Mini Project: Food- What makes good food photography

From what I have learnt through research, practice and group discussions is that there are many different factors to taking good photographs of food, here are a few:

Lighting

One of the main factors that kept coming up is lighting, in the photos I have been looking at the lighting has come from the side or from behind the food instead of coming from directly behind the camera.

I have noticed that a lot of websites that give tips on this type of photography say to use natural lighting like this website: http://content.photojojo.com/tips/food-photography-tips/ that says:

“Use natural light whenever you can. The ideal set-up is a next to a large window, with a white curtain to diffuse the light.

If you can’t get natural light, don’t be tempted to use your flash. Flash photography is too harsh for food’s delicate sensibilities. It flattens everything out and makes for unappealing shiny spots.”

Composition/Positioning

I think the next important factor is the positioning of the food and which objects (if any)are included in the photo as well as where the photographer positions his/her camera because this can either make the food look delicious, which is what most people want when advertising, or disgusting.

I figured this out after taking some photos of my own and looking at other people’s work.

Background & Foreground

The background and foreground of the image is just as important as the food you’re photographing, I’ve found a lot of food photos that use plain coloured backgrounds, usually white because this makes the image brighter giving off a fresh feel, other photographers have used darker backgrounds like wooden tables with plates and bowls that match a colour scheme, it all depends on the food you’re photographing.

Depth of field

In food photography it’s best to use a large aperture (shallow depth of field) because this draws the viewer into seeing the details that you want them to see, having the focus in the right place is key to getting across the message that the photographer wants to portray.

Colour

Colours are very important in food photography they contribute a lot to an image working or not, with food I find that turning up the saturation in post production or when shooting makes the food look tastier.

Some other tips I’ve picked up

Be fast but think about what you’re doing, take loads of photos, use different zoom lengths, all of this stuff could make food photos a lot more interesting.

Here is a list of sites that I used to find my tips:

http://content.photojojo.com/tips/food-photography-tips/

http://www.digital-photography-school.com/food-photography-an-introduction

http://www.digital-photography-school.com/food-photography-techniques-and-tips

Mini Project 2- Food Research

Photo © Tim Hill, www.timhill.co.uk

I like this photo because of the rich colours and the composition making the food look really sophisticated.

Photo © Simon Smith, www.simonsmithfoodphotography.co.uk

I have chosen this photo because of the freezing of motion with the syrup (or whatever that is) dribbling down the sides it’s almost like a TV advert.

From: http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/marketman-flunks-food-styling-

I have chosen this image because the plate isn’t overloaded so you can see exactly what is there. I also like the presence of the knife and fork giving this the family meal feel.

Image © Michael Land

I have chosen this photo because it looks like an ordinary meal that has had a lemon placed on top and some sort of dip positioned to the side, I think the photographer knows exactly what to add and that’s basically why I like it.

© David Loftus (from the Jamie Oliver website)

I like the angle that the photographer has chosen for taking this image, the three different bowls are positioned nicely and all of the space is filled without taking the attention away from the food.

© Jean Cazals

I like the colours, the green splits up the image nicely and that the photographer has chosen to take a close up shot.

The Conclusion

These photos have really helped me in thinking of more ideas and opening me up to new possibilities in how I can approach taking photos of food. I would usually use a plain white background but after seeing the first image I might reconsider this. I like the idea of food close ups but I think this will only work if the colour schemes are right.

 

All Images in the post are screenshots from different websites the copyright owners are written on each screenshot.

Studio work 23/9/2010

 

 

So here are my favourite four images taken in the studio last Thursday, it's the first time I have ever used that sort of equipment so I'm happy with the results.

We had the studio lighting on constant to experiment with what sort of shadows and effects we could achieve by moving the lights into different positions.

As this was the first time I have ever been in a studio environment I noticed a couple of things that I might need to work on later:

The shutter speed on my camera was low so the slightest movement was captured spoiling many of my photos, I tried to fix this by increasing the ISO on my camera but it was still quite slow.

My second problem was focusing on what I was taking a photo of but I think after more practise in the studio this should improve.  

