How to take fresh and natural food photography

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Since 2014Food PhotographySo far, like many people, I love and hate various popular photography styles. For example, I was infatuated with Japanese style and German style. However, he has been wandering in imitation and has not established his own shooting style. After continuous shooting and learning, I like fresh and naturalFood PhotographyStyle. This style is generally characterized by clean pictures, soft light and fresh colors, which completely depends on the overall tone and tone. This time, I will share with you how to take fresh and natural food photography through 13 of my recent photography works and the exercises taken in our photography class.

1、 You must master the backlight

Most of my works are shot in backlight. Backlighting has a strong image atmosphere appeal, which can make food show the following characteristics:

→ Strengthen the subjective sense of food in the picture;

→ Attractive depth of field;

→ It depicts the luster and permeability of food.

As shown in the figure below, the backlight makes the whole scene shrouded in a fresh atmosphere. I deliberately made the brightest part slightly over exposed in the later stage, so that the egg tart looks extra eye-catching and highlights the main body.

This photo was also taken in the backlight. The whole picture is from far to near, from bright to dark, and forms a fascinating depth of field with a large aperture.

The backlight of this photo is relatively soft. The food itself presents a unique texture under the light, because the white pot, noodles and soup are transparent.

2、 Selection and matching of props

In addition to increasing the artistic conception of photos, props can also make the pictures more realistic and natural. Select and match according to the texture of the subject, especially the color. You need to pay attention to:

→ The props should be light colored as much as possible:

In addition to the main body of the two photos, I chose the props that are more cold, such as the flowers that have been virtualized.

→ The props should be as simple as possible:

I like striped utensils. The red edge and sky blue stripe of the utensils used in the following two pictures match the whole scene, which is quite simple and natural.

3、 Decoration skills in scene layout

The layout and scene should be as simple as possible, and realism is the most important. Therefore, you need to master the following points:

→ The composition must be simple and clear:

This photo uses a centered composition to ensure that the main body is prominent, and there are no superfluous objects that will interfere with the line of sight, but the composition is relatively full, so even if it is simple, it is not monotonous.

→ High brightness and low saturation will make the photo look very fresh:

First of all, don’t misunderstand me that low saturation is low. We are taking pictures of food or food ingredients. It is important to arouse appetite. Therefore, the degree of low and high saturation should be well controlled. If it is too high, the color will appear exaggerated. If it is too low, the color of the food ingredients cannot be displayed. In the following photo, the main cake of the subject, I have reduced the saturation but improved the brightness in the late stage, so the overall picture is much cleaner.

→ As decoration, the use and integration of flower materials will make the overall painting style both artistic and elegant:

The main body of this picture, namely, bread, is warm, so I used neutral and cold flowers as decorations to make the whole picture fresh and artistic.

4、 Non negligible contrast between light and dark colors

Usually, an ideal photo should have a main tone, either light or dark. Fresh and natural food photos emphasize that light color tones account for most of the picture, while dark colors only account for a small part. Try to reduce the dark parts of the picture outside the main body, so that the main body is more prominent.

In the following three pictures, except for the main picture, light tones account for most of the picture, and the whole picture looks pure and thorough, even if it is a dark film.

Photography is to tell stories purely with pictures, reflecting what the photographer wants to express. You should browse more different types of photography works, combine them with your own works, and establish your own shooting style, so that you can shoot better and better.