If you’ve been following along with me, you’ve probably noticed the increase in food posts over the past month or so. That’s because I’ve been learning how to make some amazing and delicious foods such as lemon meringue pie and galette des rois on a pastry course run by the fantastic Puff the Bakery. Naturally, that means I’ve been taking more pictures of food, and, well, my skills leave a lot to be desired.
I thought it was about time I see what the internet could teach me about food photography, and decided to scour as much free information as I could from the web. Thankfully, we live in a time of Instagram, where taking pictures of all your food is actively encouraged (often by me), so there’s a whole host of information out there.
The first video by Caitlin Shoemaker was really great as a first step. She talked through how best to light a shot (always natural) and touched on how to draw peoples eye with your composition and colours. Following on from that video, I went with The Bite Shot, a specific channel for food photography. I could spend days watching these videos, but I found the above on composition the most interesting. I hadn’t considered how to weight an image before, i.e. whether to have the interesting part on the right, left, or the middle. This was what stayed with me when I started setting up my shots with some freshly baked focaccia from a Puff the Bakery recipe.
Here are some pictures I had a play around with.
For me, the last one is the most visually interesting, as the contrast in the colours makes the golden crust more look better, and I like that it tells a story: I’ve just cut the focaccia, and I’m going to dip it in the oil and maybe add some rosemary on top. It encourages the audience to imagine themselves doing the same.
I really loved applying this knowledge in real time, and I hope I can put it into practice in the future as the difference is second to none. The pictures make the focaccia look so appetising that I can’t wait to go and have another piece, whereas the previous ones look purely functional. I’m very happy with today’s learnings (and that focaccia!)
New Day, New Thing 