Choosing what food photography angles to use doesn’t need to be a guessing game. While there are a wide range of angle possibilities when you hold your camera, there are really only three angles you need to focus on. Let’s talk about each of these food photography angles, what type of foods they work best with and some best practices to ensure beautiful food images.
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Food Photography Angles
There are three popular food photography angles including overhead, straight-on and 3/4 angle. Sometimes these angles are referred to in degrees which means an overhead angle would be a 90 degrees, a 3/4 angle would be 45 degrees and a straight-on angle would be 0 degrees. You can see quite a bit of variety between these three angles on my Instagram account.
When to use one angle over another really depends on the type of food that you’re shooting. Which of these three angles will highlight the details of the food the best? Sometimes only one or two angles will work and sometimes all three could work.
In the oyster images below, all three angles worked really well.
In the tomato soup images below, the overhead and the 3/4 angle worked out really well. The straight on wasn’t a good angle for the soup, because you really can only see the side of the bowl rather than the details of the soup.
Food Photography Angles: Overhead
The overhead angle is a very popular angle in food photography. This is when your camera is positioned directly above your food. It works well for a lot of flatter foods where the details are best from above such as pizzas, soups, pastas, salads, pies, table-scapes, etc.
Overhead Angle Best Practices
It’s really important to make sure your camera is level and positioned correctly for this angle. Although it may appear that your camera is positioned correctly above the food, I highly recommend using a good overhead setup and a level to be sure. When your food photography angles are slightly off, it can make your images look pretty awkward.
While I always encourage people to use a tripod for their food photography, I actually use a different setup for overhead shots in particular. Check out the next couple of images below for a sneak peek of my setup. If you’re interested in this setup and the equipment I use, check out this post.
READ MORE ABOUT: A SIMPLE OVERHEAD SETUP FOR FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY
Food Photography Angles: Straight-On
The straight-on angle is when your camera is positioned directly across from your food. This food photography angle works best for stacked foods where the details are best viewed from the side. This could include sandwiches, burgers, drinks, bottles, cakes, cupcakes, etc.
Straight-On Angle Best Practices
I recommend using a good tripod and a level for the straight on angle as well. A tripod ensures that your camera is stabilized at the correct position. Like I mentioned earlier, sometimes holding the camera can feel like we’re in the correct position, but when it’s not, it results in awkward looking food images and there’s no easy way to correct this during editing.
The tripod I use for straight on shots (and 3/4 angle shots) is the Manfrotto 055 with a center column and ball head.
iPHONE TIP: If you use your smartphone to take food images, I also recommend using a tripod. Check out this post that shares my go-to setup when using my iPhone for food photography. A lot of iPhone-specific tripods don’t allow you to shoot overhead, but this setup allows you to shoot at all three angles with precision and ease.
READ MORE ABOUT: THE BEST TRIPOD FOR IPHONE FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY
The straight-on angle is a really good angle to experiment with depth of field. Try using lower aperture settings to create a more blur in the space surrounding your food. Check out the bowl of cherries image below. You’ll notice that the cherries are in focus, but the surrounding area is more blurry.
If you’re not familiar with aperture settings, check out this post that dives into how to use your camera to shoot in manual mode.
READ MORE ABOUT: HOW TO SHOOT IN MANUAL MODE
The 3/4 Angle
The 3/4 angle is basically the person’s perspective, as if they were sitting down to eat. Similar to the overhead angle, the 3/4 angle one of the more popular food photography angles. This is because it works well for a lot of foods and can be the happy-medium between the overhead and straight on angles.
3/4 Angle Best Practices
As I mentioned earlier, I recommend using a tripod for this angle as well. Remember, I used a special overhead setup for overhead shots and then I use my Manfrotto 055 with ball head for my straight-on and 3/4 angle shots.
This angle is also a good angle to experiment with depth of field. When you use lower apertures, it starts to blur the space surrounding your food. It can be a really beautiful effect as you’ll notice in the roasted tomato caprese salad image below.
In conclusion, focusing on the three common food photography angles is the best way to find the right angle for your food images. Consider the food that you’re shooting and what details you want to highlight. Do a test shot of each angle if it’s helpful for you to see what works and what doesn’t. Remember, sometimes only one or two angles will work out and sometimes all three will work out. It’s just a little trial and error. The more you practice with different foods the better you’ll become at choosing the best food photography angle right away.
Happy Creating!
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 2020.
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