Food

Learning goal

You will be able to explain why a dish that is steaming in reality looks cold, greasy and unappetizing in a photo, and learn to use food photography's two basic supports: the direction of the light and the freshness of the presentation. You will see how light coming from behind or from the side brings out a dish's texture, shine and steam; you will decide, according to a plate's shape, whether to shoot from overhead, from a half angle or from eye level; you will choose the hero dish that catches the eye first in the frame; you will know that a dish looks fresh for only a few minutes and prepare accordingly; and you will learn to keep the color of the hands entering the frame, and of the person who made the food, natural together with the color of the food. At the close, you will find the commercial track devoted to product and food shoots.

The question

Small meat dumplings made from your grandmother's recipe come to the table: on top of the yogurt, red pepper flakes sizzled in butter are steaming, and the smell has filled the kitchen. You take out your phone and shoot from directly overhead, under the lamp on the ceiling. The frame on the screen is yellowish, flat and dull; the yogurt a gray patch, the butter a greasy shine, the dumplings a heap stuck to each other. The plate that makes your mouth water in reality looks like hospital food in the photo.

You remember the photo of the same dish in a cookbook: the fold of every single dumpling can be made out, the butter glistens, the steam hangs in the air. Why do food photos make you hungry? In this lesson we will talk about the two things that make a plate look appetizing: the direction the light comes from and a fresh presentation of the food.

Context

Food is something that appeals to the eye but is experienced not with the eye but with the mouth. The reason we find a dish appetizing is its smell, its warmth, its texture and its sound; a photo can carry none of these directly. That is why food photography looks for visual cues that let the viewer bring these senses to life in their own mind: a shining sauce, the texture of a crisp crust, steam hanging in the air.

Most of these cues depend on light; some on time. Food doesn't wait like a mountain or a tower; from the moment it is put on the plate it cools, sinks and loses its shine. Here is the basic approach of the genre that is perhaps the most common on phones but the least appetizing; it also reaches out to a track for those who want to make product and food shoots their profession.

Simple explanation

How does light bring food to life?

A lamp on the ceiling or the camera's flash strikes the food directly from the front or from above. This light hides the shadows under the food and flattens the surfaces: the texture disappears, and the shiny areas turn into greasy patches. Back-side light, on the other hand, is light that comes to the food from behind and slightly from the side, for example from a window behind the plate. This light forms small shadows in the fold of every dumpling, draws bright lines on the surface of sauces and fat, and lights from within the steam of a soup and the color of a drink in a glass.

Window light is one of the easiest and most effective sources for food. Moving the table beside the window and placing the plate so that it is lit from behind or from the side relative to the light often does the job of a studio. If the shadows on the side opposite the light get too dark, a white card held in front of or beside the plate softens the shadows by reflecting the light back. For the steam to show, back light and a dark background work well together.

How are the angle and the hero dish chosen?

An overhead shot is shooting with the camera directly above the plate, at right angles to the ground. For flat, wide dishes like a pizza, a plate of starters, a breakfast spread or a soup bowl, an overhead shot shows shapes and colors like a pattern. For dishes with height, like a burger, a layered cake or a tall glass, on the other hand, an angle close to eye level shows the layers. For many plates, a half angle, that is, looking down from about thirty to fifty degrees, is the view closest to the eye of someone sitting at the table. The food's shape usually decides the angle.

The hero dish is the plate that catches the eye first in the frame, the real subject of the photo. If there are many plates on the table, instead of showing them all equally, choosing one and giving it the best light and the sharpest focus, and leaving the others in a soft background or at the edge of the frame, tells the viewer where to look. A napkin, a fork, a piece of bread or a hand entering the frame completes the hero dish's story, but shouldn't compete with it.

Why do freshness and hands matter?

Plating is the way the food is placed on the plate and prepared for the frame. A dish often looks its freshest for only a few minutes: the steam disappears, greens wilt, sauces form a skin, foam collapses. That is why you need to prepare the light, the angle and the settings before the food arrives, with an empty plate or a glass, and work fast when the food arrives. If you are shooting in a restaurant, not using flash and not disturbing other tables is part of this speed too.

A hand entering the frame adds life and scale to a dish: a hand sprinkling pepper flakes, pouring tea or rolling out dough. But the color of the light affects the hand too. A yellow lamp on the ceiling pulls both the food and the skin toward orange; a white plate can also shift the metering toward brightness and show the hand darker than it is. Setting the white balance for the white of the plate and building the exposure for the middle tones of the food and the hand keep the own color of every skin, dark or light, and of the food together.

