I love food and hence I love food photos and avidly follow accounts that post beautiful food pics on Instagram, FUJIFILM Influencer Thirapat Ekbundit @paulpayasalad is one of my favourites and his photo’s can keep me scrolling for hours.
Instagram has opened up many avenues for the foodies among us. We can now share information on the best restaurants, capture decadent dishes and even monetise the platform, making fruitful financial returns.
But getting to that stage takes commitment. Foodie influencers invest a great deal of time and care in ensuring they create those wow factor photos that authentically capture mouth-watering dishes that entice eyeballs to their feed.
But how can you nail that shot every time? Here’s my top five tips and own photography examples from FUJIFILM’s recent Social Dining event, demonstrating the many ways to snap your food:
Keep the distance
By distance, this means the physical space between each dish on the table when doing a flat lay. As a rule of thumb, you should never allow for different plates to touch each other – and this can be as simple as using your finger separate between them. This helps prevent your image from looking too “busy” or cluttered.
Creating space also means you can introduce different textures with either the linen or table underneath, or between plates – such as adding florals or herbs. This in turn adds dimension to your flat lay and lifts a generic image to a pro restaurant-level shot.
Use natural lighting
The above image demonstrates how an image can look without any natural light. The multiple artificial lights creates many different colours and shadows.
To avoid this, use outdoor natural lighting that compliments food photography. Doing so will minimise harsh reflections that can make dishes look artificial and commercial. It also makes photography easier to edit.
However, not every meal is eaten in nature. For those times when you’re in a restaurant or in your home, try to place yourself near a window and allow the natural light to hit your subject from the side.
Get hands on
Mix up your flatlays by adding a sense of action to your photos. Pick up a dumpling, pull noodles with some chopsticks or pour sauce onto your food. This works best when shot at a 45-degree angle.
Think outside the plate
Photography is more than just picking the right subject for your shots – your backdrop is just as important. Think about this with food photography. You can get away with a beautiful table surface or some linen, but capturing elements of your surroundings like a colourful drink or table setting will add interest to the shot.
Not all food is created equally
Many restaurants have perfected the art of presentation for diners. If you’re served something that’s less than picture-perfect though, such as when travelling and trying local cuisines, or plating up yourself, zoom in to only show part of it.
This will add an interesting perspective of your food different from the normal flat lay style of photography. Another tip is to incorporate any raw ingredients in your meal as this will add a sense of freshness and authenticity to your shot.
Happy Snapping!
Thanks to Thirapat Ekbundit @paulpayasalad and FujiFIlm for the awesome Food pic tips!
