FoodtographyExploring the art of food photography

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Social media is filled with photographs of people’s meals and food.

Why is food such a popular topic of conversation on social media?Do you think sponsored social media posts are ethical?

Discuss

Artists and designers use food to decorate designs and as a muse. This is the work of Julie Lee.

http://julieskitchen.me/

Why do you think artists choose food as a muse?

Discuss

FoodvertisingPhotographs are used to sell food, restaurant experiences and food related intellectual property such as recipes.

Food photography is used to sell, promote and communicate ideas in the physical analogue print world...

Print

...and online in the virtual world.

Online

These Martha Stewart’s Magazines are example of glamorous food photography. The well crafted photographs and design makes the food look as good as it tastes.

Case Study

Unlike these photographs...

...which cased an Internet sensation when Martha Stewart posted them on her Instagram account!

When is it misleading to make food look more appetising than it is?Image from The ABC’s the Checkout segment Product Vs. Packet Shot.

Discuss

On a food photo-shoot there are two popular techniques are commonly used; strong side lighting and shallow depth of field. Colour correction is a key focus in digital darkroom/post-production editing stage.

This photograph shows how new technology has made photography compact and accessible. https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rz-LdKQeugc/maxresdefault.jpg

Techniquehttps://i.ytimg.com/vi/rz-LdKQeugc/maxresdefault.jpg

Dutch painters in the Seventeenth Century used dramatic side light-ing on their still life artworks. This image are Still Life with a Silver Jug and a Porcelain Bowl, Wil-lem Kalf, 1655 - 1660 and Still Life with Fish and Fruit, Harmen Steenwijck, 1652. High resolution images sourced from www.rijksmuseum.nlf

Side Lighting

Examples of side-lit food.

Fish would be one of the most challenging foods to photograph Because it has the potential to be very unappealing.

http://digital-photography-school.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/food-photography-kit.jpg http://www.dpatrick.com/media/original/saladmasters_stills_1510010500.jpg

Shallow depth of field essentially means that only a small specific spot is in focus. A blurred background can simplify a complex ‘busy’ image and draw the eye to one area.

Shallow Depth of Fieldhttp://www.thephotographerslife.com/wp-content/media//2013/11/PadThai.jpg http://digital-photography-school.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/depth-of-field-final.jpg

Experiment with angle, focus, depth of field and lighting. Practice using the tropes of food photography and break the rules!

To achieve shallow depth of field use a camera with manual focus or aperture controls. Reflectors can be easily made with aluminium foil and LED lights are cheap.

Have a Go!