See how Capital Club 16 in Raleigh, NC Skillfully Uses Their Instagram Account for Restaurant Marketing.

If you are involved in the restaurant industry and you still need convincing that using social media is a great way to market your restaurant…then…stop…reading…this.  This is not for you.  Do another Google search and let someone else try to convince you that it’s worth your time.  This is for those that ‘Get It’, those ‘in the know’, and the go-getters that go…and get.  WE get it, and it’s time to move forward.  Even though we are focused on ‘food photography’ here at Your Kitchen Camera, we feel a slight deviation from our focus can still help.  So, below you will find some pointers and tips on how we feel you can use photography, particularly with the Instagram platform, to stay in touch with your customer base and share and highlight that which makes your restaurant worthy of a visit.

In looking for visual examples to relate to this post, I simply got on my own personal Instagram account, looked at the restaurants that I follow and asked myself…”Who does a good job?”  A good job of keeping me interested, a good job of showcasing themselves, a good job of staying relevant within my feed, and not getting buried or lost amongst the rest of the visual fodder.  After finding that Capital Club 16 in Raleigh NC ‘does a good job’, I asked ‘What is it about their Instagram feed that I like?’…basically…

How are they doing a good job marketing their restaurant on Instagram?

Here is the gist:  Through their imagery on Instagram, they support their main focus.  For them (and it may be different for you), they wanted to have a place where their customers feel as if they were ‘at home’ in their kitchen.  They vary the types of images they post so monotony is never an issue, they keep it light and fun, they offer a window into ‘life’ at the restaurant and they support those ‘other’ businesses that help them stay successful.  Need it simpler?  The are open and sharing.

First off, They Highlight Their Food:

Capital Club 16 does a great job of showcasing their dishes that make them unique to anywhere else in-town.  Whether it be a brunch special with seasonal vegetables, their latest drink specials or a fresh salad, newly created in the kitchen.

Occasionally, to break the monotony of repeating too many of the same angles of their food shots, they will show food but also incorporate some life into the shot by adding some of the staff.  It adds to the personality of their restaurant and creates an inviting, less formal and more family-ish feel.

Not only do they showcase food photography of their dishes but often, they will highlight individual  ingredients, showcasing their beauty and freshness and often, they will showcase other businesses that they work with, or their regualar suppliers of their ingredients.  This ‘sharing’ is what social media is thriving upon and people respond well to businesses that are not just out there for themselves.

Secondly, They show some behind the scenes Action

They get back in the kitchen with Chef Jake Wolf, they show staff having fun,  serving food, getting ready for events.

Again, the message conveyed supports their goal of making everyone part of the family, and wanting their customers to feel that sense of comfort in their restaurant…who wouldn’t want to be a part of it?  Maybe your restaurant has a different goal for itself.  Maybe it wants to be the formal, dressed up, celebrity-chef driven and star rated establishment.  Possibly you run a quick serve lunch spot for business lunches…no matter what you are trying to share just be sure that the images you use on your Instagram account supports that goal and tells that story.

Also, they show the dining room and restaurant

Likewise, as a deviation from repeating the same images, Capital Club 16 will sprinkle in little ‘vignettes’ of the restaurant, or events as they happen, or small visual cues at customers having a pleasant and comfortable time.  Atmosphere is important in a restaurant business and you’ll want to showcase not only ‘what’ you serve, but also ‘where’ you serve it.

Some of the Best images on Instagram are the personal ones.

People love being invited in to share.  Occasionally, on the Capital Club 16 Instagram account, you will see glimpses further into the lives of owners’ Jake and Shannon Wolf.  Whether it be there son Johnny, having his way with the latest dessert offering or a quiet moment of their dog, Tiny Wolf, getting ready for Tuesday night’s Honky Tonk jam…they get personal and they get creative.  Sometimes they will even combine a simple view of their life  into a flyer-style advertisement.   It breaks the monotony, keeps it personal and interesting to watch as a viewer of their Instagram account.

No matter what your marketing goal and message is for your restaurant, using photography on social media platforms such as Instagram can be a great tool as long as the images you create support that story.

