The most important question: What type of picture am I taking? What story is this picture supposed to tell?
You'll get better pictures if you are clear about the end goal.
I break food photos into 4 main types:
- The Hero Shot
- Still Life
- Documentary
- Street (Food) Photography
Let's take a look at each of them.
The Hero Shot
The hero shot is all about the hero, front and center, like a classic movie star, ready for their closeup. I think of hero shots as portrait photography but for food.
The focus is on the star of the show. The props and background are secondary, supporting roles that fade into the hero's background.
The hero shot is popular for recipes and food product advertising. The best description came from my friends at Certified Angus Beef during a photo shoot of a cheeseburger. "We want this photo to be about the beef, not the cheese." The beef is their hero; everything else is secondary.
Still Life
Still life is about setting the scene.
Mis En Scene is a French theater term describing the stage design and arrangement of actors in a play. Still life is an ensemble piece with multiple actors, all artistically arranged on stage, not focused on one star like the hero shot.
Still life depends on composition and getting everything arranged "just so." I always think of the works of the Dutch masters and their still-life paintings.
[https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/SK-A-4830]
Still life is popular in magazines, especially overhead pictures of busy tabletops, often called "flat lay" photos.
Documentary
Documentary photos capture a moment in time to tell a story. They usually include the environment and people around the food.
Documentary covers a range of sub-types. Step-by-step photo instructions are documentary. So are lifestyle shots of an artfully lit backyard party, with beautiful people holding fancy beverages for a glossy magazine spread. "Hold my beer and watch this" action photography is also documentary. (Sometimes action shots move into street photography - see below).
This type of photo is popular in lifestyle magazines, often paired with Still Life photos of the overflowing tabletop. (And they're almost always at a backyard party. It's a theme in these photo shots.) How-To documentary shots are popular on food blogs and in cooking-instruction-focused food magazines.
What's the difference between still life and documentary? Still life is a carefully arranged scene, usually without people. Documentary is about telling a story by capturing a moment in time. There can be some staging to tell the story, but it tries not to feel artificial.
Street (Food)
Street (Food) photos capture food in its natural habitat. Street photography is a relative of travel photography, with photos of a farmers market, cafe patio, or winery. It can often be literally "street food," preferably with the food cart or food truck visible in the background.
There is a lot of overlap between documentary photos and street photos. The difference is what they value. Street photos prize spontaneity and authenticity. Documentary photos care most about the story and will stage a photo if it helps tell the story it is trying to document.
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