Food photography

Making food look appetizing



Ever been asked to photograph food? Restaurants that offer foods that might not be as familiar to Americans can be more appetizing as a photo than a list. If you have walked into a restaurant that offers dishes that you can't pronounce you can probably relate. We all like to try something different but what is it? Taking photos of the different entrees for the customer to see is crucial and breaks the barrier that the foreign words create. I was asked by the owner of The Spice Cafe in the Dr. Phillips area of Orlando to photograph some of the dishes he serves in his restaurant. Many of which I have eaten but still do not know the names. The good thing is I can easily point to the picture.
So, how do you take photos of food? In two words, close-up. You want to see the food close up as if you are holding it close enough to take a bite. This is how you make someones mouth water when looking at it.
If you have a macro lens your life is a little easier or put on the close-up filter like I did. The close-up filter on the 70 to 200mm zoom lens. For these photos I used my Novatron portable light kit. I bought this 4 light kit 27 years ago for about $1,100.00. It has payed for itself a couple of hundred times or more. The photos were taken at the restaurant and not my studio. The flashes were set at low power and I shot at f/8 at 1/60th of a second. Although I like the outcome, next time I will shoot some at f/22 to get a greater Depth of Field. I used a lot of Diagonal Composition to make the food more exciting.
One major word of advice when photographing food. Make sure you eat well before you start your session. Yes this sounds like silly advice but but smelling the the food on on empty stomach will cause you to think of only one thing. "When will this end so I can get something to eat?" Sorry to end this article abruptly but I am going to get something to eat.