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2.26.2016

Photo Tip Friday: Taking Food Pictures in a Restaurant

by Mary Denman    @MaryDenman



Many bloggers who write about food love to take pictures for their blogs. Too, many people love to upload photos and reviews of their experience to sites like Trip Advisor. 

But food photography in a restaurant can be a challenge. 


Today's tips are designed to help you understand what to do to improve your food photography. 


Let's get started. 






In PHOTO 1, what problems do you see?
PHOTO 1
When eating at a restaurant, you may not have a lot of room for staging. But you can. I left everything in this shot to let you see what our table looked like when this delicious dessert arrived. I'm even letting you see how blurry the shot was due to the lighting. 

How can you deal with the 3 problems in this shot?

1) Clutter.......Move the drinks and napkins out of the way. 
2) Blurry........Use a flash or change your ISO to 800. 
3) No clear focal point...Zoom in on the dessert and exclude the rest of the clutter. 


PHOTO 2


Here's another common problem in PHOTO 2.


A shadow from the phone. 


In a lot of restaurants, the lights are directly over the tables. This means that if you hold your phone over the food, you're going to cast a shadow in the shot. 


So how do you correct for this?

1) Pay attention to the lighting.
2) Take a picture from the side instead of directly over the food. 

This will allow you to get a shadow free shot. 








With a little planning, you can take a shot that looks like PHOTO 3.

PHOTO 3

The clutter is gone, the dessert is the focus and there are no shadows to distract from the delicious desert! 

ASSIGNMENT:  Next time you go out to eat, pull out your phone and play around. Practice staging the food and eliminating the clutter and shadows. 


FOR BLOGGERS: Keep learning about photography to improve your shots and use them on your blog. Create memes with them. Illustrate your points with your photos. 


I hope these tips help!
Keep on Clicking!
Mary


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15 comments:

  1. great tips - the phone shadow can be tricky...

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    1. They can be tricky. But once you notice it, it's a quick fix.

      Thanks for dropping by!

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  2. Great suggestions. I will have to try to do some more of this - it's been a form of photography that I haven't ventured out into often.
    I hope you'll come join us at a special edition of our weekly Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) linkup here:
    http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2016/02/every-10-minutes-someone-in-us-dies-of.html

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    Replies
    1. It's fun to take food shots. If you're not starving! :)

      Let me know how it works out for you Sue!

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  3. Great tips Mary - restaurants are definitely a challenging place to take shots - I DID get some practice recently when I photographed my Valentine's meal and posted my first photo collage to Instagram - please check out the results and let me know what you think! :-)

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BBktJelPMDy/?taken-by=createwithjoy

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    Replies
    1. I'm impressed with your shots Ramona! You did everything well! Thanks for sharing it with me!

      Delete
  4. I am one of those who is trying to improve food photography. I always look like the crazy girl moving everything out of the photo's way. Thanks for your tips. I will keep them in mind.

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    Replies
    1. Moving things around is the way to get your best shot! Thanks for dropping by Ruth!

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  5. Thanks for these tips. So simple tips but so important! #FotoFriday

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    Replies
    1. Paying attention to the little things in photography can really pay off!

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  6. Great tips! I always forget about the shadow of the phone because I compose it before I bring the phone out, click away and then realise that the shadow was there. visiting from #photoFriday.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Once you realize that, you'll remember lots faster next time! Thanks for dropping by!

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  7. Great tips Mary!! I love how different and great, the last picture looks :)

    Thanks for sharing at Creative Mondays

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  8. Great tips! I like to take photos when I am out to dinner too.

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