How to take good pictures of recipes?

Stylish recipes can be completed with mobile phones. The techniques are as follows:

1-The angles should be consistent

If it is a single food photo, Then you just need to find an angle based on the characteristics of this delicacy. If it’s an entire cookbook, it’s best to have the same type of angle.

For example, hot dishes are suitable for eye-level viewing, so that people can clearly see what kind of dish it is. Desserts can be photographed from above to increase the atmosphere and arouse appetite. Cold dishes are suitable for filming and adding other props; snacks have fresh pictures and are easy to arouse children's interest.

In this way, when customers look through the recipes, their brains will automatically categorize them, and they will subconsciously remind themselves of the combinations of hot dishes, cold dishes, desserts, and snacks.

2-The color tone should be consistent

The color tone of the same type should also be consistent, so as not to let customers "skip the show".

For example, hot dishes are generally surrounded by aromas, so warm colors are suitable, cold dishes are literary and cool, desserts are suitable for elegance and fun, etc. The choice of color makes the entire recipe more atmospheric.

3- When using light, you don’t have to buy a professional lighting configuration

Depending on the dish you are shooting, you can use the white light or yellowish light at home. If it is not bright enough, use the light on your mobile phone. A flashlight can help brighten things up.

You can also slow down the shutter speed on your mobile phone. If the exposure time is longer, the picture will naturally be brighter.

Or adjust the aperture tree value on your mobile phone. The smaller the aperture value, the larger the aperture, which increases the amount of light (note that when the aperture is large, the food may be blurred so much that it will be difficult to see clearly when focusing on a certain point. There is a lot of content, so the aperture should not be too large.

4-Don’t let the dishes fill the entire screen

If there are only delicious food in the picture, customers will not be clear about the dish. Regarding the specific weight, there is only the concept of quality, not quantity, which is contrary to the purpose of shooting.

Know how to leave some space in the space to add some text to the beauty of the entire photo. Some tools, such as secondary cropping on mobile phones, can be filled with white or black, or can be intelligently filled with a color similar to the image itself.

For details on how to fill, please refer to another article:

Image cropping, deformation and stretching, and secondary composition can be done in one step using your mobile phone | Snapseed Tutorial 1

1. Matching the colors of dishes

1) It is best to choose the same color system

This is the easiest and most effective method. This will make our overall picture more coordinated and give people a very comfortable feeling

2) Basic color embellishment

For example, when we place the plate, we can use the basic color Adding small embellishments will make our entire picture more full and vivid

3) Large areas of contrasting colors: make the entire picture more vibrant. Note that the area of ??mixed colors other than contrasting colors should not be Too big.

2. Use appropriate tableware

The choice of tableware mainly considers three factors: plate size, color, and material. Try to choose a plate that is one size larger than the dishes to make the food appear more delicate. You can choose solid color dinner plates to hold dishes with brighter colors. The material of the dinner plate can be selected according to the type of dish or the scene created. For example, you can choose wooden tableware for bread, which will give people a natural and handmade feeling.

3. Plate placement

After choosing the tableware, plate placement is very important. When we place the plate, we can highlight the shape by laying it out or stacking it according to the lost characteristics. It should be noted that when we arrange the dishes, we must highlight the dishes, do not overwhelm the guests, do not fill the plates to the top, leave a little blank space appropriately, or use less and more to highlight the details.

4. Proper use of light sources

Light is an important part of photographing dishes. Generally, natural light is a good helper for food photography. Usually, the natural light taken in from the window is the simplest and best light. It is delicate and natural. The colors of the dishes photographed are often the most vivid and saturated. When photographing, place the food near a window so that the food is covered in light.

Note: If it is a south-facing house, after 4 p.m., the angle of the pipeline is large, the light quality is better, and the color temperature is the most beautiful

If it is a north-facing house, generally in the afternoon The light at 2-3 o'clock is best.

5. Shooting angle

Different shooting angles bring different shooting effects. When we shoot, we need to grasp the characteristics of the dishes. Different characteristics of the food require different shooting angles.

The shooting angles generally include 90-degree overhead shot, three-quarter angle, head-on shot, and 45-degree oblique shot. Generally speaking, 45-degree shooting is the safest and the best effect. It can capture the layering and integrity of food and improve its quality in minutes.

6. The use of beautification is very important

Without post-production or photography, we can see the importance of photo retouching. Usually moderate beautification can greatly improve the quality of the dishes. The picture will look fresher and more attractive. It is recommended to adjust the brightness, color and contrast. The original image is either bright or dark, and the brightness can be adjusted appropriately. If you want to highlight the color or freshness of ingredients, you can increase the contrast and brightness; if you want to highlight the texture of the food, you can lower the contrast and brightness.

The benevolent see the benevolence and the wise see the wisdom. Everyone has different methods. The key is to make a film that is appetizing. Techniques allow the use of large apertures. Lightly oil the dishes. When making dishes that are semi-ripe and bright in color, etc.

Lighting is the most important thing

After watching several experienced teachers upstairs give professional, wonderful and perfect answers, I learned a lot. I have also gone to a friend's hotel to take several signature photos for the "Food & Recipes Series" before. Although I had an unsatisfactory experience in the beginning, I also summed up the experience after success through constant attempts. Here I want to share it with you. I hope it can inspire you a little bit to take more outstanding food photos. I think taking pictures of recipes is different from taking pictures of people and scenery. In fact, taking pictures of recipes is more about the delicate luster and temptation of the main image. Below I use a few Let’s summarize the key words of each experience and experience.

1. Prepare shooting equipment:

①. 85 fixed focus lens and Laowa macro lens;

②. One tripod each for cold and warm fill lights. ;

③. A shooting table with black and white background cloth;

④. Huawei mate pro mobile phone.

