06-04-2019 09:46 AM
Whether you’re trying to capture the shape of your perfectly cooked scotch eggs or photographing your favorite cup of coffee, taking an excellent dining photo can be harder than it looks. Luckily, anyone can do it—as long as they’re armed with the right techniques.
That’s why we love to share food photography tips on Connect. We hope they help you better capture the dishes you love (and the ones that look better than they taste).
One way you can transform an ordinary plate into a mouthwatering dining photo is through food styling. Food styling helps you to get the best of each dish and make it look great in front of your camera. Here’s how.
1. Seek out natural light
My number one tip when styling and photographing food is to always use natural light. Many restaurants have harsh artificial lighting that can make food photos look unappetizing. Artificial light often creates harsh shadows and an ugly orange or yellow color cast on your food.
To avoid this, look for soft natural daylight coming through a door, window, or in an outdoor area of the restaurant. Then compose your dish on a table in that spot. Sunlight will showcase your food with true to life color, as seen in the photo below.
2. Arrange your food neatly
Nobody likes to see a messy meal on a plate. When a dish is presented this way, it can be hard to tell what it is. Plus, it won’t tempt the taste buds! When getting ready to take pictures of food, it’s important to arrange your food neatly to create visual interest. I suggest taking a few photos of the dish before you take your first bite, in order to keep the plate as clean as possible.
3. Know your props
When styling great food shots, it’s helpful to know what props could make your composition more interesting. When you arrive at a restaurant, look around you to see what objects are available on your table. Is there a colorful napkin, unique utensil, or fresh flowers that could help add visual interest in the frame? If so, then try experimenting with using them in your photos. However, don’t overdo it! If extra objects overwhelm or compete with your main dish, then it’s best to leave it out and let your food shine on its own.
4. Emphasize the most mouth-watering part of a dish
Showcase the part of the dish that’s the most appetizing. For example, there’s nothing better than the gooey cheese in a grilled cheese. So try capturing a closeup of the soft cheese oozing out of the sandwich, as seen in the photo below.
Another example would be to showcase the decadent part of a dessert that you love, as seen in this photo of custard filled donuts below.
5. Add a human element
Adding a human element can tell a more interesting story and add a sense of “life” and movement to your photos. If you include a hand or arm in your frame, make sure to have your subject hold still so there isn’t motion blur.
Consider adding a human element to show an action, such as swirling pasta on a fork or pouring mint water into delicious panipuri.
Have you tried any of these food styling tips? Share your best food photos with us in the comments below.
06-04-2019
10:46 AM
- last edited on
04-19-2022
07:11 PM
by
grazittiApiTest
Hi @Christina-NYC,
thank you for this nice and yummy post, all very interesting tips. A well done photos enhances dramatically the quality of a dish. Please find below one of my recent picture, the intention of the photo was to compare the plate to a kind of painting due to its shape and the well placed food inside it.
06-04-2019
11:05 AM
- last edited on
04-19-2022
12:14 PM
by
grazittiApiTest
I'm hungry now.
Thank you for sharing these tips with us. I'll try to apply them next time.
Here is my latest shot of signature hot chocolate.
06-04-2019 12:07 PM
Hi @Christina-NYC,
thank your for sharing these useful tips when taking photos of foods, I will definitely make treasure of your advices.
Your photos are simple amazing and just looking at them we cannot resist to the temptation to taste them
I love so much to take photos of foods especially when they present unusal shapes or great natual colors
I have to say that sometimes in the restaurants it becomes so hard to seek natural light or worst we have to face with a very low light around the some plate and may become so funny to get the good photo 😉
Below two photos where I wanted to underline the colors of Pasta and of the colored salad
06-04-2019 11:40 PM
Thanks for the tips. I was aware o light importance in photography, arrangements of the food. Nicely presented here @Christina-NYC ! Here is one of mine:
06-05-2019 05:49 AM
Да, я пыталась применять эти советы. Ну, не всегда очень хорошо получается, но я надеюсь, что в будущем будет лучше.
06-05-2019 05:51 AM
Еще крупный план мороженое с бальзамическим соусом и клубникой.
06-05-2019 03:17 PM
Thank you for the tips! Easy to follow and makes sense.
06-05-2019 03:26 PM
This has to be the best article on food photography. Upto the point and includes every point. I especially love the (5)th point!!
06-05-2019
03:29 PM
- last edited on
04-20-2022
06:43 AM
by
grazittiApiTest
These are some of my good shots captured on Canon.