What Makes A Good Photo? Food Styling And Photography

What makes a good photo?

myhusbandcooks 17 years ago

I'm curious if people have thoughts on what makes a good food photo. We've developed certainly our own style over the months. We like to think of the food as 'heroic' and get down with it. But I suspect more than a few of you have different thoughts and styles?

For example, the only real stagging for our food we do is perhaps picking a pretty plate and finding the best light. We are lucky I think too because we are pretty bold with colors so we've got some rooms with some intense backgrounds for the shots. (Our dining room is red-orange, den is chocolate brown, and library is a vibrant blue. We've an open floor plan so the path from kitchen to these rooms is a step.) But I know others pick other objects to be in the shot, and composition...

Care to share your thoughts?

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brilynn 17 years ago said:

I find the focus of the picture and the lighting make a huge difference, regardless of props or background. That being said, I have an ugly yellow kitchen counter that doesn\'t make a very good backdrop so I often use a piece of material to cover it up.
Lately I\'m liking really close shots. The problem is that my camera doesn\'t... I see other people who do shots I really like where the front is in focus and then it fades to the back. I like that style, but again, am not very good at reproducing it.

I think anything that makes you want to reach through the screen and take a bite is good in my books, but that\'s going to vary with individuals.

And I don\'t know if it\'s just me, but I have trouble photographing things that are brown or red. For some reason they just don\'t turn out very well.

What a jumbled, rant of a response...

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edensong 17 years ago said:

Have you ever used a lightbox? It's very helpful. You can find simple instructions for building your own lightbox if you do a search online. Outdoor light is another good way. Taking oodles of photos and using PSP or PhotoShop to tweak the images also helps.

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eeks 16 years ago said:

Rule of thirds baby, rule of thirds!! don't center your subject...split the viewfinder up into thirds and put your subject in one of them, preferably left or right!! Just lookup 'photography, rule of thirds' on the internet, you'll get some great ideas about GREAT PHOTOS!!

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eeks 16 years ago said:

Lotsa light!! but avoid shadows!! I use a hotshoe flash for imprtant shots, but I shade it with a piece of paper taped loosely over the flash!! that way the light is bright but not causing shadows or glaring reflections off of glass or plastic or big shiny apples!!
You can do the same thing for 'On-camera' flash untis, just don't use thick or colored paper...copy paper works fine!! If you can't do this....try to aim hotshoe flashes up, not directly at the subject!!!
If using an SLR, try opening up your aperture...and use closeup (macro) settings if shooting within 3 feet of subject!! Many of the new DSLR's have a closeup setting, usually indicated by a 'flower' on the dial!! This gives you maximum aperture at short distance...'what you want and need for closeup pix'

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eeks 14 years ago said:

And if you're using a Digital SL:R (Canon, Nikon etc) get yourself a Macro lens...60-180 mm macro lens...1:1 .....you can get right up on the subject and see it in it's full blown beauty, perfect focus and because typically Macro lenses use nice big apertures, at least 2.8, you get lotsa natural light pix with no flash needed...

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