Food Photography 101: Part One
15 Sep
As a food blogger, photography is a huge part of our world! It’s very important to me to take quality photos, to make your mouth’s water at the sight of the delicious food I make and eat.
I’ve been interested in photography since high school. I took a few classes here and there, but I am mostly self-taught. Let’s just say, I never really paid attention in school. I was (am?) a free bird and did whatever I wanted in those photography classes 
My passion for photography didn’t hit me hard until about two years ago. At first, I struggled with forcing creative shots and trying too hard. If you look back to the first posts of this blog, you’ll be able to see a HUGE progression to where I am now.
I decided to write up this food photography 101 series to show you all what I’ve learned since then!
Lighting
To me, the most important thing is good lighting! Natural lighting is always the best, in my opinion. Typical house lights seems to give photos a yellowy tone which takes away from the beautiful colors, and using flash tends to wash out photos. I try to avoid using both whenever I can. I took some shots of my breakfast using natural light, light from a small lamp, and flash to show you what I mean.
natural lighting
flash
lamp lighting
The difference is quite obvious from the natural and flash! The photo where I used flash is quite harsh and the flash has taken away very noticeably from the soft shadows in the natural photo. The lighting in the lamp photo and the natural photo are similar, but the light from the lamp seemed to have washed the detail out of the english muffin and created a yellow tone. It isn’t terrible, but the beautiful, bright colors of the natural lighting photo is just so much more appealing!
For me, I try to go for as much natural lighting as I can, without going outside. I set up a couple different areas in my house where I usually bring my plate to get a shot, depending on the type of lighting I want. In the pictures above, I set the plate on my nightstand in my basement bedroom. The room is bright, but their is no direct sunlight shining onto the stand.
In the mornings, when my bedroom is too dark, I use a fold-up table right under a window in the dining room.
The room is not very bright, and the sunlight only shines onto that one area, so I’m able to get some dramatic shots at times.
The pictures here usually produce dark backrounds and have nice shadows that I enjoy!
What I mean by all this ramble is, play around with natural lighting to create more interest in your photos! We’ve all seen photos of toast, lemons, pancakes, but by creating interest by playing with lighting will take your photos to the next level!
Point of View
You could just snap a shot quickly of your meal without putting much thought into changing up the point of view, but with a few adjustments, you can liven up a shot and make your meal look stunning!
Instead of taking a picture of everything as a whole, get down on the level of the food and single one part out. This interesting depth of field makes the individual cupcake stand out and definitely makes an impact more than the group of cupcakes.
group of cupcakes
single cupcake
What do you think? The second picture just feels a lot more special, to me. To create a photo like this, you have to set your camera to it’s macro mode or manually set it to have a large aperture. My largest aperture is 1.8, so I use that for a shot like this. When you adjust your aperture, you also must adjust the shutter speed. The larger the aperture, the more light it takes in.. so, if you use a large aperture you can use a faster shutter speed if you are in good lighting. If your camera has an Av mode, you can set the aperture and it will take care of the shutter speed for you.
Some other easy ways to switch it up are to add some interest to the background, get really close, crop it, take an overhead shot, or pull it back to capture the whole table. These all seem really simple, but sometimes the simplest change and create a whole new photo!
add some interest to the background
throw a fork or hand in there
get close and crop it!
capture the whole table
take an overhead shot
hold it
This post is already massive, so I’m going to stop here for the day! These are all really easy things you can do to improve your pictures. Let me know what you’d like to see in the next part and I will do my best to explain it as easiest as I can! I’m not professionally trained, but this is how I do it 
I hope you liked it! I LOVED writing it. Can’t wait to do the next!
Hey Nicole! Thanks so much–this is a great tutorial…a lot more useful than a lot of others I’ve read in the past. I definitely knew most of this stuff, but it’s still always helpful to hear exactly how another person thinks about it!
Also, can’t help but chuckle at your self-portrait with your camera in front of your face. If I had a jar of Dark Chocolate Dreams for every photo like that I’ve taken of myself…
your photos are always so beautiful. also, i never got a chance to commenton your post a few days back, but i admire you more than words can express for your ability to put your struggles out there, and also i hope your friend is doing ok. my thoughts are with him, his family, and friends…
xxx
elise
Loved it!! Keep it coming (if you’re up for it)!
