Tips for Stunning Food Photography with TopWithCinnamon | Sorted Food
Summary
TLDRIn this informative session, food blogger Izzy from 'Top with Cinnamon' shares the fundamentals of food photography. She emphasizes the importance of natural light for its color and directionality, and how to achieve diffused light with simple techniques. Izzy also discusses the significance of camera angles, backgrounds, and the three key photography settings: ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. She highlights the benefits of shooting in RAW for post-editing flexibility. The session concludes with a nod to Izzy's engaging presence on her blog and social media.
Takeaways
- đ Natural light is crucial for food photography as it provides a nice color and directional quality, avoiding harsh artificial lights that can cast unwanted color tones.
- đĄ Diffused light, such as on a cloudy day or using a bed sheet next to a window, helps to soften shadows and enhances the visual appeal of the food.
- đž Two main shooting angles are recommended: top-down for a bird's-eye view, which is great for phone cameras, and the 3/4 angle for capturing the full scene and details like textures.
- đ« Focusing on textures and details, such as dripping chocolate, is important as it helps convey the sensory experience of the food.
- đš Using different backgrounds or fabrics can add variety to food photography, but the food itself should remain the main focus.
- đ Ensuring the food looks good to the naked eye is fundamental, as post-editing can only enhance what is already visually appealing.
- đ Understanding the three main camera settings for food photography: ISO for light sensitivity, aperture for focus control, and shutter speed for motion control.
- đ A low ISO setting (around 200 or 400) is preferred to minimize graininess in the photos, especially when using natural, diffused light.
- đ Adjusting aperture allows for creative focus, with a lower number resulting in a shallow depth of field and a blurred background effect.
- đ Shutter speed can be managed with a tripod in low light conditions, ensuring stability for slower speeds without blurring the image.
- đŒ Shooting in RAW format preserves more detail and information in the photo, allowing for greater flexibility during post-editing.
Q & A
What is the name of Izzy's food blog?
-Izzy's food blog is called 'Top with Cinnamon'.
What is the significance of natural light in food photography according to Izzy?
-Natural light is important in food photography because it has a nice color and provides a good directional hit, which can create a side or back light effect on the food, avoiding the harshness and color casts of artificial lights.
How can one achieve diffused light for food photography?
-Diffused light can be achieved by shooting on a cloudy day or by hanging a bed sheet next to a window to soften the light and reduce strong shadows.
What are the two main angles Izzy recommends for food photography?
-Izzy recommends shooting from a top-down angle, which works well with phone cameras, and a 3/4 angle, which allows capturing the full scene and composition of the dish.
Why is it important to capture textures in food photography?
-Capturing textures in food photography is important because it helps convey the sensory experience of the food, including its appearance and how it might smell or feel, which are key aspects of food presentation.
What types of backgrounds or fabrics does Izzy use for her food photography?
-Izzy uses different pieces of wood that she has found and put together to create various backgrounds for her food photography, enhancing the overall aesthetic of the photos.
What is the role of ISO in food photography?
-ISO determines the camera's sensitivity to light. A higher ISO makes the camera more sensitive but can result in a grainier photo. Izzy suggests keeping ISO low, around 200 or 400, to avoid graininess in natural, diffused light conditions.
How does aperture affect the focus in a food photograph?
-Aperture controls the depth of field. A lower aperture number (like 3.2 as mentioned by Izzy) results in a shallow depth of field, focusing on the foreground and blurring the background, creating a visually appealing effect.
What is the purpose of shutter speed in photography?
-Shutter speed determines the duration the camera's sensor is exposed to light. A slower shutter speed can be used in low light conditions with a tripod for stability to avoid photo blur.
Why is shooting in RAW format beneficial for food photography?
-Shooting in RAW format provides larger file sizes but retains more details and information from the original photo, allowing for greater flexibility and quality during post-editing.
How can one find more of Izzy's work on food photography?
-To see more of Izzy's work, one can visit her blog 'Top with Cinnamon' and her profile on Sorted Food, with links provided in the video description.
Outlines
đž Mastering Food Photography with Natural Light
In this paragraph, Izzy, a renowned food blogger and author, introduces the basics of food photography, emphasizing the importance of natural light for capturing the best colors and directional effects. She advises against artificial lights due to their harshness and potential to cast unwanted color tones. Izzy suggests shooting near a window for diffused light or outside on a cloudy day for a soft, even illumination. She also touches on the significance of food presentation, stating that if the food looks appealing in person, it will translate well to photos, and any post-editing will only enhance its appeal.
đ Exploring Angles and Composition in Food Photography
Izzy discusses the two primary angles used in food photography: the top-down view, which is ideal for mobile photography, and the 3/4 angle that allows for capturing the full scene and composition of the dish. She explains how these angles help to showcase textures and details, such as dripping chocolate, which are crucial for evoking the sensory experience of food. The paragraph highlights the importance of background and fabric selection to complement the food and fill the camera frame without overshadowing the main subject.
đ Understanding Camera Settings for Food Photography
This paragraph delves into the technical aspects of food photography, focusing on ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. Izzy explains that a lower ISO setting minimizes graininess in photos, while aperture controls the depth of field, with a lower number resulting in a more blurred background. She recommends shooting at an aperture of around 3.2 for a balanced focus. Shutter speed is discussed in the context of low light conditions, with the suggestion to use a tripod for stability when shooting at slower speeds. The paragraph concludes with a mention of shooting in RAW to preserve detail and flexibility in post-production editing.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄNatural Light
đĄDiffused Light
đĄTop-Down Angle
đĄ3/4 Angle
đĄTexture
đĄBackgrounds/Fabrics
đĄISO
đĄAperture
đĄShutter Speed
đĄRAW
đĄPost-Editing
Highlights
Natural light is crucial for food photography due to its pleasant color and directional quality.
