Due to travel restrictions, there haven’t been many travel photos in our social feeds lately. Most of us have been home bound, ordering meals, cooking we can and occasionally having a go at baking. While it is an excellent time to sharpen our culinary skills, those who are not as adventurous in the kitchen can take this opportunity to work on their food photography skills. Aside from adding to your social media, food photography is also a great way to enrich your food reviews, helping small businesses that are struggling during this difficult time. So if you’re ready with your camera phone, read on and get snapping.
Explore interesting angles
If you’re not too hungry, try taking pictures of your food from various angles. Top view, side view, up close, cropped, or anything else you can think of. Be mindful that certain angles tend to work better with different types of foods. For example, a hot meal would create a lot of steam, blurring out your picture or how desserts tend to look more mouth-watering up close, especially when it is glossed up with a chocolate sauce.
Presentation is key
You don’t want to be taking pictures of food still inside the foam container. By plating it on proper dishware, you can make a 5 ringgit dish look like a 20 ringgit one. This is something any Hell’s Kitchen fan can attest to. But don’t just focus on the plate, think about props that can include table mats, cutlery, salt and pepper shakers. You could even have a casual fork poking at the dish for added playfulness.
Inviting lighting
When it comes to food photography, you want to see every mouth-watering detail. This makes lighting a very crucial point when it comes to food photography. But don’t worry, you do not need any fancy set-up as natural lighting works best when it comes to food. Try to place your dish where natural light is available and turn up the warmth in your photo if you’re looking to edit it. If you have no choice but to shoot in artificial lighting, be mindful with shadows, especially with top view photos. Also, don’t bother with flash as it tends to make your food photos look like evidence.
Edit your edibles
As previously hinted, editing is important when it comes to food as the colour temperature can affect how appetising the photo looks. Naturally, you would want to go for warmer tones when it comes to hot and savoury meals while cooler tones work well for desserts like fruit popsicles and cold drinks like a watermelon cooler.
Get griddy
Positioning your meal can be frustrating when there are multiple subjects. Thankfully most camera phones include the 3X3 grid feature to help you compose your picture. Try photos with the point of interest appearing at the cross points of the grid or perhaps create symmetry with multicoloured desserts falling within the ⅓ portion of the grid. If you’re not starving, take your time to explore.
The mood for food
Think about the mood you are trying to invoke with your photos. The combination of photography style as well as set-up and editing can help you tell a story with your photos. With this in mind, you can add a few props to a bowl of Laksa to make it your ah ma’s Laksa. You could even turn your plain ol’ Nasi Lemak to Coconut Infused Rice with Sweet Anchovy and Chilli Chutney.
Conclusion
Thanks to smartphones, millions around the world are taking up photography as a pastime. Food photography could also possibly be something you can do as a side gig as we know how popular food reviewers are. Aside from showing off your skills, your photos could also help a struggling restaurateur by sharing tantalising photos of food from his or her restaurant.
Malaysia is internationally known for its culinary delights and if there’s one thing that unites all Malaysians, it has to be food. If you’re looking to get a better camera phone to level-up your food photos, you could always check out our store for top flagship models at affordable prices.