NZPhotographer Issue 35, September 2020

Tips for Achieving Delicious
Looking Food Photos at Home
By Ted Grenfell
This food photography article is full of tips and tricks
with an emphasis on using readily available tools and
lighting – No professional studio setup needed! I start
by showing the results of some fairly simple lighting
‘hacks’ you can achieve at home. I also provide a
few tips and tricks on how you can tell a story with
your food photography and then offer some thoughts
on a few ways in which to visualise and capture
your image content. So without further ado, let’s get
started!
LIGHTING
Lighting can be one of the biggest challenges of
‘food on a plate’ photography and is something that
often puts people off when trying to get that perfect
cuisine shot.
Personally, I do use lighting equipment where needed
although I do try to utilise natural lighting wherever
possible, even on location, as I feel it adds a layer of
dimension and natural authenticity to images.
Natural light is free and doesn’t require fancy light
stands that can get in the way. However, natural light
can end up producing quite hard shadows without
adequate diffusion – remember, the closer the light
is to your subject, the softer it will be. Therefore, the
problem with natural light is that the sun is a fair
distance away and often creates hard shadows even
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