Food Photography With Cell Phone - Tips and Tricks
Food Photography
Ever Tried Photographing Your Food Before Eating
Camera phones have brought in a new addictive revolution of food photography. You might love it or mock it but everyone will agree to the fact that it is super fun. And it makes perfect sense to grab a quick picture of the food before you dig in. So why not do it well and have some great images to show off?
Shoot It Like You'd Eat It
The one universal rule of photographing food is to make it look fresh. Not all dishes look naturally savory. To ensure that they do, take your cellphone out the moment food is served and snap a quick picture. Capture the waft of steam or the arty garnish, it is not about how the food looks, but what it feels like.
Choose the Perfect Table
Camera phones struggle each time they face low light conditions, something very common in restaurants. Choose a table that is closer to a light source or probably next to a window. Take help from the video flash of a friend's phone, for some unique shots with unconventional lighting.
The First Person's Perspective
Photographers are so busy deciding the best angle to take photographs of the food that they forget the most obvious angle - their own! Viewers can relate a lot more to such images and it makes the picture come alive rather than being just another static frame. Doing this with a bulky camera might be a challenge, but who needs that when you have a handy cellphone!
Include The Ambience
Whether you are in fancy restaurant or a tea stall down the road, the wide lens of your phone gives you the advantage of including a bit of surrounding in the picture. This gives more context to what you are shooting as well as a lot more for you to add the frame. Posh cutlery of 5 star restaurant, the chaos at a fast food stall or the comfort of a cafe, each has its own tale.
Go Back To The Kitchen
The most interesting pictures are made in the kitchen. Making photographs when the chef is still cooking or assembling the dish. It has that extra dash of action to them. The sizzle as you fry something or the action as you put the ingredients together, might just make your image remarkable.
Let The Food Tell How To Photograph
Is there a beautiful texture to your ingredient, or do the shapes make it a strong graphic image? Shoot your food dishes keeping in mind, what suits it the best. Compose your food and your dishes before you hit the shutter. A camera phone gives you a lot more flexibility to play with the angle and frame to make the most of it.
Before you turn it into a full fledged shoot, remember why you came to the restaurant in the first place. To EAT!
