Food Photography Pt. ☝🏼

Tips for beginners:

Since I am a beginner, I researched the basics:

• Lighting
• Best: Natural
• Places: By a window
• (I will make a more detail post about lighting)

• Props 
• Food photography relies immensely on props. Choices of plate, colors, or fork can make a huge difference. 
• The props need to placed in the background of the shot.
• The use of steam to give the “just cooked” feel

• Background
• Use solid or simple patterned papers.
• Experiment with napkins, placemats, tablecloths, silverware, drinks, or candles.
• Use warmer colors, such as, reds, oranges, and yellow, which studies show that it can trigger appetite.
• Use green colors if you want to have a natural and organic feel.
• Avoid blues and purples. 

• Efficiency 
• Know what to do before making the food. Food does not look appetizing after sitting there for a long time. The color might change, dry up, wilt or melt. 
• Tip: use vegetable oil to make the food glow. 
• Tip: Mist fruit, vegetable, and glassware with water. 

• Angles
• DO NOT shoot from a front-facing, downward angle. It looks unappealing because it is what a person would see when a plate is placed in front of them. 
• Shooting slightly from above the plate 
• Extremely close up to focus on different elements of the food.
• Use side-shots if you want to emphasize the inside. Such as burgers or sandwiches.
• Use overhead shots for foods like salads or a cheese board.
• Don’t zoom all the way, leave some space in the picture. 
• 75 and 25 degree angles

• Organization
• When setting up food, it’s best to start in the middle and work your way out.
• Use spoons, squeeze bottles, tweezers, paint brushes to decorate plates. 

     Overall, this are some tips that I researched to help me know where to start. I found them very useful. However, in order to take really good quality pictures, it requires a good camera and a lightning set up. But since none of that is close to my budget, I am going to have to make a cheap artificial light set up, if needed, and take the pictures with my iPhone 7. One could debate that it is not the worst option, to use an iPhone 7, since it really has a good camera for a phone, but if I am able to find better options I will go out of my way to find it. 

Take it easy, 

SABRI

Citations: 

Contributor, G. (2017, August 31). Food Photography 101: How to Take Perfect Pictures of Your

         Food. Retrieved March 06, 2018, from https://www.shopify.com/blog/food-photography-tips

Pollack, J. (2010, April 28). Food Photography Techniques and Tips. Retrieved March 06, 2018, from

         https://digital-photography-school.com/food-photography-techniques-and-tips/

Rowse, D. (2014, December 14). Food Photography: How to Take Mouth Watering Shots of Food.
         Retrieved March 06, 2018, from https://digital-photography-school.com/food-photography-an-
         introduction/