Coffee cup photography is all about capturing the essence of this delightful beverage. Everyone loves the aroma and unique flavors that coffee brings. It can be prepared in so many ways and using different techniques.  There is the concentrated espresso, the Turkish coffee, drip coffee, French press, Moka pot method, cold brew….  It’s interesting to explore the singularity of each process with creative coffee photography.  Let the composition tell the story!

Coffee prepared in a Moka Pot

Creating the Style with Steam and without it

In Coffee cup photography many aspects will affect the final image and will be decisive to tell your story. Start with the coffee décor. Would you use steam? Serve it hot or cold? Even the temperature does not appear clearly in the picture, the details created by the hotness can make a notable difference. The cup you choose will carry the main subject of all the work. Coffee seems to be a simple and direct element, but the possibilities are endless for coffee and art! Try a lot and brew more than you would need for the shoot.

Set your coffee decor

The Food Photography Setup

Have your basic food photography setup ready for starting trying and creating! I enjoy using natural and diffuse light (use white fabric to cover windows) and a reflector (anything can turn into a fill card). Get extra cups and dishware available for changing ideas and perspectives. Use transparent glass, old fashioned china, simple and clean designs and whatever your creativity tells you to do. The most important in coffee cup photography is to risk without losing the essence of the photoshoot.

Trying backgrounds

Colored and texturized backgrounds contrast very nicely in. You can use neutral colors and not so appealing prints. Perhaps the coffee is part of a nice breakfast table? Or it’s just waiting on the top pf the table for being catch? The composition and the backdrops need to give plot, but perform supporting roles at the same time. In other words, if you are performing a coffee photoshoot, give the spotlights to coffee!

Try different backgrounds for coffee photography

Take a risk at a time and find the answer

You might want to risk a bit or stay at something more classic inside the coffee cup photography. There are no rights and no wrongs! What should guide you, in reality is the goal of the coffee photoshoot.  Do you need to showcase the brewing method? Would you desire to also focus in the scene around? Try, try and try! If you have never performed a coffee photoshoot, have all your tools ready and know what is needed to do with each of them. Change aperture and see how the background behaves, modify composition until you find the answer.

Sprinkle something

A nice effect to experiment is sprinkling sugar or other powder over the coffee. Some technical details will be important in coffee cup photography as they are in general food photography. For instance, according to how you adjust the aperture, shutter speed and focus, the image will bring a different effect. If you use natural light, you might be limited at some point, as the exposure could be affected by a fast shutter speed. You might want to change ISO to adjust exposure, but I particularly like to use it as low as possible because even with post production noise reduction, the quality will not be the same.  So, the sprinkled sugar effect can draw a line in the frame, like falling rain, with slow shutter speeds or to be captured in close detail by a very fast shutter speed. Adjust your camera to get the best from it!

Use the camera settings to get the best effect

Repeat the shoot to get more images

A great place to store your Coffee pictures (and much more) is SlickPic! SlickPic is a photo host and photo sharing service where you can upload everything. It’s safer than other social media websites and helps you to organize the work done. SlickPic also brings thousands of features, including online editing!

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Playing the culinary photographer and the food stylist

When photographing desserts, sometimes I work together with someone preparing the food and other times I do all by myself. Regardless of the cook, the plating is really important and after that comes the styling process. It’s similar to platting a dessert for a dinner or for serving it on a restaurant, but it must be extremely detailed. For this pie I wanted to create a style that would showcase all the layers, the slightly brown tone on the meringue and the beautiful green from lemon zest. I’ve also taken some pictures of the pie before slicing it, to have a different perspective registered.  Regarding styling tools for this session, I’ve used a pastry bag to place the meringue and paper towel to clean the plates.

Lemon Pie Slice showing all layers

The Beginning: Before slicing

You couldn’t tell if it is the exactly same pie, but I assure you it is! It’s great to have different images of the same food with variations in the composition. This work was a free minded, free style culinary photography, so there were no specific requirements from a client, and then I was totally allowed to try a lot. In this composition below I’ve used parchment paper on the top of a round baking tray, blue fabric and a black wood board.

Whole Lemon Pie

Showing what is written:

Then I changed the angle to show a bit more of this black wood board. You can barely see the name Porto Alegre (the Brazilian city where I live), my intention was to highlight the pie and bring a weak idea in the background. Photographing desserts allows you to try different compositions and ideas!

Composition showing the text

Food Photography from the top

When photographing desserts, I would not let this perspective forgotten. So I needed to shoot the pie from above. So I handed the camera and adjusted the shutter speed and aperture to get a sharp image. The white balance and the exposure were not so good, but I fixed then afterward.

Lemon Pie from the top

The loneliness of a slice

After taking out a slice, there is no way back! So the next perspectives were assembled based on the concept of a served portion.  The composition included a tea pot with a green tea bag. The intention was to hide the brand of the tea by taking that area out of the focus.

