Food Photography

Shooting food in your own home is a popular photographic genre now more than ever. Our fascination with food, on the other hand, is not new. Food was a primary source of inspiration in artwork dating back to the 15th century, where painters attempted to freeze a point in time in the most realistic perspective. These works of art depicted everything from lavish feasts and banquets to simple family dinners at a table. The latter frequently emphasises frugality and poverty during those times.

We've always been a foodie who enjoys everything about food, from shopping to cooking, so food photography was a natural progression for us. Making your food look delicious and lip-smacking is the goal of food photography. That being said, you don't have to be a top-tier chef with exceptional plating skills; rather, it's about seeing the image. Simple ingredients found in the kitchen can be used to create stunning images. Consider a boiled egg with dripping yolk, a scoop of melting ice cream, fresh berries or tomatoes with a spritz of water, or a fizzy drink/champagne poured into a glass.

Hints and tips for photographing food with natural light

The sun is an excellent source of light for photographing food, but it is also extremely unpredictable, changing colour and strength throughout the day. As a result, many professional food photographers prefer to shoot with artificial light to ensure a consistent look across their images. There are, however, many professional food photographers who have made a name for themselves using only the sun. Learning to master it and work with it can be extremely rewarding and actually quite simple. The key is to point the light in the right direction for the food or drink you're photographing.

Food is almost always photographed with directional lighting, either from the side or from the back. Never shoot food straight on because it lacks depth and dimension and looks, well, unappealing.

Discovering your light

Taking an egg and walking around to your various windows is the best way to find the perfect set-up spot in your home. Standing with the egg side up, you'll want to see a lovely sombre feathered shadow fall across it, starting lighter closer to the window and fading into shadow. Soft filtered light, either with a diffuser or in overcast weather, is ideal; thankfully, we have plenty of overcast days here in the UK.

On cloudy days, it may be best to bounce the light by placing a reflector (a piece of tinfoil or a white card if you don't have an actual reflector panel) on the opposite side of the food. This reflects the light back onto the dish, casting a darker shadow. Shadows are your friends, but too much of them can make it heavy, so finding a happy medium is essential.

Understanding your camera

A 50mm f/1.8 lens is a good place to start when photographing food. This is the ideal go-to lens for us foodies, and it's reasonably priced, so you'll get your money's worth. Later on, adding an 85mm f/1.8 and a macro lens to your kit will add a lot of variety. While lenses are important, it is also important to understand and know how to use your camera in manual mode.

ISO

Many food photography blogs recommend that all food be photographed at ISO 100. This, in my opinion, is unnecessary and makes learning the other functions in the exposure triangle even more difficult. When first starting out, I always recommend a higher ISO, especially if you don't have access to a sturdy tripod. That being said, the lower the ISO, the less digital noise in the image, so try to keep it as low as possible; however, if you're not using a tripod, don't sacrifice your shutter speed.

Shutter speed

Shutter speed is an important component of your exposure triangle in food photography, especially if you want to capture the perfect shot of something dripping. When shooting handheld, try to keep the shutter speed at least 1/125 of a second or higher; anything less than 1/125 of a second may result in a camera shake and an out-of-focus image. Using your camera's light metre should result in a perfectly exposed image.

Aperture

There is no set rule for aperture as it depends on the message you want to convey in the scene. I prefer to shoot a straight scene with a wider aperture which creates a shallow depth of field. Using a f/stop of around f/3.5 and choosing a hero or a prominent element as a focal point will help to draw attention to the area that you want to feature. For an overhead or flat lay shot, you’ll want the whole image to be in focus, so a smaller aperture starting around f/5.6 is ideal.

White balance

Nikon's digital cameras are now extremely advanced, with white balance temperature settings that make achieving a good colour balance easier than ever. Leaving your camera on auto white balance and shooting in RAW format allows you to fix any white balance issues in post-production.

Setting up your scene

Before you ask, all of my food is real and completely edible. Food photographers, in my opinion, have a bad reputation for posing with fake food. To be sure, many substitutions are used in larger commercial shoots due to time constraints or food spoiling quickly. Still, there's no need to fake it when shooting at a home in natural light. If you're worried about food spoiling, use a substitute ingredient while you set up your scene or camera settings before adding the dish.

Suggestions for food photography styling

• Keep your ingredients hydrated and fresh—the camera never lies!
• Fill your scene with pinch bowls of fresh herbs, spices, or fruit and plate up on smaller plates.
• The food stands out thanks to the neutral props.
• Fabrics enhance the visual appeal of a room by adding texture and a leading line.
• Be wary of reflections, especially when using shiny cutlery.
• Look for interesting backgrounds that will add drama. After spills, vinyl surfaces are easy to clean. Additionally, wooden planks, newspaper, parchment paper, sheet music, wallpaper samples, and ceramic tiles create fantastic and one-of-a-kind surfaces. Avoid using pine tabletops because they can turn out to be very yellow/orange and overpowering.
• Don't feel compelled to fill empty space; negative space can be very effective.
• Odd numbers improve composition: one, three, and five (cupcakes, glasses)
• When in doubt, style in a triangle by stacking popcorn or placing three dishes/glasses.
• Always use props that are relevant to the dish; for example, putting a teapot in the background of a curry dish is not ideal.