Food photography and creating delicious food are two vastly different things. Some foods are both delicious and extremely visually appealing. But some foods, due to no fault of their own, don’t look as appetizing as others.
My food photography for my little blog isn’t fancy. My photos are taken with my iPhone minutes before we sit down to eat. Over the years, I have learned some ways to make foods look like a recipe you want to try.
If I have learned anything while trying to take good photos for the blog, it’s the importance of lightning. I have always read that natural light is king, and that is so true. Short of natural light, it’s often an experiment and multiple photos to get images that look good. Even with good lighting, some foods are harder to photograph than others.
White food
See the photo above? Chicken and dumplings are one of my ultimate comfort foods. But everything short of the carrots and peas is white. It’s hard to capture how mouth-watering it is in person in a picture.
A scattering of fresh herbs goes a long way toward making white, creamy foods look as delicious as they are.
Combined Food
Think casseroles, skillet dishes, and soups—the sort of recipes that involve a bunch of ingredients combined before being cooked or baked.
Green bean casserole is a good example. Luckily, we have some green beans peeking out of the sauce. The browned fried onions don’t hurt either. If foods have a pleasing color combination, they are automatically easier to photograph.
Foods like soup often need a couple of stirs to get a photo that properly represents their ingredients and looks appealing.
My favorite food to photograph
My favorite food pictures often tend to be of pizza. My veggie variety is colorful, it features melty cheese, and it’s pizza! Pizza looks appealing as a whole pie or sliced. Or maybe pizza is just one of my favorites. 🙂