Thank you to Capital Club 16 in Raleigh for allowing me to use their images.  Visit their website Capital Club 16 or see and follow more of their wonderful Instagram feed @capital_club_16

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Creating A False Bottom When Food Styling

In food styling, all that you see in the photograph is not the whole story. If a block is propping up a piece of chicken or a sponge is tipping up a bun…well, unless the camera sees it, it doesn’t really matter. This is one of the magical things about food styling. Solutions can be created to make a better photograph or make your shot simpler.

I’m going to share a couple good tricks which were recently used for a paper product commercial. The client wanted a cherry pie baked in their paper bakeware. The dish, being deep, would have required a large quantity of cherry filling. This filling would not be stable and could possibly cave in. A dandy solution to this is to create a false bottom with mashed potatoes. With the amazing, if not disturbing, amount of ready-made foods available, you can buy them, already mashed, in the refrigerator section of your grocery store. These mashed potatoes can have many uses in food styling but today we’ll concentrate on pies.

In this case, only the top of the baking dish was going to show so the base of the cherry pie could be filled with mashed potatoes. Then we added the cherry pie filling covering the false bottom. Lattice strips were added and baked and voila! Cherry pie!

In another scenario, the cake was originally baked in a paper dish. It was heavy and the producer felt that it would be painful for the model to hold it, take after take. A quick fix was to remove the center of the cake, then insert a smaller paper dish, upside down in it’s place, therefore lightening the cake. The cake was then frosted and decorated. The surface was flat so you couldn’t tell there was a false bottom.

We’ve Got Plenty more ‘Food Styling’ Tips and Tricks, Check out our Food Styling Posts Here.

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As I attempted to hone my skills working in photography, for a little while, I found myself employed at a commercial studio which allowed me vast opportunity to learn.  One of the little tricks I picked up while working there came from an excellent Art Director that I had the pleasure of working with.  As a beginner, I would often set up a shot and prepare it to a point where I thought it sufficient and then would call her to the set for approval.  After staring at the same scene for what would at times take hours it was always be best to have a fresh set of eyes come and look at the end result…and break you down.  This particular Art Director had not only given me the space to learn but also provided a great perspective on things that I was unaccustomed to look for.  One of the aspects of photography and styling that I learned while working with her was to be aware of ‘Tangents’.  Admittedly, before working there, I had no idea what a tangent was, and after a little research online, one can quickly discover that there are multiple forms of ‘tangents’, but the one that we concerned ourselves with the most was the ‘Shared-Line’ tangent.  She had such a knack for seeing these little anomalies, where I had missed them, and it is amazing how natural an image ‘feels’ after fixing them.

Both of these aspects of photography described below are designed to help improve ‘feeling’ of your food photography.  There are times when either creating, or just viewing food photos that they seem just a little off.  There is nothing wrong with the lighting, the basic composition is there, the food looks well prepared and all the proper props are accounted for…but still…it’s unbelievable.  You look at it and it’s unsettling.  Something is forced.  Unnatural.  If you find yourself in this prediciment, take a few moments to consider these aspects.  A few minor tweaks of the details can make all the difference when trying to shoot a beautiful food photograph.

Tangents in Food Photography

The first two images below visually explain a common compositional flaw when shooting food photos containing multiple elements.  The sharing of a line or edge between two objects is often referred to as ‘A Tangent’ and can visually offset the natural feel of an image.  The third image below shows how one can alleviate the effect by one of two ways:  By moving the object to either define ‘more space’ between them or by moving the object to show a ‘clear overlapping’.  

Shared Line-Tangents-Identified

Forced Placement in Food Photography

When placing objects around the frame to compose a food photograph, it is important to create the most natural feeling placement as possible and it helps to create within the image both, overlapping elements and elements with natural and varied spacing in between.  Once you begin to group elements either too close together or with ‘exact’ spacing in between, they tend to have a ‘forced’ or ‘obviously staged’ look.  The below examples are a pushed a bit to the farther ends of the spectrum between too clumped together or too evenly spaced to make the point.

Too Close Together

Too Evenly Spaced

Natural Spacing and Overlapping

 When setting up a scene for your food photography it is not only good to create a basic composition but to also explore further and make minor adjustments that help the natural ‘feel’ of the image.  Even though we used a basic set up to exemplify this idea, be sure to scan the entire image and look for tangents.  They can be found in the props, on the food, with walls and furniture in the background…just about anywhere.  It may take a couple attempts to ‘fix’ the problem and you may have to move the same object a couple of times to find the perfect ‘sweet spot’ to fix it.  You may also consider removing an object completely from the scene, but the best advice I can give is to keep adjusting the scene until it ‘feels’ right.  Use your guts and intuition as your guide, there is no hard and fast rule on where things should be or how they should be spaced.  You just have to ‘feel’ it.

