It needs skills and experiences to create good food photos just like a pro, and this is 5 recommendations for food photography. The biggest challenge in food photography is how to make the photo object looks “mouth-watering” despite the nature of food that can easily wilt in an open area.
If you are struggling with food photography techniques, here are some recommendations to produce cool food images.
#1. Recommendations for Food Photography 1 : Get Natural Light
Make sure to get as much natural light as possible for your food pictures. You can do it simply by turning off the automatic flash of your camera once you are ready to take the photos. As an alternative, you can place the food just near the window to get a lot of natural light.
To get the best natural light exposure for your food images, manage to do the photoshoots at the “golden hours”. This is between 4-5 pm and 7-9 am.
#2. Recommendations for Food Photography 2 : Consider the Whole Picture
It is important to think about the whole image, not only food when taking photographs. That is why you need to plan everything. Make sure to consider the background you are going to use for the photos. Just think about how you will position the dish over the background. Also, consider the items you are going to use as photo props.
These can be kitchen utensils like a pan, plates, bowls, or cooking ingredients such as herbs, flour, or sugar. They can help you create a more dramatic effect on your food pictures.
#3. Use Different Angles
A good food photo is not only taken from a single angle. Believe it or not but photographers often try some, if not tens of different angles just to produce a good photo. Don’t be hesitate to use unusual tricks such as standing on a chair above the photo object directly when you are taking the pictures.
Sounds a silly thing to do? Fairly not! This is even something common to do by food photographers. The point is that you need to take food photos from different angles as much as possible. Then, you can compare the photo results to help you decide which one you will put on display.
#4. Fill the Whole Frame
Though you plan to frame your food a bit off-center of the photo, you need to make sure that you arrange it artistically. Depending on your lens, you might want to move in toward or back up the food to anticipate what you can see in the photo as you are photographing.
#5. Pay Attention to the Garnish!
Garnishing is essential in food photography. Don’t forget to use some herbs such as cinnamon, mints, or a few sprigs of cilantro to beautify the dish.