Initially, you might have had an impression that people who take pictures of their food before eating it are actually just wasting time. Soon enough, you may find yourself doing the same thing, and you do not know when it all started.
It is a new norm today: taking pictures of food. There are many reasons people do this. Some take pictures of their food to show their social media followers what they are eating. Some do it for future references, especially if you are a chef who has caught some inspiration while dining. While others do it for posterity, they want to remember the memories associated with the dish.
Regardless, you can always do better at it. You can create stunning images by running your creativity and testing out some things. Whether you will visit a hawker downtown or an upscale rooftop bar in Singapore, there are ways you can take great pictures of your food. Here are some of them.
Food Photography Tip #1: Frame It
Remember the rule of thirds? Apply it here. You can play around with symmetry and asymmetry to create interesting and stunning pictures. You can easily do it if you are doing flat lay images, meaning taking top view pictures of the food.
You can also play with angles by tilting the bowls and plates when doing frontal shots. You just have to make sure that the support is strong and stable. Otherwise, you will waste the food.
Food Photography Tip #2: Get Some Light
Light heavily dictates the quality and aesthetics of the image, so you better make sure that light is enough to illuminate the food. This is easy if you are eating in the morning when there is plenty of light. Just adjust to exposure and shutter speed of your camera to keep your images from being overexposed.
If you are eating at night, you may want to toy with the ISO and shutter speed to make the most of available light. You can even improvise with the available light sources, such as candles and warm restaurant lights.
Food Photography Tip #3: Highlight the Features
Your intention is to entice your followers and readers, so you have to make sure that your food looks delicious. This is something that you can do by getting close-up shots. You will need to show the details of the food—from the soup, the sauce and up to the garnish.
Food Photography Tip #4: Make It Look Organic
If you arrange your dishes too perfectly, your photo will look artificial. Remember, you are aiming for an organic look, so you may leave some things the way they are. You can have the spoon in the bowl or sprinkle some peppercorn around the plate. Give it a human touch by capturing a photo of someone indulging in their food or taking a picture of hand stirring the soup.
Food photography is a hobby, a pastime and a profession. You can make food look good and enticing by following the tips above.