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Denver based chef, Christopher Cina, who is accustomed to and skilled at shooting his own food photography, presents this guest post discussing his personal experience when deciding on how to best present a dish.  Whether it’s for consumption by a paying customer in your restaurant or if you are preparing a dish specifically for photography, Chef Cina offers some tips:

All images and words contained in this guest post are © property of Christopher Cina and any request for use must be made with copyright holder.

Presentation:  Customer vs. Camera Lens

It’s a tricky thing when I’m putting a plate together.  Part of me strives to make it attractive to the customer and the part of me with the camera always asks “Would that make a good photo”.  I’ve definitely noticed my tendency to design plates for the camera lately.  After having spent 27 years in kitchens and only 5 years behind a camera, the photographic elements (rule of thirds) I consider when taking a photo have definitely invaded my philosophy of plate presentation for the customer.  In essence you are trying to create the same thing whether for a photo or your dining room guest. 

The difference lies in the fact a photograph is only 2 dimensional and therefore sometimes extra steps must be taken to make your dish more photogenic.

Some may disagree but I definitely believe there are specific characteristics in plate presentations that make for better photos, height being one of the main ones.  I also think rounded plates photograph better than square plates, although in my dining room I prefer square plates for actually serving the food.  Moisture on your plates whether in the form of a sauce or dressing or water on your produce helps capture specular highlights, those little bright spots that help give a photo texture.  Dry plates tend to look a little flatter when shot on an angle.

Unfortunately you can’t always get the perfect dish to shoot every time, especially if you’re not the chef,  so knowing how to compensate for those dishes that are not really camera ready will help you avoid unflattering photos.

Height

In addition to adding more drama to your images, height also allows you to create more in the way of shadows adding to the drama and creating depth within your photo.  The above image on the left was shot with back lighting, showing off the highlights along the side of the fish while the other side without the highlights shows off the texture of a well seared piece of fish.  In the photo on the right, I was forced to use more front lighting since there was no height to create much in the way of shadows.  It’s an OK picture, shows the plate but it’s not an image you’re going to remember.  To fix that, I picked out a part of the dish that stood out…

Square Plates vs. Round

I find that sometimes square plates are more of a hindrance when photographing food.  If you’re not careful, you can create an image full of strong lines that pulls your eyes away from the subject….

I have always found round plates to be softer in a photo and help lead the eye towards the food rather than away or around it…

When shooting square plates, I always try to eliminate one side of the plate, completely if I can, if I can’t, at least 90% of it.  This helps to break up the lines and reduces the chances of your eye being lead somewhere else in the photo…

Moisture/Highlights

This dish is a housemade gnocchi with brussel sprouts and finished with apple Gastrique.  It looks dry although it really isn’t.  There is not enough liquid to pick up the highlights and definitely no reflective surfaces in this dish…

Most foods you’ll encounter while shooting have non-reflective surfaces (matte) by nature, meaning they are not glossy and don’t reflect light or pick up highlights on their own.  This happens during the cooking process and by nature, most vegetables are designed to absorb light rather than reflect it to help it grow.  A little water, oil or dressing is one way to help create the pretty highlights that will make a photo that much more memorable.  It’s  as easy as drizzling a little oil on your dish, or a quick spritz of water from a spray bottle to help take your photo to the next level.

Christopher Cina is a Denver based chef, photographer, and writer offering us his hands on perspective of how to effectively use food photography as a working chef.  To view more about Chef Cina, including links to his personal work please view ‘Our Contributors’ page here.

We carry our conversations on our social media platforms.  To comment about this post or ask us any specific questions related to ‘food photography’ please visit Your Kitchen Camera on Facebook or @YourKitchenCam on Twitter.