Visual evidence

The next week you make the dumplings again. This time you prepare the shoot before the food: you move the table in front of the kitchen window and test the light with an empty plate; the window is behind the plate and slightly to its left. You put a white card on the right side to soften the shadows, and set the white balance for the white of the empty plate. When the dumplings arrive, you move the camera to a half angle, about forty degrees up, and build a frame where the dumplings are the hero; behind them, in a soft blur, a glass of salted yogurt drink and a basket of bread.

The back-side light forms small shadows in the fold of every dumpling, the yogurt is white and creamy, the butter catches the light and shines with a red glint, and a thin wisp of steam rises in front of the dark background. Your mother, light-skinned, traces of dough on her fingers, sprinkles a last pinch of pepper flakes over the plate; the pinkish color of her hand and the food's warm tones stand naturally in the same frame. Within a few minutes of the food reaching the table you finish the shoot and eat the dumplings while they are hot.

Common mistakes

Summary

Food photography looks for visual cues that let the viewer bring smell, warmth and texture to life in their mind, and most of these cues come from light: light coming from behind or from the side brings out texture, shine and steam, while flat light from above erases them all. The food's shape decides the angle, a hero dish tells the viewer where to look, and because food looks fresh for only a few minutes, the preparation is done before it arrives. To keep the color of a hand entering the frame and of the food together, setting the white balance for the white of the plate and building the exposure for the middle tones works on every skin.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will photograph a dish prepared at home in two different lights and see the difference with your own eye.

1. Photograph a plate first under the ceiling lamp, from directly overhead.
2. Move the same plate in front of a window; let the light come from behind the plate and slightly from the side, and hold a white card on the shadow side.
3. Photograph the same dish from overhead, from a half angle and from eye level; choose the angle that suits its shape best.
4. Add the hand of someone preparing the food to the frame; set the white balance for the white of the plate and check the color of the hand.

Check yourself

• In the frame in window light, are the food's texture and shine more distinct than under the lamp?
• Is the angle you chose the one that shows the food's shape best?
• Does the color of the hand entering the frame stand naturally together with the color of the food?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. Which light best brings out a dish's texture, shine and steam?

• A) A lamp striking straight down from the ceiling
• B) The camera's flash
• C) Window light coming from behind and slightly from the side
• D) Flat light coming straight from the front

2. For a layered cake or a burger, which angle shows the layers best?

• A) An angle close to eye level
• B) A shot from directly overhead
• C) From under the table
• D) The angle makes no difference

3. Why do you need to prepare the light and angle in food photography before the food arrives?

• A) Food looks better when it is cold
• B) The file size shrinks
• C) The flash works better
• D) Food looks fresh for only a few minutes; the steam disappears, greens wilt

4. Under a yellow ceiling lamp, both the food and the hand entering the frame lean toward orange. What helps most?

• A) Building the exposure only for the white plate
• B) Setting the white balance for the white of the plate and building the exposure for the middle tones of the food and the hand
• C) Pushing the plate to the edge of the frame
• D) Taking the hand out of the frame

Answers

1. C — Back-side light forms small shadows and bright lines, and lights up the steam.
2. A — With dishes that have height, eye level shows the layers.
3. D — Freshness is short-lived; if the preparation is done in advance, the food is photographed at its freshest.
4. B — The white becomes a neutral reference; exposure for the middle tones keeps both the food and the skin right.

Summary card

• Flat light from above erases texture; back-side light brings food to life.
• Window + white card = a home studio.
• The food's shape decides the angle: wide from overhead, tall from eye level, most plates from a half angle.
• Choose a hero dish.
• Prepare in advance; white balance for the plate, exposure for the middle tones.

Bridge to the next lesson

If you want to photograph food and products at a professional level, Track R9 · Product and Food (Commercial) moves through ten lessons, from the white background to the tabletop studio, from shiny products to food styling, from angles to restaurant shoots and catalog delivery. In the reading order, on the other hand, we get up from the table and look at ordinary objects forgotten on it. When the dumplings are finished, an apple, a glass and a crumpled napkin are left on the table; the light from the window quietly lights them. Can an apple on a table be art? The next lesson talks about still life, that is, building a story from ordinary objects with light, arrangement and patience.