All images © Michael Addison

Mini Project One: Chaos- Finished Chaos Flyer

So here is my finished flyer, it was created in Adobe Photoshop CS2, I have included all details that I feel are necessary.

I have deliberately changed the orientation of the text to add to the chaos effect, personally I like the white square I have created but when speaking to other members of the class they said they would've preferred it without.

This was the flyer that I handed in for the deadline but since then I have created a few more so check back here again soon to see them.

Mini Project One: Chaos- Research

  Screaming down the phone by Charlotte Burtenshaw.

I have chosen this photo because I like the details she managed to capture, my facial expression coupled with the red colours in my face indicating stress or anger resulting in a chaotic image.

This photo is clearly a staged situation created for the camera this suggests to me that to take a chaotic image doesn’t mean that you actually have to be in a chaotic situation. Personally I prefer to take the approach of ‘street style’ photography to capture an un-staged chaotic moment or scene.

Smooth Vibrations

From the website: http://myephemerality.com/ (I can’t find the photographer’s name.)

I have chosen this photo because of the blurred person crowded by still people. It can be interpreted that the blurred person is experiencing a moment of chaos because of the situation he or she is currently in. As the image is in black and white and seems to be a tiny bit under-exposed in areas this adds to the chaotic effect. This photo has shown me that the use of movement and slight under-exposure in an image, when in the right places, can also be seen as chaos.

Chaos by design. By D. James (Screenshot from Flickr, click the image to be taken to the original.)

I have chosen this image because it is the first photo that doesn’t include a person and the chaos is of a different type.

This type of Chaos is directed at the audience viewing this image, a chaos for the viewer to look at because there’s no focal point making it very hard to figure out where to look first. I find this type of chaos a lot more interesting and a little harder to figure out at first but it is very clever!

The Conclusion

By looking at these three images I have realised that there are a lot more ways that I can approach taking a chaotic photo but as I only have one day to complete this project I am only going to try out a few, although I might come back in the future to explore this theme further.

"Fresh & Wild" Entry 4- Favourite Shots

I'd like to start by saying that I know it says "upload your 5 favourite shots" in the brief but I had to include the photo "Looking Up" as a sixth because I think it makes a nice change from the others and I couldn't decide on which photo to remove to have just the five.

Please see my chosen shots below, my reasons for choosing each is written underneath the image.

The Feed

I have included this shot because of the moment captured and the tight crop that makes this moment a little more personal.

Landing Magpie

I have included this photo because I like the detail in the wings, this photo was featured on the BBC nature website in July as well as having the most views and comments on my Flickr site.

 

Grasshopper

I like the composition and colours in this shot.

 

Collecting It's Nectar Points

I have chosen this shot because of the crop, colours and the way that all motion has frozen as the result of a fast shutter speed.

 

Looking Up

I like the way the brightness changes as you look in to the background of the shot and the angle that I decided to take the photo from.

Little Frog

I like the composition and focus in this shot also the detail is very good as this frog was less than 1.5cm in height in real life.

Image Purposes

I am going to include some of these images into a photography exhibition that I have arranged for the end of this year, some of them have also been entered into a photography competition.

These photos could be the start of a nature photography portfolio, included in magazines, used on websites or even sold as prints, it all depends on the viewer's taste.

"Fresh & Wild" More photos from the summer

The Feed

 

023

 

001

Resting

 

The Bee

 

In Flight

Little Frog

Here are some more photos that I've taken over the holiday. They were not taken in any planned shoots mainly because if you keep looking you might miss what's right in front of your eyes, after all nature is all around us and doesn't perform for the camera.

Since my last post I have been taking my camera everywhere to prevent missing anything that might happen.

I've been pretty much using the same settings and just working on everything that I have said in previous posts.

I have experimented with slower shutter speeds to capture an animal's movement but the only successful example of this is the photo "In Flight" with a small amount of movement on the wings, capturing movement in a photo is my weak point in photography so I need to practice with this more.

I have tried to keep editing to a minimum but I do find the basic tools like crop, brightness and contrast very useful for producing better images.