HOW TO photograph FOOD – 5 top suggestions FROM ITALY

At any type of provided time, millions of tasty looking food pictures are going up on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest as well as alike. When you’re believing about exactly how to photograph food, right here are some techniques that will assist your shots tell the story of what’s on your plate.

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There are all type of props as well as methods that studios utilize to make food look glossier or fresher or shinier. however you don’t requirement a lots lights on scaffolds or a glucose spray to make water droplet effects.

All you requirement is to make sure you’re making the most of the scene in front of you.

If your goal is to make people have food envy with your pictures as well as to show exactly how tasty what you’ve purchased is, you requirement to determine that part of the meal that’s making you salivate.

However, the huge caveat right here is to critique your shot. just since the food was genuinely the most remarkable thing you’ve ever eaten doesn’t indicate it’ll photograph well. for each tasty looking morsel we see online, there’s at least one food picture that has the opposite effect.

Unfortunately some food just doesn’t photograph well.

The food in Italy has a tendency to look just as great as it tastes. This might be thanks to that innate capability Italians seem to have of making whatever look effortlessly beautiful.

Then again, it might be that lots of Italian dishes have the textures, colours as well as design that produce tasty looking photos.

For this reason, we utilized our recent trip to Puglia in southeast Italy to show you a few of our preferred suggestions on exactly how to photograph food.

Check out our video right here on exactly how to photograph food while you’re travelling.

How to photograph food – 5 top suggestions from Italy

1. exactly how to photograph food – angle of camera

There are 3 primary angles to take photos of food.

At 45°, which is close to the angle you usually see your food from, is rather lovely as well as likewise works if you want to determine one meal on a table or if the background isn’t extremely pretty. It’s likewise the simplest to take if you want to be subtle with your photography.

Shooting overhead in a flatlay style is extremely popular, however is harder than it looks. getting ideal over the top of the table can be challenging (don’t autumn in your dinner!) as well as the food has a tendency to requirement to be a similar colour combination to produce a vignette. The dishes likewise have to be surprisingly close together.

Shoot extremely close as much as catch a specific structure or colour that includes the dish. If there’s something that’s extremely crispy or silky, get ideal in as well as catch the essence of the dish.

You can likewise shoot at table height level with the dish, however this can be difficult since of illumination as well as tough shadows, backgrounds as well as making the meal look a bit one-dimensional.

If you want to produce a shot from this angle, make sure the background looks great or that your subject is fascinating sufficient to bring a nondescript backdrop.

2. exactly how to photograph food – lighting

Light is the most crucial part of exactly how to photograph food. the very best light is indirect natural light. direct sun is as well severe as well as throws frustrating shadows. Cloudy skies are best.

If you’re in a dark room, try to discover a table with the most light or if all else fails, utilize the light from your mobile. If you radiate the light with a napkin, this filters the light a bit, which makes it softer.

Also, set your phone’s cam to video mode as well as utilize the light from the flash. The video light on wise phones immediately adjusts for skin colour as well as provides a warmer light than the torch function.

If it’s extremely dark, you may requirement a tripod as well as a longer exposure. a lot of industrial food photography is shot with a tripod, however this will most likely upset your dining companions in a restaurant. boost your ISO when shooting handheld in low light conditions.

3. exactly how to photograph food – lenses

Our preferred all-rounder lens is the M.Zuiko 12-40mm f2.8 pro zoom lens. This enables you to cover a range of food scenes as well as tablescapes without changing lenses.

If you want to get close as well as catch extreme details on a molecular gastronomy dish, a macro lens will be what you need. For a lot of of our daily food shots, we utilize our 12-40mm lens or the M.Zuiko 25mm f1.8 prime lens.

4. exactly how to photograph food – provide scale

Food on its own has a tendency not to have any type of scale – you can’t see exactly how huge or little it is. putting cutlery in the shot or something that has an inherent recognisable size will help.

Get people’s hands in the shot. Unless you’re shooting food for a menu, you’ll be shocked exactly how much much better a table of food looks with somebody in it grabbing a chip or scooping some salad. It adds movement, scale as well as it likewise assists the customer determine with the food. It makes them desire they were there.

5. exactly how to photograph food – structure as well as height

Look for structure in the food. What’s the very best side to shoot the dish? Is the sauce oozing much better on the far side? Does the crispy bit look crisper on the left of the plate? If so, turn it round. structures in food make it look a lot more delicious. Shine, crinkle, brightness, softness… you can catch all of this in your photograph.

Pile food high on the plate if you can. It makes the meal look plentiful. You can always crop an empty edge of a plate later.

If you can produce different levels by putting dishes on other surfaces, so much the much better as well as try to produce triangles with the different heights too. This will guide the viewer’s eye around the picture better.

Making food look as great as it tastes is one of the hardest parts of photography, however it’s likewise one of the most fun as well as interesting. particularly if you get to eat what you’ve shot!

For a lot more motivation – not just on exactly how to photograph food when you’re travelling – however for travel photography in general, inspect out Olympus’s hashtag #OlympusInspired.

And if you want a lot more of our travel photography tips, here’s a link to our library on photography posts for travelling.

Do you have a preferred idea for exactly how to photograph food? What food do you like to shoot the most? tell us in the comments below!