Do you sketch your food photos before starting to make photographs? Here’s something for you…
Need For Sketching Your Food Photos
Food looks good when its fresh. So photograph food when its fresh. That is translated this way – the time you have for taking a food photo or a fresh looking food is relatively very small and this means you need to be fast.
Fast, meaning you should be able to bring food to the table, style the food, and take a shot. You should also remember to do the compositional dance and explore photographic possibilities.
So much to do so little time. How do you create stunning image when there is so little time? Successful photo shoots come with planning and thought. Sketching your ideas as they come and before the photo shoot, helps massively with planning.
4 Steps to Sketch Your Ideas
Sketching seems very simple and yet very few new photographers use this to understand their subject and capture the photo idea. Here are four simple steps to get started.
Step 1. Get inspiration by looking at portfolios
Step 2. Start sketching an idea – Keep in mind what your goal is. Where would be the plate? What about the hero? What about flatware?
Step 3. Explore your idea further and improve it
Step 4. Choose your best composition sketch
All Sketched, Now What?
Once you have sketched your ideas what next? Sketching isn’t really the goal of this exercise. Sketching is only a means to create better photos. So once you are done sketching it is time to take the next action.
The next action after sketching the ideas is to start planning for photo shoot. Once you choose a composition that you like the most, identify the elements that you have put together in the sketch and start planning for it.
What plates have you thought off? What background did you use in the sketch? Is there a napkin you are planning to use? Ask these questions and bring it all in and start arranging the scene as you see it.
As you will quickly find out that this is again just a start. Once you have arranged the scene, there will be some more dance that you will do. And finally you will like an arrangement that you will execute in food photos.
Further Reading:
1. Prerna Singh on sketching her ideas
2. Andrew Scrivani on planning a photo shoot
Your Assignment
Here’s the assignment – for your next photo, sketch your ideas. Don’t just stop at one idea. Create multiple options and then choose the best composition. It’s really pretty simple, but you will have to sit down with pen and paper and sketch some layouts.
Once you do that, share your sketch photos in the comments below and on food photography facebook page.
Are You Making the Most Out of 31DFPT
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Photo by cagrimmett
