5 tips to take your food pictures to the next level

Phography credit: OHMYVEGGIES.COM

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​While I was creating recipes for Food and Nutrition Magazine (FNM), I realize how important is to get a nice strong image to make your creation shine and to inspire others to cook healthy foods. I don´t intent to be a professional food photographer (like the ones from FNM)  but with some basic photography knowledge, lots of practice and some tricks food images can get a lot better (I´m still practicing).  For bloggers, mouth watering food pictures can attract more traffic to their website.  So, here I share the more useful tips I´ve learn when taking food images:

1. KNOW THE BASICS. Get to know your camera and practice the principles of light exposure, color, and composition. When you start using the manual mode of you camera you get really creative. There is a tendency in food photo to shot wide open and create blurry backgrounds to draw the attention of the viewers to the most important part of the dish. But in some cases you may need a little more background in focus, if nobody will be able to recognize the elements in the background, that shallow deep of field may not work.
2. USE NATURAL LIGHT.  The best light for food photography is the light that you don´t even notice when looking at the picture. You want it as natural as possible. Move around and don´t be confined to the kitchen. A simple window is most of the times a nice diffused light source. Food shot in direct light may look harsh and flat. If the light coming from your window still makes harsh shadows and highlights you can use some white linen curtains to soften. You can also use a white foam board to bounce light back onto the plate and reduce shadows.  Never use built-in flash!
3. CHOOSE PROPS CAREFULLY AND VARY THE BACKGROUND. Play with a variety of plates, bowls, glasses, flatware, and napkins (or remnant fabrics) in different shapes, sizes, and colors to make your image pops. You can create modern, rustic or French bistro styles: for a modern style choose swoop Asian bowls with white or black colors for a clean background, for a rustic style wooden backgrounds made of reclaimed wood are perfect, and for a French Bistro style you can use a marbled pastry board and a linen tablecloth and build the look with vintage silverware. Just don´t overdo your prop to avoid distracting backgrounds.
4. PREP YOUR FOOD. Food stylists carefully put food on a plate with tweezers! So, try to get your shooting dish as perfect as you can. On the other hand, a bit of mess like cookie crumbles can be as effective as a clean plate, it makes it more real and appealing. Delicious dishes are not always good for pics, don’t just consider the finished product on the plate and look at the ingredients—perhaps a shooting of the ingredients or a “work in progress” shoot are sometimes more interesting .
5. PLAY AROUND AND FIND THE BEST ANGLE. Camera angle is what creates a sense of depth, perspective and scale. Food generally looks good with overhead shots, but you may prefer a 45° degree or a 90° angle from the table depending on the dish. A stack of pancakes will look better from the side (90° angle), while a slice of pizza may look better with an overhead shot. Never shot a dish from only one angle. Frame your dish carefully, not too close or too far away. Try to walk around your plate to capture lighting from different angles and then chose the favorite later. As you can see, the perfect photo takes lots of shots! Never give up..practice, practice, practice.