Avoiding artificial lights is recommended as they can be too harsh or cast unwanted color tones.
Shooting outside on a cloudy day or near a window can provide diffused light, ideal for food photography.
Using a bed sheet to diffuse light from a window can soften shadows and enhance the food's appearance.
Two main shooting angles for food photography are top-down and the 3/4 angle, providing different perspectives.
Top-down angle is particularly suitable for phone cameras and allows for a full view of the dish.
The 3/4 angle helps capture the composition and details of the food, such as textures and dripping elements.
Different backgrounds or fabrics can enhance the visual appeal of the food in photographs.
The quality of the food itself is paramount; good natural appearance translates to better photographs.
ISO, shutter speed, and aperture are the three main camera settings to adjust for food photography.
A lower ISO setting reduces graininess in photos, ideal for natural and diffused light conditions.
Aperture adjustment controls the focus area, with a lower number creating a shallow depth of field.
Shutter speed affects the stability of the shot, with slower speeds requiring a tripod in low light.
Shooting in RAW format preserves more detail and offers greater flexibility in post-production.
Compression reduces file size but can compromise photo details, which RAW helps to avoid.
Izzy's expertise in food photography is showcased through her blog 'Top with Cinnamon' and her book.
For more insights into stunning food photography, Izzy's blog and Sorted Food profile are valuable resources.
Transcripts
here is our friend Izzy she runs an
incredible food blog called top with
cinnamon which is so good she turned it
into a book chances are if you search
for sexy looking food on the internet
you will have seen her work so therefore
we're here today to learn the basics of
stunning food photography now cooking
beautiful food is one thing but taking
beautiful photos is a whole another so I
don't know much about it I'm here to
learn what's the first thing we should
be looking out for well first off we
need to talk about
[Music]
light so natural light is the most
important thing because it has a really
nice color to it and also good kind of
like directional hit so you get a nice
like side light or back light to your
food also artificial lights can be too
harsh or else they can cast a kind of
like yellow or blue tone so you want to
avoid light bulbs and shoot outside or
by window yeah you can shoot outside
sometimes if it's like a nice kind of
cloudy day and you get diffused light
that way but otherwise I like to shoot
just right next to a window because
that's quite easy um but second of all
like I just talked about you just need
to have diffused light so a cloudy day
is perfect basically or else you can
take a bed sheet just like hang it up
next to your window it will diffuse the
light and kind of soften it so the
Shadows aren't too strong on the light
and then you'll just get a nice kind of
soft Shadow on your food and it will
look
[Music]
beautiful there are kind of two main
angles that I would use so either top
down where you're shooting with the
camera lens above the food that's really
good for phones because the camera works
really well with that kind of angle and
second of all I like to shoot kind of
straight on or just with a little bit of
an angle on it I call it 3/4 angle I'll
like pull out and then it means that
I'll have a nice big shot of everything
so you can kind of see the whole scene
and the different composition of mov of
the dish exactly and then you can go
straight in and get like Textures in the
actual food and see more details like
dripping chocolate or like which we know
is important with food it's all about
smell what it looks like and the texture
so you got to get that in the photo yeah
cool
you'll want to have different
backgrounds or Fabrics which you can
shoot on so I have lots of pieces of
different wood that I've just found and
just put together in a little square you
don't need that much to kind of fill the
frame of the camera at the end of the
day the food is the really important
thing you have to make it look really
good if it looks good to the naked eye
then it's going to look good on your
phone or on your camera you know any
post editing that you add later on is
just going to make it look better but if
the food doesn't look good at first
you're not going to make it look good
but just by like editing it later
on the three main things that you'll
need for food photography are ISO
shutter speed and aperture so first
we're going to talk about ISO which is
kind of how sensitive the camera is to
light so the higher the iso the more
sensitive the camera is to light the
only problem is the higher the iso the
grainier the photo will become so
ideally you want to keep the iso quite
low I like to shoot around 200 or 400 so
that's quite a good level and you won't
get too much grain in your phot and
that's if you're shooting with natural
diffused light like we SP before exactly
so aperture is kind of the one that I
really like to adjust because you change
how much is in Focus so if you have a
low aperture which is like a small
number then it means that less will be
in focus and I normally shoot at about
3.2 which means that you'll have like
the foreground in Focus but then things
in the background will be nice and
blurry so you get that like nice effect
shutter speed kind of is how far the
camera will take the photo so I shoot
around 100th of a second if you've got
quite low light then what you can do is
you can put your camera on a tripod if
you have one and that means that there's
more stability so you can have a slower
shutter speed and your camera your won't
like blur the photo so basically the
lens won't move as all the lights coming
in this takes me back to my pinhole
camera
days silence
Grandpa if you have a SL SLR one of the
really good things that you can control
is a thing called raw and it means that
the photos that you take won't be
compressed and compression is where
basically they take all the little kind
of details of your file and they smush
it up into one little ball so that it
makes it a smaller file size easier to
transfer yeah exactly and it takes up
less space on your computer and
everything but it means that you also
lose some of the kind of information
about the photo you've taken so if you
shoot in raw you'll have a really big
file size but it means that when you're
editing the photo later on you can do
more with it exactly and it kind of
stays more true to the image that you've
taken rather than adding a layer of
editing on top it edits the actual
information that you've got on the
camera Izzy thank you very much for
inviting us into your home and showing
us how food photography can be done so
beautifully if you want to see loads
more from Izzy check out her blog talk
with cinnamon we'll put the links down
below and check out her profile on
sorted food where you uploading amazing
stuff all the time
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