Menus, magazines, recipes book and food websites are packed with delicious-looking images of food. But if you’ve ever tried it yourself, you’ll know that food is not easy to shoot. Many times, high-end food shoots require specialized professionals such as food stylists and chefs, who prepare the food especially to be photographed.
That said, you’ll be pleased to know that it is possible to produce high quality food shots on your own! In this Premium tutorial, we’ll go through shooting a basic food, cereal.
Preparing the Props
To begin, we’ll get all the objects prepped. This includes the cereal, bowl, banana, spoon, milk, and everything else. You’d be amazed at how much you need to think about before you even get your camera out of the bag! We explain the importance of keeping the little details in mind, and show everything that goes into the physical setup of the shoot.
Lighting and Background
A general rule for food photography is that the main light usually needs to behind the subject. For this shoot, I’m taking this principle to the extreme. I’ll be using two lights. The tutorial explains our lighting setup in detail, complete with sample shots that explain how each light affects the image.
Of course we’ll also delve into camera settings, and what you need to consider to pull off the perfect shot.
Adding Action
To add a sense of action to the image, we’ll walk you through the process of capturing a single milk droplet, falling from the spoon. It’s a great way to make the photo more interesting, but a tricky technique to perfect!
Post-Production
Finally, we’ll walk you through post-production, looking at various adjustments to take the image from a mediocre shot to something that really stands out. This includes cropping, toning settings, and an interesting sharpening technique you may not have come across before!