The popularity of social media sites have made the desire to share photos greater than ever. Facebook’s 1.15 billion users have uploaded an average of 217 photos each. And as of March 2015, 30 billion photos have been posted to Instagram.
People capture all types of images, but a rapidly growing area is food photography. With the rise of “foodies,” food snapshots are enjoying a growing presence. Interested in mastering the art of food photography? Here are 10 useful tips to practice:
1. Know Your Equipment
“What camera should I buy for photography?” Reading digital camera reviews may help answer the question. The smartphone camera vs digital camera vs film debate rages on, but whatever you choose it’s important to understand available features. Knowing things like what type of focusing capabilities a camera has, or what type of filters there are will help you understand how digital camera shoots work or what type of photo editing app your may need. Looking at digital camera reviews or reading photo app reviews will help you take better photos.
2. Embrace Natural Lighting
Artificial overhead lights often produce a greasy-looking effect. Camera flashes can create similar unflattering lighting. Use nature light whenever possible. Try placing your dish in a window or in the path of natural sunlight.
3. Document the Process
People love play-by-play shots. Take pictures of your ingredients, after individual preparation steps, while the food is cooking, and of the finished product. Before and after shots are big hits, because people enjoy seeing how the finished product came to be.
4. Vary Camera Angles
You don’t have to shoot a dish head on. Try shooting from an angle, or from up above while cooking. Different dishes photograph well at different angles, so get creative.
5. Choose Simple Props
Don’t create distraction in the photo by using dishes with busy designs or placing it on a cluttered surface. Keep your props simple, like raw vegetables or plain cutlery that doesn’t detract from the picture’s main focus.
6. Practice Selective Focus
A popular trend in food photography is selecting a particularly appetizing feature of a dish to focus on. Selective focus and artful blurring draws in the viewer’s eye. It also gives the added benefit of making the dish look less complicated.
7. Keep It Fresh
Fresh ingredients tend to photograph better. Colors are brighter and they produce fresher looking dishes. Pictures can capture flaws just as easily as perfections. Wilted vegetable, brown fruits and the like can ruin the overall look of your photo.
8. Perfect the Presentation
Garnishing dishes provide excellent flashes of color: sprigs of mint, fresh lemon wedges, etc. But a perfect presentation doesn’t mean the dish has to be perfect. Crumbled pie crusts or toppled souffles aren’t necessarily disasters. Try finding the beauty in the imperfections.
9. The First Bite is Best
People often say that the first bite tastes the best. It can be argued that the first bite also looks the best. A spoonful or forkful of delicious looking food will is sure to draw people in to your images.
10. Mist It Down
Spritzing fruits and salads with water will give them a fresher appearance. Brushing oil onto vegetables will provide a glistening effect. Adding either of these liquids will slow the wilting process.
Go check out some digital camera reviews or test out the latest point and shoot digital camera, and prepare to plate your perfect foodie photograph..
