A practical course in photography how to make a good shot of food

First, preparatory work

To find inspiration for a good meal, look at the books and magazines that are related to cooking, and look at the light and angle of the food photos. Whether you're going to use a photo to record a family recipe, or to add a few beautiful fruit pictures to your portfolio, think carefully about what visual elements are needed for the screen and find the necessary props, such as knives and forks, plates and tablecloths. White dishes and fine-grained tablecloths are usually a good backdrop, as their low-key highlights the delicacy of the food.

　　

Once the food has been placed in the air for too long, it loses its visual appeal, so make sure the table is ready before filming. Arrange props, light sources and cameras (including focusing, exposure, and other settings), and use alternate plates or pictures to temporarily fill the food position. As soon as the food is really coming up, take it as quickly as possible, and the family and friends are waiting for the big meal to be especially swift.

　　

Food is most tempting when it's fresh, especially when it's sprinkled with spices, such as Eric Wolfing's salad. He uses the natural side light that comes in through a door to create a feeling of Zen, and then uses the later software to create the effect of the halo, increase the mood of the picture.

Second, the specific picture

Basic ingredients that have not yet been cooked are usually kept in place for a period of time and are ideal for gourmet photography as a primary exercise. As you practice photographing complete eggs with shells, fresh fruits and vegetables, and other stable foods, you can explore slowly and try to shoot in different light and angle.

　　

The angle is always important for photography, especially when it comes to shooting food. You can climb the ladder overhead first, then take another picture at the height of the table. If you are ready to take a more challenging task, try taking an assistant or at least using the camera's own timer. Sauces and other viscous liquids poured into the main course can often be used to make coveted images, especially in the backlight. Similarly, the ice cream that melts and drops on the cone will increase the movement and interest of the picture.

　　

This is the raw material for the salad Eric Wolfing (Eric wolfinger), where the soil from the garden tells the source of the ingredients. He uses a backlight to highlight the color of the food and to use shallow depth to emphasize the details of the flowers and leaves in the foreground.

Iii. Tips and Tricks

1. Focus

Manual focus to guide the viewer's view, highlighting the color and texture of the food. Carefully consider the problem of depth of the scene, choose a clear focus on the screen, so that it has a clear transition from the soft and virtual background. If you want the whole picture to be clear, even if it's clearer than the F/22 under the aperture value, you can try to use the focus overlay. Take multiple photos on different pairs of focus, and then bring them together in later processing.

　　

2. High Dynamic Range imaging

Taking high contrast foods, such as chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, can easily lose the details of the shadows and highlights. Using surround exposure to take multiple photos under different exposure values, later in the image processing software, they are combined to enhance tone and quality.

　　

3. Light

When shooting food, the natural light from the window is the simplest and the best. You can put food dishes in the vicinity of the window, so that the food enveloped in the indirect sunlight. If the light coming through the window is direct, try masking it in front of the window with a thin cloth or drawing the white curtains.

　　

4. White balance

If the final image makes a person have no appetite, then the filming of food is meaningless. Use manual or custom white balance settings to make it more realistic to reproduce the color of your food.

　　

5. Lens

Fixed-focus macro lenses are ideal for shooting foods, such as 100mm or 50mm fixed-focus macro fast lenses. The 100mm lens allows you to shoot at a longer distance between the camera and the food, which is especially useful when climbing the ladder overhead. A quick lens with a maximum aperture value of f/2.8 or greater aperture allows for greater depth of the scene and more flexible shutter speed control.

　　

6, soft light box or soft umbrella

Regardless of the use of external flash, or shadow lamp (continuous flash or strobe), you can use the soft light box, flexible umbrella and other light control equipment to diffuse light.

　　

For friends who want to take pictures of food and want to make it look good, try to get a little more prepared before the next shot, or learn from different angles and learn from mistakes, is a process of learning photography. The above is a tutorial network small series for everyone carefully collected content, hope can be a beginner photography friends benefit Oh.