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If you are a photographer or blogger who is just starting to learn food photography, you may find it difficult to create the beautiful food photos you have in mind.
Hey should be simple so that the audience can focus on the food, but at the same time it should look delicious and attractive so that the audience wants to pick up the food.
Food Photography Tips for Beginners
If you're looking for basic food photography ideas for beginners and bloggers, you've come to the right place.
We've put together these easy food photography tips and tricks, and some basic techniques that can improve your photography.Perfect for blogs, cooking tutorial videos, editorial work for magazines, or your own personalized cookbook. Whatever your goal is, creating or otherwise, this article will help you achieve the great results you're looking for.
1. Use of harsh artificial light
As with any other area of photography, lighting for food photography is the most important thing to master first, as it can affect or ruin your photography.Some photographers prefer only natural light. choose to work with Because this produces the best effect. Other photographers choose artificial light because it gives them consistent lighting and white balance throughout the entire photo shoot, saving them a lot of work in post-processing.
On top of that, artificial lighting in food photography is flexible in terms of time, as it is not tied to a shoot time.
If you choose artificial lighting, do not use direct flash. Even worse, don't use tungsten lights from above either. Invest in quality flash and reflectors or bounce cards. Do not point the flash at food backgrounds. Otherwise, the light will be strong and the food will lose all the detail and will look flat and unsightly.
The best way is to use reflectors to direct the light onto the food. Experiment with angles, camera settings, and light intensity to see what works best for each food shot.
2. Not setting the light on different sides
You can do so much with lighting for food photography, as long as you don’t just stick to one side when you set the light. Experiment with the front lighting, backlighting, and side lighting, and see the difference they make on the food photography backdrops.
Can you see the difference between these three pictures of food?
Front lighting is the easiest and safest as it casts less shadow on the food. The result looks good enough without doing anything special.
Side lighting is typically used when you want to show the texture and contrast of your food, making details stand out.
Backlighting is difficult to manage, but really worth the effort. It has a clean, bright background that brings out the gorgeous details of the food while keeping the focus on the food. Backlighting takes a lot of practice (always use manual settings, as poor exposure and automatic settings can create dark shadows on food).
Try it and you'll see what works and what doesn't. With it, you can create fancy editorial look food photography.
3. Not using fresh ingredients
Food photography tips is all about the appearance of the food, so you need to make sure that every food is in perfect condition. Wilted lettuce in the salad or a bruised tomato can ruin your photo and don’t think of working out an angle that could hide the flaws (more often than not, they don’t work quite well).
Only use the freshest ingredients to save yourself from the extra work.
4. Shooting only after the cooking is done
Shooting after the food is cooked is way too late, as you’ll miss lots of opportunities to take good shots in the cooking photography process.
Don’t start after the food is cooked, but started way before that, when the ingredients are being prepped! There are things that don’t look great when they’re cooked (think of boring soup, pasta with white sauce, or brown dishes like chili, beans, or stuffing).
Sometimes a little garnish can help, but when it still looks flat and boring, you can try shooting the cooking photography process. There are times when the raw or half-cooked ingredients look more appetizing than the cooked dish.
5. Shooting from one direction
When it comes to angles, there is no one size fits all. Different foods have different viewing angles.
For example, this cheese and fruit platter is best viewed from above, while tacos and burgers are best viewed from the side. But that doesn't mean there's only one approach that works for all foods. Instead, it may be necessary to present nutritional needs from different angles so that people can easily imagine them.
Explore possible angles for each dish and don't be afraid to experiment and get creative!
6. Don't take photos with negative space
Many photographers stick to his two choices when photographing food.
Fill the frame to show the entire dish.
Take close-up photos of your food to show all the delicious details.
They tend to forget that there is another opportunity they cannot miss and that is the negative space photo.If the client needs to include a logo or fonts in the photo, it is useful to leave blank space in the photo .
7. Oversaturate
Editing can go wrong, or food photographers can fall into the trap of oversaturating their food photos to make food photos look tastier with all the colors. Yes, food generally looks more appetizing when the colors are more vibrant, but be careful not to oversaturate your photo as it will just make your photo look unnatural and weird. Please try to match the actual color as closely as possible.
8. Too much food served
You might be tempted to put a lot of food on your plate, but it won't show up on camera. Too much food on your plate will only make it harder for your audience to focus on the essentials. Simplicity is key in food photography, so leave enough space on the plate for the audience to appreciate the food. Less is better!
Couple portrait photography becomes fun with this.
9. Leaving food out too long
There are some foods that need to move quickly and do everything as soon as you're done eating them.
For example, leafy greens in a salad may appear wilted over time, while meat may appear a little dry over time. Be sure to complete the set up before the food comes so you can act as soon as you are done.
Empty plates or bowls can be used to serve and replaced later when the meal is ready.
10. Not paying attention to props and styling
Just as a little makeup can go a long way in a photo shoot, so do props and styling. Photographing food looks easy, but styling it is not.
The best way to do this is to keep it simple and clean, especially props. Food should be the star of the photo, so avoid tableware and utensils no matter how clean they are. Use neutral colors for props and backgrounds, and let food take center stage.
Make sure the plates and bowls and all the cutlery are clean as there are close ups. Don't leave any crumbs or liquids on your props (unless you're doing it intentionally for style). When you zoom in to get more detail on the food, the imperfections are noticeable and the food is taken out of focus.
Add creative and stunning prop ideas to your food photography tips by adding photo printing products to make your props look better in photos. When it comes to styling, do your research beforehand and know how to make your food look better. For example, adding a little oil to vegetables and meat will make them look shiny and juicy, but adding water to a salad will make it look fresher.
11. Ingredients as they are
When the food is placed on the table to take pictures, don't stop after taking pictures. I'll do some digging and provide some bits. For example, this cake looks more appetizing when sliced. Slicing allows the audience to see the color and texture inside the cake, which helps them better understand the taste.
You can also add human elements and movements to your photos. This is because it helps add life to an otherwise boring photo. The picture below is the movement when pouring the sauce into the dessert.
12. Don't add story or depth to your photos
If you want to take it a step further, get creative and tell your culinary story. For example, the origin of the dish and when the ingredients are harvested. Use a tajine pot for Moroccan tajine, banana leaves for nasi kanpur, and chopsticks for pad thai. The brown, dry autumn leaves can be used as a garnish for pumpkin soup or apple pie. You can also add Christmas decorations to winter dishes.
Whatever you choose, keep it simple.
You can also study and advance photography courses in India to build a professional career in photography.
We hope these food photography ideas for beginners and bloggers will help you overcome your mistakes and learn more about becoming a professional food photographer!