Shooting skills of food photos

Lead: The widespread popularity of digital cameras has promoted the popularity of photography, making photography closer to every corner of life, especially the shooting of food. So, how do ordinary lovers take good photos of food with digital cameras? Let's briefly talk about the essentials and skills of ordinary photographers shooting food.

Equipment required:

Don't be deceived by beautiful food photos on the Internet (except professional product photos). As long as it is a digital camera, you can take ordinary food photos. There are no special requirements, and of course you can't use toy cameras. Generally speaking, the closer the digital camera is, the better. Macro can highlight the details, but not all food photos are macro, and many good-looking dishes should be photographed. In addition, the pixels of digital cameras are higher now. If the macro of your camera is not close enough, you can get good results by cutting it later. If you can meet the following requirements, it will be more conducive to your operation. The above requirements can basically be met by everyone's digital cameras, and many of them are quite professional. Note, what does the digital camera here mean? DC？ , non-professional camera. The following only talks about skills and methods, not including knowledge of principles, as long as everyone knows how to shoot well.

First, the choice of light:

Of course, it's time to eat in a restaurant and shoot delicious food (nonsense). When entering the restaurant, if you plan to take photos, you should pay attention to finding a place with good light, which is very conducive to ensuring the photo effect. There are two kinds of ambient light, one is natural light and the other is light. Natural light is the best light source for taking pictures. If it's daytime, you'd better find an outdoor position. Plenty of light helps you shoot. If it's just indoors, find a window seat. In short, the stronger the light, the better. Night is not a good choice. There are many kinds of lights in the dining room, some dim and some bright. At this time, you should find a place where there is light on the old son. If there is no light, you have to shoot with the flash of the camera. Look down.

Second, the shutter speed and sensitivity:

In a well-lit environment, including natural light or lighting, try to avoid using flash unless the shutter speed is too low. The shutter of digital camera is very light and the vibration is very low. If you are familiar with the operator of your camera, generally speaking, if the shutter is above 1/30 seconds, you can basically take a clear image. Is it better to shoot at a fixed object (table, chair, etc.)? ), even lower. Shutter speed will be displayed as a fraction on the LCD screen. When you focus by half pressing the shutter, the camera will automatically measure the light and display the shutter and aperture data.

High salinity can also improve shutter speed. Generally speaking, digital cameras are equipped with ISO 100-400 sensitivity adjustment function. In general, ISO 100 is usually used as much as possible. When it is not enough, use ISO200, and the quality above ISO400 is poor and not recommended.

Third, the use of contact taste:

Digital cameras are generally equipped with three metering methods (stronger than traditional cameras): multi-zone evaluation metering, each brand has the same principle and a slightly different name; Center focus average metering, a common mode in traditional cameras; Spot metering, the metering range is relatively small, and metering is aimed at objects with relatively small subjects. Different brands of digital cameras have different photometric methods and display symbols. Please refer to the instruction for specific methods and principles. It is recommended to use the multi-zone even-odd metering mode every day, and then choose the mode that suits you after you are familiar with the metering principle. However, no matter which metering method, the camera's processor will not know what you are shooting, and will only measure the exposure value according to the inherent law, which is definitely biased, so it is necessary to use the exposure compensation function. Traditionally, the accurate photometric standard for camera exposure is 18% gray, not white. Therefore, when shooting white objects, it will be underexposed; Similarly, when shooting black objects, it is often overexposed. For digital cameras, the rapidity of shooting and viewing is very convenient for correcting the exposure error rate. Take a picture first, add the underexposure and subtract the overexposure. Despite this advantage, I hope everyone can understand the principle of photometry, practice makes perfect, and directly estimate the makeup capacity. This is the real photography technology.

? The main body is white, and it is usually underexposed with a makeup smell, and the exposure is normal.

Four, the use of flash:

In places with insufficient light, such as indoors and at night, it is impossible to ensure sufficient shutter speed by hand. For example, below 1/30 seconds, you can only shoot with flash exposure. At present, the flash of most digital cameras is automatic metering flash, which generally works well. Similarly, the output power of the flash also needs to taste exposure compensation. If the subject is white and the reflection is strong, the camera will automatically turn down the power, resulting in underexposure. Similarly, if the subject is black and the aperture is strong, the camera will increase its output, resulting in overexposure. Just like exposure compensation, for overexposure or underexposure, adjust the flash exposure compensation function to make the photos get proper exposure. However, it should be noted that some cameras have no flash compensation function in automatic mode, and only P, AV, TV and M files have flash adjustment function. Please read the instruction manual first, which has detailed instructions. It is recommended that you are not familiar with the versatility of the camera? p？ Document shooting. For example, Canon IXUS series digital cameras can't set makeup smell in P file, but they can make makeup smell for exposure or flash in M (P file with adjustable function) mode.

When the distance is close, the flash power is too strong. If you subtract 2/3 of the flash, the exposure is normal.

Five, the choice of white balance:

White balance is also a place to pay attention to. Food pays attention to color, fragrance and taste, and color must be more pleasing to the eye. In daytime or outdoor situations, use the AUTO white balance mode. In indoor lighting, no flash is needed. Because of the variety of lights used in restaurants, it is not perfect to solve the color cast problem with the light-white balance mode of various cameras. If your camera has a manual white balance function, try to fix the accurate white balance manually at this time. If the camera doesn't have this function, you have to find a closer built-in mode to use. This is different if you shoot with a flash at the same time. Because the flash is used for shooting, the light source will become the flash of the camera. This kind of light source is closest to natural light, as long as it uses automatic white balance or some cameras. Flashing lights? White balance mode is fine. Different brands of digital cameras have different manual white balance operation methods, so be sure to read the instructions.

Automatic white balance under incandescent lamp, manual white balance is better.

Sixth, the way of composition:

Taking food photos can be divided into two ways: macro close-up and overall performance. This is the most common technique, and there are not many flashy places. For local delicious food, you can take a macro shot and close up the most beautiful place, which will have a very attractive feeling. For dishes with distinctive features on the whole, such as thoughtful arrangements, combined with other tableware and other environments, wide-angle shooting with a larger perspective is used to describe the beauty of food and the atmosphere of the environment.

Close up composition

Overall composition mode

By doing the above, ordinary photographers can also take excellent and attractive food photos. As long as you keep trying, summing up experience and innovating, you will soon become an expert in food photography.