Enjoying good food is one of life's greatest pleasures.
When facing sumptuous food in front of the dinner table, it is inevitable that you will have the urge to take pictures of them and share them with everyone, and at the same time, make a souvenir for yourself.
The National Day holiday is coming, and everyone must have a good opportunity to have a big meal. Why not take some delicious photos?
Photographing food is actually a technical job.
How can you make the food you photograph more attractive?
This article will briefly introduce food photography techniques to help you take food photos that will make people salivate just looking at them.
Preparation of Photographic Equipment When photographing gourmet food, you don’t have to be picky about the equipment. You can take pictures with your mobile phone.
But for the best results, you still have to use a SLR.
It is recommended to choose a lens above 50mm or a zoom lens.
When shooting, it is inevitable to fill in the shadows.
If you don’t have professional equipment such as reflectors, you can use a mirror instead. A women’s makeup mirror will suffice.
It is best to carry a lens cloth with you during the cold season.
Food can only be photographed when it is freshly served and steaming. This may cause the lens to fog up, requiring the use of a lens cloth.
Various settings of the camera When photographing delicious food, a large aperture is a must, at least the aperture must be opened to f/4.
Since the food doesn't move, this is a good opportunity to master manual mode.
Switch to manual mode and experience different shutter and ISO combinations.
Don't use flash.
The light of the flash is concentrated and bright, which will make the objects photographed have strong lines and clear outlines.
It is suitable for photographing stable and strong men, but not suitable for gourmet food.
The food under the flash doesn't look delicious enough. One last point that needs special emphasis is to use RAW format for post-processing.
Post-processing has become an essential part of the art of photography.
Just a few simple adjustments to hue, brightness, contrast, and saturation can make your food photos more attractive.
The most commonly used viewing angle is a 45-degree viewing angle, which is also the actual viewing angle of the human eye. It will make the picture appear natural and the field of view will be more comprehensive.
You can also choose to tilt the dishes at a 45-degree angle, which is more lively and lively.
The side view is closer to the food and has a stronger sense of immersion. It will give the audience the illusion that they are sitting at the table, ready to eat. The disadvantage is that the field of view is limited and can only see the side, so it is more suitable for shooting burgers, cakes, etc.
Well layered food.
The top-down view has the richest field of view, but the details are not obvious.
Shooting a single dish will make the photo less interesting and connotative, but this perspective is very suitable for shooting a combination of diverse foods.
This angle of view is perfect for a "family portrait" of a whole table of dishes.
Single-plate dishes with various colors, complex compositions, and exquisite structures are also suitable for overhead shots.
Learn to compose photos. It is also knowledgeable to learn how to compose photos to make them look more comfortable and pleasing to the eye.
We often use overhead shots to create concave shapes for food. Here are three types of compositions to introduce to you: Triangular composition method Triangle is a very stable and not boring structure, so you can arrange the three foods in order of priority.
form a triangular relationship.
For diagonal composition, just pick a diagonal line in the shooting screen and that’s it!
Doesn’t it look great no matter how you take it?
Even the breakfast has a different beauty.
For a diagonal composition, just put the dish you want to highlight in the middle and let the other dishes serve as a backdrop. If there is only one dish, choose a suitable focus and blur the background.
For a more profound effect, the greater the color contrast, the better if you can choose.
Isn’t it nice to highlight the beauty of food?
Compared with artificial light, natural light is more divergent and softer, with stronger color rendering and smoother lines.
Almost all of the top food photos are taken in natural light.
Choose a dining table close to the bed, so that natural light can shine through the glass and slant on the dishes for the best effect.
If the food itself is brightly colored, it is best to choose a light-colored background to make the picture brighter.
Light backgrounds can highlight bright colors, and bright images can make viewers feel more comfortable.
When you cannot use natural light and need to light it yourself, you must pay attention to the direction of the light.
Try to avoid front lighting. The front light is evenly distributed and flat, does not highlight the layers and structures, and lacks light and shadow effects.
Try to let the light come from the side and rear. If the shadow is too obvious, you can use a mirror to fill in the light.
180° circular side back lighting is the most ideal effect.
The side-rear ring light shooting effect makes use of the attractiveness of environmental food photos. The key is the sense of substitution.