2. Photography methods and techniques:

①. Don’t overcook the recipe, just medium ripeness. Pour a layer of marinade before loading, so that the color can be bright and shiny. .

②. As for the three dishes of flower meat, whole meat and soup, the photography should highlight the gentle color of flower meat, the strong taste of whole meat, and the soup should be light and gentle;

③. The shooting angle can be adjusted according to the shape of the dish, whether it is a bird's-eye shot or a low-angle head-up shot;

④. Highlight the theme of the cuisine, do not avoid the most important, and stay close to the dishes. Note that hot dishes will cause the heat to blur the lens;

⑤. Before shooting, it is best to use chopsticks to rearrange the dish shapes, so that they cannot be cluttered;

⑥. Warm color light is used as the main light source, and cold color fill light can supplement the light transmission, so that The dishes are exquisite and exquisite.

(My humble opinion is for reference only)

Generally, when evaluating the quality of a dish, people like to use color, aroma and taste to describe it, but we only use a picture to describe it. You can see its color, so you have to take pictures that make you feel as if you have smelled their fragrance. Therefore, it is best to use high-pixel and high-definition shooting equipment. If necessary, you can use macro photography to capture its texture and freshness. , it will make people drool when they see it! ! !

It is very simple to take good recipes. First, be as meticulous as making a work of art. When cooking, you must reflect the color, aroma, and taste, so that the finished dish looks both delicious and beautiful, making people salivate.

Braised Pork: Due to the steam, if you look closely, you can see subtle steam swirling and spreading, and the virtual and real effect of the hot shot is more obvious.

Spicy crayfish: The crayfish is handled cleanly and neatly, and the photos of the dish make people appetizing.

The dishes in the pictures have full tones. You may think that the colors of the pictures I took are more beautiful, because I used PS software to perform color layering processing.

Dumplings: The more beautiful the dumplings are, the better the photo effect will be. You can see a person’s skill level from the picture. My bag doesn't have any quality, so that's it.

A display of a set of biscuits:

No matter what equipment is used to shoot food with high pixels, the light and shade reflected by light energy, and the distance and distance caused by the perspective must be mastered. The high-quality pictures express the food vividly, and the freehand brushwork lies in your play with the food. Food is an art derived from life! ”

First of all, the dishes should be beautiful, and then the angle should be chosen well. Use good light.

1 Simple composition

Simple composition has a very good effect, and the shooting is also very good. Simple.

Method:

Choose a place with sufficient light and lay a piece of cloth with a clean background, such as a white cloth or a clean wooden board with a textured color. Remember to keep it clean and not let the background dominate. .

Put the object to be photographed on a white cloth to appropriately increase the exposure. By using the white space method, it is easy to highlight the subject and make it look fresh and elegant.

Key points: The only thing that attracts the visual focus is food.

2-level composition

The so-called hierarchical composition is to make the food present a certain regularity and spatiality, which makes people feel more relaxed. Feel the beauty of the rhythm, and then highlight the subject. When shooting, you can turn on the grid lines on your mobile phone to easily locate the subject.

Key points: There must be a contrast between the size and distance of the food, and there must be space.

3 Oblique composition

The most classic so-called oblique composition is chopsticks. Of course, there are also straws. It uses chopsticks and other objects from outside the picture. Enter.

Function: It has the effect of breaking up the picture, enlivening it, and bringing it into the picture.

Key points: Avoid objects that are too big and obscure the subject.

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4. Highlight the composition

This is also a relatively simple composition method, as shown in the picture above, a distinctive subject is placed on a similar dish, such as a cut apple. A shelled white shrimp on a fruit plate or a whole plate of lobster can make the subject stand out and make a deep impression.

Key points: avoid being too close to the subject. This results in blurred background edges, unclear subject, and lack of layered visual effects.

5 Horizontal composition

Horizontal composition can give people a more sense of stability and spaciousness. , making the food reflect a feeling of quietness, peace, and relaxation. Of course, this is also the most accustomed viewing angle.

6 Triangular composition

The triangular composition is that the food forms an equilateral triangle and an oblique triangle. Or invert the triangle and then shoot. Different triangles will give people the same feeling. The triangle composition can highlight the more three-dimensional and flexible feeling of the food.

7 Horizontal composition

Horizontal composition means that the picture is composed of many parallel horizontal lines, which makes the food appear quiet, calm and comfortable. For example, take pictures of bread, biscuits, meatballs and other foods.

8 Oblique composition

An oblique composition can be a horizontal oblique composition, or it can be a three-dimensional oblique composition like the one above. Generally speaking, oblique composition makes the picture full of movement, imbalance and instability, and can achieve a tense and attractive visual effect.

9 Vertical composition

Vertical composition is a composition in which the picture is composed of multiple vertical lines. The advantage of shooting in this way is that it can show the height and lines of the subject. For example, we photograph drinks, drinks, cups, etc.

To take good-looking photos of recipes, you must pay attention to the following points: (1) Choose a solid color background, black or white is recommended. A black background can generally give texture no matter what you take, and the black and white combination also looks good.

For example, a white plate with a black background has a strong contrast, the main body of the food is highlighted, and the characteristics of the food are clear at a glance. The angle can be adjusted according to the actual situation during specific operations.

(2) Choosing a container is very important. In addition to color, you must also choose a container with good composition according to the dishes. Equipment and camera settings: A large aperture lens creates a shallow depth of field, and blur brings beauty. Lighting is very important. Keep the ISO to the minimum to reduce noise and make the picture more delicate and soft.

(3) Composition is also very important. You can leave appropriate blank space and shoot from multiple angles. The more natural the better!