Food Photography Skills

The first thing is the environment and lighting~

The most important thing for family photography is the environment and lighting~

I am at home Shooting without using flash or lighting is very troublesome. You have to prepare a lot of food before shooting, and the food you want to shoot may be cold by the time it is ready. After all, it is made at home, and food is not just a prop, you still have to eat it. Secondly, it is very troublesome for one person to hold a flash or light when shooting~

Therefore, you don’t need a large space to take pictures of delicious food. You only need a table, which is flat and clean. Just don’t put too much clutter next to it. I chose a balcony.

In terms of lighting, I only like natural light and do not recommend taking photos under fluorescent lights.

Natural light is very soft and the most convenient light. I set up a secluded area on the balcony to place the table and props for shooting. As long as I choose the afternoon or evening when the sun is not directly shining, I can take beautiful photos.

These were taken on the balcony.

I have seen many posts on Gourmet Kitchen. What catches my attention are the bright photos. At least I can tell what the dish is at a glance. Most of the bright photos are taken in daylight. .

Some posts make people have the urge to close the page as soon as they are opened, because those photos were taken in a kitchen with very dark lighting. The light itself is not bright enough, and the yellow light makes the photos dark and noisy. It's so much that it makes people lose their appetite.

Background cloth:

The most important thing when photographing delicious food is the background. A messy background will greatly compromise the photo. No one wants to have irrelevant household clutter next to the delicious food.

So make sure you only take pictures of delicious food in your photos, and don’t take pictures of irrelevant things, especially pots and pans that you didn’t have time to clean up after making them. Believe me, they don’t look good.

The simplest thing is to find a piece of white velvet cloth. Be careful not to choose reflective materials such as smooth silk, which will make the entire photo light feel hard and uncomfortable.

Choose a white velvet cloth with short fluff, which will produce very soft diffuse light and make the overall photo bright.

If you don’t know how to take pictures at all, then remember that as long as it is a clean and bright photo of food, it will take your food to a higher level.

These photos were taken against a white background without any other props. They are all fondant cakes made by me. The cake itself is brightly colored and beautiful in shape, making it a good photo material.

Some relatives said that what I cook is ordinary home-cooked food, not cakes with such bright colors and beautiful colors. It doesn’t matter, home-cooked food is here~~~

This is only taken with a white background Home-cooked dishes also have their own characteristics, such as the red prawns at the end, which are very beautiful in themselves.

The pork belly with pickled vegetables is darker in color, so it will not be dark when photographed in a bright place. This kind of dark cuisine is particularly taboo to be photographed in dark places such as kitchens.

I also told you that what I photographed was dessert, so that doesn’t matter. This is dessert. The most common light cheesecake can still be photographed beautifully~~

Again Someone told me that I can only take pictures under fluorescent lamps, what should I do~

Then I will provide a few pictures that I took under fluorescent lamps, the most common fluorescent lamp, 100w

Same The background is white, and the fluorescent light is not as comfortable as natural light, but it can also make the picture clean and tidy.

These pictures of Yuyu Bread are dark in color and have a high contrast with the background, so they can simply use a pure white background to highlight only the main subject.

You can consider shooting bread like this, only highlighting the bread and ignoring the rest. You can add some text and the effect will be good.

Background 2---Dark background:

For photos of food, I personally prefer dark backgrounds, which can highlight the characteristics of certain food better than white.

The following group is the dark-colored aged effect that I prefer.

What you need for the dark-colored aged effect is an old table. You can use any old elm table or log table in your home. Be careful not to use a tabletop with a bright paint surface.

If you don’t have an old wooden table at home, you can also buy wooden props specially used for shooting, there are many on TB.

There are thicker wooden boards, and there is also the kind I showed, a thin layer of soft imitation wooden boards.

Background cloth:

There are many kinds of background cloth. The one with English letters is the most common. Sometimes I use it to take pictures of food.

Props:

Food also requires beautiful utensils

I have always found this sentence to be particularly reliable.

Buying some beautiful plates and props and matching them with the composition will take your food photos to the next level.

Show some of the plates and props~

First of all, it is my favorite, this lotus leaf plate. This kind of textured plate can bring out the color of the food. The texture is also very photogenic

Various large bowls, used when taking photos of rice or noodles. Don’t forget to pair it with a pair of good-looking chopsticks and a wooden spoon

All tableware should not be pure white, otherwise it will look a bit white when photographed, and it will have no effect. Choose something with a pattern or something more classic

This kind of special plate is usually prepared

Prepare a small rice bowl with a nice bottom, which can be placed upside down when taking pictures of delicious food Make the composition next to it.

Plates of various shapes and sizes are required, and square plates are not to be missed. I'm still short of a rectangular plate and haven't found one I like yet.

The blue and white plates are very classic, and they look great when photographed. The effect is also very good if it is a set. But don’t choose one with poor quality, the color must be smoother.

Cutting board, this is a must-have, it looks great with vegetables.

Choose a solid wood cutting board, preferably one with wood texture. When I bought this, I specifically asked for wood with obvious shades of grain, but in the end, the grain that was delivered to me by express delivery was a bit not obvious enough.

Prepare a few kinds of fabrics, linen is a must. A blue and white plaid napkin is also a must. It looks great when patting bread~

Props:

I bought dried foxtail grass. It's probably OK to pull it out and dry it outside

Log chips are very cute when used as small props

Composition:

The composition is very theoretical. Yeah, I've seen a lot of composition methods, but I can't remember them. I think it’s just a matter of how you match them to look good. Match the large and small plates to form an irregular triangle.

Shoot from a bird's-eye view, perpendicular to the food, so that the composition feels fuller.

From a bird's-eye view, place the subject in the upper or lower part, leaving enough space for the food being photographed. , can make the theme stand out.

Close-up:

Highlight the object to be photographed

Focus problem:

Shooting with different focus gives different feelings.

Achieved through full-time manual focus. What I want to say here is that not every lens supports full-time manual focus. Read the manual carefully and don’t come to me if it breaks out~~

Pair with various vegetables to increase color

All the ingredients used in making delicious food can be used as decoration. Onions and peppers are a good match. By analogy, many spices can be used as decoration.

The same is true when making desserts. You can sprinkle some powdered sugar, chocolate powder and other powders for decoration.