How to be a Quick Food Photographer

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By toogie2
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Killer Brownie

With the explosion of foodie blogs and restaurant review sites, many food bloggers need to illustrate their postings with pictures of gorgeous food. In a restaurant, you don't have time, or space, to set up a studio. Some food bloggers may not even have lighting equipment.

Never fear, with a digital camera, auto-settings and a couple of tricks, you can get some great shots of those fine dinners.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

A digital camera with auto-settings, preferably one with a "macro" setting.

Step 1

Kill your flash, if at all possible. Sure, in some dark restaurants, there just isn't enough light without the flash, but flash lighting can cause dark shadows and "blown-out" highlights that leave the food looking harsh and unappetizing. Natural light is the very best, but any kind of ambient light (i.e. light that filters in from all directions and leaves few shadows) will give you a better picture.
Step 2

Brace your elbows and hold the camera with both hands. It may be bad manners to put your elbows on the table, but it's good photography. Your camera adjusts for lower light partly by using a slower shutter speed, which makes the photographs prone to blur. Bracing your elbows on the table or against your sides will help keep that camera steady.
Step 3

Try the close-up "macro" setting. The macro setting is often set by a little button with a tulip-shaped symbol. Many people use it for detail shots of flowers, but it's a great setting for details and textures on foods.
Step 4

Practice at home, taking several quick shots with different settings - flash on, flash off, macro - so that you can take the pictures fast when the food arrives. Your dining companions may not want to wait for you to get that perfect shot.
Step 5

Finally, if you do a lot of quick camera work in low-light situations, consider getting a newer or more expensive camera. It doesn't have to break the bank. More and more consumer level point-and-shoot cameras have "higher sensitivity" settings. Look in the technical specs for something with a higher ISO level. (ISO is the measure of film speed, and 1600 or more is a great speed for low light situations.)