Food Photographer

By admin | Commercial Photographer
31 May 2010

Food Photographer – A Challenging Job

food images

Every time you stop by a restaurant or diner to have something to eat, you will definitely see some creative work of food photographer. The art of food photography is to make the subject looks appealing and appetizing; therefore people cannot resist buying it. This is not an easy task. First of all, it is not an easy job to make food look mouth watering and fresh. As we all know, food tends to go bad over time. Hot food will go cold, frozen food will melt, or fruits will change color. So as a food photographer you have to shoot quickly. If possible, have much commercial food on hand. Another tip to overcome this problem is by using a stand-in while waiting for it cooked. Prepare the background, props and lighting needed for a shoot. Using stand in with the same color of the real food is a big help in checking your exposure. By shooting with digital you can determine which shot is perfect and get approval from your client. When the food is delivered, you only need to replace the stand in with the real one and shoot for the perfect image. Like fashion photography, photographing a food is a team work. If the client has chefs, you will need them preparing the food for photo session. However, for the best result you will need help from food stylist. Food stylist can do several things from guide the chef on how to prepare the food for the shot; creating the right surrounding to picking props. Sometimes they ask the chef not too overcooked the food, because usually less heated food looks better than the fully cooked. Food stylist has some technique and trick to make food look appetizing for the shot, not for consumption. For example they used glycerin to make food looks moistened and have long lasting water drops, or acrylic ice cubes instead of a real one. But their service is rather costly and not every client can afford it. No matter what kind of art you create, from black and white to colored one, lighting is one of the most important aspects. A food photographer can use natural or artificial light to focus on certain area of the subject. Whether the color, texture or shape. Composition and angles are also an important component of food photography. You can learn this through many gourmet magazines and books. Being food photographer is one of the most challenging jobs, but once you overcome it you can shoot almost anything!

Photo by Jon Sullivan from Large Collection of Free Stock Photos