Food Photography Guide

One of the most amazing things about food is that there’s so many different styles and tastes to discover. It never gets old and there’s always new things to learn and try.

The same can be said for food photography, as I found when I came across Yue’s Handicrafts blog. I was blown away at how clear and crisp her food photographs were and how different they were to mine.

I had to know what her set up was and luckily Yue was kind enough to write a guide for foodforfriendsyeah! Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments below and be sure to check out Yue’s blog at yuehandicrafts.blogspot.com - Matt

Camera & Lens

Invest in a good digital camera. I started with my brother’s DSLR which worked fine but I ended up with a light weight camera to suite my shooting syles. I’ve chosen the Panasonic GF1 as it’s light weight and offers exchangeable lenses, as well as the ability to use a manual lens. I shoot most of my images with a Nikon 50mm f/1.4 manual lens, which I absolutely love. A lens with a wide aperture will give more depth to your subject and also bring attention to it.

Lighting

I’m limited to shooting indoors with poor ambient light as I usually spend the morning and afternoon baking. I sometimes use a tripod to make sure my images are sharp. Even when I have time to shoot in the morning or afternoon, typical British weather gets in the way. Lately, I’ve been utilizing a portable flash to light my work and it allows me to take pictures whenever I like.

Hard shadow never works and soft light is the key in food photography. I used a white board to reflect light to create soft shadows and direct light to bring more definition and clarity. This really separates a good photo from the rest.

Camera ISO & aperture

Get to know your camera and how the ISO and aperture setting affect the images. There’s less digital noise at lower ISO so I shoot at ISO100 no matter if it’s sunny or cloudy.

Knowing how f-stops work is important, a wide f-stop such as f2, 2.8 or 4 gives a shallow depth of field, with less area in focus. This helps to direct people’s attentions to what is sharp, it adds visual interest and provides a softer, warmer feeling to the photograph. Conversely, a smaller f-stop such as f8, 11 or 16, allows to get more area in focus.

Backgrounds

My style is simple, bright and colourful so I tend to use a white background. It brings out whatever food you photograph because there’s less distraction and your eyes are drawn to the subject. I focus on the food, the texture, the colours and sometimes use some accessories to make the food stand out more and bring more interest to the photo.

Composition

I generally use the ‘rule of thirds’ as a guideline, which places the subject a third toward one side but I don’t follow it strictly as I think it is rather uncreative and just like to see what works best. Try to shoot at different angles or get overhead and you’ll find the best composition for the setting and for the food.

Picture Editing

I shoot in RAW format, as it gives more control over how the image looks. The negative side is that software is required to open the files.

My camera tends to have a magenta bias, it doesn’t always give accurate colours. Therefore it’s important to adjust the colour balance. If you shoot at natural light, this is often less of a problem. However, post-processing your picture’s contrast, saturation and level adjustments can bring out details and the photos often look less ‘dull’ and more vibrant.

I hope you find these tips and guides useful. Remember that there is no other way to improve than to take your camera and shoot in action!