18 food photography tips for the holidays

With the holiday season upon us, many will undoubtedly be snapping images of their festive kitchen creations. If you’ve been disappointed that your images haven’t been quite as delicious as the dishes themselves, then read on for our 18 expert food photography tips for the holidays!

01 Manual mode
When photographing food, step out of your Av and AF comfort zones and switch to Manual exposure and manual focusing. You can spend hours getting an image just right – so there’s plenty of time to review shots, check the histogram, and tweak the exposure. And as a shallow depth of field is often used, it’s better that you, rather than the camera, set focus exactly where you want

02 Shoot raw
Food photography is all about getting the very best from a shot, so try switching from JPEG to Raw for utmost flexibility and maximum quality. Raw records all the data from the sensor, capturing significantly greater levels of brightness, plus you don’t have to worry about white balance until processing the shots

03 Shoot tethered
Try shooting food with the camera tethered to your computer – it’s like having a super-detailed Live View screen and means that you can not only get a really good idea of how sharp different areas of your image are, but it’s invaluable if you’re shooting at an awkward angle, such as top-down.

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04 Prop it up
Look around the back of a sumptuous spread of lovely grub and you’ll see all sorts of things holding food in place. Bits of Blu-Tack, scrunched up paper, and cocktail sticks can be used to position food for the camera – it doesn’t matter if it’s a complete hotchpotch from behind, it’s how good it looks from the front that matters.

SEE MORE: Food photography tips: 10 ingredients for delicious images

05 Shoot from overhead
An overhead shot can work just as well with a single item, but it’s important to include plenty of other interest. We dressed our Stilton shot up with these amazing artisan breads, and the accompanying dollop of pickle was chosen for its chunky texture. We shot next to a window, carefully bouncing light back in with reflectors and mirrors.

Shooting from above enables you to clearly see all the elements that make up your dish and its environment. As you’re shooting flat-on, stopping your aperture down to between f/5.6 and f/8 will ensure that everything is equally sharp.

06 Textures and colour
Rough wooden surfaces, marble worktops, battered baking trays and patterned plates really help to add visual interest to a shot, and are arguably just as important as the food itself.

Also look for complementary colours; the red of the tablecloth and rim of the plate contrasts with the green table and skin of the fig above, for example. It’s all about creating harmony to achieve a balanced shot.

07 Three-quarters view
This is a fun angle that gives the sort of viewpoint you’d have when sat at the dining table, about to tuck in. A shallow depth of field shows off the ‘hero’ food, while blurring the props to produce a pleasing image.

08 Straight on
Try getting down really low to shoot taller dishes, such as a stack of pancakes or a burger, or shoot further back for an environmental portrait that includes the cook.

SEE MORE: Camera Angles: 5 ways to add impact with unusual perspectives

09 Au naturel 
Whenever possible, shoot with natural light, ideally from a north- or northwest-facing window.

10 Light direction
Shoot with the light source behind or to one side of the subject – never from the front. We advise that your light source is within a 180-degree semicircle centred behind your subject, which will give you much more interesting light and shadow in your shot.

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11 Be a hero
The main ‘hero’ dish should be prominent in the picture, and that’s where your focus should be.

12 Use a reflector
Reflectors are great for bouncing light back onto your whole scene to fill in shadows, while small mirrors enable you to target light precisely where you want it, which is particularly useful for directing the viewer’s attention to the ‘hero’ produce in your food setup.

SEE MORE: How to use a reflector to control natural light

13 Composition
The usual rules of photo composition apply; use leading lines, the rule of thirds and groups of three for an aesthetically pleasing image.

14 Focal length
Avoid wide angle lenses and use a focal length of at least 50mm.

SEE MORE: What is focal length in photography?

15 A question of style 
Think about prop styling. What colours complement the food? Choose crockery based on colour, shape and texture.

16 What’s it for?
Think about how the image will be used. Blog photos may present a more relaxed style with crumbs, editorial shots tend to use a shallow depth of field, while packaging is usually more precise and shot at narrow apertures.

17 Get steamy
For an instant waft of steam, microwave a wet ball of cotton wool and pop it behind the food.

18 Go steady
While it’s desirable to use a tripod and ISO100 for best quality, if time is short and you must shoot handheld, you can ramp up the ISO significantly on new models.

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