Photo session For Apple Pie Day
This blog is all about my own process for when I need to take a selection of images to use for my own social media promotional material. Most of my social media images are taken from set photography sessions.
For my own marketing strategy, I like to plan each month with, yearly food days, well-being or holiday days into my calendar so that I can upload a photo for the set occasion or celebration.
This shooting process was to take a photograph that can be used to represent #ApplePieDay
Here are some visual images of either a single pie picture or a styled apple pie picture.
To take a picture of an apple pie, I wanted to photograph the entire pie or a simple slice. The apple pie that I had was smaller than expected and I wished to have a delicious picture of the crumbly texture of the pastry on the top of the pie.
To take this picture I set up the camera in the position of a flat lay set-up, the camera facing towards the pie and I have used a one-light setup with studio lighting.
I need to decide on the right colour or background to use
This is a wooden background, showing two types of texture between the pie pastry and the wooden surface. The main issue with this is that the colour is too similar.
I prefer this background, as the surface is smooth compared to the pie texture, and the colour makes the pie stand out from the background.
Theory - Colour Theory is critical when photographing food, and the most important to use are:
Complimentary - these are the three main primary colours, red, green & blue. The mixing of these sets of colours forms the colour wheel. The complementary colours are the colours opposite each other.
Analogous - These are three colours next to each other on the colour wheel.
Why do you need this information? Playing with and deciding on set colours will enhance an image, with the colours of the food or the set props used in a picture.
Colour Wheel
Pie has three main colours, red, red-orange & orange, which are analogous.
The background I used looks the most appealing is the blue/black tone. This is a complementary colour to the three colours in the pie.
These next three images show the complementary colours of silver, blue and grey tones against the pie's orange tones. I always choose complementary colours, so the food is the main focus. To show props related to food, I have uploaded these three images. For example, the ice cream scoop and the fork you would use to eat the pie with.
Then I thought, how would I serve a slice of apple pie on either ice cream or custard?
This one picture I have taken from above, and added a pop of colour to the background.
I have used the colour blue, as this is a complementary colour to the pie colour. I love this image and how the colour highlights the food product out of the background.
As an experiment with storytelling, I used the process of eating the ice cream and pie as a storytelling tool. I have taken two images, one with a small scoop of ice cream on the fork. The other with the fork placed on the plate side. For each image below, I have moved the focus to draw you into a set section to tell a different story.
Which story goes with which picture?
The 1st image shows the ice cream coming toward you, as I focus on the ice scoop on the fork
The second image shows the fork placed, which could be because the person is full or has stopped eating.
In summary for this blog, I have covered my own influence from other Google Images. I have also spoken about colour theory and how it can enhance your food pictures. Lastly, I have touched on how focus can be used to draw in a person, to make single images tell a story.
I hope this has been informative and helpful.
Don’t forget that if you would like to learn more about photography, please book a 1:1 teaching session and let’s chat about photography!
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