It is almost the time to pick up your camera and start shooting. But before you do that, there is one last thing remaining. Arranging and assembling the food, props and background.
“Those who fail to plan, plan to fail”
I am sure you have heard, read or even used this quote many times in life. Planning is important in food photography, just like in any other aspect of life. Photography without planning is like a random event. You may get a great picture once in a while by accident, but you won’t get that consistently.
What is the first thing you need to do to take a good photograph? Check the battery? Clean the lenses? Remove the lens cap perhaps? What do you think? Answer: None of the above. The one thing that comes at the very top of the list is understanding your subject. In photography, as you may already know, subject defines everything. Depending on the subject, your camera, your lenses, your technique, the background, the lighting requirement and even your process and its elements change. Knowing and studying the subject helps defining what features make it different. So the question is, how to simplify the process of understanding the subject?
Photographing food is lot of work and as some say food is a very difficult subject to photograph. It is one of the most demanding niche in photography that is more than photography. Unlike landscape photography or architectural photography, where all you need, is a good eye and a camera, food photography not only requires a good eye and a decent camera, it demands a beautifully styled food plate. Food Photography is more than just the act of photographing food and for this reason, it is sometimes grueling and complicated. This guide will help you to improve food photography by simplifying the process of photographing food.
Food is photographed for a lot of different purposes. It can be photographed for recipe books or for a blog. A cereal bowl can be photographed for putting on a cereal box or a newspaper ad. In general, purpose of each type of food photography is to make food look tempting and irresistible. Depending on how the photograph will be used, there are more details that should be understood. The lighting requirement, the technical knowledge and related knowledge. This post identifies four such types of food photography, their purpose and briefly outlines the knowledge required.
Lot of people can take a photograph, but making a photograph is the real deal. The real skill lies in making and not taking a photograph. A click here and a click there won’t guarantee you a great photograph. While there’s a plethora of reading material online and in print about taking great photograph, this post briefly talks about how to make a great photograph. Before being a good food photographer, it is worthwhile to look at how to make a great photograph. Most of the discussion is focused around food photography.
Almond Pudding by zetson
“Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first”. – Ernestine Ulmer
There is something fascinating about dessert photographs that can make anybody crave for them. I don’t know anybody who does not like desserts. After spending some time looking at them, I thought these would be good to share with the readers. I am sure these will inspire you to take some great dessert pictures too. Here are 10 (+1) mouth-watering desserts shots that will make you want them now.
Caution: Don’t lick your computer screen.
Have you wondered how milk in that photograph on the cereal box looked so thick? How is white glue for an answer? How about that syrup on pancake photograph? Does motor oil sound good? There are many such examples of dirty tricks used in professional food photography. Now after knowing this, how tempting does the photograph of the pancake or that milk bowl with strawberry become?
What a tempting food photograph can do to your business, your blog or your taste buds has been said by many famous bloggers and many famous photographers. This post has 45+ resources to improve your food photography.
Food Photography has a power of exciting people about food. A good food photograph can make you hungry and arouse your temptation. I believe, this is why there are very few Food Photographers. Food photography leaves a lasting impact, but there is more to a great food photograph than just photography – Food styling. Food photograph is only as good as its food styling. Most famous Food Photographers either have food styling skills or hire a Food Stylist.
If you are hobbyist like me, hiring a food stylist is very expensive. So why not develop food styling skills and at the same time improve your food photos?
