Photography tips

If you want to become a blogger or someone who gives their opinion on food, you should only photograph and promote food that you actually like. This will increase your credibility as a food critic or reviewer if that is something you’re going for.

There are a lot of food photographers out there doing the same thing. Be sure to create your own style in some way so that your images can become recognizable over time.

If you’re looking for food photography jobs, you should be very consistent on social media. Consistency is one of the most important factors of reaching larger audiences on social media platforms. When you reach larger audiences, your prospects of getting paid work also increase.

If you want to showcase some steam or spritz in your image, you should be using a dark background and some side lighting.

If you have cutlery in your scene, spray it with an anti-glare product to remove unnecessary reflections that you’d have to spend a long time fixing in post.

You can use shadows in very creative ways. Shadows are often what takes food photography from snapshots to great shots. Soft shadows can create a subtle depth in your images and make the elements look real while harsh shadows can become a creative tool to end up with moody or evocative images.

Props are important to make a scene look realistic. However, don’t overuse them to the point where the eye gets distracted from the food itself. Some good props include background textures, cutlery, and napkins.

If you want to use external lighting, either use a constant artificial light source or bounce the flash to create fill light. Never use direct flash on the food as it will likely lead to weirdly colored images that also look boring and dull.

One of the best things you can do for your setup is to use even light instead of that coming from one direction. Directional light can often cast shadows that you don’t want in your image. Overhead and even lighting is one of the best ways to go. If you don’t have overhead lighting, then use reflectors to balance the light properly. Also, you could use directional light if you’re going for a creative shot with shadows, but be sure that’s something you want to do.

For some nice DIY food photography lighting, use a simple reflector to balance the light in your scene. For example, if the light is coming from one side of your setup, place a reflector on the other side to create a more even light. You can also use multiple reflectors to control how your scene is lit up.