Food Photography
PHOTO CHALLENGE | Play with your food and take some photos that make your mouth water. Try to have fun with this process, because it’s all about building on your creativity.
Food photography as a genre became popular with the dawn of social media, and continues to evolve. Food photography can be a lot like painting on a blank canvas. You continue to add in elements to get that perfect balance of art and reality.
The ubiquity of Instagram and other social media has brought new attention to the medium of food photography, making it more accessible and popular than ever. However, not all pictures of food are created equal; shooting food photography, like any photography style, requires a bit of technical know-how, as well as a critical eye.
The challenge of photographing food is ultimately that you have to control every aspect of making the photo. In a sense, you’re channeling your inner artist to make a still life scene, then documenting it as the photographer. We wear many hats.
LIGHT | It goes without saying that you should source the best light for your photos, especially if you’re indoors.
ISO | If you’re shooting indoors, increase your ISO little by little to help with exposing your photo.
APERTURE | Shooting with a low aperture will give you a distinct point of focus, but be mindful of singling out an element of your food shot to where it doesn’t make sense. Alternately, too high an aperture can be distracting depending on your background. So practice with what works best for your scene.
START SIMPLE | If you feel uncertain about how to begin with setting a scene that involves food, start with the main subject and slowly add in things you have on hand. Start taking photos to see how the scene progresses and what might be working or not.
GET IN THE SHOT | Don’t underestimate putting your hands (or someone else’s) in the scene to give your photo life. Placing a hand in a photo adds a distinctly human element that might not be achieved simply by using cutlery.
ADD CHARACTER | If you have interesting pieces (vintage dishes, a vase, unique cutlery, linen napkins, etc), see about working them into your setup for greater interest. Don’t overcrowd things, but do experiment.
TRUST YOUR EYE | I can’t stress enough that trusting your “eye” to how things look and feel aesthetically will be your best resource as you work with food photography. You want interest from each edge of the shot, but it does require you to step back and access how things are working with one another.
BALANCE | Styling any object or scene to photograph is ALL ABOUT creating a sense of balance. Take note of how your eye moves across the scene.
GO CANDID | If you’re simply unsure about styling, but have a good background and interesting meal in front of you, take the shot. You don’t have to get fancy with things if it’s not working for you.
If food styling simply isn’t cutting it for you, switch gears and go for a food narrative, or storytelling. The process of purchasing the food (farmer’s markets are obviously great for this), the act of cooking, and even sitting down at the table to eat will be more appealing to us if we associate it with a certain atmosphere or image. Expand the range of focus to show much more than just the main dish (or hero dish as food photographers call it). The variety of shots available to you will undoubtedly be greater than a styled scene: up close, whole scene, details, action, multiple perspectives, etc.
Your options and creative freedom are endless.
Food photographers have made the act of styling and creating the genre, an art of its own. One of the most consistent things I see from one food photographer to the next, is a strong brand and styling. There’s also
ANDREW SCRIVANI | It’s interesting to see a NYTimes food photographer on a more generic level than other food photographers I know. While his social media doesn’t tell a whole story, his individual images are interesting, even without consistency (which I imagine is largely due to his job).
AIMEE TWIGGER | A moody through line, almost always in the picture, and natural light make up Aimee’s styling and branding. She has a beautiful, classic, almost old-fashioned look to her work that is visually pleasing. Her food photography is 100% storytelling.
KELSEY SIEMENS | Kelsey is a younger, newer baker and cook in the industry. She’s coming out with her first cookbook in October. Like many, she started as a blogger, created a strong sense of style, and has since grown a good sized following by participating in the online community. You’ll also see that she shows her face from time to time, and I firmly believe that’s a necessary element in growing on social media.