As food lover, keen to showcase our food on social media we have to remember that people who see our food photos cannot actually taste how delicious it is.
Therefore, we need to make sure that the visuals do all the talking and allow our audience to imagine what it would be like to bite into our stack of pancakes or lick the sorbet we've created. That's because we eat with our eyes first so the visuals have got to be spot on.
With this in mind, I'll be sharing my 5 top tips on making your food look as gorgeous as it tastes.
1. THE SETTING
Regardless of whether you present your food for social media or for guests in your home, the setting has to be top. For food photography, using a gorgeous stone background allows you to make your food look luxurious and delicious. This is why SapienStone's porcelain kitchen counters are a beautiful place to photograph your food. When serving guests, make sure the table top is set to perfection as all this will make the food more enjoyable to eat. You can achieve this luscious feeling by using flowers, pretty candles and gorgeous napkins.
2. TEXTURES AND COLOUR
A dish can go from good to top once you bring in some colour and texture. That's because as human beings we are drawn to colourful food with lots of texture; the more colour, the more nutrients and antioxidants and lots of texture makes us look forward to the taste experience.When you create a dish for food photography and social media it's therefore important to think about all the different textures and colours you can bring into the dish. It gives the eye lots to feast on and makes for a more interesting food image. Foods that are a joy to photograph (and eat) for this very reason are berries, figs, radishes, golden beetroot (as shown in the images here) and - for that very special image - edible flowers, which are very trendy at the moment, tasty, healthy and gorgeous to look at.
3. THE RIGHT PLATES
Food served on pretty plates makes everything better! When selecting your plates and bowls, look for interesting details and go for neutral colours which will allow the food to shine. You also want to try and use plates that have a mat finish as this will be easier to photograph.
4. SHAPES
Though there's nothing wrong in cutting everything into equal slices, I find it more interesting when the food is cut in various different shapes. In the example shown here I carefully thought about what different shapes (and textures) I wanted on my plate. So I created circles (the golden beetroot), swirls (the pasta), half circles (the tomato), crescents (the radishes). This works not just because the different shapes pique our interest but also because the light will fall differently on the various shapes we've created, casting interesting light and shadow points. The lovely thing about Sapien Stone worktops is that you can cut your vegetables and fruits directly on it, - to create all the beautiful shapes just mentioned - and it stays timelessly beautiful.
Worktop: Calacatta I LOOOVVEEE it!
5. A BEAUTIFUL MESS
In general we want our food to look top, natural and effortless. Nothing should look forced or unnatural. It should feel and look effortless and casual. We achieve this in part by using the trick of the 'beautiful mess'. To give the image an organic feel we use elements of the dish to scatter in the scene. See how the radishes and tomatoes are found here and there? These little touches give the feel of a beautiful mess; we are drawn into the 'story' of the dish and believe that this could be a scene from our own kitchen. Now, of course when you're actually serving the food, get rid of the mess because your guests might think you're untidy ;)
6. COMPOSITION
For your food photography images to look as beautiful as in magazines, you need to think carefully about your composition. I love using the composition technique of the triangle. This is where you place 3 plates in the shape of a triangle, as I did in one of the images here. Just imagine connecting the plates with 3 lines - see how they form a triangle? It's an easy but really effective composition tool you can use in your own food styling.
BONUS: TOP TIP
My bonus tip is to practice, practice, practice! The more you work on your food styling and presentation, the better it will get. So with that in mind, please pick up some pretty produce, head into your kitchen and create!
Kimberly Espinel
The Little Plantation – Facebook – Instagram
