Friday, January 22, 2010

Food Photography For Beginners

By John Billy

Images of food are everywhere. We cannot walk down any leading shopping street without being bombarded by them from the windows of all the food shops. We open a magazine and there they are again thrusting their mouth watering delights at us.

When you first take a peek into the domain of food picture taking you may sense that you can never take photos like the professionals but you could amaze yourself.

Light as always with photography is King. Get it right and you create magic. Get it wrong and we all know the result! Treat the food you're photographing as you would any other still life subject and ensure that it is well lit. Most of the bad examples of food photography you will come across would have been drastically improved with adequate lighting.

Using natural light from a window can be perfect for food pics because it gives food that natural look. Support this with bounced flashlight and you can get a simple yet perfect result.

If you have to take a lot of food pics then invest in buying or making a light box or tent. This is simply an enclosed area that is lit externally through diffused walls in the tent/box.

Slow shutter speed is king for food picture taking to capture the depth of the image. Make sure your camera is well mounted on a strong tripod and of course you should be using a shutter release cable to stop any camera shaking resulting in blurring.

Choose your props very carefully to suit the end results that you are looking for. The props will make or break your photos. It's usually the props that set an amateur pic aside from a pro shot.

Do not skimp on your equipment if you want to do good food photography. Having a top quality SLR camera with a good lens will make all the difference. You must have full control over all the settings - shutter speed - aperture setting - zoom - to be able to create top shots. Using good quality lighting will also pay massive dividends.

About the Author:

No comments:

Post a Comment