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I am a firm believer that ‘simplicity’ is most effective, especially when communicating through a visual medium.  In her food photography series, Cut Food,  New York based still life and food photographer, Beth Galton, exemplifies that point with great skill.  I feel her work is a fantastic example how shifting one’s perspective, even slightly, can provide very interesting and different results.  In this series, on which she collaborated with food stylist and culinary creative director, Charlotte Omnès, Galton takes what some may consider ‘usual’ food objects, that are inheriantly simple in and of themselves, but shows them cut into cross sections to expose a view that we are typically unaccustomed to seeing.  This simple act and the way in which Galton handles the subjects photographically, supply the viewer with an opportunity to find new visual interest in something they may have looked over if photographed normally.  Not only is there skill in the simplicity showcased with the general idea behind Galton’s Cut Food series, but the repetition of a straight-on angle and the clean and consistent black background in the series also heightens the effect of this simple idea.  There is a fantastic, two dimensional, graphic effect created by doing so, but simultaniously, the simplicitic-new view showcased draws the viewer into to image to explore further.  After which, one may question beyond the ‘simple’ presentation and actually begin to consider…How they actually pulled these shots off?

All images contained in this post are © property of Beth Galton and request for use must be obtained throught the copyright holder.

Food Photography by Beth Galton: Selections from Cut Food Photo Series

To see more food photography by Beth Galton please visit her website here.

To see more food styling by Charlotte Omnes please visit here website here.

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Humility…I just love that word. I’ve been thinking about it lately, as a big dose of it was delivered to my life in the form of knee replacement surgery. This was by far the toughest physical event I’ve ever had to endure in my life. Up until that point, I thought I was stoic, tough with pain and able to breeze through whatever physical problems came my way. Boy, was I mistaken. I realized I am neither stoic nor tough and that I wasn’t breezing through this. I was in pain, dependent on family and friends and unable to do much of anything for myself without a walker to get me there…I was humbled. It has been a tough road. With the miraculous ability of the human body to heal itself and Physical Therapy, I’m happy to say I’m looking in the rear view mirror at those rough days. I’m not quite there yet but I’m well on my way.

What does this story have to do with food styling? It’s that word humility. For me, it’s been good to be reminded of my weaknesses with a good dose of “I’m not all that” staring me in the face.

In food styling, as in every profession or endeavor, we don’t come into it knowing it all. We accumulate information along the way from many sources.

I realize this as I look back on my experience in food styling. It’s that excited sharing of information, in the moment, which compounds and eventually becomes vast. I look at all I have learned through the years and, in most cases, cannot specifically name where or from whom I learned it! There are exceptions to this of course but it is generally true. It’s more about the approach, passion and curiosity…eventually it all gets absorbed like water in a sponge. There are so many places to find inspiration all around us. Cookbooks, magazines, blogs, websites, Pinterest boards…there is a visual feast out there if we keep our eyes open!

Those that are experts (which really means experienced and well seasoned) can teach us a lot because they have been in the trenches and know the tricks of the trade. There is more information out there now than there has ever been, but until the last few years, we learned by doing…the hard way sometimes. I wonder who the first food stylist was that created ice cream that doesn’t melt, or created a gooey “cheese pull” on pizza, or figured out a substitute for champagne on the fly? Oftentimes a clever “trick” in food styling was born of a problem that needed a solution. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been doing something, there is always room to learn something new in Food Styling.

I overheard a former culinary school student’s response to the question, “Did you learn a lot in school?”. She said, “No, not really…nothing that I didn’t already know”. Wow, that’s sad. How boring would life be without learning something new, every single day of it?  I hope I never know all there is to know, never forget to check my ego at the door and remember always, what it’s like to be humbled.

As I write this blog…the teacher becomes the student. What would you like to learn? I would love any feedback, questions, suggestions for posts or just hearing your stories.

Very humbly yours,

Laura

We carry our conversations on our social media outlets.  Please feel free to connect with us and ask questions or share your input.  Help us learn from you…

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 London based creative photographer Dominic Davies had plenty of experience shooting album art imagery for the music industry but when asked to create images for Heston Blumenthal’s book The Fat Duck, he had to embrace a new challenge since he had no experience shooting food.  ”I liked the idea of doing something I had never done before and doing it really well.” (From and interview with Fine Dining Lovers).  To prepare for the shoot he was granted access to the kitchen during a dinner service and he spent the entire time ‘just watching’, in order to have a better understanding of the processes and the mindset that goes into making the dishes for The Fat Duck.  Davies explains a transference from his past experience of being able to relate ‘music’ in an image to being able to translate ‘taste’.  After winning a James Beard Award in Photography for his work, Davies continues to push and test the boundaries with multiple collaborations with food partner Andrew Stellitano.  

