How to take food photos?

Lead: From the close-up of food ingredients to the panoramic view of the rich buffet, with a little planning and attention to seize the opportunity, you can take mouth-watering food photos. So how do you take food photos? Come and have a look with me!

How to take food photos? 1. Ready

To find inspiration for taking pictures of food, you can read more books and magazines related to cooking, and carefully observe the light consumption and shooting angle of food photos. Whether you plan to record a family cookbook with photos or add some beautiful fruit photos to your portfolio, you should think carefully about which visual elements are needed in the photos and find the necessary props, such as knives, forks, plates and tablecloths. White plates and exquisite tablecloths are usually a good background, because their low-key can highlight the delicious food.

Once the food stays in the air for too long, it will lose its visual appeal, so set the table before shooting. Set up props, light sources and cameras (including focusing and exposure settings), and temporarily fill the position of food with body double plates or pictures. When the food is really served, take pictures as soon as possible, especially when family and friends are still waiting for a big meal.

Food looks most attractive when it is fresh, especially when it is sprinkled with condiments, such as Eric? Wolfinger's salad. He used the natural side light from a door to create a Zen feeling, and then used the later software to create a faint effect and increase the artistic conception of the picture.

Second, the specific pictures

Those basic ingredients that have not been cooked can usually remain intact after a period of time. For food photography, they are ideal objects for primary practice. When you practice shooting complete eggs with shells, fresh fruits and vegetables and other stable foods, you can slowly explore and try shooting in different light and angles.

Angle has always been important for photography, especially when shooting food. You can climb the ladder and take a picture first, and then take another picture at the height of the table. If you are ready for more challenging shooting tasks, try to bring an assistant, or at least use the camera's self-timer. The sauce or other viscous liquid poured on the main course can often take mouth-watering photos, especially in the case of backlight. Similarly, the melting ice cream from the cone will also increase the dynamic and interesting picture.

Is this Eric? The salad ingredients laid out by Eric Wolfinger. In the picture, the soil taken from the vegetable garden tells the source of the ingredients. He shot with backlight to highlight the color of food; Shallow depth of field is used to emphasize the details of flowers and leaves in the foreground.

Third, skills and tricks.

1, focus

Manual focusing can guide the audience's sight and highlight the color and texture of food. Think carefully about the depth of field and choose a clear focus in the picture, so that there is an obvious transition between it and the soft and fuzzy background. If you want the whole picture to be clear, even clearer than f/22 shooting, then you can try to use focus superposition. Take multiple photos in different focus points, and then put them together in post-processing.

2. High dynamic range imaging

When shooting food in Gao Fancha, such as chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, it is easy to lose the details of shadows and highlights. Take multiple photos of different exposure value by bracketing exposure, and then combine them in the image processing software to enhance the tone and image quality.

Step 3 light

When shooting food, the natural light outside the window is the simplest and best light. You can put a plate with food near the window so that the food is covered by indirect sunlight. If the light coming in from the window is direct, try to cover it with a thin cloth or draw a white curtain.

4, white balance

If the final image makes people lose their appetite, then it is meaningless to shoot food. Use manual or custom white balance settings to reproduce the color of food more realistically.

Step 5: lens

Fixed focus macro lens is an ideal choice for shooting food, such as 100mm or 50mm fixed focus macro fast lens. 100mm lens allows you to shoot when the camera is far away from the food, which is especially useful when climbing a ladder to shoot down. Using a fast lens with a maximum aperture above f/2.8, you can get greater depth of field and more flexible shutter speed control.

6. Soft box or umbrella

Whether using external flash or studio lights (continuous flashing or stroboscopic), you can use light control equipment such as soft box and soft umbrella to diffuse light.