Food Photography Tip of the Week |3|

Try adding a textured surface to give your photos a bit more natural, life-like quality.

This is not to say that a textured surface is always the right way to go. It is, however, one tool you can try if you’re looking to add something new to your photos.

It all depends what you’re going for. Do you want a clean and very simple photo? In that case a flat surface may be best. Do you want a moodier, more natural feel? Try adding texture with natural fabrics, wood, crinkled parchment or brown bags, burlap, etc.

You can use them as a surface or a backdrop but for today I focused on surfaces [since I’m currently enamored with bird’s-eye-view photos].

To start, I placed a cut avocado on a flat piece of wood. It contrasts well and is fairly simple with a bit of shadow at the bottom of the image.

Now let’s try adding some texture.

I placed a kitchen towel over the gray surface and allowed the folds and ripples to stay put.

This adds shadow and a bit of movement while not distracting away from the avocado. The natural colored fabric also gives the photo a softer feel.

I’m a big fan of keeping surfaces and backdrops simple but layering textures can sometimes be nice. The burlap offers a tightly woven, flat textured surface while the towel pattern is much larger in scale creating contrast with the burlap. The towel also adds contrast in color with the avocado, ties in the green, and adds shadow when the avocado is placed on top.

For another example:

I placed a clean sheet of parchment paper on top of black foam board which set a moody tone but crinkled parchment over burlap gives a much more rustic, natural quality to the photo. It gives a more real-life quality in my eyes.

The asparagus is fairly simple in color and not overly textured [in comparison to something like curly kale], so the crinkled parchment paper works well as a surface to place the roasted asparagus on top of.

Another example of layering textures which adds to the image but doesn’t distract from the food.

I couldn’t be more excited for this series and am happy to hear you are all enjoying it as well!

What are your thoughts on tip #3? Have you experimented with textures?

Ashley

Food Photography Tip #2: try using small plates, bowls, and utensils

In most cases I much prefer to use small bowls, plates, and utensils in my food photos because:

the food looks contained and doesn’t wander on the plate
easier to fill, ie: like when photographing ice cream in multiple bowls
the amount of food looks more plentiful
brings more focus to the photo
highlights the food instead of distracting attention away from it
easier to fit multiple plates/bowls into the frame
small props cost less

I like to check Crate + Barrel, Anthropologie, CB2, and World Market for small pops. Crate + Barrel is one of my favorites because they have a lot of matte colored items and change their stock frequently [search “appetizer plates”].

This smaller bowl helps bring your eye to the center strawberry, as opposed to the above photo where the strawberries kind of wander..

$3.95, 5-inch bowl from C+B

Too much white space.

Using a small plate in this photo creates shadows around the edge and contains the toast without causing a distraction.

$3 appetizer plate from C+B – [same plate as above, only smaller]

In this photo using a large plate leaves a messy feeling.

However, using a large plate is still okay! Try adding a few extra touches to bring more interest to the photo.

These smaller, 4.5-inch wide bowls from World Market [very old, not sure on price] were perfect for this soup. I was able to get everything I wanted in the frame and still leave open space to help balance the photo.

$2.95, 6-inch plates below from C+B

Check out these tiny, 3-inch wide bowls from Anthropologie. I have four and absolutely love them. I think they were $3 each? The mini spoons were from C+B years ago and were $1-2.

It is so much easier to fill up a tiny bowl when shooting ice cream!