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  • Tampa Bay Food Blog
  • Tips for Taking Better Food Photos
  • Contact Me

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.
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#13. Filter Wisely (or not at all)

7/14/2018

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Adding a blue or high contrast filter to food might be creative, but it doesn't reveal the food very well. Image from Instagram
Photo filters on different photo apps like Instagram and online photo editors can be fun. They can also enhance the look of your images in a positive way. But use them judiciously. Unless there’s a reason to turn the white rice blue or fade the color in an image, take it easy on the 
filters. If you are creating art or have some reason to use them, awesome. If it is part of your creative style or you just want to do something unique, rock on! Otherwise it looks amateur! ​​
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Using a filter to remove contrast makes sense for some images, but since online filters apply globally (over the whole image) it doesn't' typically work with food shots. This filter is probably trying to look vintage. Cool, but it doesn't lend itself to a great food photo. Image from Instagram.
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This shot was taken using the "Food Filter" on a Galaxy Note 8- a really nice camera for a phone rig. But the filter tries to create Bokeh (blurry background) in the photo which blurs out really important parts of the composition (like most of the food!) It can look pretty bad. Best bet is usually not to use filters. Click to enlarge.
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Here's the same burger using the same phone, without the food filter. Notice how the food is in focus and the background still blurry.
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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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