Dominic Davies’ work that went into creating The Fat Duck book has an undeniable appeal.  Not only are the shots executed with photographic skill but by mixing showcase images of plated dishes alongside more creatively inspired scenes involving the food, Davies work weaves in and out of normal expectations of a ‘food photograph’.  What I find most interesting is that with further exploration into Davies’ non-food related work you can actually get a better understanding of his perspective as an artist and how he was challenged by the project and how he successfully achieved his goal of “doing it really well.”  I highly recommend spending time on his personal portfolio site and witnessing the many galleries created.  It seems to me that part of Davies’ process and therefore success is based in a huge amount of exploration and testing one’s limits.

For our purposes here a viewing of his food work from ‘The Fat Duck’: but keeping in mind…he had never shot food before…he took on the challenge and applied his skills.  When viewing his work ask yourself how you can challenge yourself in your own work?  What can you do that you’ve never done before?  

All images contained in this post are © property of Dominic Davies and request for use must be obtained through the copyright holder.

Food Photography by Dominic Davies for The Fat Duck

View more of Dominic Davies photography work here on his portfolio site.

 See some of Dominic Davies experiments (including collaborations with Andrew Stellitano) on his Tumblr.

 Connect with Dominic Davies Photographer on Facebook.

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The following discussion is designed to give you an understanding of some basic photographic concepts that can be applied to creating better food photography.  They are geared towards food photography beginners and will help develop a foundation of knowledge to build upon.  If you are completely new to food photography, yet want to learn, I would recommend starting with our post Understanding Light for Food Photography which will give you some fundamentals and general descriptions covering the concepts of light, after which you can return here to begin experimenting further.

Whether you are using natural light or artificial light for your food photography makes no difference to the concepts we are introducing below.  

We feel there are differences and advantages to both natural and artificial light but highly encourage you to practice using both.  It is hard to beat setting up your shot next to a nicely lit window, of course, until the sun goes down…then what?  The discussion below will hold true for whatever light source you are using so set up by a window, go to a hardware store and pick out a work light, or set up your studio soft boxes for this one…it’s all good.

Food Photography Lighting Concept -Main Light and Fill Light

Let’s begin with some definitions:

Main Light- (we hope this is obvious)- Main Light is the single strongest light source that is illuminating your subject,The Source, from which the majority of light for the image is coming from.  In photography it is also referred to as the ‘Key’ light.  As stated before, the main light can be supplied by any type of source such as by a window, a work light, the overhead fluorescents in the room, or a specific studio designed light.  Note: The Main Light is responsible for defining ‘the direction’ of light in an image and also creates the (main) shadows.  Therefore, the easiest way to discover where the main light is located in an image is to look at the shadows of the main subject.

Fill Light- Fill Light refers to any secondary source of light that is used to ‘fill in’ the subject of the image.  The term stems from the concept of filling in the shadows created by the main light with more light.  Fill Light is used to fill in shadows as well as increase the brightness of the subject overall.  Fill light can be supplied by either adding a secondary light or by using reflecting materials that ‘bounce’ light supplied by the Main Light back into the subject.  These items are, at times, called fill cards or bounce cards.  Any bright, reflective material can be used…a piece of white paper or even a bed sheet.  The most commonly used fill cards are just basic white board or poster board that can be purchased at an art supply store.  (Heck, I even saw some poster board in the ‘office supply’ aisle at the grocery store the other day.)

To keep this discussion basic we have begun with one Main Light source and a Fill Card (white poster board) and have set up a Side Light Scenario which refers to the main light coming from the side.  Also for beginning ease, we have set the light to an exact 90 degree angle from camera to subject and also the exact height of the camera on the tripod…no frills for this lesson.

