Julie Andrews had it right.
The beginning is a very good place to start.
I wish we could jump right to part 2 and talk photo flair. (Ribbons! Flowers! Glitter!)
In the above picture: Chocolate-Peanut Butter Fudge.
I often skip through the first few steps while reading directions. (I’m especially notorious for skipping directions when assembling something. Does anyone else do this?)
Unfortunately, skipping directions in an attempt to save time can occasionally backfire, leaving me confused and even costing time in the long run.
So let’s start at the very beginning…
Food Photography: The Basics
Good news!
You do not need to have a fancy digital camera to take advantage of these tips. I haven’t taken any photography courses, and therefore it would be ridiculous for me to offer you technical tips on how to work your digital camera.
What I can offer are some basic photo-styling tips you can use with any camera. These tips are all ideas I’ve learned from experience; trial and error.
Photo taken with natural light: Peach Breakfast Cobbler.
Tip #1: Listen to Nelly Furtado
Turn off the lights! That goes for your camera’s flash too.
When photographing food, keep the flash off at all times. Walk around and try to find the area in your home that has the most sunlight. I take photos almost exclusively in my living room, and usually somewhere around 11-4pm, because this is where/when I’ve found the best lighting conditions. Sometimes I take photos outside, too. Overcast days are great for this; too much sunlight can cast ugly shadows and make your photos look harshly overexposed.
Photo taken in my living room: Healthy Starbucks Frappuccino.
Tip #2: Keep it Steady!
You’d be surprised at just how much havoc a tiny shake of the camera can wreak on a shot. It baffles and frustrates me they’re doing away with viewfinders in point-n-shoot cameras, because holding the camera right up to your face allows you to be much steadier than if you hold the camera way out in front of you, without anything to brace it.
If you have a tripod, use it. (Do as I say, not as I do. I have a tripod—somewhere—but am too lazy to set it up, and therefore never use one.) If you don’t have one, or if you’re lazy like me, make sure to keep the camera as steady as you absolutely positively possibly can.
Above, on a white plate: Creamy Chocolate Fudge Pops.
Tip #3: White makes Right
Also known as the KISS principle (“keep it simple, stupid”)
When I started out, I made the mistake of thinking fancy = better when it comes to dishware. In reality, if you look at the pros, they often use very basic dishware so that the food, not the plate, holds center stage.
Above, Flourless Chocolate-Chip Cookies.
Questions of the Day:
Are you interested in photography at all?
And do you ever take pictures of your food? What are your favorite things to photograph: Food? People? Nature?
I love photographing food! I just need to work on the complimenting colors in the background. Any advice on that?
NOT yellow! 😉
LOL but seriously… my house is so yellow, and it puts such an ugly cast on photos. Good background colors are things like white or light blue– light colors. And honestly, I haven’t completely figured out the background thing yet either. But usually, in photography, white seems to be a good choice for anything!
LOVE these, katie! I have a very basic point-and-shoot, and I have such an issue with photographing my food with such little lighting in my house and office (much of my “food photography” happens at night when I’m not at work). thanks for the tipskis! 😉
Thanks for these great tips! My amatuer food photography will Hopefully benefit greatly!
I love photography so much and I am so glad it pops up on so many blogs 🙂 You can never get too much information!
I adore makro photography, but I also enjoy taking pictures of people and recently, mostly while preparing a meal or eating it, I am thinking “this would make a nice pic”… I guess I caught on the food photography bug 😉
Looking forward to your next posts on photography!
I love photography, and your tips are great. (As are your photos – they have come a long way in the past year!) Another tip most photographers follow is the rule of thirds – try to place your subject off-centre, preferably at 1/3 of the width and/or height of the frame/photo. Centering the subject in the middle works well in most cases, and moving it off-centre can add even more interest. The Frappacino and Fudge Pop photos demostrate this principle beautifully! The cobbler too.
As for me, I like to photograph kids, nature, and vacations. I’m still in the old school with a 35mm film SLR and a point and shoot digital for those times when I need a smaller, lighter camera or want to take lots of photos.
Oh yes, thanks for bringing that one up! I try to keep the rule of thirds in mind… but sometimes (like with the blueberry muffin), I just can’t help but break that rule!
I need to find a new, good-quality point and shoot… my old Kodak one was INCREDIBLE, but sadly it was also seven years old and finally broke. They just don’t seem to make them anymore with viewfinders, which is a must for me.
Every photography rule is designed to be broken, and I like the muffin photo just the way it is. Sometimes centering things is the best way to capture them!
Ugh, I understand the lack of viewfinder frustration… viewfinders are another key to achieving good photos, I agree. We like our Canon PowerShot A1000iS – it’s older and has some great features, it’s very durable, and still works perfectly after almost 4 years of heavy use. I don’t like cameras that only have a LCD, especially if you cannot see them in bright daylight. (I had this eperience this summer with a waterproof camera – couldn’t see a thing on the screen with all the glare, so the photos were hit-and-miss, mostly miss.)
Good luck finding a new camera! And keep taking great photos!
Thank you so much for the tips! I’m new to food photography (and photography in general!) – loved these!
Keep the tips coming! Your photos are always so gorgeous 🙂 I use mostly white plates b/c honestly, it’s all I have!
I am working my way through a chocolate cookbook, one recipe at a time without skipping. As I go, I write in what I made it for and the date I made it. If it is spectacular, I make sure to note that too, so I know which ones to repeat someday. After I make the chocolate creation, I take a picture of it with the cookbook page behind it. I am thankful for the simple steps you have given because I do not have a particularly special camera, so I always figured what was the point in trying to make it a really great picture? But now, I have these easy steps that wouldn’t take much effort but will make a much better picture! Thanks!
Awesome post, totally agree with the no flash rule. My photos are all natural sunlight. Sometimes te 7am breakfast photos don’t turn out as good but its whatever. Lunch photos always rule!
Whitney
I am interested in photography & take food pics for my blog, but I’m not very good at it. Photography in general is something I’ve always been interested in. I’m glad you’re doing this series. Hopefully I’ll learn some things! I’ve just recently stopped using a flash when taking food photos, but sometimes they look grainy and icky if I don’t have good light. Trial and error, I suppose! 🙂