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?
thanks for these, katie! i just started my blog and i’ve always loved taking photos of my food for good memories (and ’cause it’s pretty!), but for some reason i feel like the photos i’ve been taking for years are not appealing enough for my blog. i’ve always admired yours, so i’ll try these tips in the future 🙂
Nice tips! I would love to start taking photos of food to put in my blog, but I think I’d be pretty bad at it.
These are awesome tips!!!
THANK YOU!
Great post, Katie! I love food blogging and taking pics is both my favorite and least favorite part of it all. The tip about natural light is great. That is one really easy way that I found to improve my pictures.
I have a DSLR and I love photography, but I haven’t mastered it up quite yet. My favourite things to shoot for me are nature (especially seaside!), animals and children. I rarely take pics of food – I would feel uncomfortable taking out my camera and start shooting my meal in front of people, heh.
I am absolutely interested in learning about photography. All the pictures I take are of my kids doing goofy things in strange outfits. How fun. I want to be able to take better pictures of them and I want to photograph beautiful sunsets and gorgeous leaves.
Hi Katie! Thanks for these awesome blogs!!! I love to see what you come up with every day! I was wondering if you would be willing to do a post on pumpkin cookies? My non vegan husband loves them and i’d like to make something we both can eat 🙂 Also, what do you use for chocolate chips? I haven’t been able to find any vegan ones 🙁 thanks so much!!!
Hey Karen!
I do have a pumpkin bar recipe to share soon, but not yet an idea for a cookie one. I can try to think of one, though! I’m also hoping to develop a chocolate-pumpkin pie recipe for Thanksgiving :).
As for chocolate chips, Many brands are vegan, including: Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet (the ones in the gold package), Enjoy Life, Whole Foods brand, Sunspire, some generic brands, Divvies, etc.
Look in the natural section of your grocery store, if it has one. And if you absolutely can’t find any (and don’t want to buy online), you can always take any-flavored chocolate BAR and break it up and use that as chips. I’m actually posting a recipe later today that uses this method!
Thank you!!! Lots of chocolate-covered hugs!! 🙂
I love looking at awesome photos, but don’t really try to make my own anything special. Mostly because the only places I have to photograph inside don’t get natural sunlight. But yours is one of the blogs I seek when I’m searching for food porn 😉
Great tips! I love taking photos of food and flowers though the process of editing and posting them sometimes is less fun.
Yay I’m so glad you did this post :-). I love photography but I’m like you, I’ve never taken any classes or anything like that so I’m always looking out for good tips! Good call on the simple dishes, it really does make the food look better!