When I first got interested in food photography, I was really overwhelmed by what I needed to get. And then, I heard Andrew Scrivani say: “The best gear to get you started is the camera in your pocket and the light from the window.” That was true, to an extent.
Nikon has teamed up with sports photographer Tom Miles and world champion martial artist Tom "Fire Kid" Duquesnoy for its new #MomentOfImpact campaign – which largely involves epic action photos of the latter smashing watermelons, cakes, and pumpkins. Check out the intense photo series here, and learn more about how it was lit and executed.
Food photography is a dark art and there seems to be an infinite number of tips and tricks to get the best results. Food photographer Skyler Burt has put together a list of six essential bits of gear that he takes on every single shoot, and some of them might surprise you.
Photography is an enormous, multifaceted industry that ranges from portrait and product to macro and landscape. As photographers, we owe it to ourselves to learn as much as we can about each specific genre of our trade. Even if you only shoot weddings or cars, it’s important to learn and practice new techniques, which will allow you to hone your skills and can keep you out of creative ruts. Recently, I have had the opportunity to take on several types of shoots that I either have never done before or have had very limited experience with.
Here we have food tutorial videos inspired by Wes Anderson of "The Grand Budapest Hotel", Quentin Tarantino of "Kill Bill", Alfonso Cuarón of "Children of Men" and "Gravity", and Michael Bay who gave us "Transformers" and "Armageddon". Take yourself out of your regular industry and client mindset and envision yourself in another niche, shooting something you wouldn't normally do. How would you make a food tutorial? How can you use your influences and own unique style to make a video about something different to your usual niche?
A still image of food will make you hungry, but there is something about a food video that can take that hunger to another level. There are aspects of the cooking process that just don’t translate as well in the still form as they do in video. Claire Thomas has taken these delicious moments and developed a style that showcases them in short 30-60 second videos. I contacted Claire to find out how she developed her style and what inspires her to make these mouthwatering shorts.
Back in 2010, I was commissioned to do a photo of some spices for a family friend. I had never done anything like that, so I wanted to do a good job, and invested in my first off-camera flash setup. It was daunting at first, but I’ll never regret dipping my toes in the water and starting to learn about one of the most important things about being a freelance photographer: learning to control light.
Welcome to the instant-generation: a generation that loves taking Selfies and also taking Instagram photos of the food they or their friends are having that same moment, and of course share it right away on Social Media. 'Let’s Café', a small coffee chain from Taiwan, decided to take advantage of the love of selfies and cell-food photography and created this smart Coffee machine that made them go viral on Social Media and grow their business. Here is the coffee version of Snapchat.
Every finished dish in a restaurant or final recipe shot is made up of different ingredients. These ingredients can be a wide range of things. Some ingredients, like fruits and vegetables, are equally delicious as a component in a dish or as a meal on their own. Other ingredients like flour, salt, and sugar, are best used as the building blocks for that final meal. When your are assigned to shoot a series of recipes or plated dishes at a restaurant, it is very common that your Art Director or client will want to include an overhead shot of just the common ingredient. Here are a few examples of when this shot is useful.
Nice lighting and a controlled experiment can yield some pretty cool results, and luckily there are folks like the ones behind the brand Beauty of Science who just released a video showing exactly that. Simply put, they dissolved some M&M candy in a dish of water. And it looks amazing.
Food and product photography is an ever-growing niche, and with this comes trends in the pitfalls and mistakes that we all make when photographing food. In this video, I cover the most common things that trip us up.
Silverware can be really pretty, but it can also be a complete pain in the you know what when it comes time to photograph it. This great video tutorial will give you numerous helpful tips to deal with distracting reflections on silverware.
Photographer Lois Bielefeld has always loved food; she notes that one of her chores as a child was to make a meal for her family on the weekends. After seeing the way food can bring families and people together, she was inspired to create her series, "Weeknight Dinners," which showcases the various circumstances and family dynamics that bring people together to share a meal.
Controlling reflections on your subject has to be one of the trickier skills to master in photography. It's a deep and nerdy topic to dive into, but this video is specifically about food photography and how simple changes in your shooting angle can dramatically affect the final image.
If you've seen our latest comparison between the iPhone X and the Panasonic GH5, you see that the iPhone suits the run-and-gun type of shooter who makes videos on the go where you want the gear to get out of the way with a small and light form factor. In this video, the team at AmnesiArt made a professional video for Elise Lepinteur, the protegee of Christopher Adam, a worldwide famous pastry chef based in Paris, France.
