A little byrdie told me | The art of capturing food photos

Actress Jamie Chung once said, “If acting doesn’t work out, I plan to do food photography and just eat my way through the entire world. I’m a big foodie, and if I could make some career out of it, that would be fantastic.” I can relate with this statement because I consider myself a foodie and always have a list of restaurants I want to try on my notes app. Given the fact that most of the time, I use my phone to capture a pretty plate at the restaurant, I wanted to share a few tips for those of you who like to take photos of their food.

Use natural light

While flash might be needed in a really dark restaurant, most of the time I keep the flash off when I take photos on my phone. If you’re planning to take photos and can choose your own table, pick a spot that has nice, level light. If you sit outside on a bright day utilizing your napkin or a menu to reduce the light on your plate will work well. 

Try different angles

While some dishes might look good from directly overhead, others won’t. As you experiment with different angles you’ll have the opportunity to choose a good angle to display the food well as well as be artistic with your shot.

Limit distractions

Sometimes there can be too many things on the table that can distract from the main subject, the food! Removing the extra napkins, condiments and other things from the photo will be beneficial. This isn’t to say that sometimes a spoon balanced on the soup bowl or a breadstick near your plate of spaghetti will help make the image more interesting. Just play around with the items you have on hand and see what looks best.

While food photography is something I like to dabble in on my own time, I’ve learned that it can help get the creative juices flowing and provide some new ideas when I’m capturing moments for my clients. I hope these tips will help you in your own food photography journey. 

A collage of food photos taken with my iphone
I have a foodie Instagram: AFoodieJourneySTL
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