I recently penned an article for an online group of food and cooking enthusiasts. I had just joined the group and started posting a few photos. A discussion came up about food photos and I asked if members might find some tips of any value. What follows is the article in full ...
Geek Speak:
Turning Your Food Photos Into Home Grown Food Porn
by Clay Riness
Owner, Clay Riness Photography.
OK … full disclosure. I’m a complete geek. I’m a guitar geek; I’m a dog geek: I’m a cooking geek; I’m a photography geek. So, after a brief discussion with group guru Belinda Sauer about whether group members might appreciate some basic tips on food photography, here I am in all my embarrassing geekness. Be gentle with me. My intentions are honorable.
Question: Ever make the most succulent, mouth-watering dish and then snap a picture for posterity only to find that the photo doesn’t look quite as succulent and mouth-watering as the real thing?
“I mean … so, I made this organic lobster-stuffed Peruvian gopher with braised celeriac root balls and mint-anchovy sherbet and it’s killer beautiful and it’s gonna knock my girlfriend’s socks off, but this photo? Grrrr!”
Are you one of the many frustrated by this phenom?
Yeah, sure, and we all know, professional food photography is an art unto itself. It’s probable that our home photos of our beloved dishes aren’t ever going to look quite like the cover of Gourmet Magazine. Thankfully, that’s neither the point, nor what most normal foodies like us are trying to achieve when they snap a picture to share with friends online. And, you know what? There’s absolutely nothing wrong at all with simply snapping and uploading. A lot of folks would rather be cooking, or eating, instead of spending extra time to shoot or polish up some photo! However, if you do want to spend just a little effort planning ahead, it’s pretty easy to improve the photos you make with your trusty point and shoot, or even your camera phone. (Camera phones are really getting to be great these days. Some even feature 8 megapixels!)
As a freelance photographer, a part of my job is that I get to make some images of great food, and most of the time, for better or worse, I usually get to taste what I shoot after it’s all said and done. (Maybe that’s why I’m getting thick in the middle along with the thin on top part.) Of course, when I am doing a shoot for a restaurant or a commercial account, I pull out all the stops … professional cameras and lighting gear, reflector panels, sexy tripods, black clothing, blah, blah, blah. That’s what they’re hiring me to do, after all. Nonetheless, a good many things I do in the actual image making process are things that you can actually do right at home, and they’re not complicated nor overly time consuming. Trust me when I say, I’m just like everyone else. I love to cook and when something comes out of my kitchen that seems amazing to me, I want to make a picture and share it with my friends online!
So, before we really get started, just a quick word about contemporary food photography. If you compare your grandma’s cookbooks to today’s staggering selection of colorful resources, you will notice how trends have changed since the dawn of Barnes & Noble, Amazon “dot com”, sundry resourceful web sites and the beloved Food Network. These days cookbooks are almost as much picture books as recipe books. Sizzle sells. In your grandma’s day, presenting food in photos was a much more formal affair, usually including lavish place settings, and often shot from well (sometimes directly) above the food. Today, food photography is edgier, more colorful, often using less or even no props, and quite frequently shot very close up. Many food photographers hire or work with specialized food stylists who make sure the food is fresh looking, glistening or appearing steaming hot, or ice cold if need be. And boy, do they ever use some clever tricks to make the food look the best it can be! (However, these techniques often render the food inedible. How utterly unacceptable by my waistline standards!) We aren’t going to worry about such specialized detail. We’re just going to look into how we can adapt a few simple techniques, apply them for use with our basic home cameras and make images of our culinary milestones that we can excite others with! And … so it begins … I just pressed my geek button on “high”.
