How to Photograph Food

How to Photograph Food

Posted 2015-05-25 by meggffollow
Getting a good photo of your marvellous creation can make a huge difference to how many people click your link. And as we all know, that can make a huge difference to how much money you earn! So here's a few tips, from someone who knows a professional photographer and food blogger.

Photograph food in the day:
  • Of course that can be tricky because often the recipe you make is your dinner. So what you need to do is make a plate of it up, stick it in the fridge and take the photo in the morning. It doesn't need to be a full serving, just enough to showcase what's on offer.

  • Photo at night


    compared to

    Morning light


    Clean the Plate:
  • Ensure there's no splatters or smears on the outside of the plate. We've all seen TV chefs doing it, and food bloggers need to do it too. A smear up the side of the plate really does look dreadful. Humans are very visual creatures, and we're particularly fussy about food, so know your target audience, and cater to that.

  • Photograph food RAW:
  • Cooked vegetables don't look as good in photographs as raw ones do. Just keep some separate to photograph with the finished product. It makes a huge difference to the colours and the appeal of the food in your photos. As with the last point, it doesn't need to be a whole serving, just enough to showcase your recipe, and add some colour.

  • Cooked vegetables


    Compared to

    Raw Vegetables


    Have a spray bottle handy:
  • No matter how delicious something is, if it doesn't look moist, it doesn't look tasty. When you're ready to take your photograph just whip out the spray bottle of water, give everything a quick squirt, wipe the water off the side of the plate and voila!

  • See the freshness in moist food


    Choose interesting plates:
  • You don't need to spend a fortune on them, just keep an eye out in your local second hand store and grab anything interesting you come across. Placemats are also super cheap at the second hand store and can make an enormous difference to your photo, including providing you with lots of different backgrounds, which brings us to the next point.

  • Interesting second hand plate


    Pay attention to the background:
  • This is one of the most important parts of food photography. No one wants to see your washing up! No one wants to see your cleaning products, or your pets. All they want to see is the FOOD.

  • So make your food photography about food, and hide the washing up. If you hide it well you don't have to worry about it, right? Ok, so that's a lie, you still have to wash up, but your readers will think you're a neat freak and the focus of your photo will be the food.

  • Image Courtesy of morgueFile My dishes are already done


  • If you have a fancy camera that's obviously going to make a big difference, but you don't NEED that if you just follow a few simple rules. There's no point using your 5 megapixel phone camera at night with a background of cats sleeping on your dinner table. But if you wait til morning, send the cats outside, and snap away, the quality of your images will improve!

  • #tips_for_writers

    %recipeyum
    226796 - 2023-07-17 10:12:59

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    Dinner
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