Some Tips for Food Photography
As a professional photographer operating in Edinburgh and around Scotland, I was recently at a photography commission for Just Eat the other day in East Lothian and whilst this commission had some strict guidelines, I thought I would compile a short list of tips for food photography. Here they are:
- Use a tripod, particularly if you are relying on natural light
- If you are using flash don’t direct it straight at the subject and diffuse it. If you do want to aim towards the subject, then use a large diffused light source like a softbox
- Try focusing at different parts of the subject matter, sometimes the out of focus elements in food photography can draw you into the object
- Make the food as bright and tasty looking as possible. This may seem obvious but I have seen some food photography that would put me of eating the dish
- Try different angles, including 90 degree directly above the subject
- Use cutlery, salt, pepper herbs etc and other props to give the subject more interest
- Spray on water or oil to make the food glisten where possible
- In some photos display a number of dishes to add interest
- Try and get some steam in the shot, particularly if you are photographing a pie dish
- Take some preparation shots with the chef ie preparing a pizza for instance
Hope these help
www.colinwrightphotography.co.uk
www.edinburghphotographer.com
