Food Photography Tips 4: Food Styling, Food Props and Photo Backgrounds

Welcome to the fourth and final segment in a four part series on food photography tips and tricks.  I've divided the food photography tutorial into four posts: food photography lighting, camera settings for food photography, food photo composition, and food styling and setting up food props and photo backdrops (below).

I've designed the food photography tips below for beginners regardless of camera make and model, but have kept owners of digital-point-and-shoot cameras in mind to help them take higher quality photos with the equipment they already own. Hope you enjoy!

BakerGal Food Photography Tips, Part 4: Food Styling Tips, Food Props and Photo Backdrops

Food Styling Tips:

• Select the perfect piece of food: Find the nicest piece of food to photograph (often called the "hero" among food photographers/food stylists).
• Find a stunt double: If your "hero" could easily be damaged while setting up and arranging the shoot, do a test run with the next best piece of food, and swap in the best piece once everything is correctly in place.
• Check the details: One you've placed the food in its setting, do a visual check for fine details: brush away unwanted crumbs, check for thumbprints on the plate, and look for other unwanted items that will detract from the subject.

Food Props:

• More is not better: Do use props to enhance your photo, but don't overdo it. Too many props can confuse your photo and detract from your main subject.
• Choose food photo props in context: Think about what goes with the food you're photographing and consider including it (a garnish that describes or complements the flavor, silverware you would eat it with, serving implements, drinks that go with it).
• Find food props at a second hand store: You can find a wide variety of unique single items at second hand stores. This lets you amass a huge selection of different plates, spoons, and glasses without breaking the bank or having to buy a whole set. 
• The best props are informative: When carefully chosen, props can provide information about your food (a twist of orange peel garnish on an orange-scented cake) and context about how you imagine it might be eaten (Marcona almonds and Manchego cheese as props for a Spanish date-almond loaf that would be served on a cheese plate) or the setting it would be eaten in (a dinner party, a holiday table setting). You can also use props to help food stand out against the chosen background (i.e. a white napkin set underneath a cookie bar).

Food Photo Backdrops and Backgrounds:

• Crop your photos: The closer you take the photo or crop the photo the less background you have to worry about preparing. If the background is some part of your home, this especially important; Cropping can prevent each photo shoot from becoming a cleaning session!
• Find the best light: Take the food to the place with the best natural light, even if that's not in the kitchen or not even in your house. If you need to go outside to get enough light, do that. Check out Part 1 of the Food Photography Tutorial for detailed information on food photography lighting.
• Make a photo backdrop: Food backgrounds can be anything that suits the food your photographing. You can photograph in a nice room, or you can get creative with decorative papers, fabrics, or core board to build a small corner or flat surface against which you photograph the food. Kitchen towels, curtains, and tablecloths can all become food backgrounds. You can also use granite countertops and stone or wooden cutting boards to make a variety of horizontal and vertical surfaces. The benefit of constructing your own photo backdrop is that it's mobile. This allows you to take your photo setup to wherever the best light is. Finally, food itself can be a food background: you can spread out a layer of complementary food (like walnuts for a walnut cake, or cranberries for cranberry cookies), place your food item on top of it, and take a photo from above.

I hope you've found this food photography tutorial helpful! Please take a look at the food photography techniques in parts 1 through 3 if you haven't yet.

I look forward to hearing any additional questions you might have.

Happy Snapping!
BakerGal

Food Photography Tips 3: Food Photo Composition

Welcome to Part 3 in a four-part series on food photography tips and tricks.  Each of the four parts of the food photography tutorial covers one of the following topics: food photography lighting, camera settings for food photography, photo composition (this post), and food styling and setting up props and backgrounds.

I've designed the food photography tips below for beginners regardless of camera make and model, but have kept owners of digital-point-and-shoot cameras in mind to help them take higher quality photos with the equipment they already own.

BakerGal Food Photography Tips, Part 3:

Food Photography Composition

Rule of Thirds: Many swear by the rule of thirds when it comes to photo composition. To try this out yourself, imagine that your camera screen is divided into thirds, both vertically and horizontally. As you compose the photo, try to place major elements either along these vertical and horizontal lines or at their intersections. (For more, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds).

