Food

Overhead recipe videos are so hot right now, but shooting them can be challenging. This setup is perfect for shooting products, food, or even an unboxing (they're still a thing, right?).

Finding the best quality of light is most of our job as photographers, and a great place to start looking is window light, especially north-facing window light. This type of light creates a soft transition from light to shadow, and can be very flattering on our subjects. Sometimes, however, we need to get consistent results all day, as in the case of this menu shoot, and using a window will cause too much variation in the light.

The mania surrounding food photography is a pretty recent phenomenon. In the last decade, what used to be a niche in photography took social media by storm and ever since has been one of the favorite topics for a huge amount of accounts. It is supposedly the second most popular subject of photography fanatics on Instagram after the selfie tsunami. I sat down to talk with Hein van Tonder, a food photographer carving his way into the food royalty.

This short but awesome behind-the-scenes video from Adrien Veczan shows his setup and technique for capturing a product photo of a bottle of cranberry vodka. Check out the video and then read on to hear a little bit more about his approach and method, which utilizes different lights to paint different parts of the bottle for his final image.

Nothing makes for a great photo like an equally impressive moment. Whether it’s an outpouring of jubilation, a solemn, tearful lament, or the grasping of victory, a one-of-a-kind moment is a photographer’s best friend. So, why not make some great moments for yourself, even if it pains you (or some of your friends) to do so? Enter Photographers Ofir Abe and Ben Saar.

Food is a part of our everyday lives and yet something a lot of people take for granted. How often do you stop and look at food, noticing how produce changes throughout the seasons? Not many of us do, unless you are a food photographer or have a chef in the family. Artists Caitlin Levin and Henry Hargreaves got up close and personal on their most recent collaboration, "Food Scans," cutting up produce to reveal its patterns and scanning them to create beautiful, intricate imagery.

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.

To celebrate the holidays and all the delicious meals that are being prepared around the world, we invite you to share your best looking food images for our next episode of "Critique the Community." We will be critiquing the pictures from a commercial standpoint so submit the pictures that you think sells the food itself. Please get in your submissions by the end of Wednesday, December 2, and you'll have the chance to have your image critiqued by the Fstoppers team. For this episode, we will be giving feedback to 20 pictures. To qualify, you must follow the submission rules below.

Every year we see the same old senior photos again and again with each year passing a new wave of train tracks, and in my case, corn fields. Though each year finding just a sample of photos that truly stand out and push the limits of where we can take the genre becomes even more difficult. Thanks to Brendan Batchelor Photography, we have what could be the very first session taken at local Missouri Taco Bell.

From St. Louis’ Bruton Stroube Studios comes the impressively cinematic tale of food preperation as it battles the elements within the kitchen. At just over a minute in length, “Cooking Up A Storm” manages to breathe an extraordinary amount of drama and depth into the culinary practice. This short film is testament to what a skilled production team and sound designer can bring to seemingly oridinary situations.

Here is an odd story coming out of Tel Aviv. The Israeli restaurant Catit has begun serving their food on a new set of plates which have been specifically designed to help their patrons take better images of their food. They have even created a specific menu which focuses on color and presentation to bring out the best in your Instagram photos.

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.

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.

Travel and lifestyle photographer Randy Harris traveled to Tennessee for Travel + Leisure magazine, documenting the city’s best-known barbeque spots. Harris got to know those who owned and operated them, shooting a gorgeous series of portraits of Memphis pit masters.

When he's not sitting in southern California traffic, San Diego editorial photographer, Rob Andrew, spends his days freelancing from one gig to another with all his gear in tow. In order to stay nimble, Rob has developed a style of shooting creative food photography with a surprisingly minimal amount of gear. He recently published what he calls a "Bag Check" on his blog, outlining the tools he uses to get the job done.