Here is an over head diagram of our set up:

Points to Understand Main Light and Fill Light for Food Photography

- In the first image above we begin with just a Main Light with no Fill Card.  There are two clues that will help you discover where the main light is in an image: the ‘highlights’ on a subject and the ‘shadow’ that’s cast by the subject.  Looking at the detail shot in the first above image, (and pretending that we didn’t show you the actual set up), one could see that since the ‘shadow’ that is cast by the subject is on the left and the ‘highlight’ created by the Main Light is on the right, then the main light of the image is coming from the right hand side of the shot.

Understanding the above concept, determine where the main light is coming from in these food photos:

- After we have determined the main light position we can begin to add ‘Fill Card’ to the opposite side of a subject to fill in the cast shadows and also to brighten the shadow side of the main subject.  In our set up shots above make note of the difference between the first apple detail (NO Fill) and the Second apple detail (12″ Fill) in which a white card is placed directly opposite the main light, 12 inches away.  Make note of how much the shadow cast by the apple has been ‘filled’ with light and how the shadow side of the apple is beginning to brighten up.

-Now, by adjusting the distance of the fill card to the main subject we can make a determination on the amount of ‘fill’ we want, by moving it closer or further away (12″ fill vs. 6″ fill).  Make note of all three images and how the addition of a fill card changes the light and also how ‘the distance’ of that fill card can also shift the aesthetic.

-This is the Fun Part!  There are no rules to the amount of fill an image should have.  It’s totally up to you and your desired results.  There will be times when you’ll want to create an image with deep dark shadows and high contrast and times where the overall light, bright and airy image will suit your needs.  No matter what you decide, a basic understanding of Main Light and Fill Light is necessary to build upon your food photography lighting skills.

Go Practice Your Food Photography:

Start off as simple as possible.  Get a single subject, a piece of fruit or cup of coffee.  Get a single source of light (by a window, grab a lamp, set up your strobe).  Get a white card (a piece of paper or a bed sheet) and play around with moving the Main Light around and shifting the fill card closer and further away until your desired results are achieved.

Just in case you have some technical photographic knowledge and you ‘must’ know…all of these (apple) images were created at the same settings: aperture: f8 shutter speed: 1/160 iso: 100 and using an off camera flash equipped with a small soft box set at 1/4 (+2/3) power.  If this is Greek to you…don’t fret…it matters not in the grand scheme, we just know there are some ‘nerds’ out there.   : )    Also, since we are focused on food photography here at Your Kitchen Camera we designated this as a ‘food photography’ concept but happy surprise…this basic knowledge…is universal to any type of photography so learn it, understand it, and take it out into the world and apply it to portraits, still life, or architectural photography as well.

We carry our conversations on our social media outlets.  If you have any food photography questions or would like to comment on this post please visit our Facebook and Twitter pages and feel free to join the conversations!

The post A Basic Food Photography Lighting Lesson- Understanding Main Light and Fill Light appeared first on Food Photography_Food Style_Your Kitchen Camera.

In our previous food photography discussions I have attempted to share with you photographic work that pushes the boundaries of the definition of a food photograph.  I have also tried to exemplify how a single ingredient can be treated, by itself, as Art.  When I came across the food photography work of Richard Haughton I felt that his work correlated some of the points I was previously touching upon and wanted to share some more examples to reinforce the thinking.

Richard’s work is something different than what you may typically find as ‘popular’ on many of the food photography viewing platforms.  Clearly his approach is based more from an artistic- ‘still life’ mindset and also obvious is that he is talented with creating studio light to highlight his subjects.  His food images are  most often stark and clean, with very little prop styling.  He is a master when it comes to letting food stand on it’s own merit and treats it as a thing of beauty, whether just as bare food product itself or as a presented dish.  Through viewing his work, one can surmise that he is working with some of the most creative chef’s around, and that should not discourage the average, everyday, ‘at home’ or ‘in a restaurant’ type food photographer.  There are still lessons that can be learned just by looking at his work:

When viewing the images here or on his website be sure to be mindful of his use of basic compositional elements such as: Color, Line, Texture, Shape, Repetition, and Negative Space.  Also keep in mind the simplicity and cleanliness of his imagery.  There is usually very little environment added and most images are created on very clean, simple backgrounds so that the focus of beauty remain on the food itself and not the environment in which it is placed.  All of this intentional action on his part creates a cohesive style of photography that showcases the subject as Art itself.

All images contained in this post are © property of Richard Haughton and request for use must be obtained through the copyright holder.  See contact below.

