#8. Get The Correct (not always right) Angle
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Shooting a bowl of soup is different than shooting a tall dish. A bowl of soup is flat and needs to be shot from a higher angle than a hamburger or something with more height on the plate. This is where experimentation, creativity, and experience comes in. Overhead helicopter shots (90°) have become very popular in magazines like Bon Appétit, where 90% of the photos are shot from directly overhead. I just don’t know why, except that it makes for a repeatable layout. Stale, but repeatable. (There goes my gig with Bon Appétit). Bottom line is, mix it up and understand what angle works best with different dishes, heights, and textures. Sandwiches rarely look good flat. Slice it at an angle and stack one half on top of or aside the other to see and shoot the cross section. As you stack it, lower the camera angle.
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Some shots lend themselves to an overhead (helicopter) shot. There's nothing wrong with it, but try other things. It lacks dimension. Shot at 90°
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Soupy dishes need higher angles to encompass the dish. Shot ~ 60°
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Taller dishes need lower angles to help your viewer see what you saw. This burger shot from a higher angle would not have the same impact. Shot ~ 20°
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Vanilla Bean Belgian waffles with bananas, strawberries and whipped cream. Shot at 0° along with in house art in the frame to show the character of the restaurant, also known as an environment shot.
Halving and stacking a sandwich, especially one with colorful ingredients like this Hummus and Veggie sandwich, makes for a more colorful and inviting image than a closed sandwich.
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