Digital Photographer - UK (2020-05)

First up, kit yourself out with the right

professional equipment for food shots

Get the gear

1

You don’t need lots of kit to take successful

food photos, but it’s important to choose a

quality camera and the right lenses for your

subject. A full-frame body sensor will give

you a better depth of field and handle noise

more effectively in low light. In terms of optics,

a macro lens will allow you to focus much

closer to your subject and create intimate

scenes. A 50mm f/1.8 lens is also a popular

option, as the wide aperture makes it easy

to blur backgrounds. This lens itself is very

affordable across brands, and the light size

and construction makes it easy to handhold.

We’ll talk about the hows of lighting – both

natural and artificial – in more detail later, but

as a kit overview, light modifiers and flashguns

can both be used to great effect with food.

Artificial light is often needed to illuminate

darker interiors. A silver reflector will bounce

natural light and fill shadows (without a strong

colour cast), and a speedlight will enable you

to keep shooting as the daylight diminishes.

Use a softbox to soften light from a flash

bulb, evening out the shadows and reducing

contrast, and use light stands to prop up

backgrounds or hold your lights in position.

Whatyou need

Makeinformed kit choices

FULL-FRAME CAMERA

Optfor DSLRs and mirrorless

ameras with Manual and

perture Priority modes. Full-

ramemodels with larger sensors

oldup better in low light and

whenmaking larger prints.

PRIME LENS

A ‘nifty fifty’ prime lens is the

perfect focal length for wider

contextual shots where you

want to include more props. Try

using a 50mm that has a wide

maximum aperture.

REFLECTOR

Reflectorsarea brilliantway

bouncinga smallamountof

availablelightbackin to‘fill’

lemshadowsandstop

otolookingtoodarkand

Experimentwithboth

silveroptions.

MACRO LENS

A macro lens is perfect for

picking out individual elements,

orfocusing more closely on a

dish. Choose a macro lens with

vibration compensation to shoot

foodhandheld.

STURDYTRIPOD

Withfood,youtendtohavetime

tosetupandcarefullycompose

shots.A tripodwillenableyouto

lockoffthecompositionwhile

youfine-tuneelementsofthe

dishandscene.

Measured

approach

Whenshooting

food,you’reusually

abletosetupona

tabletopandshoot

indoors,which

meansyoucanuse

a tripodandtake

yourtimewhen

composing

4x

©

Dan

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TECHNIQUES