6 REALLY Helpful Articles About Photographing Food


May 6, 2009
By bunnygrace

I googled “food photography” to get a better understanding of what I want to accomplish. Below find synapsses of what I thought was  the best of the best and most relevant to foodies cooking and blogging about eating.

I suggest you read the complete posts. They are full of useful information that may suit your particular needs or interests.

Photographing Food Like A Pro | Digicamhelp

  • digicamhelpLighting: “Food is happiest under natural light, so get the food close to a window when shooting”
  • Hmm… Believe it or not, my kitchen is nowhere near a window. I could shoot outside though- that is definitely close enough but would require some setting up my porch to do so. The author, Lara Ferroni, also suggest your turn off your flash.
  • Probably the most important thing I learned from this site is depth of field. Blurring the background will add to the interest to the subject and this is something I can accomplish in “post”…
  • Set your white balance.
  • Use a tripod.
  • Shoot quickly before the food wilts.

veganyumyumFood Photography for Bloggers | Vegan Yum Yum

  • Dishes: have a good selection of dishes for “presentation”
  • Mise En Place: Layout out your prepped ingredients in a geometric way
  • Simple Setups and Natural Light.
  • Natural Lighting ( She stressed it…)
  • Take Lots of Photos.
  • The article extensively covers different cameras and settings. Probably the most helpful information for a shy dabbler like me.

An Insider’s Look At Food Photography | Shutterbug

This is an article about professional food photographers and includes food styling tips like:
“One thing I always take to a food shoot is a bottle of glycerin and several sizes of artist’s paintbrushes. Glycerin can be purchased from larger pharmacies. Food dries out quickly sitting on a table under 500-1000w of modeling lights, and the glycerin makes it look wet, shiny, and fresh.”

The writer goes on to describe using smoke pellets and dry ice and how to create 1 minute of steam. (Cotton balls soaked in water and microwaved will give you up to one minute of steam). Interesting reading but not exactly what I was looking for.

Food Photography – An Introduction | Digital Photography School

  • Lighting: Natural Light
  • Simple Props
  • Be quick.
  • Get Down Low: Try to shoot at plate level or slightly above.

Food Blog Photography Lessons, Pt 1 | The Constables’ Larder

This blog understand that some of us are actually trying to photograph dinner and gives really good ideas for photographers who don’t own a digital SLR and very detailed instructions on lighting on the fly, color correcting in photoshop,
  • Set for  ”digital macro”
  • Set the default focus point to center
  • Manual white balance
  • Turn off the Flash.

Food Styling From The Front Lines | Still Life With…

Actually this site is running a food photography contest.
The recipe: Malloreddus alla campidanese or any pasta and simple sauce.
The contest runs through the end of May

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