Introduction to commercial food photography

Lead: The commercial value of food photography lies in that many catering enterprises have to shoot recipes to show the characteristics of their dishes. This kind of shooting often adopts the way of "mobile studio", that is, the photographer carries various equipment such as flash lights to the shooting scene such as restaurants.

Before shooting, photographers need to fully communicate with customers to understand their needs, favorite styles, venues, power settings and other information. When shooting, the chef needs to present the "half-cooked" dishes in order. This is because when dishes are half cooked, their shapes and colors are more expressive than when they are fully cooked.

Food photography can be roughly divided into several stages.

1, food production: considering the shooting effect, it is best to let the chef and photographer discuss it together.

2. Scenery: Excavate the cultural connotation behind the dishes and decide which environment and props to use in the scene layout.

3. Lighting: Set the shooting scene and light the restaurant.

5. Set up a tripod.

6. Shoot from all angles to see which effect is the best. When conditions permit, multiple planes can be set up.

7. Keep the food fresh and control the shooting speed.

8, details adjustment: For example, adding a lemon to iced tea can add a little color to monotonous photos.

9, photo post-processing adjustment

On-site lighting of food photography

Strict food photography requires accurate lighting. Usually, photographers will carry detachable studio lights and other tools to set up in restaurants to complete commercial shooting.

This paper introduces a common general light distribution method, which can get very ideal light distribution effect. First of all, a downward flashing light is set above the dish, and a large soft box is equipped as the main light. Photographers shoot from the upper side of the dish, one side is equipped with a flash with a soft box as auxiliary light, and the back of the dish is equipped with a flash with a standard cover as modeling light, which can increase the contrast between light and dark and the texture of the dish. The photographer adjusted the shooting effect by adjusting the flash intensity of three flashlights. The following figure is an example photo taken with this lighting method.

Creation of the background of food photography

Food is infectious and needs to be properly matched with the background. A good background can make an ordinary dining table look like a five-star hotel. Except for the main body, the color of the background almost determines the tone of the whole image, so if it is well matched, the picture will be very beautiful.

Different color schemes determine different styles of pictures and food. Bright background can better reflect the fresh feeling, with cold salad and green leafy vegetables, giving people a relaxed and carefree feeling. The profound and changeable background can create a romantic and mysterious feeling, full of artistic appeal, and can reflect the unique cultural connotation of food with western food and western food.

This picture uses purple flowers as the background of the cake, which is dark in color and delicate in texture. Set off the beauty of the cake with the beauty of flowers, complement each other and show exquisiteness and nobility.

In addition to the common tablecloths with different colors, you can also use the raw materials of the dishes as the background to highlight the freshness of the dishes. In this case, the photographer photographed a bright red cake and chose colorful rose petals as the background. The background color is consistent with the main body, harmonious and changeable, which improves the grade of the cake.

Prop hongtu gourmet pinwei

The combination of tableware and food photography is very common in food photos of western food. Some photos showing western food even contain more elements, such as dining tables and candlesticks. This difference in shooting style comes from cultural differences. Western food pays more attention to the dining environment. Therefore, when shooting western food, it is logical to appropriately increase the picture elements such as tableware in the picture.

In the collocation of food and tableware, we should pay attention to the distribution of screen area, and the area occupied by the main course should not be too small to avoid usurping the role of the host. As far as the composition of collocation elements is concerned, a certain space should be reserved in the picture, and the composition should not be too full to create a harmonious atmosphere.

High-end tableware, red wine and goblets can all be used as props for makeup pictures, which can set off the taste of food.

Special dishes and soups need to be represented by special techniques and props. In this case, in order to better highlight the taste of the dishes, the photographer specially collected the lid of the casserole when composing the composition. The bamboo leaf decoration on the pot cover becomes the highlight of the picture, which is similar to the color of the meatballs and echoes each other. The lid of the casserole plays a role in the picture, highlighting the personality and uniqueness of the dish.

Spoons and knives and forks are often used as supporting tableware, especially when shooting soup dishes. The collocation of spoons makes the picture more intimate and warm.