For over a year now, I've been the lead freelance photographer for Stock and Barrel Magazine, a food and beverage publication here in Columbus, Ohio. Often, assignments get thrown my way with not a lot of time to get them done before deadlines hit. That means I get to shoot a lot of places in a very short amount of time. Oh the joys of the print world! In this article, I'm going to share with you how I shoot food on location quickly. No assistants, minimal gear, during business hours, and without pissing off the chef. Let's get started.
When you hear the words cinnamon rolls, what comes to mind? Is it a roll hot out of the oven with a rich creamy icing oozing over the sides? Or do you picture a Saturday morning breakfast with a dish of rolls that have been covered in a rich thick cream cheese frosting? Neither vision of a cinnamon roll is right nor wrong. The key in turning these cinnamon roll visions into reality is the styling.
Ironically mocking foodies with hashtags #foodporn, #cheflife and #theartofplating and using corn dogs, Bugles and Luncheables; anonymous insta-chef @chefjacqueslamerde (hilariously translates to Chef Jack Shit) has taken a tongue and cheek approach to Instragramming glorious and intricately plated bourgeois food.
When working on a multi-page editorial spread or a cookbook, it is important to showcase a variety of different food shots. If there is an author or chef involved in the shoot, including them in a few action shots will blend nicely with a variety of still shots. Here is a look at a recent shoot I did where I was assigned to shoot both action and still shots of the same dish.
Lighting is key in all aspects of photography and shooting food photography isn't any different. The goal is still to capture the food in the best way, and lighting can help. What can you do to help make your food photography look even better?
Are you looking for a way to add more excitement to your food photography? Well, have you tried making your food float or even go for that exploded-view of the dish coming together or apart in the frame?
Broiling, braising, blanching, roasting, smoking, sautéing, and frying are just a few of the cooking methods that can be done to food. Do you know how they will visually change the appearance of your food? Did you know that some parsley has curly leaves, while other varieties have flat leaves? Would you be able to tell the difference between a julienne, brunoise, or a dice? The culinary world has a vocabulary all its own. Knowing these terms and how they effect the look of food is a necessary skill for every food photographer.
If you've ever wanted to try food photography at home, then use these seven tips to improve your chances of getting some great food photos.
Choosing the right lens for any genre of photographer is a minefield and getting into food photography is no exception.
Is there a perfect light for your food photography? In past posts, I have mainly talked about using large lighting modifiers to create a soft light over my subject. I tend to choose softer light, because I think it looks better on my food. Is this the only lighting option? No. Like fashion photography, there are many different types of lighting that you can use on a subject. To get a better understanding of what will fit your style, let's take a closer look at the characteristics of hard and soft light and how they affect your food shot.
In past articles, I have shown you what I love about wooden and stone food photography backgrounds. These backgrounds make great sturdy surfaces that you can use anywhere. However, their sturdiness comes with weight and rigidity that can make hauling them around quite the chore. If you are looking for a lightweight background with a wide range styles; cloth is the way to go. Let me show you why.
Food photography is a tricky genre that requires a strong sense of composition, great lighting techniques, and a large working knowledge of various tricks of the trade. If you are struggling with your food photography, this excellent video tutorial will show you seven common mistakes and how to avoid or fix them.
For me, flat lays are the king of food photography. Telling a story with a large flat lay is a challenge, here is how I approach it.
If you’ve ever dived into a food photography shoot hoping to wing it, things probably went a little awry because there are so many moving parts to food photography. In this post, I’ll share my best tips for a no-fuss, no-stress food photography shoot to help you achieve the vision in your mind.
It can be very easy to get sucked into thinking that you always need the latest and best gear out there to produce professional shots, but you might be surprised by just how much you can accomplish with entry-level gear. This excellent video will show you the sort of food photography you can do even with basic equipment.
In the fall of 2010, I decided to shoot my dream assignment. I knew that no one was going to pay me to go out and tackle this subject matter, and I had not seen any photographer do what I wanted to do, so I did it. At the time, I had no idea what the assignment would turn in to or how it would change me as a photographer and a person. Here is what I learned from photographing 35 College Football Tailgates.
Composition can be one of the hardest aspects of photography to master. Rule of thirds, leading lines, rule of odds, and frame within the frame are just a few of the many composition techniques. Some are easy to understand and comprehend while others are a bit more difficult. This video from The Bite Shot provides an excellent, straightforward introduction to composition.
