9 Food Photography Tips for Appealingly Delicious Images!

Capturing the taste and texture of your food can be difficult. It can be frustrating when you have a plate of deliciousness in front of you and you just can’t frame a photograph in the way you want. No matter whether you’re just taking pictures of your meals for your Instagram feed or perhaps you want to start a food blog, these 9 food photography tips will transform the quality of your photos.

 

Show the Ingredients

 

A great way to add variation to your food photos is by showing the ingredients in the finished result. Good photography is about telling stories and this method is a fantastic way to show your audience what’s in the food without having to write it down.

 

Demonstrate the Process

 

Add life and movement to your pictures by demonstrating the process of making the meal or dessert. You’ve probably heard of the phrase “cooking with love” and your food photography should illustrate this. Capture the process of mixing up, chopping, decorating or baking your dish to offer a glimpse of the work that goes into making these tasty treats.

Hands in Frame

Photographing your hands in the frame is an excellent way of adding that human touch. As humans, we’re naturally drawn to images of people. You don’t need to get your face in your photos in order to humanise them, just your hands are enough. Despite being a very subtle touch, this is a great way of connecting with your audience and to show that there’s a person behind the photographs. Using your hands to hold a cup or to add a garnish is also another way for you to alternate your food styling techniques.

Capturing Taste and Texture

 

The biggest issue that most food photographers have is capturing taste and texture in their photos. There are however, a few simple tricks that can help bring your images to life. There is nothing more aesthetically-pleasing in food than seeing incredibly fresh, juicy vegetables. Splashing a few water droplets on to your uncooked salad or vegetables conveys that freshness through your photos in the same way that capturing steam from a cup of coffee communicates its beautiful, warm aroma.

Making a Mess is So Aesthetically-Pleasing!

We’re used to seeing perfectly styled images of neat plates and uneaten meals. While we all love to see perfection, we also like to see mess and imperfection too. Don’t be afraid to capture the mess too. There is something so pleasing about seeing a photograph of spilt wine, crumbs, spilt milk or a missing bite out of a cupcake. Although we don’t like to see that kind of mess in real life, it can work really well when styled for a photograph. It adds realism and helps us to connect with the scene.

 

Find Your Angle

 

In all forms of photography, you should get creative with your angles. If you’re struggling to achieve the right photograph, change your angle and try photographing your subject from above, from below, from the side, or wherever works best. Sometimes it isn’t enough to just invest in a great camera, you often need to put in a bit of work too. Crouch down, stand on a chair, move things around, until you master your perfect shot.

Set the Scene

 

Part of the enjoyment we get from food is the memories that we make over a nice meal. Food brings people together and when you think about it, there is always some sort of food served at most memorable occasions. When photographing your dish or beverages try to set the scene. If you’re enjoying a glass of wine, are you in a vineyard or enjoying wine and cheese in your garden on a summer evening? Capture that! Try to set the scene of the kind of tone you want to create in order for the viewer to feel involved in the photo, so that they feel as though they know what’s going on.

 

Change Your Aperture

 

If you’re using a DSLR or other professional level camera then explore the settings on your device. Change your aperture and experiment with different levels of light. This way you can create different lighting effects and create very focused images with blurred backgrounds (the bokeh effect). If you’re working to a particular theme for your photos, for e.g. bright and modern or dark and moody then optimising your camera settings will help you to achieve the kind of images you desire