It’s 2017, so it’s safe to say your pockets are filled with smartphone.
It’s also a fair bet that when you eat out, you’re taking a photo of your food before eating it. It’s become as normal as washing your hands before a meal (which you’re all still doing, right? RIGHT? WITH SOAP?). If you’re going to do it, do it properly – no more of these badly lit, blurry-edged, shadow-sullied dishes. Your spaghetti deserves better. Treat it right.
Sydney-based food and travel photographer Nikki To is a pro at this stuff, and counts top Sydney restaurants Quay, ACME, Bar Brosé, Cho Cho San and b as among her clients. What’s her number-one tip? Lighting. “Try to avoid that warm tungsten lighting you often find in restaurants,” she says. “If you can, shoot near a window or outside in natural light. I always bring a diffuser with me (or even just a piece of white cardboard) to help even out the sunlight if it’s too strong.”
Even if your smoothie bowl looks a million bucks on its own, composition is important, according to To. “Get graphic,” she says. “Think about composition. Look for shapes with plates, different angles and points of view. Also, don’t be afraid of negative space – sometimes less is more.”
Melbourne-based food photographer Kristoffer Paulsen is all about dat sharpness. “Blurry photos are generally crap,” he says.
Make sure it’s sharp. If you’re going with that funky new iPhone 7+ Portrait Mode, then make sure at least the protein is sharp. Razor sharp. So sharp you could hurt yourself on it. So often, the only edit I’ll do to an image is turn up the contrast a few clicks, turn down the saturation a little and up the sharpness a little. Simple is good.
Food, travel and lifestyle photographer Alana Dimou is more about authenticity than the perfect set-up. “Don’t shoot for Instagram likes,” she says. “To me there’s no such thing as a bad photo, only a bad attitude behind the photo. Whatever dish you want to share should be meaningful in some way. Just be you and take photos of what you’re doing, what you’re eating and what you like without overthinking it. That’s #relatable.”
We’re here to learn how to make shit look good though, so when in doubt, flat lay. “There’s a reason flat laying has become hugely popular,” says Dimou. “It’s simply good composition; you can see everything on the plate, or in the bowl. So long as you’re not becoming a nuisance in a restaurant, go high, but don’t spend too long taking the photo. Just get the whole plate in, push a coffee cup or wine glass to the side to catch the edge for some context and flat lay the fucker like your Personal Brand depends on it.”
Oh, and at the end of the day, “eat it!” says To. “Food wastage should never come as a cost of a good photo.”
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