Food Photography: What Makes A Good Photo?

By Hsiu Mash


Whether you are taking photographs of culinary items for your blog or you're doing it for a living, performing food photography is an art that requires an individual's creativity and artistic talent. The way you photograph food will have a big influence on your reputation as a food photographer, therefore it is important to be aware of a few tips and techniques that will help you shoot better pictures.

As with the different areas of photography, having a good light source is important in coming up with great pictures and food photography is no exception. Whenever you are taking photos of food, the general rule is to stay away from shadows and highlights. Harsh lights can ruin your photos and this can be avoided by using diffusers, umbrellas, or softboxes.

Another important thing you should remember when doing food photography is to use a shallow depth of field. This means using a bigger aperture so that your main subject will be in sharp focus and everything else will be blurred. To ensure that you take sharp photos, it is highly recommended that you use a tripod in tandem with a remote shutter release to eliminate the chances of camera blur.

Your food photography skills will also be more developed by experimenting on different shooting angles. It is interesting to see that most novice food photographers will shoot down on their subject, thus making it quite boring or too common. By shooting at table or plate level with your subject, you can create a unique dimension, emphasis, or detail that can't be achieved in regular shooting angles.

It is also recommended that you properly choose the correct white balance setting in your camera depending on the lighting conditions you are faced with. Different light conditions will require a different white balance setting in order to ensure a correct color cast. Food photography enthusiasts will often recommend that you shoot in RAW mode so you don't have to bother about setting white balance since you'll be able to change it during post processing.

If you're going to get serious about food photography, then investing in better lenses can certainly spell a big difference in your photos. This doesn't mean though that there is a single-best lens for taking photos of food - everything will still be dictated by the effect you want to create. Remember that there is still no substitute for your technical skills and creativity in creating great photographs.




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