6 Common Mistakes When Making Food Photography for Instagram
Written by nutrition student Brendan Cooke. Edited by Dietitian & Snapstudio55 founder Elis Halenko.
Food photography is a great way to share your latest recipes and creations with your followers. Instagram is the perfect app to do so, as it has a massive number of users, with a reported 1.44 billion accounts as of July 2022. Pictures of food have been almost synonymous with the Instagram brand. Everyone posts a picture of their breakfast, their coffee, their fancy 5-star meal they got at a local restaurant, something about food and photography go so wonderfully together. However, many new food photographers make some errors when taking pics for their Instagram feed. Read on to avoid making some of these same mistakes.
1. Not paying attention to the composition
The composition of a photo refers to how the visual pieces are arranged within a photo. The easiest first step you can do is to try taking pictures directly above the dish instead of from eye-level. This is a popular food photography method used on Instagram, and for good reason; the food is on full display, and you’re able to capture many dishes in one go. I would highly recommend investing in a good tripod, which will save your arms from the exhaustion of holding up the camera over your food, while getting a consistently clear picture.
Depending on the food you’re capturing, you may want to consider a side-angle. If you’re taking a picture of a burger you’ve made, it might not make sense to get an overhead view shot. Enter, the straight on angle. If you want to get that drool-worthy cross-section of a sandwich that you made for lunch, this is the angle for you. Just ensure you’re getting enough lighting on the side of the dish that you’re going to be capturing.
Where the food sits within your image is also quite important. Imagine, for a second, a photograph of a bowl of ramen, taken from overhead, with the bowl placed within the centre of the photograph. This is an example of something called central framing, where you’re placing the subject within the centre of your shot. If you’re taking a photo of a dish you enjoyed, using central framing almost puts your food in the spotlight, naturally drawing the gaze of whoever is viewing it. This is great for when you have a single dish that demands the attention of the viewer.
Once you’ve mastered central framing, you can start incorporating more items to make some really interesting looking shots. Try incorporating the rule of thirds, which, simply put, suggests that items of interest should lie on the compositional lines of a 3x3 grid. Lucky for us, this grid is available to view on virtually all cameras when taking pictures. Using this technique can create compelling pictures, which become more lively and energetic to the person viewing them. This is convenient for us as food photographers, when we are likely going to be capturing more than one dish at a time! Position the dishes along the grid lines in a way that looks best to your eye, and capture the picture!
2. Not keeping a clean studio
While you might not consider your kitchen or living room a “studio” per se, it’s important to keep the area around your photography setup well organised and tidy. A big part of food photography has nothing to do with the food, but the surrounding area, all of which ends up in the final image. Are you placing your dish on a table? Is there items surrounding your dish which are taking up space in your picture, which would be better out of frame? Consider starting with a completely clear space, and only add prop pieces around your dish as you see fit. This way you create a picture of a dish that you’re proud of that is unique to your style and vision.
3. Zooming in too much on a smartphone without optical zoom
Everyone loves a good close up shot. Zooming in can be a great way to give your audience an idea of the textures of your delicious meal, as well as a better look at the ingredients that really pop. However, if you’re shooting pictures on a smartphone, you may want to reconsider.
On a traditional DSLR camera (Canon EOS Rebel T7, for example) the lens is able to perform an optical zoom, which increases the focal length and heightens the apparent closeness of the image. However, most smartphones are not equipped to do this, and instead will blow up the pixels in the centre of the image to create what is called a “digital zoom”. This is why zoomed-in photos on smartphones tend to be blurry! Instead of zooming in, consider bringing your phone closer to the dish you’re trying to capture. This way, you can get a crystal clear picture while still getting an amazing closeup.
4. Neglecting post-production
Sometimes the picture you take is good, but feels like it’s slightly lacking in colour, or is too bright to comfortably look at. Sometimes, you won’t even notice these things, but they could be improved upon. This is where post production can come in handy to really transform an image into something spectacular.
Oftentimes adding just a little bit of brightness to an image that was a little bit too dark can give it a breath of fresh air and give it the perfect Instagram-worthy look. Just don’t overuse post production, as it can easily become oversaturated and may appear altered to the viewer.
5. Not paying attention to lighting
Oftentimes when we’re looking to get a good shot of our latest culinary creation, we neglect the seemingly smallest details, which end up having a big impact. The lighting which shines on your food can set the atmosphere of your dish, and so it is a good idea to give it some prior thought before taking pictures.
Using natural light, or daylight, can create a well-lit shot, for a pleasant display, while avoiding harsh glare that can sometimes result from artificial indoor lights. Find a large window in your home and set up your own mini studio. The only downside to natural lighting is you’re limited to photographing during daylight hours.
However, the difference between normal indoor lighting and natural light is night and day, and can give you the lighting that your favourite food photographers use.
6. Giving up
Food photography is a fun way to engage your followers. However, it takes a lot of repetition and practice to get to the point where you’re satisfied with your work. Don’t lose hope if you’re running into roadblocks on your journey! The most important part of food photography is the love for food that keeps us passionate. The tips previously mentioned may be common mistakes, but don’t be afraid to make mistakes, as everyone makes them. Just keep at it!
All in all, food photography has been wildly popular on Instagram, and can be extremely rewarding to engage in. By following some of these tips and avoiding the mistakes listed, you can be sure that you’re posting the best quality pictures that you can, while enjoying the food you love.