Assess your angles
Angles (of view) and artistic composition are sort of intertwined. (For a quick overview and tips on general composition, feel free to do a Google search on the “rule of thirds” and the “golden mean” and discover what the Net has to offer.) Suffice to say that contemporary food photos are not often shot from above the food. And yet, it’s such a natural instinct … stand above the dish and shoot down on it! This approach can be effective, but unless lit properly this angle tends to make an image that is very flat looking and one dimensional. These days, photographers tend to get down closer to the food’s level. This helps the shot look less like a behind-the-counter Chinese restaurant menu and more like a modern magazine or TV ad … or, something from a colorful cookbook page. It adds more dimension. Try it. Kneel down and shoot it right at lasagna level. Also, if you have noticeable lines in the shot, such as the edges in a square pan, consider shooting the shot with the lines running more diagonally, roughly from lower corner (e.g. lower left) to opposite upper corner (e.g upper right) in the frame instead of squaring the pan up in the frame. You can use lines to lead the eye somewhere in the shot, which can often make for a more interesting image.
Get up close and personal
It can’t be stressed it enough. Fill the frame with your subject. Get on in there. Show us that culinary masterpiece in detail! One problem with many basic cameras … getting too close can mean going out of focus. So, there are two possible solutions. First, back off a few (or more) steps and use the camera’s zoom to fill the frame with your sexy Swedish meatballs, or, see if using the macro setting will get you what you are hoping for. In both cases, you will want to have a strategy for keeping the camera steady. (That’s coming up later.) You can also crop a photo tighter later on in “post processing”. (Also coming up later.)
Nix the flash and bring on the fill
This is a big one. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is less flattering than a convenient built-in, pop up flash mounted directly above the lens of the camera. I know … it’s there for a reason, convenience. And, it can come in handy for some jobs, but that little light is problematic in more than one way. First, by nature it tends to leave the subject looking flat and without depth, sometimes even washed out. Second, it tends to be a very high contrast light source, which means, among other things, it can cast harsh shadows on backgrounds. If you take some time to look at food shots in magazines and on web sites like the Food Network’s you’ll note that one thing almost ALL of these shots have in common is very soft, even and diffused light. You never see shadows. OK … so how can we do that at home?
First off, cancel the auto flash on your camera and begin shooting by natural light. (For now, just set your “color balance” setting to auto.) But, that tip alone won’t take care of all the resources you’ll need. Continue by finding a nice soft light source, like a window through which direct sunshine is NOT shining. (For instance, a north facing picture window.) Set your delicious dish on something very close to, or in that light. Now, all you have to do is fill some light in on the side of the dish NOT facing the window. (I just heard you mumble, “huh?”)
Don’t worry … it’s not so hard. We’re simply trying to even out the light to illuminate (or bathe, if you will) the entire subject, both sides, with soft, diffused light. All you need is something white. Poster board, foamcore board, a chunk of drywall, an old ceiling panel, Styrofoam packing material from the flat screen TV you just bought … even a white T-shirt on a hanger … anything white and (preferably) reflective will do. Face it toward the light source (the window) and move it in close to the food. Keep your eye on the food. You’ll see the dark side light right up from the reflective light you’ve added. Get it as close as you can without getting it in the actual shot. Then, find a way to keep it there. Have a kid hold it. Prop it against a chair. Hang it off the treadmill … whatever. Congratulations, you’ve just learned one of the fundamental tricks of the professional photographer’s arsenal. Fill light … or, reflected fill light, in this case.
“Professional” (circular / fold up) reflectors range from $20 to $50, the latter of which includes white, silver, gold and black surfaces, as well as a main frame which is features thin material that is translucent and can be used as a light “modifier” (in other words, you can pass a light source through it to diffuse and soften it). But, as I said, anything big enough and white will do for starters. Remember, we’re foodies, not geeky photographers. Well … I, ugh …
Another great tip here, for anyone who is willing to be as truly geeky as me, is that you can actually buy daylight balanced light bulbs, and they’re cheap! This has to do with the actual COLOR of the light, or something called its “color temperature”. (For instance … late day sunlight is kind of orange while an overcast mid-day light is somewhat blue, etc.) Simply visit your local Home Depot and look for CFL bulbs that are labeled “daylight” and rated for 5500 to 6500 Kelvins. (Sorry for the technical jargon. Your Home Depot guy or gal will know what you mean.) Screw a bulb or two into a few old portable lamp fixtures and move light in toward the dark side of the food until you see that the subject is filled in adequately. (Don’t make the fill brighter than the main light source.) These bulbs should be a close enough color match to the natural window light that is your main source. If the light from your bulb too harsh, you can “modify” the light by hanging a thin shower curtain liner in front of it to diffuse it. (Now you’re getting really geeky!)