How many cookies?: Another rule of thumb that is helpful when using multiples of an object: odd-numbered multiples are usually more pleasing to the eye than even-numbered multiples. Keep this in mind when deciding how many cookies, asparagus spears, or other food items to set aside for your photo.

Keep the viewer's eye moving: Some people suggest that a successful composition keeps a viewer's eye moving throughout the piece. One approach includes arranging the food to create angles that will draw the viewer's eye deep into the photo and back again into the foreground, or roughly in a circle throughout the photo. Another approach is to try using a repeated color placed strategically throughout the arrangement that will draw the eye throughout the photo.

Food Photography Angles: When choosing where to place the camera, try to select angles other than those at which you usually see food. A photo taken from the angle at which you regularly see food is going to make the food seem, well....regular. Scanwiches (http://scanwiches.com/) provides a great example of innovative food images (cross-sections!). For a starting point, very low angles tend to flatter food and make it appear grandiose. Branch out from there to try other new food photography angles: experiment taking food photos from the lowest angle possible, from below the food, from straight above, etc.

Camera Distance to Food:  Very close photos allow you to show off details, help you fill the photo composition, and mean you have less to set up in the background. Most people are not used to getting so close to something they want to photograph. Begin by getting as close as you can without sticking your camera in the food (use Macro setting or the appropriate lens), and reposition to further distances as you continue photographing.

Try multiple arrangements of food: Don't be afraid to take a ridiculous number of photos of the same item in a variety of settings from a variety of angles and distances. Don't stop to judge yourself too harshly while you're working. Wait until you're viewing the photos on a computer to really evaluate them before paring them down.

"That was a delicious photoshoot!": Don't eat, take down, or get rid of your food setup until you've evaluated the photos.  You might realize something was out of place in your photo composition and need to shoot a few more. If you just ate your last piece of that food item, you'll be out of luck.

The next and final part of the food photography tutorial covers food props, background ideas, and food styling, selection and preparation.

Good luck! Let me know if you have any additional questions on food photography angles, composition in food photography, or other related questions.

BakerGal

Food Photography Tips 2: Camera Settings for Food Photography

Welcome to Part 2 in a four-part food photography tutorial.  The four posts each address one of the following areas of food photography techniques: food photography lighting techniques, camera settings for Food Photography (this section), food photography composition, and food styling, and using props and backgrounds.

The food photography tricks and techniques below are targeted at beginners regardless of camera make and model, though they are written with owners of digital-point-and-shoot cameras in mind, in order to help them take higher quality photos with the equipment they already own.

BakerGal Food Photography Tutorial Part 2:

Camera Settings for Food Photography

Manual mode: The most important food photography tip for beginners is this: understand absolutely everything your camera can do. Let go of the safety net provided by presets like "fireworks mode" and "portrait mode" and instead start experimenting with the manual mode settings.

Macro: Find the macro setting on your camera and start getting really close to your food. If all you have is a point-and-shoot digital camera, macro is a great way to cheaply imitate some of the tight focus and depth of field you can achieve with more expensive cameras and lenses. Macro mode also lets you get close enough to show off the finer details of the food you're shooting.

ISO: When you increase or decrease the camera's ISO setting, you're modifying the sensitivity of the camera's light sensor. In general, you want to always use the lowest ISO setting possible (least light sensitive), as it will introduce the least digital noise/graininess to your photos. A setting of 100 is a good starting point for most bright settings. However, you'll find a higher ISO/increased light sensitivity may be needed to compensate for dim settings. Slowly bump up the ISO until you find a midpoint where you can capture a good photo with the least digital noise.

Shutter delay (from Food Photography Tutorial Part 1: Food Photography Lighting):
Shooting in low light is not ideal unless you have excellent equipment and a good knowledge of what you're doing. It can result in interesting shots, but most often it just means a grainy photo (see ISO settings, above) and blurriness, especially for beginners. A lot of blur in low light photos happens when the photographer fails to hold the camera steady or presses the button to take a photo causing camera shake. To prevent this, try using a tripod or level surface to steady the camera and use at least a 2 second shutter delay so the camera can settle between when you press the button and when it shoots the photo.

