How To Take Your Food Photography to The Next Level

[Reyed Mia (Apprentice, DIU)]

How To Take Your Food Photography to The Next Level

What makes a good food photo?

Showcasing the dish's best traits is essential to any successful food image. Its colors and textures are the key details that make you want to take a bite, so you want to have them all clearly in focus.

Food photography trends change as often as fashion trends and the more you can familiarize yourself with what industry leaders are doing, the more successful your images will be. Take a look at the websites and feeds from companies like Williams-Sonoma, Martha Stewart, Food & Wine, Donna Hay (Australia), Bon Appetite, Sur La Table, etc. and see what color schemes are of the moment. Is it the light bright or is it moody and based in shadow? Is the food messy and broken up, strewn about the plate, or is it tidy, tight and neat? Does the food have a homemade appeal or does it look highly constructed by a professional chef? Is the look attainable or aspirational? Are the props simple or highly stylized? Is the food the focus or is the scene and story that the props create more significant? As you continue to pour though these publications and ask yourself these questions, your eye will become stronger and your own imagery will improve.

Composition

Composition is key to the success of any image. In a well-composed image, the viewer can immediately understand what the subject of the photograph is. In food photography, the subject can be anything from the main dish to a small detail in the dish, like tomatoes in a salad, or even the person who made the dish.

Using the "Rule of Thirds" will make any image stronger and more translatable to the viewer. Imagine the frame (what you see through the viewfinder) divided into a nine-part grid. In this guideline, your subject can be placed along the lines or at their intersections. The eye is naturally drawn to the intersection points and those are the areas of most impact in an image. An image is always strongest when the subject is on a "power point" or intersecting point in this grid, rather than centered in the frame. So ask yourself: What's the focal point of interest in the dish that you are photographing? Place that focal point on one of the grid's "power points" and draw the viewer's eye to the point of interest in your frame.

Source:http://learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2015/howtotakefoodphotos-intro.shtml