Food Photography Tips for Food Bloggers
Food Photography Tips for Food Bloggers
Photographing food is harder than it seems.
My photos have improved with practice (lots and lots of it). Here are the best tips and tricks I can offer about food photography and equipment
Tips for taking great food photos
- Take photos under natural light. Do not use overhead lights or lamps or your built-in flash. Ever!
- Move around to find the best light source. Don’t feel confined to taking photos in your kitchen. Perhaps the light is best in your bedroom in the morning, and in your living room in the afternoon.
- Try taking photos from multiple angles.Some plates of food look better from above (like, pizza), or from the side (burgers), or at a 45-degree angle (drinks). Try moving around the plate and taking photos at various angles so you can pick your favorite later.
- Minimize clutter. If that spoon, napkin or busy background doesn’t add to the photo, it detracts from the photo. Focus on what is most important, but don’t zoom in so close that viewers can’t tell what the food is.
Cameras for food photography
You don’t necessarily need a fancy camera to take appealing food photos. You can probably get by with a point-and-shoot camera for a while. Consult the user manual, use the macro setting and practice!
When you are ready to have full control over your exposure and focal length, save up for a DSLR camera (that’s short for digital single-lens reflex camera). It’s an investment, truly! I typically upgrade my camera about every four years, and currently use a Nikon Z6. It’s amazing.
If you can’t decide between a Nikon DSLR or Canon DSLR, the differences between the two are pretty minimal. Comparable models will produce photos of comparable quality, so choose the best camera available in your price range.
Before you buy, read reviews and go to a local photography store to try them out in person. If one brand’s cameras seem more user-friendly and feel more comfortable in your hand, go for that one. The lens you use for food photos will have more of an impact than the dSLR itself, so I recommend buying the camera body and lens separately.
Lenses for food photography
I prefer to use compact fixed lenses. Fixed means that the lenses do not zoom in or out, so I have to physically move myself closer or farther away from the subject.
I love fixed lenses because they are generally smaller, cheaper and faster than zoom lenses. They often offer wider apertures, which gives me greater control over depth of field and more flexibility while I’m shooting.
On my old cropped format camera, I used Nikon’s 35mm f1.8 and loved it. It produced sharper photos than my old 50mm and was easy enough to use for overhead photos of food on my table.
Now that I’ve upgraded to an expensive full-frame camera, I primarily use Nikon’s Nikkor Z 50mm f1.8 lens. This lens is designed specifically for Nikon’s Z-format cameras. If you have one of Nikon’s other full-format cameras, I’d recommend the 50mm f1.4 lens (the 50mm f1.8G lens is almost as good).
But wait, why did I move to a longer focal length when I upgraded cameras? Because a 35mm lens on a cropped format camera effectively acts as a 50mm lens on a full-frame camera. It’s confusing, I know. Unless you’ve spent thousands of dollars on a camera, your camera is probably a cropped format, but double-check to be sure.
Other photography equipment
Reflectors and diffusers: I mostly use cheap white foam boards to bounce light back onto the plate and reduce shadows. You can also bring out more shadows by using a black foam board. I buy my foam boards at craft stores or Target. Sometimes I hang sheer white fabric over the window to soften the lighting source, too.
Quality tripod: I prefer to shoot with my camera in my hands for maximum freedom, but I’ve finally conceded that my tripod gives me greater control over my settings and helps ensure a super high quality (not grainy or blurry) photograph. To shoot my cookbook, I bought the Manfrotto Tripod, Lightweight Element Traveler Big Red (MKELEB5RD-BH) that lets me shoot overhead. I LOVE this setup!
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