Taking pictures of food has never been easier. But, when it comes to taking really good pictures of food, it’s not quite as easy to do. If you want to improve your food images, you need to understand what actually goes into creating a food image. So, let’s start with the basics and talk about the food photography fundamentals.

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Food Photography Fundamentals: The Creative Side

The food photography fundamentals are split into two sides: the creative side and the technical side. A lot of people get stuck on the technical side and wonder what type of camera will take the best pictures. But, the truth is, it doesn’t matter what kind of camera you have.

The creative side plays the leading role in your food photography and the technical side is there to support your creative vision. So, it’s important to think through the creative side first and then figure out what you need from a technical perspective to help you create the look you’re going for.

The creative side includes:

• CREATIVE VISION
• FOOD STYLING
• PROPS & SURFACES
• COMPOSITION

Creative Vision

What do you want your images to look like?

The very first step when thinking about food photography ideas is to figure out what you want your images to look like. When you figure out your creative vision, it will help guide the rest of the creative decisions about the food styling, props & surfaces and composition.

A good exercise to help you figure out your creative vision is to simply go online, open a food magazine or a cookbook and find images that inspire you.

What kind of food images are you drawn to? What do you like about them? Do you prefer light and airy food images or dark and moody food images? Do you like seeing images that are more polished and perfect or more rustic and natural?

HOW TO PLAN AHEAD FOR YOUR CREATIVE VISION

There are two things you can do to plan ahead for your creative vision:

• FIND IMAGES THAT INSPIRE YOU AND CREATE A MOOD BOARD
• WRITE OUT YOUR SHOT LIST

Mood boards are a collection of images, textures and colors that will help guide your creative vision.

Your shot list is a list of the shots you want to get during your photo shoot.

Using mood boards and writing out your shot list will keep you focused and organized before, during and after your photo shoot.

Food Styling

How will you plate the food for the camera?

Food photography and food styling go hand-in-hand. If the food doesn’t look good, the image won’t look good. If the food looks good, but is shot poorly (bad lighting, poor composition, etc), the image won’t look good. Figuring out how to approach the food styling really depends on what food you’ll be working with. Many foods have different “personalities” and some are more time sensitive than others. It’s important to plan ahead for these types of differences so you can capture the food looking its best.

HOW TO PLAN AHEAD FOR YOUR FOOD STYLING

The way to plan ahead for your food styling includes thinking about the following:

• Is the food time-sensitive?
• What do you want to highlight about the food?
• Do you need any special food styling tools to help you?
• Make sure your equipment, lighting and composition are figured out before the food comes out.
• Add any special food styling notes to your shot list, so you’re prepared for the food you’re going to be working with.

READ MORE ABOUT: FOOD STYING TOOLS EVERY FOOD PHOTOGRAPHER SHOULD HAVE

Props & Surfaces

What props and surfaces will help bring your creative vision to life?

Figuring out your food photography props and surfaces is a fun next step.

PROPS

Props are your plates, bowls, linens and glassware. When it comes to what props to get for your shoot, think about your creative vision. Do you need darker props, more colorful props or neutral props? Remember, the props are there to support the creative vision. They should not distract from the food.

READ MORE ABOUT: CHOOSING PROPS FOR FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY

SURFACES

Surfaces sit beneath the food and set the foundation for your image. Backdrops sit behind your food and help create a less distracting background.

When it comes to choosing your surfaces and backdrops, refer to your mood boards for your creative vision. If you know you want to shoot a dark and moody look, you will want to use darker surfaces to help bring that mood to life. If you are shooting a fresh and bright look, you may want to use brighter, more colorful surfaces.

When choosing surfaces/backdrops, consider the following:

• SIZE
• COLOR
• TEXTURE
• MATERIAL
• WEIGHT

The vendor I recommend is Best Ever Backdrops. Use the code REGANBARONI to get 15% of your order.

HOW TO PLAN AHEAD FOR YOUR PROPS & SURFACES

The best way to plan ahead for sourcing your props and surfaces is to review your creative vision and mood boards so you can make more informed decisions about what colors and textures to use. Also, be sure you have time to get what you need before your photo shoot.

