10 Ways to Photograph Food

Published on Thursday, January 28, 2010, by Jane Goldman / Edit Post

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7. AIRY FAIRY
Martha Stewart and Donna Hay manage to make globs of fat and protein look ethereal. Pastel, often shot outside, with deceptively simple-looking props. Next: Culinary National Geographic »
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POST A COMMENT |18 Comments

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  • pictures of people eating makes the food unappetizing because it makes it realistic enough ;p

  • I think that blurred background and crisp foreground is my favorite at the moment - you get the key ingredient, and the rest is, like in the movies - 'edited'.

  • @Freq Band...umm...no, food's ultimate home is not that bodily orifice. And god forbid we should see either in food photography.

  • I agree on the extreme close-ups. Yes, Nigella is a prime offender here. I delight in watching Julia's shows where there is NO fancy camera work. Just Julia toiling away, spilling, dripping and using pots and pans that actually look used!

  • How come photos of a person chewing the food, is not nearly as appetizing ?
    ....I mean, that's the food's ultimate home, right ??

  • This was helpful to me...especially the readers comments. I occasionally have to take "amateur" photos for our company KitchenStir.com. I'm not trained, have never taken a photography class (yet), but have a decent camera and an OK eye for things. I agree with EWSflash...it's probably like a how-to for surgery, but I'll take all the tips and articles I can get until I can take classes to learn!

  • Kurt has some great pics! Thanks for the ideas.

  • Check out my food shots.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/kfp/sets/72157623158643891/
    I think I got almost all the cliches covered and I was just fooling around.

  • I know lots of jewelrycrafters/artists who take great shots of their work, it can't be that you have to have a commercial studio to get good effects. Not talking catalog-worthy shots, just something that looks good!

    I think indirect lighting and something to bounce light (sorry, don't know the tehnical parlance) wouild be useful. Also, tips on backgrounds and colors would help.

    Any stylists...+READ

    I know lots of jewelrycrafters/artists who take great shots of their work, it can't be that you have to have a commercial studio to get good effects. Not talking catalog-worthy shots, just something that looks good!

    I think indirect lighting and something to bounce light (sorry, don't know the tehnical parlance) wouild be useful. Also, tips on backgrounds and colors would help.

    Any stylists out there?-COLLAPSE

  • I wonder if it isn't a semi-macro mode. And on-camera flash would most probably ruin any effect you set out to create.

    Try this- light your food from behind. Not so the light shines into the camera, or hey- might that be a good effect? Try it! With digital you can always do over. We didn't have that until about ten years ago. Go for it.

  • several digital cameras have a "food" setting..is that worth utilizing? i haven't noticed that it makes too much of a difference. also, flash usually seems to hurt images as opposed to enhance them..at least in the restaurant setting. thanks :)

  • a how-to isn't feasible. I worked as an industrial photographer for 36 years, and I need to be able say that people really, REALLY underestimate the complexity of commercial photography, especially the truly gorgeous ones that evoke a great mood. Sorry. It's like wanting to get a how-to on heart surgery. Not as life-threatening but just as complex.

  • A nifty trick of mine is to put the item in my white enamel bath. The

    sheer white makes the dish float.

    The bath must be pristine lol

  • I was hoping this was a How-To. It'd be nice to see how these effects were achieved.

    Many chowhounds do a marvelous job of photographing meals--how about interviewing them?

  • Brilliant compilation! I've been trying to learn more about food photography for my own blog, and you concisely and neatly articulate what I see and like about certain food photos. Thanks! (I'll be sure to post a link on my column at ediblecrafts.craftgossip.com)

  • This is a really nice piece; I hadn't ever thought about different styles of food photography--let alone food photographers. Thanks!

    And if you'll notice, all the pictures are of apples, not just the food porn.

  • I skip the core when it comes to my apple porn.

  • And then there is the visual pun of using a bitten apple to represent food porn. Is it soft core?