in your pictures. Like the cupcakes when clicked using front angle will define its height, shape and the beautiful topping. But, when you shoot them using top angle it will hide all the qualities except the topping. When you shoot the tacos with the front angle, you won’t get to see their colourful stuffing. So, tacos should be shot using top angles. That is why in photography we say, angle matters. With the perfect angle, you can convey the story of the food.
- Use of light
Lighting is most important in terms of food photography. When you are doing food photography, try to use more of the natural daylight. You should not use the direct sunlight as it will make your image harsh, creates an unwanted shadow and makes the food object so white that it loses its originality. An indirect daylight makes your food bright, look even and does not tint the image as the indoor light does. Just like the direct sunlight, don’t make use of your camera flash. As the use of flash makes harsh reflections and glares, it is better to avoid no matter how the light is.
- Surround your dish
When you are shooting your dish from the front, make sure that you have something around to play with. Like, have relevant objects in your foreground or background. You can use materials like the sauces, spices, veggies used in the dish, oils, or utensils. This helps to add character to your story and makes it more interesting. Props like the fabrics can even define the origin of the dish or the season in which it is served in. Anything in excess is not good, so try not to overdo it.
Whenever you are shooting for a well-known and celebrated restaurant or café, there are maximum chances that you encounter stylish food around. But, what you have to keep in mind is that you should never touch the stylish food once the chef plates it. You can only change the place of your whole dish but do not move the ingredients of your dish. The way you are possessive about your camera and equipment, so are they about their food. If you feel that there are changes that need to be done, ask them to do it.
- Time is money, my friend
Surprised? Well, there are few dishes which hold onto their features for very less amount of time like the ice-cream or the chocolate fireball. So, it is very much essential that you are quick in your work. It is better that you keep your angle and lights for such dishes ready beforehand. Once the time has passed, the ice-cream starts to melt or the chocolate fireball loses all its chocolate. The originality of the dish vanishes and all you are left with is the liquid for which you are not being paid. If you are quicker, you get better pictures.
- Use of tripods
In terms of food photography, even a small blur around the dish is highly noticeable. Tripods are very helpful in terms of shooting a steady image. Whenever you feel you are not able to get a steadier image, make use of the tripod. As it will help you get a crisp and steady image. And if you don’t have a tripod with you, make sure you place your elbows on a table or a flat surface to achieve that non-shaky image.
- Know the destination of your picture
Destination of your picture means where your image is going to get featured finally. Know the destination of your images prior, and get a thorough detail regarding the shoot form the client. Like are you shooting for a magazine? Cookbook? Product packing? Or menu cards? Prior knowledge of destination will make the shooting process easy and also it will be easy for you to edit it post the shoot. If you don’t discuss with your client and end up giving not what he expected from you, will lead to re-shooting and re-editing of the pictures. You might also lose the chances of getting hired for the next shoot.
With all these tips you have all the basic knowledge you need to know to get those perfect and mouth-watering food photographs. Make use of these tips and experiment with your food photography skills. If you have used these tips for your food photography, let us know the results in the comment box below.