READ MORE ABOUT: THE BEST BACKDROPS FOR FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY

Composition

How will you arrange elements in the frame?

Food photography composition is how you arrange your food and props in the frame. Composition requires some practice and there are four things to take into consideration:

• ORIENTATION
• ANGLES
• ARRANGEMENTS
• COLORS

ORIENTATION

The orientation refers to the aspect ratio of your images and whether they’re being shot vertically or horizontally. Where do you plan to share your images? A horizontal orientation works best for the homepage of a website viewed on a computer. A vertical orientation works best for Instagram Stories and Pinterest. It can be a good to capture both orientations just so you have the variety to work with for different media size requirements.

ANGLES

There are three very popular angles in food photography including:

• OVERHEAD
• STRAIGHT ON
• 3/4 ANGLE

Which angle to choose really depends on what angle(s) will highlight the details of the food the best. For example, a burger would shoot best from the side (straight on), because you can see the layers beneath the bun. A bowl of soup could shoot best from above, so you can see the beautiful details of the soup inside the bowl.

ARRANGEMENTS

The arrangement is how you place your food within the frame. A good starting point is to use the grid on your camera. The grid is composed of two vertical lines and two horizontal lines creating nine squares. Where the lines intersect is where you could consider placing the subject. This is known as the Rule of Thirds and can be a great guide to get you started.

COLORS

Experimenting with colors can be a lot of fun and will help bring more visual interest to your compositions. There are several color theories out there, so it might be tricky to know where to start when it comes to color combinations. Three popular color theories are:

• COMPLIMENTARY
• ANALOGOUS
• MONOCHROMATIC

Complimentary colors are colors that sit directly opposite each other on the color wheel. These colors create more contrast and are good for a more bold look.

Analogous colors sit next to each other on the color wheel. These are more soothing color combinations, because the colors sort of feel like they belong to the same family.

Monochromatic is a color scheme made up of one color, but in different shades, ranging from light to dark.

HOW TO PLAN AHEAD FOR YOUR COMPOSITION

The best way to plan ahead for your compositions is to turn on your grid and just start experimenting. Having a general idea of how you want to place things within the frame before the food comes out is highly recommended.

READ MORE ABOUT: FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY COMPOSITION TIPS

Food Photography Fundamentals: The Technical Side

After you’ve thought through the creative side, you can start thinking through the technical side. The technical side includes:

• LIGHTING
• EQUIPMENT
• CAMERA SETTINGS
• EDITING

Lighting

Are you shooting with natural light or artificial light?

Much like your creative vision guides your creative decisions, your lighting will guide your technical decisions. Whether you shoot with natural light or artificial light, it requires you to think about what your light source is, where it’s coming from, how powerful it is and how to modify it to get the look you’re going for.

NATURAL LIGHT

Natural light is the sunlight. It’s less gear and beautiful, but it does have its limitations.

First, you have to set up next to a window. If you want to adjust where your light is hitting your subject you have to physically move your subject or your table.

Second, natural light is always changing and you have to adjust your camera settings to accommodate that. It can be a little tedious on set if you’re not as familiar with how to adjust your camera settings.

Third, if you’re depending on the sun for your light, you are limited to daylight hours only, which isn’t much time during the winter months. This also can be problematic if you’re shooting in a restaurant without much natural light to work with.

However, there are some tools to help you modify your natural light including:

• Diffusers
• Black foam board
• White foam board

DIFFUSERS

Sometimes the light coming in from the window is too harsh. A diffusor will help soften that light as it pours in through the window. Simply place it over your window and watch the light soften and spread out more evenly over the food.

BLACK FOAM BOARD

Black foam board can help with emphasizing contrast and shadows. Play around with the placement of black foam boards and watch how it affects the shadows of your food.

