Tips for awesome food photos just like professional food bloggers

Taking photos is one of the best ways to keep happy memory after each trip. The following tips for snaping pictures of food on the phone will help you take photos as attractive as professional bloggers.

Setting up the light is paramount

Whether it is shooting food, landscape or people… light is the vital element of the picture. With food and drinks, perhaps natural light is the perfect light source.

You can take advantage of the light from the space you dine in, such as windowsill, garden,... This light helps the dish to be illuminated in every detail, making them more attractive and realistic.

In case you cannot use the natural light because of an enclosed room or dining at night, take advantage of artificial light. A small note is to choose an area with warm, soft and even light, which creates a much better effect for the dish than a fluorescent light.

Please do not use the phone's flash directly on the food as it will cause the light and dark areas to be unevenly distributed. Instead, if it is necessary to use the flash due to the dark environment, take advantage of some light-dissipation items such as white towels and paper to reduce the light's glare.

The safest shooting angle is from top to bottom

Behind-the-scenes images of food shooting with the photographer standing up on a chair to get a high camera angle are no longer strange. This direct view will reveal the texture and layout of the dish in the most honest way.

However, it does not mean that we should stand on the table or chair to take pictures because doing so is very unattractive to people sitting around. Instead, you can stand up, hold the camera up high, and let the angle slightly diagonal, it will work out unexpectedly.

There are also many exceptions, such as multi-layered dishes like burgers, pancakes, mille crepe ..., shooting horizontal is better.

Using a creative background

The background makes a great deal to the success of a beautiful food picture. If you do not have much experience in decorating or taking food pictures on the phone, give priority to simple, not too bold backgrounds that will take up the spotlight of the food.

Creating your own style of background, such as using tablecloths, wooden or stone tabletops, or a checkered pattern, a little natural plant will make the dish more attractive and flattering. And sometimes, the background can be so simple that it is just the plate's surface only.

The background tone should match the color of the dish - but not too much to avoid "drowning" the main subject. Some safe colors you can refer to, for example, dark blue, wood, gray or even white.

Do not ignore the accessories

Besides the background, the accessories also make the picture stand out. The common ways of using decorative accessories are ingredients for dishes, drinks, green vegetables or kitchen tools...

Many people prefer a slightly messy layout to make the photo more stylish, but these décor items need to be related to the main dish. For example, a steak could be displayed on a cutting board, but a pizza would not match a bamboo tray, would it?

Adding a human element 

The human factor here does not mean that you appear too much in the picture, but sometimes it is just a picture of the hands next to the dish, or a pair of chopsticks picking up the food, for example. This element will help bring soul to the photo, and create an orginal and unique feature that does not replicate anyone’s.

Using motion effects

Motion effects for a still photo here represent the "movement" of food and drinks.

The simplest example for you to imagine is: sugar water is being poured into a cup of coffee or smoke rising from a hot dish. It makes the photo very real and vivid, bringing more emotions to the viewer.

Finally, don't forget the post-production 

The more carefully and effectively you have done the previous steps, the simpler the last step and the more beautiful photo you get. With the popularity of photo editing apps today, your work is complete with just a few filters or presets. If you are passionate about editing, post-production, you can join the communities of photo enthusiast, keep editing photos to learn some "authentic" coloring tips, applicable to many other cases, not just for food only.

With the little tips above for taking food photo with your phone, I wish you will have beautiful pictures to keep your memories after each trip.