Food Photography Tips

I'm not a professional food photographer, but I have ambitions to better myself with food photography. Simply because I love the challenge to capture good-looking food or better yet, capture simple food pictures to warm a person's soul. As I also share home cooked recipes in my blog from time to time or when I am served with nicely plated food when I am eating out, I would like to share what I see on my plate to the world (meaning my FB contacts and instagram followers) through photos so that they can savor the moment with me, even though they are not there physically to enjoy it.

I have been quite lazy to bring my Olympus Pen around so I would usually use my iphone4 to capture foodie moments, unless it is an official food review that I go to. To me, the key is not so much the camera, but more so the lighting and composition in a photograph that matters. If you get your "wow!", "You are making me hungry!" and "I want to eat this NOW!" comments on your pictures, you know your point is made!

So I attended a food photography workshop recently by a local renowned foodie doctor, Leslie Tay, who blogs at I Eat.I Shoot.I Post. There were a handful of points that was shared during the workshop but only 3 simple points really struck me, which I would like to share in this post and perhaps my readers can take even better food pictures from now on!

POINT OF INTEREST

Consider the main point of interest in the dish and zoom in on the part that will stand out in your photo, to convey the scrumptiousness of that dish. Food may not be an easy subject to take photo of so we must consider capturing the best angle, to make an impact with your viewers, as though they can eat it right off from your screen.

LIGHTING

Natural lighting is best when taking food pictures and no flash please! Taking food pictures under fluorescent light or darkly lit restaurants, often leaves your picture in yellow tone thus, may not be palatable to the eyes. If you are facing that challenge, have your family or friend to use the mobile phone's torchlight source to shine on the sides of the plate for enhanced lighting. Never shine the light from top down as it will be too harsh and creates terrible shadows.

COMPOSITION

Perhaps one of the most important points, making the dish look absolutely delish - with or without supporting objects around it. That's what restaurant menus with pictures do, to woo you by the sight of their food styling. If you happen to be taking photo of our local hawker food, consider doing a little bit of styling to bring out the best of that dish in your photos.

Of course, with all that's said, some editing to the photos must also be done, to bring out the best of your pictures.Basic adjustments would be the brightness level and enhancement of colors. These are part of the extra work you have to do to make your photo look even better. Now, this is something I'm never lazy about. 

I hope you've picked up useful tips in my post today.

Note : The above photos were taken using my Olympus Pen EP1 at A for Arbite.

Till the next post, have a blessed week!

Great Kitchen Tips For Moms, By Moms.

Even though I've been a stay-at-home-mom for slightly more than a decade now, it doesn't mean that I know the keys to all solutions at home. As I was eagerly looking out for ways to help myself solve some household matters recently, I thought it would be good to put down in writing the few good worthy tips I use and share them with my readers!

The White Eraser Sponge

One of my favorite finds to use in my kitchen is the white color eraser sponge, easily available at Daiso. It helps to clean off dirt stains on my white kitchen table top, my stained walls and also keeping my children's white PVC school shoes dirt free. (In fact, it is probably the reason why I don't buy canvas school shoes to save myself from scrubbing them!)

Rid Bad Odor in Fridge
 
Recently, I had a major issue with an odor in the fridge. Didn't know where it came from, even though I cleaned my fridge thoroughly with fresh lemon and made sure that any expired food is thrown out. So I tried the usual method of placing a plate of baking soda in the fridge, as well as placing fresh teabags on each shelves (as used by Cindy) since they are effectively known to absorb bad smell.  But I guess the odor in my fridge was a stubborn one!

Desperate, and in much scepticism, I decided to use my prized possession : vanilla extract.  Soak up the extract with a cotton ball and leave it in the fridge. Overnight, the odor mysteriously disappeared and the fridge now has a lingering vanilla scent to it! mmm!

Keep The Chicken Bones!

Oh! And the next time you roast a chicken, don't discard em' bones! Freeze it and use it when you next boil your soups. It accentuates the flavor of your soup with the extra oomph!

For the benefit of all, I've garnered and compiled more useful kitchen tips from my mom blogger friends from Singapore Mom Bloggers! These tips have been a great help to them and may come in handy for you some day. In a nutshell, it either saves you time or money! I'm already starting to take in many tips from here. And yes, some so simple yet simply overlooked in my kitchen. 

Thanks ladies, for your kind contribution!

 Do you have more tips to share from your kitchen or household that works brilliantly for you? Please feel free to leave them in the comment box because am pretty sure we will all refer to it!  

Till the next post, have a blessed week!