Tuesday, 15 March 2011

• Basic Food Photography Tips

  
  This is a guest post from Lady Iron Chef.
  

  Food Photography has a big role to play because we feast with our eyes first.

  Nowadays, it is very common to see people taking photographs of the food before they start eating, and most of them are probably not food bloggers. Many people like to take food photographs with their iPhone and compact cameras to share with their friends on facebook and personal blogs.

  I will be blogging a series of Food Photography Tutorials to share my experience, and I hope that it will help you to gain a better insight on how to take a good photo of food to make everyone hungry.

  I will be touching on some of the basic food photography tips. These will help even those taking photos on your compact camera or iPhone improve your food photography.

  #1 Understand your camera.

  I will probably be doing another post to explain more on this. For now, just know that it is very important to know your camera well (be it a Dslr, compact or even a phone camera) so that you can maximize the full potential.

  #2 Visualise the picture in your mind.

  The above photo was originally just a plain-looking chocolate cake. But right from the start, I knew how I wanted the photo to turn out, so I constructed this final look step by step. Of course, this is only when you have the luxury of playing around with the food. If you are taking a photo whilst having dinner in a restaurant, there will definitely be constraints.

  Nonetheless, it is still very important to visualise the final look in your mind. You must know how you want the photo to look like on the computer screen, and work towards taking that perfect shot.

  It is kind of difficult to explain to you, but this is the first thing that I do all the time when taking photographs of food. On many occasions, the thinking process actually helps to save me a lot of time.

  #3 Know your subject well.

  There are some food that look good on their own and do not require much effort to take the shots. I call them the photogenic food – burgers and desserts are my favourite, as well as anything with a good contrast of colour and texture.

  Certain food like soup, cheesecake and ice cream can be difficult to shoot. They often do not have any contrasting texture, and it makes things complicated as there is nothing to focus on. In the case of soup, add some garnishing and prop up the ingredients with a spoon.

  In short, know the subject well. There are many different ways to play around with food.

  #4 Keep things simple.

  People tend to be greedy and try to include many objects in a shot. You must know what is the main objective of that particular shot. For instance, if the highlight is the flowing chocolate from the warm lava cake, do a close-up macro photography shot of it.

  If the plate has many different items, focus on the main dish and blur out the rest of the unimportant ones. There is no need to try and capture everything in a single frame.

  Cliche as it may sound, simplicity is beauty.

  #5 Shoot in natural lighting.

  What is the appropriate food photography lighting? Well, obviously professional food photographers use studio lighting and artificial lights when necessary, but for most people this won’t be realistic. The main challenge for any photographer will always be lighting. Forget about studio lighting, or Dslr external flash, natural lighting is your best bet for a good photo.

  #6 Get feedback from others.

  I am sure you have friends who are also into photography. Never be afraid to exchange ideas and ask for their opinion on the shots that you took. You can learn a lot through comments and constructive criticisms from others.

  #7 Always have fun.

  Do I really need to elaborate on this? If you are not having fun while taking photographs of food (or for that matter of fact, anything else), then forget it. Always have fun.

  #8 Practice, practice and practice.

  How to improve my photography skills? This is the question I get all the time, and the only answer I have to that is practice. Personally, I don’t believe in going for photography classes to learn how to take good photos. Whilst photography lessons/courses/workshops can indeed teach you the basic photography techniques, I do not think that it can help you to improve tremendously. Photography is something that can be learned, but not taught.

  If I can only choose one amongst my food photography tutorial, it will be practice.

  #9 Hold the damn camera steady.

  And lastly, learn to control your shaky hands. This may sound simple, but there are people who always end up taking blur shots.

  Are you interested in food photography?
  
  

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