9 Essential Food Photography Tips For Beginners
Let me think, how can I improve my photography process? Keep reading and try to use these tips that I as a professional photographer follow?
Tip 1 - Shoot in proper lighting
The right simple lighting to use when shooting food photographs in daylight. Once you have set up your scene, you can try these different options to bounce or soften the light source
Sidelight – the light source is next to your scene
Diffuser – placed between the light source and your subject
Reflector – is placed opposite the light source to ‘reflect’ some light back onto your subject and scene.
Tip 2 - Be organized
You may wonder what I mean by being organized? Well, I mean, start planning ahead. When taking photographs for a recipe book or on location, these are areas and props I plan for:
Plan the style of the pictures I want, once each picture has been taken
Consider the colours and style of the photo.
Props I need for the photo shoot, including a backdrop, table settings, napkins, silverware
Glasses or drinks to accompany the dish
Consider extra food scraps around the dish
Essentially, I get the whole scene set up before shooting.
Tip 3 - Tell a story
A really effective marketing strategy is to tell a story through a selection of visuals. This can be captured in stills or video footage. Photography can tell a story with one image, but this process is more effective with multiple images.
Here are some examples of documenting the banana bread making process, which can be used via website details, magazine articles, and social media posts.
Tip 4 - Garnish!
The word garnish means to decorate or embellish a food dish when taking a food photograph.
Using garnish in your food photographs will tell a story and add more content to each photograph.
Tip 5 - Be inspired
I have included being inspired, as I tend to plan for a shoot and look at others’ work for inspiration. Never stop learning from others.
Tip 6 - Invest in some backdrops
When on location, you may need a backdrop if the area isn’t in keeping with the photograph theme.
Tip 7 - If you’re using a DSLR, learn the manual!!
Rather than using it automatically, it is better to learn or start using it manually.
Tip 8 - Invest in a good lens!
Most cameras are sold with a kit lens. which is helpful, but shooting food is better with a 50ml lens. If you wish to buy a 50ml lens, you can purchase a 1.4 or a 1.8 lens.
Tip 9 - Composition - triangles & colours
One element that really makes your food photographs pop is the colour of the food and the props. It is a good idea to learn about complementary and harmonious colours.
This means deciding upon set-prop colours to match the food colour or to be the opposite colour so that the dish stands out.
There is another element that can improve the quality of a photograph. This is considering the composition you have used and the most common composition for food photography is a triangle. This is used when placing objects next to the dish, so they form a triangle within the frame.
After reading these tips, you will naturally improve your food photographs. I hope this has given you insight into a photographer’s mind when shooting styled food photographs.
Chatting Food Contributor: Sam Peel
Published - Dec 10, 2020
Follow the link to the site: https://www.chattingfood.com/post/9-food-photography-tips-for-beginners
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