Of course, if you have a couple of lights and a couple of reflectors and a couple of light modifiers, you don’t even need a window! By now, you should have a rough idea of how to experiment with these tools (if you’re of the mind to, that is) and try and make an evenly lit image. My best reminder here is to really watch your subject closely as you move the light around. Learning to see the light changes is how you learn to paint with light. And, by the way, these techniques also work beautifully for portraits. It isn’t just a foodie thing. But then, all of this talk leads us to our next equally important tip, which goes hand in hand …
Steady the camera
When the subject is not moving, as is the case with your most recent food porn masterpiece, it is essential to get a sharp image. In the photography world, a blurry shot of any still subject is widely held as unacceptable. As mentioned earlier, it is possible to get too close to the subject and experience a blurry result, but often in natural light shooting, it’s caused by camera shake or slight movement.
As I stated once in a blog post: “Let’s consider, for instance, a pocket-sized point and shoot, no bigger than a cell phone. Such cameras typically have no optical viewfinder, so you can’t “brace” the camera against your brow and triangulate your arms to stabilize the shot. Instead, such cameras have an LCD screen on the back, which requires that you hold the camera out from your body to frame the shot … (and if you’re old like me your arms are hardly long enough, even with glasses). This is problematic because there you are, floating the camera around in front of you, and worse, when you punch down the shutter, the camera tends to yaw to the right slightly. If you are in lower light (such as natural indoor light) or shooting at a slower shutter speed, more often than not, your image will not be sharp. The nature of how you shot it will introduce camera shake.” Cell phones fall into the same curse.
What’s the solution? Of course, stabilizing the camera is the first order of business. On almost all cameras, even the smallest ones, you will find a universal female thread on the bottom which will fit just about any commercially made tripod, monopod, Gorilla Pod, or pocket-sized table top tripod. For smallish cameras, you don’t need heavy duty gear. Wal-mart offers any of these products (except perhaps the Gorilla Pod) including a Targus telescopic monopod for fifteen bucks that is instantly adjustable for height and virtually invaluable for such jobs. Think of it as a telescopic walking stick with a male thread for your camera. Lightweight and versatile, you’ll see an instant improvement with your natural light photos once you start using one. Just mount your point and shoot, set the foot on the floor, adjust the height to your desired level, hold it still or brace it, focus and recompose if desired, and squeeze gently. (That’s our next tip.)
Lacking any kind of geeky gear to help you steady the camera, be resourceful. Place your elbows on the counter, bring in a chair to lean against, or lean against a wall and tuck your elbows in. Do whatever you can think of to get the camera as still as possible. I guarantee … just about anything is better than holding the camera out from your body and squeezing the button.
By the way, check and see if your camera has “image stabilization” and “motion detection”. Try turning them both on and see if that makes a difference.
Bead and squeeze
I have a little ritual that helps me during seer season. When I was young I used to get too excited, shoulder the rifle while failing to pay attention to the sights, and shoot! I missed a lot of deer by not taking my time. One year I made myself a promise that as soon as I saw a deer I would start whispering to myself, “bead and squeeze … bead and squeeze…”, a reminder to align the sights, exhale and then pull the trigger gently so my shot would have a chance to fly true to the target. I started enjoying venison that year, and to this day, I still subscribe to the ritual.
So, aside from the quaint and possibly annoying little personal story, can you see where I’m going with this? Yep, you’ll increase your odds of a sharp image by slowly, gently pressing the shutter button. And, if you’re in really low light, you can even go as far as mounting the camera on a static source such as a tripod or table top tripod (a.k.a. a “pocket pod”) and use the self-timer setting on the camera. If the camera is sitting completely still … and the fresh baba ganoush is sitting still … and you set the camera for hands off picture taking, I don’t care how slow the shutter speed and low the light is, your shot will be sharp!
