Tips for taking better food photos

Tips for Taking Better Food Photos
Whether at home, in a restaurant, or in your studio, these tips will help!

Most of the food photography I do is "run and gun". Just like you, I go into restaurants, order a dish, and shoot in whatever conditions the place allows. Even when I shoot food for print, sometimes with the full cooperation of the kitchen, I can be limited by being in a crowded restaurant with bad light and an anxious chef. There's no controlling the environment or minimizing the chaos. So I've tried to perfect the run and gun method over the years and am sharing my tips and techniques here.
Every day hundreds of thousands of food images are uploaded to the web. Many of them are not so good. With the popularity of Instagram, Yelp, and others, lot's of folks like you are trying their hand at food photography. Cool! Make em' good! It doesn’t take thousands of dollars worth of equipment or tons of studio lights to take great food photos. Mostly it takes time, patience, and a little know-how. Here are some simple tips to help you start getting great food shots.

#12. Shoot to Frame Size

7/15/2018

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Here's a typical shot taken with a phone in a 16 x 9 aspect ratio (it's oblong). If I later need to crop this photo to use it in portrait orientation (tall instead of wide) for a publication, I'm out of luck. I need to think about what size and shape photo I need before I shoot. Sometimes it's best to shoot both tall and wide if you aren't sure what the end use is.

Shoot to frame. All that means is to figure out in advance what the final image size (aspect ratio) needs to be and make sure your image fits. For example, most DSLRs shoot in a 2:3 aspect ratio (frames are 2 inches tall and 3 inches wide. It's how you get a 4" x 6" image ). Some phones shoot in a 16:9 aspect ratio with newer phones going to 18:9. If you are posting to places like Instagram, it only accepts 1:1 aspect ratios (square). If you try to pack an 18:9 photo into a 1:1 format, things can go terribly wrong. You can still shoot with an 18:9 (or any

other ratio) camera to post on Instagram, but you need to zoom out or back away from the subject so that you can crop the photo accordingly. Or, on more recent cameras and phones you can easily change the aspect ratio so that what you preview in the viewfinder or on the screen before you shoot what the final shot looks like.
If you have made it to the next level and are working with other creatives like editors, producers, art directors, or for print, make sure you coordinate with them on the aspect ratio. They may be concerned about layout, column size, or trying to meet the obligations of an advertiser. This includes knowing what orientation is needed. Do you want to shoot in Landscape (picture is wider) or Portrait orientation (image is taller than it is wide.)

How to crop for food photography for a food blog

This image was originally shot in portrait orientation ( 3:2 aspect ratio taller than wide) but with enough room left over to crop square

Here's the final 1:1 image crop (square) suitable for Instagram. Notice it still tells the story of this food preparation even after cropping the former foreground out. Knowing in advance what the final crop needs to be will save a lot of headaches, especially if you are being paid and have to go re-shoot on your dime.

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Chip Weiner is a Tampa food blogger and an award winning freelance photographer specializing in portraiture, food photography and photojournalism . He has been a photography instructor for over 10 years and teaches Tampa photography classes throughout the year. Have a suggestion for a food event or restaurant? Contact him here

For information on photography classes and workshops, feel free to call me or look under the Tampa Photography Classes section of my website. Photo 101 is by far the most popular! I also give private individual lessons on camera operation and making better photographs and would love to work with you one on one to make you a better photographer. Photography instruction gift certificates are also available. They make great gifts for the photo enthusiast in your life. Let's talk about what you need! 813-786-7780. See you in class!

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