WHITE FOAM BOARD

White foam board well help bounce light back to an area of your food that may have become too dark. For example, if your window is on the left side of your food, the left side will be well lit. The right side, however, may get a little dark. If you place the white foam board on the right side of the food, you’ll see the light bounce back and add a little more light to brighten things up.

READ MORE ABOUT: NATURAL LIGHT FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS

ARTIFICIAL LIGHT

Shooting with artificial light is a little more gear to consider, but it gives you a lot more control over your lighting. Some benefits include:

• You have the ability to control where the light is positioned.
• You have the ability to control the power of the light.
• The power of the light is consistent once it’s set.
• You can shoot anywhere and at any time of day.

I have a detailed blog post that walks you through how to get started with different artificial lights linked below.

READ MORE ABOUT: GETTING STARTED WITH ARTIFICIAL LIGHTS

Equipment

What equipment do you need to help you during your photo shoot?

There’s a lot of equipment on the market and knowing what to get can be tricky at first. Knowing the type of lighting your working with is a good first step to figuring out what other equipment you might need.

For example, if you’re shooting with natural light, you may need a diffuser to soften the light coming through the window.

If you’re shooting with an artificial light, you’ll need a light stand to hold the light and a light modifier (like a softbox or umbrella) to help soften the light.

As you practice taking pictures of food, you’ll start to discover what’s working and what isn’t working. Practice before investing in different gear, because it doesn’t make sense to invest in too much too soon. Discover your creative vision and the type of light you are working with… the equipment that you’ll need will fall into place after that.

Camera Settings

What will your camera settings be for the best exposure?

Your camera settings play a big role in the exposure of your images. No matter what camera you use, whether it’s a DSLR, mirrorless camera or an iPhone camera, being able to adjust the camera’s exposure settings is incredibly important to achieve the look you want. Your camera’s exposure is controlled by the aperture, shutter speed and ISO.

DSLR & MIRRORLESS CAMERAS

To adjust your DSLR or mirrorless camera settings, you have to set your camera to Manual Mode. I have a post that dives deeper on this below.

READ MORE ABOUT: HOW TO SHOOT IN MANUAL MODE

iPHONE CAMERAS

If you’re shooting with an iPhone, you can control your camera settings through a free app called Lightroom Mobile. This app pretty much turns your iPhone into a mini DSLR, which is a great way to improve your iPhone food photography.

HOW TO ACCESS YOUR IPHONE CAMERA SETTINGS IN LIGHTROOM MOBILE

1. When you launch LR Mobile, it will default to Auto in the lower left corner of your screen.
2. Tap Auto and it will pull up a menu that offers another option called Professional.
3. Select Professional.
4. You’ll now have access to more your iPhones camera settings including: Exposure, Shutter Speed, ISO, White Balance and Manual Focus.

READ MORE ABOUT: LIGHTROOM MOBILE FOR IPHONE FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY

Editing

How will you edit your images to bring them to their final form?

Editing is a big (and fun) part of the food photography process. It’s pretty game-changing because it brings your images to their final form. Without editing, your images can appear flat and incomplete.

No matter what camera you’re using, there are endless techniques when it comes to editing. Sometimes the slightest editing adjustments can go a long way and other times, you need to do more extensive editing to finalize your images.

Much like all of the steps in the food photography fundamentals, editing takes practice. Sometimes a little editing goes a long way and sometimes more extensive editing techniques are required.

COMPUTER EDITING SOFTWARE

If you’re editing on a computer, I recommend the following editing software:

• LIGHTROOM
• PHOTOSHOP
• CAPTURE ONE

IPHONE EDITING APPS

If you’re editing with an iPhone, I recommend the following editing apps:

• LIGHTROOM MOBILE
• SNAPSEED

I hope this post helped you learn more about what is involved with the food photography process. Planning ahead and learning how the food photography fundamentals play a role in your photo shoot will help you improve your food images significantly. Reach out with questions anytime!

Happy Creating!

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This post contains affiliate links which means if you click or make a purchase through my site, I might make a small commission (at no extra cost to you). I only promote products and equipment that I actually use and support. 

All images ©Regan Baroni 2022.