Cell phones do not have a female thread for a pod, so again, you’ll have to be resourceful in devising methods to get the device to sit nice and still. Good doggie.
Vary the exposure
Photographers have a fancy term for taking different exposures of the same shot. It’s called “bracketing”. The idea is that even though the camera assumes settings are optimal for the right exposure, to be safe, you take a couple of underexposed shots and a couple of overexposed shots, too. Somewhere in there, you should have the right exposure. Your camera (and possibly even your cell phone) will offer something called “exposure compensation” or “exposure control”. Check your user guide. Usually it’s super easy to use. Press the little button, up comes a plus/minus diagram or interface, and you simply use your command dial to adjust the exposure by a click at a time (usually a click being 1/3 of a stop … for those of us snoots who like to throw geek terms around.) On most cameras you’ll actually see the LCD screen get lighter or darker as you adjust.
And hey, it’s digital! You have instant visual feedback and no wasted expense for film and prints. Bracket away and keep the best shot!
Post edit
And finally, this is where we get geekiest of all. I promise you, every single food photo you see in a magazine, cookbook or food related web site is post processed and enhanced to (in theory) be the best it can be. I may spend as much as two hours editing on a single professional shot for a commercial client. Of course, I’m not suggesting that you commit to that at all. What I am saying is … if you want to optimize your images, you’ll need to run them through some sort of image editing program. It’s part of the digital equation in today’s world. You used to have to either process your photos in a darkroom using chemicals, film and light sensitive paper (oh, the nostalgic smell of it all), or like most people, you sent your film off to have it processed into developed film and prints. In the digital age, your darkroom is a computer program.
Take heart. Before you hyperventilate into a cold panic thinking you’ll need to master Adobe Photoshop, let me set your mind at ease a bit. You don’t have to know much to see an improvement in your images. There are plenty of little (and even free) utilities that include image editing tools, and most of them offer simple options like “auto correct”. You can simply click that option and if you don’t like the results, click “undo”. Using programs like this you can crop your photos tighter, reduce their size for faster uploading, sharpen edges slightly, and adjust brightness and contrast, and more.
If you happen to own Microsoft Office, as many do, there’s a wonderful little program called Microsoft Office Picture Manager included. (You can configure your system to use this program or any other image editor as the default to open your image files.) It’s a very simple and very useful program.
If you want to take a look at a more powerful image editor, try Photoscape, which is a free program, and probably best (and most safely) downloaded from cnet.com. You can find this download here:
You’ll find plenty of Youtube videos about using Photoscape, too.
An even MORE powerful (and free) editing program, for those who want to get really geeky, is an open end user program called GIMP. It’s super powerful, and with that comes a little more confusion. There’s a much steeper learning curve with GIMP. It may be steep enough for some to say, “Meh, that’s really more than I want … or need.” However, it’s great, and it is free. You can download it here:
Adobe Photoshop Elements versions 9 (and now 10) are full featured, consumer targeted programs which are just amazing, even though they are scaled down from the bigger, professional versions of Photoshop. Elements costs under a hundred bucks. To geeks like me, that’s a true bargain.
Whichever program you might decide to learn and use, editing time on that image of your average pride-and-joy-fresh-off-the-grill masterpiece should take no more than a minute or two. Open it up, crop to taste, auto correct, sharpen (often using something called “unsharp mask”), resize for web, and SAVE AS. (Oh yes, remember to always do a SAVE AS and create a new version. As a general rule, photographers always work on copies of their files, so that any editing is non-destructive of the original.) And finally … upload!
So, my friends, there it is. This geek has spoken, and it’s the geek’s hope that you’ll find these tips useful and hopefully, even fun. You never know, you may end up as geeky as me, on a quest to try and make your food images as sexy as your culinary triumphs. Good luck, fellow foodies!
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