This week’s blog activity is to find a blog post or an article and “Digg” the article.
My passion for taking food pictures started while on a trip to Hong Kong. While most of my friends had to work during the day, my friend Derrick managed to find time in his busy schedule to take me to Shenzhen, China. We hopped on a train, found our way to a restaurant in Shenzhen and sat down to enjoy a late lunch. Now before I continue, I must point out that every time Derrick recommends a place to eat, it has always been fabulous. From the hole-in-the-wall dumpling place in Dalian (China) to the hot-pot (fast-food style) in Hong Kong, his choice of food has not disappointed me.
As always, Derrick was responsible for ordering our meal. When the food arrived, I tried to take pictures of each dish. Derrick politely watched me struggle for a bit before finally asking me why I only took food pictures from the top down (top view). He explained to me that when taking pictures of my food, I should do so from different angles, distances and settings. I must have looked very confused so he used my camera to take a couple of shots. Wow! If photos could talk, they would definitely be telling a vibrant story! Check out the two photos he took on my camera…
… and compare it with my two photos. The first one was taken before Derrick gave me pointers and the second one was after my quick 5 minute lesson. See some improvement?
With this experience in mind, I decided to “digg” an article on food photography. In 10 Food Photography Tips to Make It Look Tasty, the author, Yi shared some ideas on how to make food photos look delicious. Many of the concepts presented in her article are tips and tricks that Derrick also taught me during the 5-minute lesson. For example, I remember one of the first things Derrick said was to turn off the flash and use natural lighting to capture the moment. He also told me to practice zooming in on the photo subject. This would fall in line with tip numbers 3 and 6 in Yi’s article: use natural lighting and get close up. Simply learning those two techniques greatly improved the outcome of my photos.
Yi also discussed the importance of colour contrast between the food and the background. I find that keeping a clean and simple background reduces the distraction to the observer and allows the food subject to stand out as if in the spotlight. In addition, like Yi explains in her article, angling and zooming in on details builds dimension and texture into the photo. It does make a big difference to the overall presentation of the shot.
One other tip that I picked up from Derrick but that does not appear to be within Yi’s list of photography tips is the beauty of imperfections. At that time, I must have been obsessed with trying to capture every detail in one all-inclusive photo. Derrick assured me that it was acceptable to take a picture even if the food on the plate was not evenly distributed or a slice of cut pastry was crumbling. It all depends on how you frame the picture.
Sometimes we get caught up in trying to capture everything in the perfect picture, but lose sight on the fact that some of the best results are obtained by the simplest and most natural details. Have you had that experience with photography? What other pointers have you been given to take better food photos?
Rosie said:
Microwaved cotton balls! That’s the best thing ever! I, too, enjoy taking photos and Yi’s tips were so great for taking pictures of food. I “digg” it!
I also really enjoyed your take on this topic — your before and after shots certainly got the point across visually — a picture is worth a thousand words, right?
shelley said:
Hello Rosie,
Absolutely, a picture is worth more than a thousand words!
Thank you for the comment! I am glad you enjoyed the selection.
Amazing, isn’t it? It makes sense but I doubt I would have thought of using microwaved cotton balls. The other one that got me was using mashed potatoes to stand in for the ice cream. Reading further into the comments, someone mentioned cream cheese would be a better substitute than mashed potatoes.
I do agree with some of the comments about “cheating” though… is it ethical (and legal?) to use substitutes for the actual subject in commercial photography? I guess it really does depend on how the substitute is used and what is being spotlighted. Luckily I am not even close to being a professional and I take great joy in photographing food at the table. To me, it has to be real and tangible.
V said:
Well illustrated, Shelley. With interesting angles, the photo evokes the senses so much more and you feel like you can actually taste and smell the dish. The commercial food photo using food props or the photos which show the whole dish seems to have more the purpose of being clear first (eg. MacDonald’s burger shot while the announcer lists out ingredients; menu photos) so that the consumer will feel comfortable in ordering the item.
Thanks for bringing up the technical side of it!
shelley said:
Thank you, Virg! Do you think this article will change the way you take your “food photos for shelley” shots? 😉
It’s funny that you should bring up McDonald’s burger as an example. As Yi discussed the “industry tricks”, the first image that popped to my mind was a McDonald’s burger. I remember being at LAX and opening up my Big Mac container. Although I know that the burger (the real burger in hand) usually does not look like the photo, I must say that that particular burger in my hand looked very, very disappointing.
Alissa said:
Keep it up Shelley! You’re food pictures are always so colorful and delicious looking. (I returned to your blog with a full stomach.) Looking forward to the updates 🙂
shelley said:
Thanks for visiting my blog, Alissa!
Hopefully next time you check back, there will be more tasty photos to tempt your appetite! 😉
linda said:
A very yummy and colorful post Shelly. I enjoy photography and take pics of some interesting things we taste. I liked the cotton balls and microwave trick. Will give it a try when I want to take a little more of a professional picture next time. 🙂
I agree you can work around imperfections. Something I learned the hard way was to take the time to fix your immediate surroundings (e.g. fingerprints or a distracting object in the background) before you shoot to avoid a lot of grief and save you a lot of time after.
shelley said:
Thank you, Linda! I will keep your tip in mind for next time! 🙂
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