Treating food and ingredients as Art

In a previous post I introduced the discussion on ‘Treating an individual ingredient as Art’ and these shots by food photographer, Richard Haughton are great examples to support the theory.  With basic compositional knowledge, one can highlight the natural beauty in food.

Treating plated dishes as Art

Similar to the above photos, Haughton maintains simplicity when shooting plated dishes.  His use of simple and clean backgrounds help the viewer to retain focus on the food itself and not the environment in which it is places.  Granted, he is working with some experts on plating and some really experienced chefs that know about presentation, but by creating such simplicity in the photograph the food becomes even further elevated as it is displayed to the viewer…as art…in and of itself.

Food Photography with Simple Environments

Even when Haughton decides to add some environment, he still remains reserved and only uses backgrounds to support composition and reinforce the focus upon the main subject.  Often times in food photography…less is more.

To view more of photographer Richard Haughton’s work and to contact him directly please visit his portfolio website www.richardhaughton.com

We carry our conversations on our social media platforms Facebook and Twitter.  If you would like to say something about the post or any other food photography related subject please follow us and jump in with questions or comments.

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One photography technique that can be easily used in restaurant marketing is to create some editorial type ‘action’ shots to share on your website, social media outlets or printed collateral.  These types of shots work well in contrast to standard food photography of plated dishes.  They help to add personality to your business and shares with your customers, and others, the inner workings and behind the scenes views of what is happening in your restaurant.  By showing employees at work, or ‘the action’ of meals being prepared, the viewer becomes more interested and connected to the process, your restaurant, and all that goes into what they see on the plate.

One way to highlight the ‘action’ of your restaurant in a behind the scenes shot is by creating ‘motion blur’ in the image.  By using the captured blur of a moving object a photographer can bring a livelihood to an image and create visual interest.

There are multiple ways in which images with motion blur can be used in the restaurant environment:

Show the wait staff in motion:

Whether it be selecting wine or setting up a dinning room for dinner service, showing the wait or bar staff at work creates some nice images to share alongside food photos of plated dishes.

Show the action of the kitchen

Many of your customers may be interested in the techniques that go into creating the dishes and with the increase in popularity of shows like Top Chef, many people are excited to see into the kitchen.  Highlighting the hustle and the bustle of a busy kitchen can help put some perspective on what actually goes on back there.

Show the action of food prep

Using motion blur is a great method to share some detailed shots of kitchen techniques you may be using.

Follow these tips on how to create motion blur in your photography:

To create successful motion blur you will first need a camera or device that allows you to adjust ‘shutter speed’.  So refer to your manuals and get familiar on this option and how to adjust it.  Capturing motion requires slower shutter speeds, sometimes referred to as ‘dragging the shutter’.  When a slower shutter speed is chosen, the shutter remains open longer and allows your camera to capture the motion of a moving object or person.  If your camera is set for 1/500th of a second the shutter opens and closes so fast that a moving object is ‘frozen’ or ‘suspended’ in the action.  Adversely, if you ‘drag your shutter’ at speed of say, 2 seconds, the shutter will remain open for longer and the result will be the blurring of moving objects.

As a general rule of thumb:  Shutter speeds faster that 1/60th of a second will freeze action, and speeds slower than 1/60th of a second will begin to show signs of motion.

Please keep in mind, this is a general rule and a starting point.  The speed of the subject, the amount of light, your aperture, and ISO will all effect the variables.  But usually, I start 1/60th as a beginning point and typically start to note real noticeable motion blur changes at 1/15th and 1/8th and further down.  Since there are multiple variables…there is no hard and fast rule for the ideal shutter speed.  You will just have to treat each situation individually and adjust accordingly.

Another helpful tool to complete a successful motion blur is a tripod, or any other camera securing device or method.  Since you may be slowing the shutter below 1/60th the likelihood of you capturing ‘camera shake’ while trying to hand hold is highly feasible.  Use a tripod, and be gentle on the shutter release button.  If you can use a remote trigger, even better.

If you find that the selected shutter speed to capture the motion you want allows too much light then adjust the other variables that you have control over accordingly: such as selecting a smaller aperture, or a lower ISO.  Again, each situation will be unique so you will have to find the happy medium for your desired results…but this exploration is what makes photography so fun.  

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