White balance: Again, this is another setting you can find in a camera's manual settings. When you're setting up the shot, place something white in the arrangement and take a look at it through your camera screen. If it looks blue or orange, you need to adjust the white balance settings. If you have access to photo-editing software, this can sometimes be adjusted later. But sometimes the wrong cannot be fully undone. It helps to do the best you can the first time around.


I hope you've found the food photography tips in Part 2 of the Food Photography Tutorial useful. For more food photography techniques, see part 3 and part 4 of the tutorial.

BakerGal

Food Photography Tips 1: Food Photography Lighting

Welcome to the first in a series of four posts that will cover food photography tips.  The four posts will cover food photography lighting (this post), food photo camera settings, food photo composition, and food styling photo props and backgrounds.

I've been learning about food photography techniques for the last few months - reading about techniques, practicing them, and looking critically at professional food photos - and the work is slowly beginning to pay off.  I still have a lot more practice ahead, but I wanted to share what I've learned so far with other beginning food photographers and bloggers.

I'm still using the standard point-and-shoot digital pocket camera I've had all along, but my photos have improved drastically through the new knowledge and techniques I've been practicing. The archived posts provide a rich source of comparison for how my photos have improved over just a few months.

For example, compare the recent honey, almond & date treat photo to the gingerbread leaf photo taken about 10 months ago:

Honey, almond & date treat: Not over/under exposed, natural light source (window),
appropriate white balance,  composed background w/depth of field. (Jun 2011)

Gingerbread cookies: Overexposed/light too intense, poor white balance = plate looks yellow,
incandescent light, highlights on black teakettle in background distract viewer's eye,
and photo background is messy kitchen! (Nov 2010)

I've geared the advice below toward any beginner, regardless of camera make and model, but have kept owners of digital point-and-shoot cameras in mind in particular. The food photography tips below don't require fancy equipment, lenses, or expensive cameras - just time, patience, and a new attention to detail. Hope you enjoy!

BakerGal Food Photography Tips, Part 1:

Food Photography Lighting Techniques

DON'T use flash: Food is full of fine details and you'll want to get very close shots of your food to showcase these details. At close range, flash will wash out the details and provide overwhelming brightness. It will also cast an unpleasant light and unnatural shadows on your food.

Light source: Use natural daylight. Try to shoot near a window, in a bright, naturally lit room, or outdoors. Consider how the color of the light changes at different times of day and the direction, length, and darkness of the shadows it will cast.

Light intensity: The ideal light is uniform and bright. The more universal the light source, the fewer deep shadows you'll have obscuring your food. A list follows of common light intensity problems and the food photography lighting techniques that address them:

• Bright light that casts deep shadows (i.e. bright sunlight through the window): Try placing the food between the window and a white panel to bounce light from the window onto the dark side of the food. You can arrange one or more large styrofoam panels, white cardboard panels, or other flat surfaces covered in a white material around the food, you have much greater control over the light. You can also experiment with filtering the light through a curtain.
• Low light, resulting in blurry photos: Shooting in low light is not ideal. It can result in interesting shots, but most often it just means a grainy photo (see "ISO" under Part 2: Food Photography Camera Settings) and blurriness. A lot of blur in low light photos happens when the photographer fails to hold the camera steady or presses the button to take a photo, causing camera shake (assuming that the subject is stationary). To prevent this, try using a tripod or level surface to steady the camera and use at least a 2 second shutter delay so the camera can settle between when you press the button and when it shoots the photo.
• The food is ready, but the sun has set: Sometimes the food is ready, but the sun is not.  You can often just throw the food in the fridge or freezer and wait until the next day, or until the light quality has improved. If refrigerating or freezing the food doesn't change its appearance and you aren't trying to convey the temperature of the food through the photo (steam, condensation, etc.), this should work okay.

Use light to bring attention to the subject: You want to do everything you can to draw the viewers' attention to the main subject of the photo: delicious food. One food photography lighting setup toward this end is to use white or light-colored panels and curtains to reflect more light onto the subject of the photo and to block bright light that is hitting the background. Pay close attention to the photo as you set it up...is one of the items in the background - props or objects, or tablecloth - brighter than the main subject of the photo? Are there reflections on shiny surfaces in the background that will distract the viewer from the main subject (see gingerbread cookie photo above)?   Luckily, you are not taking a landscape photo...you have almost full control over lighting and objects and can easily move things around until you're satisfied.