XO, Regina
AH, thanks so much Nicole! Can’t wait to see the next round of hints.
loved reading this post got so much out of it!
u are such an amazing, photographer and foodie, its so wonderful, i love food photography, but i never have either good lighting in the morning at breakfast my usual pic taking time, and my camera isnt the most ideal, i am begging my dad for a new better one, 
anyways, defiantly natural light is the most appealing of course, love it when the sun shines the right way through the windows. sometimes ill take my food and go into the living room and take a pic there where there are huge windows. well LOveD this and keep it up, nd we will be seeing ur name all over food magazines and i cannot believe u are not professionally trained, you’ve got it down. and you do what u love so great! u inspire me in so many ways girl <3
Great post! I feel like my pictures are never too good so this helps a lot. I will take some of your tips into consideration. Your photos are so pretty!
loved this post Nicole, your food photography is so amazing, i love your style…i find food photography so interesting and fun, i would want to study it or go into it as a career, but every time i say i want to be either a nutritionist, a chef, own a restaurant, or be a food photographer, many have laughed at me and said that i shouldnt because of my anorexia, and that going into anything with food is a bad idea, but i think going into anything that makes you happy and calls to you is what one should do despite what others opinions are
well, you are so inspiring to me in so so many ways lovie, and i again just am in awe of your talent, and eye for photogrpahy, your style of eating/cooking and everything, you are amazing and i hope you know that
xo
Eliza
Great post! I’ve learned so much!! I find it hard to find different places in my house to take pictures since I don’t have many places to set it up. But I enjoyed this lesson!
This is very inspiring and helpful. I LOVE your photography!
Thanks so much for this information. I need a new camera, perhaps one with a large lense, but until then I will use your tips for sure!
This was a lovely post! I like how you gave detail on how you take your shots…sooo cool that you find light before taking a picture! Oh and thanks for the 1.8 heads up…I was wondering how to do that!
Maggie
I enjoyed reading this so much! When I photograph food, it HAS to be “artistic”…so I appreciated your advice a lot. You have always taken beautiful shots, even in your self-proclaimed less advanced early years.
PS, yes, natural light at a window with no flash is THE BEST!
I want to read whatever else you have to say! I love it all.
Excellent info! I always love your posts because you are such an artist when it comes to food photography.
Thanks for the photography lesson. Great tips. God knows I need as much help as I can get when is come to taking beautiful pictures.
Great information! I’ve only recently started playing with food photography, so I know us newbies are grateful to you and the other bloggers that’ve posted useful tips. Btw, I have that fold-up table too!
So I squealed when I saw this. Your photos are incredible and I can’t wait for Part 2!!
Thanks for all the tips! I always have trouble making my photos of food look good, so I’m sure your tips will be very helpful.
Hey! I recognize that first picture hehehe
Now I get to see the big version!
Thanks for the tips, girl. I agree, natural lighting is the best. That’s why I love breakfast shots because it has this blue hue to it.. I guess the morning sky
Wonderful pictures.
http://www.ohonemorething.wordpress.com
It’s always nice to see some other people’s hints & tips into photography and how they take awesome pictures. I’ve had minimal photography training myself, but I like to think I can take a good picture. Thanks for sharing!
I have always thought you had some of the most wonderful pictures. Thank you so much for sharing!!! I love the singled out cupcake and the lemon pictures the best!!
HAPPY THURSDAY LADY!!
This was great. Nice and straight forward without a bunch of fancy words.
I also like how you showed what you’re working with isn’t a fully decked out or modd-ed studio, but often times just a simple table under a window!
2 questions though:
1) what type of camera do you use?
2) how do you take non-yellow or washed out photos when you don’t have light available (either because of the time of day or lack of windows?)
both are my current problem.
thanks!
Hi there! I use a Canon Digital Rebel T1i, which I love! I also use the f1.8 50mm lens most of the time.
Hm, well for the second question, you could try to edit the photos after you upload them with a program like photoshop.. or if you want to invest in some more equipment, it might help to purchase some photography lights. I don’t use those, so I don’t have much advice on those! I have a friend who made a post about her lights, it’s over here: http://bittersweetblog.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/let-there-be-light/
Oh! You can try to diffuse your flash with a flash diffuser or something like that. You can even make your own: http://www.instructables.com/id/Cigarette-Packet-Flash-Diffuser/
That would probably help the photos be less washed out!
THANK YOU!!!!!!! This is so great. You can tell just by the way the post reads that you enjoyed writing it. This is wonderful, can’t wait for the next one.
Thank you so much for this post, its so informative!
This was really helpful! Thanks for the 101
Thanks so much for your insights. I have been working hard at improving my food photography and this is a great help!