Simple Tips for Better Food Photography

Food Photography  •  Photography Tips

A number of elements go into making delicious food photos. Nisha from RainbowPlantLife shares her lighting secrets for great food photography:

Understand Directional Light

Directional light produces much better quality photos than light that comes from all different directions.

Directional lighting can be of many different types. First, there is side lighting, where the food is being illuminated from one side, be it right or left.

Then there is backlighting where the subject is illuminated from the back.

Finally, there is front lighting, with the subject illuminated from the front.

Front lighting is probably the most boring, as it tends to produce flat images.

That said, both side lighting and backlighting have their own specific uses.

Manage Your Light Source

Backlighting is a lot more difficult to manage than side lighting because of contrast. The trick to managing backlighting is to diffuse the light.

All you need is a large diffuser.

With a diffuser, hopefully, you will have sorted out the problem of high contrast imagery. If your images still have deep, dark shadows, now is a good time to bring in some fill light via a reflector.

Master Exposure

One of the things that all photographers have to master is exposure. Exposure consists of three aspects: shutter speed, ISO, and aperture. Aperture controls not only the amount of light that gets into your camera but also the depth of field in your images. The choice of aperture will depend on your choice of how much of the background you wish to project tack sharp in your composition.

Shutter speed controls the length of time for which the shutter remains open and collects light.

ISO controls the sensitivity of the sensor. It acts as the balance between shutter speed and aperture.

Experiment with Color Theory

A surprisingly effective tip which very few people actually pay attention to is understanding color theory.

Explore Composition Techniques

Simple photography rules, such as the rule of thirds, are what is important here. They’ll help you produce more compelling compositions.

What other tips do you have for improving food photography?