The second is how to highlight the freshness, delicacy, hygiene and beauty of food, which makes people salivate and make their forefinger move. The former is mainly the arrangement of light, while the latter is also related to manipulation, props and background.
In fact, you shot all the features of the food without adding any special effects. I think it's better this way.
For rough food, such as cut bread and cake, the light should be soft and directional, so soft masks and honeycomb covers are used more. For vegetables and fruits, due to irregular shapes, it is easy to produce projections, and it is more common to use scattered light. For some foods with greasy surfaces, such as cooked food, stewed or smoked meat and poultry, the lighting should not be too realistic. Ordinary light can only make food dark and unsightly, so it is very important to be surprisingly flat when lighting. Special attention should be paid to the lighting on the main body. The light should be transparent and slightly stiff. Lights don't have to illuminate food from the front or above. You can try to use some main lights and personalized auxiliary lights.
If you shoot food with certain light transmittance, such as vegetables, slices, jellies and drinks. The intensity and flexibility of light should be skillfully combined, and it is very important to use contour light and backlight appropriately to express the attraction of the subject. Most food photos pursue normal color restoration, especially those of cold dishes, western snacks and fast food, but sometimes warm light is used, such as fried food and baked flour products. Golden color means freshness, crispness and softness of food.
The use of light
Natural light 1
Using natural light to shoot food is a very good choice. When I shoot food for fashion magazines and other media, I mostly choose natural light to shoot. But try to avoid direct light, because it will cast a dazzling shadow on the food. Don't use a flash unless you want your food to look wet and greasy (the camera comes with a flash). But occasionally when shooting a barbecue or something, the effect may look cool and fashionable. Try to scatter soft light through thin curtains and use it as backlight or side backlight, and you will find that the food is very beautiful.
Step 2 flash
Didn't you just say there was no flash? Yes, don't use the flash that comes with the machine. The flash here refers to the professional flash. The lighting arrangement of food photography should show the three-dimensional sense of dishes. The basic lighting is to use the top light with slight backlight, combined with the main light on the side and the auxiliary light with personality. Soft light covers and honeycomb covers are usually used.
Soft light is the main food for shooting snacks such as bread and cakes; However, greasy foods such as braising in soy sauce and frying need a hard light source to avoid the food being too flat; When shooting cooked vegetables, drinks and other foods with good transparency, it is very effective to show their transparency and then use backlight and profile light. Lighting is dead, and people are alive. In the face of different foods, the creative use of local light sources will achieve amazing results.
Composition and angle
1, how to highlight the dishes to be expressed
Here, according to the actual situation of netizens, the pictures we posted on the Internet are mainly photos that want to highlight the salivation and appetite of food, and the sense of temptation is the most important. So simply taking pictures of food and tableware neatly, such a simple perspective, only let us see the food itself, but did not reflect the attractive feeling. Why don't we look for the most critical part of food, such as the most beautiful staple food in a dish, or even beautiful tableware, and let viewers associate it with food. If conditions permit, you can also change the container and environment of the dish itself to achieve unexpected results.
2. Usage and purpose of shooting angles of 0, 45 and 90.
The shooting angle of food should be grasped according to the characteristics of dishes. Here are some simple instructions:
Western food, snacks, snacks, drinks and other foods with good stereoscopic effect are more suitable for shooting at a relatively flat angle such as 0 to highlight the stereoscopic effect of food.
In China cooking, a large number of dishes are used, or large bowls of soup and cooking dishes are used. In order to show the food in these big plates well, we can shoot at a relative vertical angle of about 90 degrees. Of course, you can also try some interesting western dishes to bring different visual effects.
45-degree view is relatively common, but we often use it in ordinary dishes, which requires us to reasonably mix materials and use props to avoid boredom.
Of course, when shooting these foods, special skills are essential. In order to maintain the delicious taste of food, you can also spray or coat some special liquids on food, or inject some substances into food to maintain its color, surface texture and fresh appearance.
The most typical example is when shooting fruit, coating a thin layer of oil on the surface of the fruit, and then spraying water mist, which will make the fruit delicious and crystal clear, and then it will really make people covet by side lighting. Specifically, first pour a few drops of glycerin on your palm. Rub your hands, then take the fruit in your hand and rub it with your palm. Generally, after applying a layer of glycerin, put the fruit into a bowl and put it neatly according to your own imagination. Then, take a plastic spray bottle filled with water and carefully spray the water on the fruit. In this way, a layer of crystal water drops appeared on the fruit, which achieved the ideal effect.
Need to be reminded that when using the spray bottle, you must pay attention to the surrounding astigmatism lights. You should turn off all the lights nearby before spraying water, and then turn on the lights when you are ready to take pictures. In addition, when spraying water, cover all other places, because if the bowl and seamless paper are sprayed with water, the whole image effect will be destroyed. Don't apply too much oil to the fruit, or the surface of the fruit will give off unnatural light, just apply a thin layer of oil.
If you want to show the calories of food, you can handle it flexibly according to different foods. In order to enhance the steaming effect of general food, you can find a thin blowing tube, such as a straw for smoking, take a sip of cigarette smoke in your mouth, aim the straw at the inside of the food being photographed, forcibly eject a puff of smoke, leave quickly, and press the shutter in time when the smoke rises to the best state.
Note that in order to make the above smoke effect more obvious in the picture, it is best to use backlight or backlight when lighting, and choose a dark background, where the smoke will curl up and make people daydream.
When shooting vegetables, in order to show the fresh and tender texture of vegetables, it is suggested to soak vegetables in alkaline water in advance, so that vegetables can get fresh green texture. However, when some foods may change their original state as soon as they are served, they have to take special measures and use some artificial materials to simulate the shape and texture of dishes to make some fake foods to restore the best state of food.
The most typical example is shooting ice cubes. No matter how fast you are, the ice will melt faster in the light than you think. Therefore, when shooting ice cubes or food with ice cubes, choosing an ice cube specially carved with plexiglass can get quite realistic results.
Sliced apples should be soaked in salt water or lemon water to avoid discoloration when exposed to air for a long time. When shooting cooked meat and fish food, you can apply a layer of refined cooking oil before shooting to make the food look particularly fresh.
The composition of food shooting can only be used as a reference, because all the atmosphere and effects can only be reflected after the food is ready. Then improvise some local adjustments to make it as close as possible to the original idea.