Professional food photographer Rachel Korinek is sharing some great advice on how to make the shooting angle work in your favor when taking pictures of dishes.
If you look at the header image of this article – do you think those gorgeous chocolate brownies would have looked as nice if they had been shot directly from above?
The Height of Your Dish and Props
The height of food basically falls into two categories; tall or flat.
Tall subjects are simply anything with height – like a bundt cake, an ice cream cone, or a burger with the lot. For tall subject you will usually default to shooting somewhere between a 45 degree angle to straight on. Going beyond 45 degrees can sometimes limit being able to see the full dish and layering.
Flat subjects are simply anything whose width is inherently larger than its height – like a tart, a cookie, or a pancake. For these types of subjects, default to shooting somewhere between straight above and a 75 degree angle. Going too close to 45 degrees will also accentuate their flat qualities.
There are quite a few foods that are dependant on serve-ware. A burger or cake can hold their own, but liquids, soups, salads, and puddings cannot. Which category these guys fall into is dependent on the food styling prop in which they are presented.
Take soup for instance, is it being served in a bowl, or is it a fancy cold soup served in a tall shot glass? The salad, is it served on a plate or a large glass bowl? What sort of holder is the liquid in; tall, short, opaque? Is it in a flat tray because you’re about to freeze it and turn into granita?
The Layers in Your Dish and on Set
Layers in a dish are the number of visual components in a recipe. The classic example is a burger with seven layers, bun, meat patty, cheese, sauce, slice of tomato, lettuce, bun. Or a layer cake with seven layers, cake, jam, cream, cake, jam, cream, cake. So to get the best food photography shots, you’ll want to choose an angle that exposes these layers in their best light.
Layers on set are the number of elements or props that you have on your set (props) on top of one another. For example, napkin, plate, and garnish would be three layers and would appear on top of one another. I don’t count the food/recipe as a layer as it is the subject and will always be present. If the prop layers are an important part of telling the food story, you’ll want to make sure your angle captures those elements too.
Next time you’re doing a food photography shoot, put the following into practice:
- Thinking about whether your dish falls into the tall or flat category.
- Are there layers in your dish, or through your use of props on set?
- For tall foods, especially those with layers, explore angles between straight on and 45 degrees.
- For flat foods, explore angles between overhead and 75 degrees.
- Take a few shots with different angles outside the recommended ones above, and look for the OK, better, hero shots.
Read the full article with example photos over at Digital Photography School.
Source: Digital Photography School
