Photographing Food (and making it look good!)

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Permalink Reply by Farmersgirl on September 11, 2009 at 8:17pm

I think a tripod is probably one of the best investments, then you can take pics without flash.

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Permalink Reply by Farmersgirl on September 11, 2009 at 9:59pm

I've just come across this blog entry titled Food Photography for Food Bloggers

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Permalink Reply by Glenn Watson on September 12, 2009 at 11:54am

1) Lighting
2) Depth of Field
3) Beautiful Food / Drinks / Props

Once you have these 3 items nailed most of the battle is won

Great links to the blogs / tips, thanks for posting those

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Permalink Reply by Scott Sinclair on September 14, 2009 at 10:04pm

My photographs are far from perfect, but I think they've improved a lot in the last year or so. They used to be terrible - now they're about "OK". Here's what I've learned so far:

-Lighting is key. Natural light is perfect if you have it; I don't (stupid windows). Never ever use built in flash! I therefore use a Lowel Ego Light as per tips given to me by Jaden from Steamy Kitchen.

-Diffuse the light. Luckily in my case a white reflector card came with my light above. I could probably do with another light, really, but make do with this.

-Make your food shiny. Not as bad as it sounds, but a little olive oil trickled on your food can make it look more "alive"; a typical dry dish can look quite flat and boring.

-Oh! Get a half-decent camera. Mine is a cheapish Olympus e410 with a half decent macro lens.

-Use a tripod. Low light shots look terrible, but a tripod allows a slower shutter speed which makes for a brighter shot without blur.

-On the blur subject...I love shots with a low depth of field; that is, the subject is in focus and the rest is blurred. A large aperture setting (low f-stop) will give you this.

My disclaimer: I don't think my photography is good; I just know what I like from other peoples (see Nordljus or La Tartine Gourmande for examples) and know what has worked to improve mine.

Hope this helps.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah - Wood Foodie on September 18, 2009 at 12:20pm

Well I've spent too much time with a camera, cold food brushed with/without olive oil or sprayed water, planks in all sizes, food in oven, on BBQs, going through place mats, table clothes ,cushions for back grounds, with and without tripod, in natural sunlight, with spotlights .....aaaahhhhh.... I love cooking and, even more ,eating but photographing food is not my thing.
Anyway, I now have a zillion photos on my laptop of which only a handful are decent. If you are interested take a look - please be nice with any comments because I'm not touching a camera again for a while.

http://thewoodfoodie.blogspot.com/Do food photos make you hungry ?

Sarah

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