Simple ways to improve your food photos
These days sharing food photos on social media is an everyday thing, and everyone wants to share the perfect shot of their delicious meals. Here are four tips to help you improve your food photos the next time you cook a tasty meal on your Blackstone! These tips work whether you're using an expensive DSLR or just your iPhone camera. With these tips, your photography skills will improve instantly!
1. Food styling
Before you start snapping photos of your food, decide whether you want the arrangement to be relaxed or geometrically precise. Relaxed means the food is arranged to look random on the plate, even though you're deliberate about where it goes – think spaghetti or a tall stack of BBQ-sauce-glazed ribs. A geometric arrangement means very deliberate placement – every piece of food, from the sandwich to the blueberry, is placed on purpose. Decide which style best suits your food and your personality. Remember colour and space too. Potatoes and steak, for example, taste delicious but look very brown. Add colourful garnishes and sides, such as coriander, rosemary, asparagus and tomatoes, to bring the photo to life. The plate should be filled so it looks generous and inviting, but not so full that it would be hard to eat from. If the food looks too crowded, remove something to create more space.
2. Lighting
Once your food is arranged the way you want, it's time to think about the lighting. You don't need huge, expensive, bright lights to make your food look good. Natural light can make any food look just as good as artificial light. A large window without direct sunlight is an excellent option. Think about which direction you want the light to come from and how much shadow you want in your photo.
Lighting your food from the same side you're shooting from isn't ideal, because it makes the food look colourless and flat. If the light comes from behind the food, you'll get deep shadows on the front of the food, giving a dark and moody look.
The most common way to light your food is side lighting. Place your main light source on one side. By placing a white reflector on the opposite side, you bounce light into the shadow side. This gives you an appealing shadow on one side while keeping the colour on the other. You can explore even further with light cards (see equipment below), but simply choosing the right light angle will instantly improve your food photos.
3. Composition
Now it's time to start shooting! A good rule of thumb when deciding which angle to shoot from is: "Which angle shows a view most people don't normally see?" Most people take photos from a first-person perspective. That's the angle anyone would see standing next to the food, and it isn't particularly interesting. Try shooting directly above the food (an overhead shot), very close up, or lower down (at eye level just above the plate). You don't even need to include the whole dish in the frame! Just make sure you show a view of the food people don't normally see, so it catches their attention.
A quick tip on props (cutlery, backgrounds, napkins etc.) – less is more. Keep the focus on the food.
4. Equipment
There are a few simple tools that can help you take better photos.
Reflectors: These are exactly what they sound like – paper that helps reflect light. You can use a white and a black reflector. A white reflector can simply be a white sheet of paper or a flat piece of aluminium foil. Place the reflector opposite the light source to light the food from the other side, remove overly dark shadows and bring back colour.
Black reflectors do the opposite. If you want darker shadows on the dark side of the photo, place a sheet of matte black paper or foam core near that side. It absorbs light and deepens the shadows.
Tripod: A simple phone tripod helps eliminate any chance of blur or shake when taking photos. For phone photos, resting both elbows on the table or on a stack of books achieves the same thing!
LED lights: Again, these aren't essential, but if you find yourself indoors on a rainy day, they can help. Consider getting 2–3 lights so you can light your food from different angles at the same time.
Sharing great food photos on social media is sure to earn you plenty of attention and admiration from friends and followers! With these tips, you'll make sure your food photos stand out and make an impression.