10 tips to improve your food photography

juliedeily.com@TheLittleKitchn

10 Tips to Improve your Food Photography

TBEX NA Fort Lauderdale, Florida Thursday, October 29, 2015

Julie Deily // TheLittleKitchen.net

juliedeily.com@TheLittleKitchn

In Memory of Joan Hayes

chocolatechocolateandmore.com

#chocolateforJoan

juliedeily.com@TheLittleKitchn

Quick Intro

• Started my food blog called The Little Kitchen in Dec. 2009

• Have spoken at BlogHer Food and other conferences; organized several food blog conferences & the great food blogger cookie swap

• Food photography has appeared in print, recognized as a foodie instagrammer to follow by Orlando Weekly and one of 30 bloggers to follow in 2015 by Southern Living

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1. Practice Practice Practice

I know…so annoying

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2. Lighting

• Natural light (again so annoying)

• Get a table near a window

• Lunch!

• Pay attention to lighting when being seated

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3. Shoot Different Things

• Shoot the menu at the restaurant

• Capture the ambience of the restaurant

• Take a photo of the restaurant sign

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juliedeily.com@TheLittleKitchn

4. Use the tools you have

• Use other people’s hands

• Use napkins to reflect

• Use strobe or flashlight from someone else’s phone

• Stand up, stand on chairs

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juliedeily.com@TheLittleKitchn

5. Focus

• Make sure the food is recognizable

• Don’t need to be so close to the subject

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juliedeily.com@TheLittleKitchn

6. It’s all about the details

• Move things around, wipe the plate

• But don’t move around so much that it’s not the same plate you were served

• Move your glasses, get rid of clutter

• Pay attention to what’s around the dish or on the table

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7. Edit, edit, edit

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juliedeily.com@TheLittleKitchn

8. Use Apps

• For the desktop, I love Adobe LightRoom

• Apps for the phone (all allow you to copy & paste edits and apply to other photos) Snapseed - great editing tool, transform feature VSCO - filtersPicTapGo - filters, allow you to combine

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Snapseed Demo

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PicTapGo Demo

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9. Dos & Don’ts

• Don’t use unnatural angles (overhead or 45 degree angles)

• Please don’t use flash on people or food

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juliedeily.com@TheLittleKitchn

10. Consider equipment

• smartphones

• dSLR

• lightweight mirrorless cameras (the one I love is a Panasonic Lumix — reviewed here.)

juliedeily.com@TheLittleKitchn

Questions?