You have ordered a delicious hamburger – but the photos do not do him justice. Why take food from food to squeeze so disappointing for anyone who is not a professional photographer?
Light is the first thing to keep in mind if you want your image to be appetizing, so put the dish or the element near a window so that it becomes as much light as possible.
“The light must shine diagonal side or diagonally from behind, no top or forehead,” explains the culinary blogger Vera Wohlleben.
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The direct sunlight creates too hard shadows, so choose a window against the north, west or east, explains Sebastian Barsch, photography journalist.
“Light early in the morning works well for food photography, because the shadows are still relatively soft and the colors are brilliant and natural,” explains Stina Spiegelberg, photographer and head of television. You can also try the start of the afternoon between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. depending on the season.
In winter, try a soft box, says Spiegelberg. These lamps, which fold in small size when they are necessary, will create a soft light which is distributed evenly on food. Combine the room in advance to avoid mixing artificial light in daylight.
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In a restaurant, however, try to make the atmosphere a functionality, explains Wohlleben. Jazz on the background with a bread basket and wine glasses, for example-and resist the temptation to use a frontal flash, she says.
Instead, plan from how you want the image to look like and choose a place near the window, making sure you avoid being directly under a lamp.
In addition, the ideal perspective for the image depends on the meal. What makes him special, what do you want to highlight? “A pile of soft pancakes is better seen aside,” explains Wohlleben. The pizza, with all its tasty trim, is better from a view of the eyes.
There is a good chance that you do not have professional lighting with you, so do what you have.
Ideally, you will be the image as if it was the view of anyone who is about to eat the meal – which means at an angle of 45 degrees. It works for dishes or flat pastries, explains Spiegelberg. “With a soup or a bowl, it is better to tilt it so that the spectator can see what is going on.”
The main objective is the supply, so avoid cluttering the background, says Persch, advising beginners to use a light and light and light cardboard wall.
The background can and must support the atmosphere, so if you eat dishes from the country, try a rustic wooden backdrop. White suggests well-being. A light background is ideal for a strawberry cake, for example, while a darker can be better suited to something like a cheese pasta dish. If you want, try to experiment with color contrasts.
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“Photos of good foods tell a story,” says Spiegelberg. Consider the ingredients used – or if someone has taken a bite again? A first bite suggests something welcome while a fork also makes it accessible and adds an aesthetic touch.
And if that doesn’t happen as you hoped, you can always use free software like Darktable, Raw Therapee or Adobe of Adobe to touch things. Among other things, color temperature, brightness, contrast and saturation will help improve the photo, explains the food blogger Wohlleben.
You can also try the free Google Snapseed (Android / iOS) application, which offers the possibility of controlling color contrast or blurring certain areas of an image.
