If you’ve ever dabbled in food photography in the hopes of giving it wings, things can get a little bad because there’s so much moving parts in food photography. In this post, I’ll share my best tips for a hassle-free, stress-free food photography session to help you achieve the vision in your mind.
If you’re shooting for your own food blog, portfolio, or perhaps a collaboration with a brand, you’ll likely be doing everything yourself, from shopping and cooking to styling, to photography. and even laundry. In this post, I’m sharing my tips – learned through trial and error – on balancing all these roles without pulling hair.
It starts at the store
Make a grocery list of everything you need to prepare and cook the dish(s), including styling aids. There’s nothing worse than not checking what’s in your cupboard, and halfway through cooking, you have to run to the store. Ideally, you’ve made the recipe before the shoot date, so you have a good idea of how long it takes to cook, any time-sensitive parts, and how long you have to photograph the dish before it starts to wilt or need to be cooked. some extra attention.
Plan your ideas in advance
Think about the food you are photographing and what angle(s) the food looks best from. You can sketch some ideas on paper or jot down a few notes about whether you want an action shot, from above, 45 degrees or a straight image.
Think about the dish and how it looks most visually striking. A stack of pancakes would look great when viewed straight in so you can see the height and layers, while a cake with some great detail on top might look better when shot at 45. degrees so you can see both the height, the edges and the details on the top.
Think about color theory in your plan to help you pull props and surfaces. You can use similar, complementary, complementary, or even monochromatic color schemes to help orient your image. The Adobe color wheel is a useful tool to test this. Pre-draft a range of props and surfaces that you think will suit the dish and lay them out in an accessible place.
This will give you a place to start and if it doesn’t go as you planned, you can adapt when shooting.
Set up your lights and props before plating
If there’s some time while your dish is baking, simmering or settling, this would be a good time to set up the lights and props and take some test shots. Make sure the color complements your dish and dial in your lighting settings so that when you present your food, everything is exactly how you want it to be and ready to go when the food hits the plate. There’s nothing worse than panicking when your dish starts to look sad while you’re struggling with softboxes, reflectors, and triggers.
Near the kitchen
If possible, arrange it relatively close to your cooking space so you don’t have to walk through multiple rooms in your home or up and down stairs when transporting food to and from your restaurant.
Do not rush
Sometimes, you can create a false sense of urgency for yourself after you’ve plated the dish and put it in your scene. In a word, you don’t want your dish to be wilted, soggy, look sad, etc. But remember, there are always little tricks you can pull off your sleeves to bring food back to life like re-plated, swap dishes. Garnish with fresh garnish, or drizzle some water over salads and vegetables. If you start to rush, take a breath, go back to your notes, and stay calm.
Exceed
It’s great when you get what you think will become your hero shot and it’s tempting to tidy things up at that point, but I recommend changing your angle and taking a few more shots. Picture. I can’t count the number of times I’ve taken a “hero”, kept playing with my angles, being able to move the light or swap props in or out, and one of the “additional” shots. That ended up being my star image.
Inference
Creating a stress-free food photo session is mostly about planning. Prepare well, take your time, and you’ll enjoy a smooth and stress-free photo session. I want to know what else you do to set up an easy shooting date.
