I'm a constant reader of this forum but don't chime in very often, so I probably should qualify myself for this post. I'm primarily a
professional photographer, and food is one of my areas of practice. I began doing editorial food photography (for magazines, etc.) which led into doing the same for restaurants and commercial clients. In addition to photography, I have a second business building websites for bed and breakfasts. Just today, I put a
blog post up about a food photo I made for a recent website client; the
Hanford House Inn in Sutter Creek.
All that being said, here's some info for anyone who wants to make some improvements to their food photography.
First of all, nearly every photo in this thread has one major flaw: they look too flat. The culprit...on camera flash. Using a basic point and shoot or even a DSLR with the flash on top, the light is all coming from about the same direction as the camera. This fills in all the nooks and crannies and completely eliminates the texture of the food making it look flat and boring. The primary goal of food photography is to make the food look appetizing. Hopefully the following tips will help your next photography project.
Rule 1: Get your light off the camera. If you don't have studio lights, consider using other light sources like windows, but know that controlling the light can be more difficult with windows. Light your food from the back to show texture, fill light where needed from the front using reflectors. As a point of reference, the photo on the blog post is done with 4 studio strobes and 3 reflectors in the Hanford House dining room. Getting everything just right took more than 60 exposures before we put the food on the table.
Rule 2: Use real food. You're not making an ad for Chili's, you're showing your actual product. That being said, get everything set first, then place fresh food in the set.
Rule 3: Don't try to make food photos during breakfast. Focus on your work, then set aside some time in the afternoon for food photography. It's time consuming and done right, it will require your constant attention and plenty of time.
Rule 4: Get low and get close. Overhead shots are boring and unappetizing. Low angle shots show the food much better.
Rule 5: Learn how to post process your photos in Photoshop. Make the colors pop, sharpen as necessary and crop creatively to make the images interesting.
Rule 6: Placement is everything! For some shoots I hire a food stylist who specializes in creating the set. All I have to do is light it and shoot it.
Sometimes food photography can be very frustrating because it doesn't look the way you want it to. Don't worry, like someone else said above, it's an art people go to school for. You can either live with your results or hire a professional. Hopefully the things listed above will help improve your pix just a bit.
Bill Foster.