I hope you've found these food photography lighting techniques helpful. In the next part of this series, I'll cover some basic camera settings that are helpful for the beginning food photographer.

BakerGal

BakerGal Chewy Paleo Brownie Recipe: The BEST Paleo Brownie Recipe!

A close up of the delicious paleo brownie recipe.

After testing and reporting back on a slew of paleo brownie recipes, it was time to take what I'd learned and try to design my own, hopefully better, paleo brownie recipe.

I had originally tested five paleo brownie recipes: one relied heavily on almond butter, another two incorporated chopped fruit for sweetness, and the last two called for coconut flour and coconut oil. All used honey as the main sweetener. (Also, since this attempt, I've also tested six paleo chocolate chip cookie recipes and crafted my own delicious paleo cookie recipe.)

Determined to get as close as possible to traditional chewy brownie taste and texture (and to avoid complicated recipes and exotic ingredients), I decided to ditch the fruit and coconut brownie recipes and use the first, almond butter-based recipe, as a starting point. I turned to one of my favorite publications - Cook's Illustrated - to glean tips about making the perfect brownie.  They had discovered the secret to a make-at-home brownie with the satisfying chew of box brownie mix (use the right ratio of saturated to unsaturated fat) and also knew how to get that shiny/crackly brownie top (use white sugar, not brown sugar).


Even armed with this new info, though, I was still at a loss: With no added fat in this recipe, I had no ingredients I could tweak to get anywhere near the perfect ratio. And, with white sugar on the not-paleo list, I had no chance of scoring a crackly brownie top.

I decided to just jump in and try things out on my own. Three paleo brownie batches later, I finally hit on success: a recipe with a deep chocolate flavor that was sweeter and chewier than last week's almond butter brownie. These paleo brownies are not too cakey or too dense, and not soggy like some of the recipes I had worked with before. The main changes I made include:

• Instead of honey, I used light agave syrup, which has a light caramel-like flavor (and added more of it).
• I added more cocoa and "bloomed" it by heating it in the agave syrup to intensify its flavor.
• I removed the eggs: With so much moisture coming from the agave syrup and almond butter, eggs made the brownies too moist for my taste. Below, I explain how to add an egg to the recipe if you'd like. 
• It's hard to imagine an entire family on the paleo diet, so I also downsized the recipe from a 9x13 pan to an 8x8 pan.

A more-baked layer forms on the brownie top and edges that provides chewiness and protects the paleo brownie's inside from drying out.

Note: I preferred the egg-free version the day I made it, but I thought it was a little dry the next day, so I am considering one more eggless variation where I use 1 cup of almond butter and 1/4 c applesauce, assuming the applesauce might help bring more lasting moisture to the mix. Taste-testers preferred the version with the egg, saying that it still tasted moist without getting too dry or chewy, and felt that it was more like box brownies than the eggless version.

BakerGal Chewy Paleo Brownie Recipe: The BEST Paleo Brownie Recipe

1 1/4 cup raw light agave syrup, gently heated (or raw honey)
3/4 cup natural cocoa powder
1 1/4 cup almond butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp chocolate extract (optional, flavor intensifier)
1 tsp instant espresso powder (optional, flavor intensifier)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1. Heat agave syrup gently over stove until warm (do not allow to boil). Stir in cocoa powder over low heat until smooth. Cocoa burns easily, so keep the heat on very very low.
2. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients except salt until thoroughly mixed.
3. Sprinkle batter with salt, and fold batter to mix it in.
4. Pour into foil-lined or parchment paper-lined 8x8 baking pan (or, grease the pan with coconut oil or your preferred oil)
5. Bake paleo brownies at 325F for 40-50 min.  Insert a toothpick in the center of the pan to determine done-ness. (I baked mine in a glass pan at 325F for 45 minutes, and it seemed perfect). Let cool completely before cutting. Store in a plastic ziplock bag to preserve moisture.

The recipe can accommodate an egg. It will make the brownies more tender and moist, and a little less chewy. To include an egg:
Reduce almond butter to 1 cup. Mix egg with vanilla extract, chocolate extract, espresso powder, and baking powder before combining with agave-cocoa-almond butter mixture.

I hope you enjoy these paleo chocolate brownies!

BakerGal