Food Photography - An Introduction
Interested in learning about Food Photography? Read on for some introductory tips.
Visit any bookshop and head for the cook book section and you’ll be overwhelmed by the array of books filled with scrumptious recipes accompanied by wonderful photography of the meals being written about.
Colorful stacks of vegetables drizzled with rich sauces on a clean white plate with glistening table settings - you know the shots. Sometimes the photography is almost the true focus of the book with the recipes taking a secondary role.
But how do you photograph food and get such great results?
1. Lighting
Treat the food you’re photographing as you would any other still life subject and ensure that it is well lit. Many of the poor examples of food photography that I’ve come across in the research for this article could have been drastically improved with adequate lighting. One of the best places to photograph food is by a window where there is plenty of natural light - perhaps supported with flash bounced off a ceiling or wall to give more balanced lighting that cuts out the shadows. This daylight helps to keep the food looking much more natural.
2. Props
Pay attention not only to the arrangement of the food itself but to the context that you put it in including the plate or bowel and any table settings around it. Don’t clutter the photo with a full table setting but consider one or two extra elements such as a glass, fork, flower or napkin. These elements can often be placed in secondary positions in the foreground or background of your shot.
3. Be Quick
Food doesn’t keep it’s appetizing looks for long so as a photographer you’ll need to be well prepared and able to shoot quickly after it’s been cooked before it melts, collapses, wilts and/or changes color. This means being prepared and knowing what you want to achieve before the food arrives. One strategy that some use is to have the shot completely set up with props before the food is ready and then to substitute a stand-in plate to get your exposure right. Then when the food is ready you just switch the stand-in plate with the real thing and you’re ready to start shooting.
4. Style it
The way food is set out on the plate is as important as the way you photograph it. Pay attention to the balance of food in a shot (color, shapes etc) and leave a way into the shot (using leading lines and the rule of thirds to help guide your viewer’s eye into the dish). One of the best ways to learn is to get some cook books to see how the pros do it.
5. Enhance it
One tip that a photographer gave me last week when I said I was writing this was to have some vegetable oil on hand and to brush it over food to make it glisten in your shots.
6. Get Down Low
A mistake that many beginner food photographers make is taking shots that look down on a plate from directly above. While this can work in some circumstances - in most cases you’ll get a more better shot by shooting from down close to plate level (or slightly above it).
7. Macro
Really focusing in upon just one part of the dish can be an effective way of highlighting the different elements of it.
8. Steam
Having steam rising off your food can give it a ‘just cooked’ feel which some food photographers like. Of course this can be difficult to achieve naturally. I spoke with one food stylist a few years back who told me that they added steam with a number of artificial strategies including microwaving water soaked cotton balls and placing them behind food. This is probably a little advance for most of us - however it was an interesting trick so I thought I’d include it.
I’m certain that DPS readers will have plenty more tips on photographing food - feel free to add your tips in comments below!
PS: for more tricks of the trade when it comes to food styling and food photography - check out this one at Australia’s Choice Magazine. For a blog with some great food photography and styling tips check out Still Life With….
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March 21st, 2007 at 5:58 am
Great article man! I’ll be testing out some of the tricks and techniques when I go on holiday in a few weeks time. :) Keep up the great work!
March 21st, 2007 at 6:37 am
Great blog. However, I suggest you make a correction in point 2. The last word of the quote below is hopefully incorrect.
“2. Props… Pay attention not only to the arrangement of the food itself but to the context that you put it in including the plate or bowel”.
March 21st, 2007 at 6:47 am
This is perfect! I have been wanting to take pictures of some new recipes I’ve been trying. However, I figured they would come out less than appetizing. Maybe I can pull off something decent with these tips!
Take care,
Andrew
March 21st, 2007 at 8:44 am
When I was doing my travel blog, I was taking pictures of my meals, but poor lighting in restaurants or the need to take quick/secret photos made a lot of them underlit or washed out from the proximity of bright flash. Here’s another article from the San Francisco Chronicle I mentioned in one of my posts: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2006/09/27/FDGHVLBUIC1.DTL
March 21st, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Heidi of 101 cookbooks wrote some food photography tips a while back: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001451.html
March 21st, 2007 at 4:10 pm
A lot of good advice! I would also like to add that it’s important not to mass up a lot of food on one plate, it’s often much better just to shoot the specific food that you want show without the side dishes on the same plate if you get what I mean!
March 21st, 2007 at 5:07 pm
Excellent tips! I’ve also found that some of the better photos I’ve seen/taken are the ones where the food/subject isn’t fully in frame. This works particularly well with larger plates of food or individual dishes. I tend to shoot this way the most when I eat Asian foods.
