During my 10 years as a Culinary Photographer many of you have asked me for tips to shooting your own food creations. Here is my top 10 list.
1. Make sure your creation is perfectly displayed.
- Use the best ingredients possible. You can't skimp on this part, wilting micro greens can't be improved post production. (The Chefs Garden has an amazing array of beautifully grown greens and vegetables, also try Koppert Cress and Blue Moon)
- Select your tableware carefully. It should be simple and compliment your creation. Remember, your food is the star, not the tableware, unless you are in the business of selling tableware.
- Plan the colors, keep your ingredients small, be creative, but not over stated (small food shoots better than huge displays)
- Once you have put your dish together, take a snap shot with your camera iphone or Smartphone first and analyze it. I mean pick it to pieces. Make a note of what you want to change. Recreate it, repeat until you can't find any more faults. Imagine that the image will be blown up on a full page in a magazine. The tiniest mistakes become huge mistakes once enlarged.
- Be careful how you sauce. I have seen so many chefs create an amazing dish that is so artistic and beautiful only to come and toss the sauce over the top and ruin it because they are in a hurry, and I have to say do it again.
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| This dish was created by Tony Esnault for Alain Ducasse, note his ingredients, simpliciy and saucing. |
- Watch the Masters at work. Thomas Keller spends a lot of time preparing his food for photographers. He is a perfectionist and takes every measure so that you can't misrepresent his work. Look at Cookbooks from the Masters as well. Check out Alinia Restaurant by Grant Achatz.
2. Use natural lighting where possible.
- Flashes, unless in the hands of a seasoned professional, do nothing for food; they create highlights in all the wrong places.
- Its best to use a table near a window with a lot of sunlight or an outdoor table in the shade. If shade is not available, use a reflector or a white sheet to create shade. Colors appear richer in the shade.
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| This dish created by Gabriel Kruether for The Modern at MOMA, NYC, was shot on a table next to the window. |
· Simple makeup mirrors from the pharmacy or department store are a great way to reflect light back onto the food in places that need some extra light or to create specula highlights (simply put - make the food sparkle)
· Another light source I would recomend, if you can't go outside or shoot near a window, is Daylight Balanced Fluorescents (cool lights) You don't need to spend a lot of money on them either. Use them in soft boxes or with umbrellas and they will give you a beautiful daylight effect. Although you will need some space to set them up and to store them.
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| This dish was created by Michael Galata for Circo NYC. There was very little light, so I used Daylight Balanced Fluorescent lights (cool lights) and some mirrors to create this shot. |
3. Create a dummy or practice dish first.
- Shoot your dummy dish in the exact same place and light conditions that you will shoot your Hero dish.
- Shoot as many angles as possible. Close up, above, every angle that you feel looks good. Experiment, have fun. Upload and review on your Computer or ipad See what works best for that creation.
- Now bring out the final dish and shoot it!
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| This Potato Salad was created by Nirmala Narine for her book Edible Diaries. It was taken outside on her deck in the shade as were all of the 24 recipes in the book. |
4. Learn how White Balance works on your camera.
- If you are outdoors or in the shade the auto mode usually works well with today's Digital SLR cameras. Nikon or Canon are great choices and have models in every price range.
- If you're in the kitchen, you need to understand your kitchen lights. Are they fluorescent or tungsten? Change the White Balance setting to suit. Nothing looks worse than yellow plates and green food.
- Getting the White Balance as close as possible when you take the picture makes it easier to tweak later on post production if needed.
6. Learn about Depth of Field
- Aperture Priority explained - The larger the aperture, the blurrier the background will be. The smaller the aperture the sharper the image will be. (this can be confusing at first on your camera settings, as the numbers for aperture stops are opposite to the size of the aperture opening, i.e. the smaller the number i..e f 1.8 the larger the aperture opening is, the higher the number i.e. f 22 the smaller the aperture opening will be. Yes, read that again. Read your cameras manual.
- Overhead shots (pizza or pies) look better with everything in sharp focus. So you need to have a smaller aperture to create that feel. i.e. f 22
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| This dish was created for The Brooklyn Diner, note the exact point of focus. |
7. Shoot close ups with a Macro Lense or Macro Mode.
- Macro lenses help you shoot the food really close, capture texture; this is what makes food look like you want to devour it.
8. Invest in a good tripod to avoid camera shake.
- Don't allow anyone to walk by while your shooting, avoid windy areas if your outside.
- Manfrotto make some great quality tripods in all price ranges.
- Sometimes you have to shoot freehand, the new model cameras have great vibration reduction features, but you'll still need to steady yourself and the camera and you may need to boost the ISO setting, but not so high it becomes grainy and ruins your shot. However if you are shooting in the conditions I have laid out you will not have to worry about that.
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| This dish was created by Ryan Jone for the Mill at 2T in Tariffville in Ct. His seletion of white plate and black table cloth really makes the dish pop. Note the quality of his ingredients. Simple and very attractive. |
9. Practice makes perfect.
- The more you shoot the better your will become. Learn from your mistakes. Make notes.
10.Create a record of your work
- There are some great online sites where you can store your images i.e. Photoshelter or SmugMug, or you could create your own blog and write about your creations! Who better to hear from about your creations than the Chef who created them!! Include your recipes.
