How Can I Photograph Food at Home?

Food photography is almost a daily activity for many people. But if you’re looking to get serious about your food photos, there's some basic knowledge and practice standing between you and some seriously mouthwatering food photos. Read on to find the best ways to photograph food!

Plating: How You Arrange Your Food
One of the best ways to photograph food with your Nikon D850 from Beachcamera.com is to concentrate on the plating. Presentation is arguably more important when it comes to photographing food. With nothing but an image for the user to go by, the plating is the first step to creating the idea that the food being photographed is just as juicy and mouthwatering as it appears to be.

• Start in the middle: It’s best to start in the middle and work your way out from there in order to ensure symmetry in the plating of your food.
• Choose the right surface: Wooden cutting boards and picnic tables can give a more rustic feel and look great for presenting more homey foods like burgers and fries. Classic white plates can give colorful foods a more vibrant pop. You’ll want to choose plates that best align with the food’s aesthetic and are able to bring out the strengths of the food’s visual appeal.
• Think like an artist: Professional chefs use tools like spoons, squeeze bottles, tweezers and even paint brushes to meticulously decorate their plates in a decorative and precise way, like a painter designing a canvas. Don’t be afraid to use sauces and patterns to give your plate an artistic edge.

Food Photography Lighting
Take photos under natural light. Don’t use overhead lights or lamps or your built-in flash. Ever! The best way to photograph food with the Nikon Coolpix is to move around to find the best light source. Don’t feel confined to taking photos in your kitchen. Perhaps the light is best in your bedroom in the morning, and in your living room in the afternoon. Color is extremely important in food photography as you want the colors of the food, plates and background elements to appear accurate. When learning how to photograph food, you don’t want your white rice, white plates, or white table cloth to look orange. Color casts from artificial light will ruin the natural beauty of your subject, but daylight provides a much more neutral colored light. The best kind of light for food photography is soft, diffused, natural daylight. When the weather is warm, you could try photographing your food outside.


Composition of Food Photography Angles
When learning how to photograph food, try taking photos from multiple angles. Some plates of food look better from above, like pizza. If you’re taking a picture of a hamburger for example, you might think about cutting it in half and shooting from the side to show the texture and juiciness of the beef. Try moving around the plate and taking food photos at various angles so you can pick your favorite later.

• Depth of field- One of the best ways to photograph food is by experimenting with focused, close-up shots and less focused backgrounds. Playing around with the depth of field of your food photography can help to add emphasis to more textured foods. This effect works especially well with pasta dishes.
• Minimize clutter- If that spoon, napkin or busy background doesn’t add to the photo, it detracts from the photo. Focus on what is most important, but don’t zoom in so close that viewers can’t tell what the food is.
• Embrace the accident- If you're taking a slice from a cake and a few crumbs fall onto the tabletop, have a quick look through the lens of your

  Canon EOS Rebel T7 DSLR Camera. It might be worth leaving them there. A bit of mess adds charm and can make a recipe more approachable to the viewer.

Do you want to learn how to photograph food for business needs? Are you a full time food photography blogger? Or do you just want to share your culinary skills with your close friends on social media? No matter what your intentions, these food photography tips will help you learn the best ways to photograph food.