Taking great pictures of different food dishes isn't as easy as it appears to be in cook books and food advertisements. Great care should be exercised when taking these shots. Things that need to be considered include the dish's angle, composition, lighting, as well as problems that may arise. Here are some guides to help you improve the quality of your pictures.
Lighting:
Consider the lighting in the kitchen or venue where you will shooting the dishes. It is a good idea to know this in advance so that you no longer have to make adjustments right there in the venue.
Dark venues may be corrected by using a row of flourescent lighting which possesses diffusers. The drawback of this method is that the image will have a subdued shade of green. Depending on the camera that you have, it may have a setting that neutralizes the effects of flourescent lighting or a magenta filter may be used to compensate.
Stability of tripods:
Since you are taking pictures of food, every shot is done at close range. Unlike shots taken at a distance, shots done in close up are sensitive to movement.
Any sudden moves and the picture will be ruined. Focusing on the subject also becomes easier when using a tripod or even just a stack of magazines.
Food presentation:
To get that professional look, cut the dish in geometric shapes. Proper arrangement of the food is also important so that you will be able to showcase the dish's ingredients as well as its strengths.
Garnishing the food that you will shoot will enhance its natural colors, making it more appealing to the eyes.
Focusing on the subject:
A rather dull photo will become vibrant and dynamic if care is taken when focusing and adjusting the field depth of the camera.
If your camera doesn't have manual focus, depressing the camera's shutter button halfway to lock the focus at that specific depth. Recomposing the focus can be done by changing the position of the camera while the shutter button is still depressed halfway.
Automatic cameras usually lack aperture or depth of field. Some purposely adjust the aperture such that the background becomes a blur to heighten the subject's features while others prefer that a wider depth of field is used to capture the whole scene.
These are some of the things that you should know regarding food photography. Constant practice will help you produce better shots. Follow your instincts. Sometimes this allows you to take better shots.