15 food photography tips
Learn how to take fantastic food photos with these quick and easy tips.
Food photography is a great way to get started with photographing still life. With opportunities to shoot literally hundreds of different subjects, you can create lots of different looks fairly easily. And the biggest bonus? You get to eat the subjects when you’re done!
1. Pick the best
Professional food photographers will often have food stylists and chefs on hand to create an unending amount of samples until they’ve found the perfect one. It’s unlikely that you’ll have this luxury, but you should still be as selective as possible. If you’ve baked a batch of cookies for example, pick the best looking 3 or 4 to star in your shoot. The same goes for fresh fruit and vegetables. They might taste succulent, but a misshapen strawberry won’t do your photos any favours.
.jpg)
2. Create the scene
It’s no good having an amazing photograph of a beautiful cake if behind it is a big pile of clutter. Again, professional food stylists will have the luxury of beautiful, pristine rooms to play around in. If you live in the real world, you can cheat a little by shooting close up. Get the whole cake in the frame and nothing else, and it won’t matter what’s going on behind it.
3. Food photography camera settings
Using a wide aperture will blur the background, making the food the sole attention – and handily helping to disguise any unattractive backgrounds. While you should aim for the best light possible, if it’s dim, don’t be afraid to bump up your ISO to keep your shutter speeds high. Make sure you get the correct white balance too, either by setting it manually or by selecting the appropriate preset conditions – there’s nothing more unappetising than a bizarre blue tinge.
4. Vary your backgrounds
One of the best ways to make your food photographs pop is by using a variety of different backgrounds to shoot them on. Pick up art papers, wrapping paper and coloured card to place your food on. The more variety the better – just make sure you buy sheets big enough to cover the entire field of view.
5. Choose your props carefully
As important as it is to select the best examples of food, your props are important to. White plates are usually a winner for the pristine look, but bold, coloured plates will also add impact. Fussy, patterned plates, can work if you’re going for a traditional look – but try to match the props to the food. For instance, a twee plate will look great with a classic Victoria sponge atop it, but a bold green plate could suit close ups of citrus fruits.
Food photography tips: Page 1
Food photography tips: Page 2
Food photography tips: Page 3
All images © Amy Davies
Posted by Amy Davies on Thursday, Apr 2010 at 11:41am GMT.
Related articles
Some really useful tips. I believe food stylists also paint food with glycerine for a succulent look!
#1. Posted on Friday, 16 Apr 2010 at 10:52am GMT. Report this
Hi Iona,
I heard that too, never tried it myself as I like to be able to eat the food after I've taken a photo - I guess it depends on how much 'perfection' you're looking for - sometimes I think it looks a bit odd is the food is too pristine!
Glad you liked the tips!
Amy
#2. Posted on Friday, 16 Apr 2010 at 03:34pm GMT. Report this
er . . . Amy, you should do your homework! You can eat glycerine - it's included in most cough mixtures/syrups/throat lozenges. If glycerine puts you off, melt some smooth apricot jam and use a pastry brush to paint it on to fruits, for example, to give a lovely sheen. You can also dip some kitchen towel in a little olive oil and rub over the fruit. In the old days when food issues were not such a huge concern, food stylists used to paint food like roast pork with wood varnish to give the same effect. Except then they had to throw it away.
#3. Posted on Saturday, 17 Apr 2010 at 01:28pm GMT. Report this
Hi Stormsong,
I know you can eat it - but like you say, it would put me off eating something that was smeared in glycerine!
I'd heard about the wood varnish, and petrol for chickens to make them look cooked without them actually being cooked (cooking makes them wrinkly = not attractive). Not something I'll be trying for now, but maybe in the future!
Amy
#4. Posted on Monday, 19 Apr 2010 at 09:16am GMT. Report this
I can't remember where I read it, but I've seen somewhere that some photographers who want their food to steam, will soak cotton balls in water and then microwave them. Placing the now steaming cotton balls behind the food and out of shot can give make it look like the food is steaming. I'd just warn people to be careful in case they microwave their cotton for too long. I'd imagine it could catch fire if overcooked!
#5. Posted on Friday, 30 Apr 2010 at 12:18pm GMT. Report this
Hi chojinfire,
Yep I've heard that one too - might give it a go one day, although I should imagine you'd need to act pretty quick to make sure you caught the steam while the cotton wall ball was still hot - make sure you have some tongs to pick it up with!
Anyone tried this and have the shots to show for it?
#6. Posted on Tuesday, 04 May 2010 at 11:15am GMT. Report this
These are fabulous tips, thanks. Keen to try them out and come up with some really cool photos. Want them to look like a pro took them and hopefully by following these guidelines they will. :)
#7. Posted on Tuesday, 25 May 2010 at 02:10pm GMT. Report this
Nice tips Amy - I`d missed these earlier. I`ve used glycerine and oliver oil to shine things up but not the cotton wool steam trick.
#8. Posted on Thursday, 06 Jan 2011 at 01:54pm GMT. Report this
Wonderful tips Amy... To be honest, there's something about food photography shot by women, the photos look very 'true' and 'honest' and not as commercial. Nicole Young's new book comes to mind... Great job :)
I'd like to share my ebook for all readers, 30+ pages of free resource. Hope you like it.
http://reviews.davidleetong.com/ebook
Dave
#9. Posted on Saturday, 03 Sep 2011 at 05:53pm GMT. Report this
Comments (9)
Add your comment