Tips to Take Better Thanksgiving Food Photography

With the Autumn season here, and Thanksgiving right around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about the Holiday Season and a great Thanksgiving holiday feast.

When taking a family photoshoot around a scrumptious Thanksgiving dinner, you can take great photos of your loved ones and close ups of food shots as well. When you are looking for those candid shots of some of the mouthwatering delectables this holiday season, as a food photographer, you will want to make sure that you have a good light source to focus in properly on your subject or object. There are different lighting conditions you may face such as an abundance of ambient or natural light, in which case you will want to increase your shutter speed to allow for less light into your exposure. Conversely, if you are dealing with low light situations, a wide aperture setting including a slow shutter speed, will allow for more light to hit your camera’s sensor. Be aware of possible camera shake and blur when shooting like this. Your DSLR camera, should have stabilization features which help alleviate these concerns, however, we do recommend getting a tripod for the added stability to get amazing phots from different angles.

Now we will explore additional products and Thanksgiving photography tips and tutorials, which will help you take food shots this holiday season and progress as a food photographer.

Thanksgiving Photography

Images and Videos

Getting ready to pick out that delicious pumpkin, take your family members around and snap some wonderful food photos of the pumpkins in the patch surrounded by your family and loved ones. These should get your family ready for that delicious pumpkin pie.

Prior to preparing your Thanksgiving meal, take some photos of the table setting with all the beautiful cutlery, neatly folded napkins, fancy placemats and serving dishes. These should make for wonderful exposures just ready to be shared on social media.

Make sure that your DSLR camera and lens can get a good depth of field view of the table settings. You want to be able to capture the entire scene in your exposure. If you are looking for closer shots of specific Thanksgiving food, try a macro lens for extreme close ups, especially of your gorgeously placed garnish on your food.

Bear in mind when taking Thanksgiving photos, you want to try have the best lighting set up around you which can showcase the amazing food that you have made. Adding artificial lighting, such as an external flash can help you in those scenarios. If your camera is in autofocus mode, it will also make the necessary adjustments to the white balance, ISO and other settings, to ensure a correct exposure based off your photography environment. A reflector is also a great tool to ensure that the correct amount of both natural light and ambient light hit your cameras sensor for a blemish free exposure.

Getting your focal length correct for your shot is imperative. A shorter focal length should give you a wider depth of field while if you are trying to zoom in and take tightly focused in images, you should use a longer focal length to capture your food photos.

You may want to give shooting in the rule of thirds a try. This can allow for your food photography items to appear at the intersections of two of the lines, meaning greater focus on that item. Additionally, when shooting in the rule of thirds, besides for standard shooting, you can use post processing or editing software like Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop for even greater editing options.

In addition, you may want to consider shooting in a RAW format. The RAW format allows for more post processing and editing than a standard JPEG image.

To progress being a blogger in the food photography industry, follow the food photography tips and before you know it, your social media page will increase its subscriber base. Before you know it, you will be well on your way to becoming a professional photographer.

Photography Products

Let’s explore some products that will assist you greatly on your food photography endeavor.

Cameras

It is often said, but cannot be stressed enough, in order to take amazing photos and become a professional food photographer, you must have a top notch DSLR camera & lens. There are a plethora of a great options from different manufacturers to choose from, such as Sony, Canon, Nikon and others. We have often touted the Nikon ZF series and the wonderful features that come packed into those cameras. We also love get cameras for a food blogger like the Sony ZV-EI and the ultra-compact and portable Sony ZV-I.

If you are choosing an interchangeable lens camera, remember that you may need a mounting adapter if your lens uses a mounting system which differs from your DSLR camera.Now that you have purchased the DSLR camera you want to use in your food photography, there are several other items, made perfectly for all of your food shots.

Additional Equipment

You should also have a diffuser as part of your camera equipment. A good diffuser will control the light output from your DSLR camera, thus allowing for softening of the image in and around your subject. This makes for softer ambient light to go with the natural light than a traditional flash.

We previously touched on stabilization of your camera. While the best new cameras have tremendous stabilization including both optical and mechanical stabilization, we have found a tendency in which photographers will often have some blur and shake in their exposures during handheld photography. Therefore, we recommend the Deco Photo 12-Inch Tripod. This tripod has 360-degree flexible legs and feet so you can great food shots from different angles without worrying about blur and shake. This tripod is 12" in height and can get a solid grip on most surfaces, and with that height by placing your camera and the tripod on your table, you can get some great flat lay photos of the delicious food from a downward angle, almost a bird’s eye view. These will show up great on social media and will have your subscribers looking as if the Thanksgiving food was right in front of them, ready to be “gobbled up”.

Final Notes

Part of what makes the holiday season with Thanksgiving and Christmas so special is being able to celebrate and enjoy the memorable occasions where your family is all together. Getting those candid shots of your family members seated around beautifully arranged dinner table, and getting in those conversations and enjoying the holidays with laughter and each other is a perfect way to help capture your food shots and family photos. The set Thanksgiving table with staples like a beautifully cooked turkey, mashed potatoes, delectable pumpkin pie and others will have you taking amazing food photography this holiday season.

Utilize our image and video tutorials and grab a hold of one or more of the amazing products that are perfect for all your food photography needs this Thanksgiving. Don’t wait until Christmas to gift one of these great items as amazing holiday sales are herej and Black Friday is right around the corner.

Happy Thanksgiving!