With rare and expensive props, you may run into a supply problem leaving you without the desired number for your shot. For this shoot, I wanted to show three bowls in the image, but only had two on hand. Here is how I created a composite to solve the problem.
Creating an eye-catching and successful food photo is about more than simply lighting and arranging the food in a compelling way; you need to be able to create a set that complements the food and enhances the overall mood of the image. This helpful video tutorial features an experienced food photographer discussing some ways you can go about doing that.
Food photography takes a lot of nuanced artistry and technical know-how to make the product look delectable and appetizing, and because of that, you might decide that taking more control with artificial light is the way to go. This great video will tell you what you need to know when purchasing lights for food photography.
There are loads of tutorials out there for editing portrait photography, so I thought I would put together a reasonably comprehensive yet short guide to editing food photographs.
One of the biggest niches in commercial photography today is food photography. We've all had the same experience, walk into a small local restaurant and ask to see their menu. The photos look atrocious and you wonder to yourself, "who took these photos?" You know you can probably do a better job, but how much better can you really do? "Photographing Food" an ebook series by Taylor Mathis helps you take ordinary food photos and makes them extraordinary.
It's not a brand new idea to incorporate printing photos on food. Recently we talked about printing photos on coffee with the selfie-latte, but Boomf takes photo printing a little bit more out of the box. Well, maybe more out of the cup. With this product I will preface with one question: do you like marshmallows? Yes or no, this product is for you.
The guys over at DigitalRev TV love doing things just for the hell of it and never seem to backdown from a challenge. Their latest of which is to take the actual food from a popular fast food chain and make it look like the advertisements. As an added challange they use nothing but Apple gadgets.
Argentina-based food stylist and illustrator Anna Keville Joyce has managed to take the art of food styling to a whole new level, for her recent creations are true culinary masterpieces (so what if they’re not made to eat?). While food photographer Agustín Nieto had quite the task of doing justice to these mouthwatering works, he managed to capture them perfectly, but as he readily admits, it didn’t come easy.
The film industry has the Oscars. The music industry has the Grammys. Broadway has the Tony Awards. The annual awards that celebrate the best and brightest of the culinary world are the James Beard Foundation Awards. NYC based photographer Landon Nordeman set up backstage at the 2013 awards with just an iPhone for a camera. The results are a captivating black and white series of shots that each capture the range of emotions of the night.
If you are like me, you probably have a closet full of random tiles, boards, and construction scraps just in the event you need an interesting surface to shoot on. These new photography surfaces by Duo Boards set out to change my messy studio, and this photography tutorial shows you how useful these backdrops can be!
After building up a scene in your food photography, do you find yourself questioning where to place the utensils in the shot? Maybe the silverware ends up looking awkward or out of place in your shot. Don't get frustrated; here are eight simple tips on where to place them.
I am going to walk you through how these dramatic food shots were created using only one flash and simple light shapers to imitate light coming through a window frame.
Until 10 years ago, I didn’t know that being a professional food photographer was even a thing. I don’t come from a creative background, so if you had asked me what I thought they did, I would have been very far from the truth. Hopefully, I can shed some light.
A while back, while on a shoot for Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art here in Northwest Arkansas, I was asked to get a shot of the museum’s executive chef and the Director of Culinary for their members magazine. Time was short, the kitchen was starting to prep for dinner service, and every second I was there I was inconveniencing someone. I had to get in and out quickly and create a dynamic image in the process. Here’s how it happened.
The guys over at Immaculate Infatuation are a little, well, obsessed with food. Their restaurant reviews are honest and refreshing; they tell it like it is. So when I saw that they wrote a piece about how to take "perfect" food photos, I knew I had to check it out. Now this isn't a guide for professional food photographers (far from it) but if you're one of the types that likes to Instagram every meal you eat, chances are you could learn something from their post.
Try as you might, you will end up taking a picture of food at some point, so you may as well get it right.
When it comes to product and food photography, lighting is critical and can make or break the final image. Achieving the perfect lighting can be a complex process, even more so if you are just starting out with this type of photography.
Last week, we asked the Fstoppers community to submit their best pictures of food to be reviewed by the Fstoppers team for our next episode of "Critique the Community." To change things up a little for this episode, we had a local commercial photographer, Andy Hagedon, join us to give some fresh perspective. A total of twenty images were selected to be reviewed. Check out the selections and add your thoughts and critiques in the comments below.
