Use all-natural light
First and foremost, the lighting has to be right. The right lighting will make the food glow! If you’re in a restaurant, choose a table near a window. Never use a flash. “The flash flattens everything out,” says photographer John Kernick.
The ideal set-up is a next to a large window, with a white curtain to diffuse the light. These carrots are a good example, but the photographer didn’t focus correctly, so they are not crisp. Which is critical in all ways for carrots!
Learn to color balance.
Especially in situations where natural light is unavailable, your photos can have a yellow or blue cast that makes food look terrible. Use the white balance setting on your camera, or adjust the color digitally later on with a program like Photoshop or Paintshop Pro.
Choose a setting that enhances, but doesn’t distract from your food.
Pick a simple, plain background or tablecloth. Use plates whose color contrasts with or harmonizes with your food, but not ones that are the same color. Be sure surfaces are free of smudges and greasy fingerprints, says food stylist Alison Attenborough. In good light, they really stand out. For food to look delicious, it needs to look fresh.
Pay attention to backgrounds and clear out any elements you don’t want in the final shot.
Using a wider aperture to blur the background will help.
Hold still.
In low-light situations like restaurants and kitchens, long exposures will register any camera movement as blur. Use a tripod whenever possible. If you don’t have one, try resting your camera on a water glass or the back of a chair. Or make yourself a string tripod.
Take lots of pictures.
Move around the food and see what angle looks best. The picture may look great in the tiny lens of the camera, and not when you get home. So take tons of pictures.
Get in as close as you can.
Use the macro setting on your camera if it has one. Fill the frame with the food, so the viewer can almost taste it.
Or widen the aperture to reduce the depth of field, which allows you to focus on foreground details—say, the crusty corner on a dish of macaroni and cheese—and keep the background soft.
Have fun!!
