Food Photography - Ballad of A Foodie

I took these shots in the flickr collection noted below (at bottom of this post) in "Ballad of a Foodie"- over a span of 2 years. There is allot of emotional attachment to them. It is about food. It isn't about people who were captured - their poses frozen in time. No, it is about the way I captured these images. I was a newly amateur photographer who was obsessed at getting enough pictures to fill my memory card at the end of the night. I have heard people say "you can't take decent pictures with a digital point and shoot, or anything under 8mp", that opinion is ridiculous.

When I first started taking pictures, I had this little point and shoot digital camera, it had only 3 mp. I got to know the limits of my camera by experimenting heavily in different lighting, conditions etc. I found what worked and I pushed those limits of my little camera, with sometimes amazing results. Then I moved on to a camera with more control, larger lens capacity and full manual functions, a digital with 5 mp. Not all my shots are great, but allot of the subject matter makes them unique. 

I like the irregularities in photographs --- liken it to the cracks and pops you hear when you play a vinyl record. Taking pictures of food is an even harder media to work with. If you are looking for ways to better your food photographs, I suggest you start with the basics --- take lots of pictures of non-food related objects. 

Experiment - go outside, take pictures in the sunshine, pictures of objects with the sun behind them. Take photographs in the rain (not literally - stand under an overpass or porch. Get used to shadows and capturing the right color spectrum. If you have a digital, try using the "live view" LCD , this will help you visually see the way the lens reacts to different angle and light changes. Get accustomed to what situation calls for flash - flash can either make or break a picture. 

Try taking the same picture from different angles and lengths using the flash at different points, then compare what works best. When you have truly gotten to know your camera, then try taking pictures of food. You will now have a reference point to go back to and say - "right, my camera can capture this better from that angle". Then slowly you can introduce props . I have found it is better to take a "on the fly" approach when capturing food production, no props, no special lighting. But then again I like action shots. In the future I will be taking on food photography again -- and this time it will be more "posed" shots.

ballad of a foodie

This is my foodie collection on flickr. Mouse over to see Set title. Click on any of the links to View that Set on flickr.