Article from foodphotographyblog.com
In taste and styling, all things are
subjective. It seems so simple and intuitive, but I’ve realized there are some
definite guidelines to adhere to that will help achieve a more polished look
for your food photography.
1. Size. Bigger isn’t better.
This is the simplest, most important tip
regarding plating. Professional prop stylists will almost never use a dinner
plate. Nine times out of ten (unless it’s a rib eye steak, or you’re shooting
for a commercial restaurant and adhering to their plates and serving size), we
choose salad plates.
The reasoning behind this is twofold.
Number one, a smaller plate both simplifies a mass of complicated ingredients,
such as pasta, and allows you to get a tighter frame of your food. Secondly,
because it is small, you can put less on the plate without too much negative
space around the food, allowing it to look abundant.
You’re new mantra? You are not the
Cheesecake Factory. Less plate is more shot. Let your salad plate be a dinner
plate, and let your dinner plate be a platter. It’s all about what looks good
to the camera.
2. Plate Lip. What’s your angle?
If you are shooting a hamburger, you know
you need to be at a low angle, because who wants to look at a bun? If you’re
shooting a bowl of soup, you’ll need to raise the camera enough to see what’s
in there.
Simple stuff, I know, yet it comes up in
class all the time. If you are shooting at a low angle, and you are using a
plate with a deeper bowl/higher lip, you are losing too much of what’s
important about your shot.
The first thing you need to know about your
set is, “What is my shooting angle?” If you have a tripod, I BEG you to use it.
I swear, it will change your photography forever for the better. If you don’t,
decide how you want to see your shot before you put food on set, and than get a
tripod. Use flat plates or low rims for lower angles, rimmed dishes or low
bowls for higher angles.
3. Colorful Plates. Make the food pop.
So you have a purple salad plate that
you’re dying to use because you’re tired of shooting everything on
white. Cool! Or…NOT cool. It all depends on what you’re shooting.
If the color works with the food, and helps the food pop visually, you’re good
to go. Otherwise, move on. I have props I’ve brought to twenty shoots, and
never used, because they weren’t quite right. The goal is always to
pull focus to the element of the shot that you want people to look at first.
4. Careful of Patterns.
You don’t get into the tabletop prop rental
business without a love for beautiful dishes, and we have tons of great
patterns. My advice for patterned dish ware is, a. See above. Does it distract?
There’s a not so fine line between a slice of cake on a beautifully patterned
plate, and a mass of food on a patterned plate that looks like a rejected shot
from the 1960’s Jello cookbook (I know you’ve seen it…). Yes, you love your
Grandma’s dish ware, but it’s not for every shot. Enough said.
5. Mix your materials.
If you want to keep things interesting,
don’t forget metal, wood boards, parchment paper, and/or layering all of the
above. The list goes on. Any surface will work, as long as it isn’t so
distressed that it looks like a recipe for listeria (Pet peeve. There is a
point where dishes and flatware transition into ‘gross’ territory).
So there it is. Simple, effective, common sense
tools for food photography plating. Happy shooting!
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