Tag Archives: muffin
Food Photography Tips
From one beginner to another…??
While making Zucchini Muffins I decided to work on my food photography skills. Here are a few tips and tricks I tried.
The photos show way more eggs and fruit than I would need to make this recipe. I added more food for visual appeal; to capture repeating patterns and play with shadows.
- Take way too many pictures
The pictures that appear on my blog are a small fraction of the number I took. I actually took over 350 pictures that day! I mostly took pictures of the same things but from different angles and under different lighting.
- Play with camera settings
Throughout the day I tried different settings (close-up, landscape, portrait, etc.) and therefore got better shots depending on the situation. It is hard to really tell if the photo is what you like until it is loaded onto the computer. Therefore it is better to experiment with different settings and delete unwanted pictures later.
- Play with lighting
Half of the pictures I took inside my kitchen. There I played with the blinds; letting in different amounts of light depending on the details in the food I was trying to capture. I also set up another table outside! There I had complete natural light. Most of the food photos from my blog are taken outside.
- DO NOT USE A FLASH
You will lose the details in the food! I would have lost the texture of the blueberries and the grains in the zucchini. Go back to point 4 for lighting ideas.
- Give yourself lots of time
It took me over 3 hours to make muffins! I wanted to capture each part of the process and then decide later if I was going to use the shot or not. As I mentioned earlier, I took some photos inside, but the best ones were taken outside. It took a lot of time to bring out certain foods, snap the photos, and then bring them back in the house. However, in the end I was glad I had the outdoor set-up.
I started taking photographs of food last summer. My guide and inspiration was this blog post from Averie Cooks: http://www.averiecooks.com/2011/08/food-light-photography-tips-from-diane-cu.html
For Zucchini Muffin recipe click here— don’t worry, it will not take 3 hours to make!