Oh, it also helps to have a full stomach when looking at food photos…drool can be so hard to get out of a keyboard…
March 21st, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Brilliant Article Darren love it Thanks :)
March 24th, 2007 at 5:30 am
Backlight! Big diffuse backlight!!!
Daylight is great :-)
Shoot wide open for smoothly blurred backgrounds and to enhance the point of focus.
Probably a myth but for flowing water type shots, the pros would use Cointreau as more natural looking substitute - so be creative:-) Love the typo!
March 24th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Great Article.
I have many times, but did not get the expected resluts.
This article would surely serve to enhance.
Thanx.
March 26th, 2007 at 2:57 am
Thank you for all these great tips and tricks.I’ve just recently bought a new SonyDSC-H2 Digital Camera and I’m so excited . Can hardly wait for every week’s new technics and tips.
Thank you DPS for a great Web Site
March 26th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Hi,
Nice article, I’ll try with my brother who is cook.
just one question: what kind of lens would be appropriate?
I don’t have a macro. but I have a 10-22mm ; a 35mm ; a 50mm and a 70-200mm.
Thanks
March 27th, 2007 at 12:51 am
“Pay attention not only to the arrangement of the food itself but to the context that you put it in including the plate or bowel and any table settings around it.”
hahaha ‘bowel’
might need an x-ray for that shot!
sounds like a post-consumption picture
March 28th, 2007 at 5:50 am
Check out http://strobist.blogspot.com to get the lowdown on how to light all kinds of things (including food shots) with a couple of small strobes. The guy is amazing, and is willing to teach everyone about how to get the same results he does. Don’t miss the Lighting 101 school, in the sidebar links.
March 28th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
I found the ideas and tips offered here both useful and easily mastered by a novice …
This is one “dchool” to which I will return for advice as long as I take photographs, which, hopefully, will be a lifetime pursuit!
April 5th, 2007 at 4:11 am
Thanks for these tips. It’s much easier to set up the shot correctly than try to manipulate your mistakes out with the cumbersome PhotoShop. I’m VERY slowly improving. Getting to know my camera has been the most important thing for me so far.
May 4th, 2007 at 10:24 am
Thanks for the help, this was really nice to look at before doing my role of B&W fruit!
May 15th, 2007 at 12:49 am
I think you should add more informatoin about your schooling and how you find a job for this career/hobbie
June 12th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
When lighting food the best option is to use a softbox above and slightly behind the subject, possibly using a reflector at the front to bounce a little light back to lessen the shadows. If you really study food photography you will notice from the shadows that this is the lighting setup used
June 28th, 2007 at 12:12 am
I’m really picky when it comes to food, but the couple over at deliciousdays.com make me hungry every time I visit. Their food blog is full of beautiful pictures, and should serve as an inspiration - for photographers as well as aspiring cooks!
July 17th, 2007 at 12:52 am
I was wondering if you wanted to trade links. I am a food photographer
in Manhattan and like your content. Bill
October 9th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
WOW !! Great Tips !! Im new in this food photography thing, is there any other website that i could visit for more tips like this ?
November 8th, 2007 at 1:12 am
Thanks for the info. Iam a photography student at Westminster and the tips on this website and the links have been helpful. Thanks again
January 16th, 2008 at 3:09 am
Good tips.
i will use some of your tips for my presentation and research paper!!!
January 24th, 2008 at 5:04 am
Hi, I wonder if anyone can point me in the direction of a good photographic agent in Melbourne or Sydney - looking for representation for my editorial and commercial food photography.
January 27th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
great advice! thanks!
February 21st, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Hi, I wonder if anyone can point me in the direction of a good photographic agent in Melbourne - looking for representation for my food photography. Examples of my work can be seen at http://www.sassyphotography.com.au
May 4th, 2008 at 1:57 am
I am loving this site! Thank you.
I am always looking for great shots of food, with recipes and very good instructions for Donne Tempo (http://www.donnetempo.com) a woman’s lifestyle, travel and culinary magazine. The pictures could be to accompany a restaurant review or something you have created on your own.
If you would like to contribute please feel free to email me at editor@donnetempo.com. Some great tips. I would also ad learn how to soft focus the backgrounds of your photograph and use backgrounds such as the fire in this shot of lamb steaks taken at The Hotel Jerome, CO. http://www.donnetempo.com/travel/colorado/0208co06.html
This photo was taken in a dimly lit room with no external light. It was quite a challenge.
Hope to see you all on the digital highway.
Best,
Jacquie Kubin
Editor
Donne Tempo Magazine
http://www.donnetempo.com