Food Photography

Credit goes to Amber Fox, Caroline Hunt and Kelly Clark of the Facebook group High School Photography Educators for the lesson idea, resources and WAGOLL images.

Fruit & Veggie Still Life

In this lesson you are going to set a still life of fruit or vegetables and take fabulous photographs of them.

  1. Before you start do a Google image search of Edward Weston and look at his amazing photographs.

  2. Then open up this presentation and read every slide. You will learn how to make dramatic still life photos of fruits & veggies. This project is really easy, and can be really beautiful if you take it seriously and edit it well. I am excited to see what you come up with.

  3. Set up you scene. Remember to have a simple backdrop. Use a shirt, sheet, towel or set up a paper background. Think of yourself as a fruit and veggie photographer and you are promoting this food item for a magazine.

  4. I suggest taking at least 10 shots, with different angles, lighting and compositions.

  5. Crop and edit using Snapseed or your phone by making the shot black and white or make the colour pop out. Crop the shot to make the composition perfect.

  6. Go back to Google classroom and turn in your best edited shot(s).

WAGOLL

Below are examples of the photographs you will create following this lesson:

Food Story

Food photography is MASSIVE! You really must learn how to do this right. Luckily for you, with these great tips you will be able to.

  1. First of all check out food photography on Google images. You will see that they are literally works of art. Notice how carefully the scene has been set up. There are also some fabulous examples on Instagram if you search for #food photography.

  2. Watch this YouTube video which explains how to take a great photograph of food using just your phone:

3. You are going to be photographing a meal of your choice and create a recipe for it that we will share with the class. You can either do a favorite meal, dessert, side dish, starter, or choose something from Instagram to recreate.

4. Please use the following props

  • a. some sort of plate/something to put it on

  • b. some sort of utensil(s)

  • c. some sort of napkin (s)

  • d. some sort of background (tablecloth, butcher paper, etc)

DO NOT just photograph a bag of Doritos or a lone piece of fruit like an apple.

5. You are going to be shooting at least twenty four photographs (or more) of various food setups. Keep in mind what the background looks like and spend time framing your shot to not get random people, junk in the background etc. MAKE THE FOOD LOOK AMAZING AND APPETIZING!!! Take a selection of shots of the following:

  • Capture TWO different images where you mimic the style of a food photographer you find on the web for the product you bought- ie donuts. Make sure you are copying it exactly- how the angle is, close up or far away, props if you have them or create them.

  • Take shots from above the food- birds eye view keeping in mind of EVERYTHING within the frame.

  • ¾ view of the food, with an interesting background- using props. Use portrait mode or the Focus app to blur out the background

  • Side view of the food, with an interesting background- using props.

  • Person interacting with the food- holding it, eating it, looking at it.

  • Food in preparation- i.e someone breaking into an orange, slicing up pizza, making pancakes etc.

6. Edit your photographs using your phone or Snapseed, making sure there's no random junk in the background, the horizons are straight, not too dark or bright, and IN FOCUS. Be careful when tinkering with the colour and contrast as it can actually make the food look unnatural.

7. Choose your top 6 different images with various angles, edit them and put them into a collage. Also turn in your very best shot edited.

8. Create a Google Doc with the recipe of the meal and a little history of the image.

9. Turn in the whole assignment onto Google classroom.

WAGOLL

Below are examples of the photographs you will create following this lesson: