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.

#9. Composition Matters

7/18/2018

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The subject of this shot is the Bucatini Alla Vaccinara in the bowl, but moving it over and including flat ware makes the dish look ready to eat. Using the rule of thirds added interest and context.

Should your subject go in the middle of the shot (not usually), be shot from above (see tip #8), or shot using the rule of thirds or other compositional elements? Along with the angle at which you shoot, placing the elements in the frame to make an interesting composition takes some experimentation, and experience . Do you want to shoot the dish alone, with flatware in the

shot, or with a glass of wine in the background? What story are you trying to tell?
Create leading lines by putting subjects diagonally across the image. Is there a reason to put the subject in the middle ( I call it shooting bullseye)? Usually not. Experiment with composition!

Using the rule of thirds- e.g. putting your subject like this Boba tea into the right third of the image (off center) can make for a more interesting shot

Shooting your subject on a diagonal creates a leading line. It brings your viewers eyes into the photo

What do you want to include in the frame? It ALL matters! Just the dish? The entire setting? The whole table? Do you want the entire restaurant in the background? Think before you shoot!

What are you putting in the background? Do you want to get aspects of the restaurant in your shot? The name of this place was Fire Bar and Grill. While it didn't stay open long, it made sense to include the fire colored lion fish on the wall, emblematic of the name.

Better restaurant photography from the Tampa food blg

Even though the plate is usually delivered with the long edge parallel to the edge of the table, I rotate it to a diagonal to put the main subject in front and make the shot more interesting. Then I may spin it a different way just to see how it looks.

Symetrical photo from a Tampa restaurant review

One of the reasons to "bullseye" an image is to create symmetry, especially if the subject is round. Notice the 3 and 3 make up of this shot.

Cooters Stone Crab festival photo for Tampa food blog

Including table tools, in this case a wooden mallet, delivered with the stone crab at Cooter's Festival adds an interesting element to the shot

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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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