What to do when all movies and series on Netflix have been watched, sometimes even twice? We cannot go out, except for food shopping and exercising, No one can visit us. This is a good time to find yourself a new hobby. Reading books can be a good idea, but they would keep you on sofa or in be even more. What about cooking? Why not? Everyone likes to eat. But even you are not big fun of preparing your own meal, you can try to practice food photography and trust me you do no not need much to start. There is lots of groups on Facebook and Instagram which always sharing a few tips about how to photograph your meal better.

The good project to start.

I am always photographing what I can eat after photo shooting. I am against food waste, sometimes even I know I would not enjoy what is on my plate, then probably one of my boys would. If you are home alone, you can always pass the plate to your neighbour, just remember about social distancing.

To start, keep it simple. Anything you use in the kitchen can be photographed e.g., eggs, bread, apple, banana, tomatoes, flour, garlic. List is endless.

Food nicely accompaniment with a drink, cup of coffee or tea is always a great idea. Adding milk, sugar or honey to the scene will upscale the challenge. You can practice how to work with a shutter speed button when purring them into your drink or simply keep them on the table as addition to the scene.

The main idea is to START. Put banana on yellow paper and practice. Look at your “model” from different angle. Take as many photos as you wish. You can be incredibly surprised with results.

Light

If you are not a photographer, you will not have an artificial light at home, and this is perfectly fine. Natural light works the best. If you are a photographer, you can try both lights and you can even join them both. I am big fun of natural light but sometimes I must use additional light to present the product the way I want. At this moment I am using the cheapest lights I could find on Amazon, but my dream is to buy one day a Rotolight NEO 2. Make sure the house lights are turned off. When you are practicing your photography with both lightings make sure they both coming from the same direction. The best idea is to place your food side to the window or keep the window on the back. By doing this your food will keep natural texture and the light will also present shadows which can create a natural contrast and depth and will add drama and emotions. 

Camera

Whatever camera you are familiar with will work perfectly. My best friend name is Nikon D750 with 50 0r 85 mm lenses, but his cousin Nikon D3300 doing great photos as well. Do not worry if the only camera you have got is your phone one, you can play with settings on the PRO mode as well.

Let me know how is going? If you have questions, I would be more than happy to help.

Next time I will show you how to build the scenery, from empty kitchen space to exciting looking cup of smoothie.