Other view of the slice

I did not resist

This last shoot was almost unplanned. When I got to finally eat that delicious lemon pie, I just realized how cool would be to tell that story in a picture. So I stopped in the middle of the slice and captured the unforgettable moment of breaking a slice. Here is the happy end:

Lemon Pie almost ending

After photographing desserts, I need a safe place to store and organize my images. SlickPic is a photo host and photo sharing service where you can upload everything. It’s safer than other social media websites and helps you to organize the work done. SlickPic also brings thousands of features, including online editing.

The post Photographing desserts – Shooting a Lemon Pie appeared first on SlickPic Digital Photography School.

The color wheel

A bit about the color wheel and the color theory

Color in food photography is also about art, and then it should borrow some definitions, rules and knowledge from other creative areas. To explain the combination guidelines, let’s imagine a Color wheel that brings the complementary and analogous colors. The complementary are opposite in the Color wheel and cause contrast when combined. By the other side, analogous colors are next to each other on the wheel and there’s a dominant element from where the others derive.

When the Dishware breaks the ice

That said, it’s essential to use these relations to showcase the food and bring it into the spotlight. In most cases when using contrast with Color in food photography, white plates and bowls help separate the structure and carry the sight to the food. Generally, patterns on plates (even they are mostly white) cause distraction and reduce the focus on the subject. So be careful when selecting the dishware and fabrics to your collection, prefer the basic and plain, this way, you will be able to play around more times.

Brownies on plate

Brownies are great subjects for food photography tips! See in this picture how the white plate creates a nice highlight for the frame, even with neutral colors on the back. You can clearly see the variation inside the pieces and the brightness on the top. Observe this second image, now with another texture as background. In the second picture, the combination of colors creates a nice contrast and the plate sets a limit. White surfaces also help by reflecting and lighting up the food.

Brownies with colors on the background

Composing with Yellow

Seasoned pasta, fruits, bell peppers, purees, baked potatoes… Yellow stays between greens and oranges to red. Feel free to use these analogous colors and experiment with the props. In order to introduce contrast, apply the complementary colors, like blue tones. Fabrics and painted wood work great!

Composing with Green

Green subjects, like avocado, salads, herbs and spices allow many compositions. You can use both the analogous and complementary colors. Remember to focus on the main pigment of the food; In other words, the main color of a tomato soup with basil leaves would be red and not green. However, all the interactions and experiments will direct you to the right choice.

Green and blue work well together

Composing with Red tones

Red and orange soups, papayas, salmon, strawberries and desserts… Foods like these will naturally call attention inside the scene. When you have this Color in food photography, one of the best things to do is to create a neutral environment and allow it to naturally shine.

Red ingredients are naturally bright

This way, there is just a rough guideline to help when setting color in food photography. You can use the wheel borrowed from the art classes and start making different combinations. Something might work great or not, depending on the kind of subject. Start with an empty plate and end up with a masterpiece!

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Paper

It could be your plan or the luck moment of finding a subject on the go. Regardless of time and ideas, paper backgrounds can look really nice on the image. They can also be used combined with other kinds of food photography backgrounds, like wood and marble.

Paper sheets are cheap photography backdrops

Wood

Wood is definitely one of the most trendy and cool choices for your food photography backgrounds. It’s almost always gorgeous and harmonic. However, there are many varieties of wood available in the market. There are natural old looking wooden boards. I would say you will need many of these options during your trajectory with food photography, so perhaps start with a plain texture and color that will fit most of your momentary needs. Play with other cheap photography backdrops in the meantime. When you get a new shooting session and your needs change, make sure to get new ones.

Lemons on a wood board

Wood table and Chopping Board Combination

Still talking a little bit about wood, there is a specific combination that is quite nice for many products, like breads and sandwiches. It is the use of a wood chopping board and a wood table, generally with the same colors. It’s a great thing to try out!

Fabric

Speaking about fabrics is almost like describing the wood options. It’s impossible to give an exact direction to follow in food photography. Different colors and qualities of threads will bring diverse effects. I particularly enjoy shooting plates and bowls on top of plain color fabrics. They will generally compose your background in addition with wood or other main element.

Fabric interacts with the food photography lighting

Marble

Marble is also gorgeous for food photography backgrounds and carries a lot of elegance. It generally has a neutral color and some variation points that help to dramatize the food photography. Pictures from the top look great with this material. If you already have one piece or table available to use, it’s time to give it a try! Otherwise, visit a lot of stores before buying a new one, it might be expensive.

Apple on a marble table

Solid colors

By solid colors, I mean a card paper or some object that has only a main color to show off. You can get some white card papers and paint them, get from a design store or use the back of an object.

Play with colors and food photography lighting

Other Textures

Other random textures, like paper, fabric, or even a landscape in the back. Also, keep an eye on the food photography lighting! The angle of you shoot might allow different perspectives and backgrounds.

Take a risk and try something different!

I know it’s great to have all planned to perform the perfect photoshoot. Even though you make sure to get all set, it’s really important to actually see how the prepared food behaves on the frame. Determine the food photography background and some elements that you want to use and play with them! Sometimes the best solution is hidden in a clearance sale just waiting for you to find it…

Play with food photography props

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What is a light reflector made of?

Fill cards can be anything that reflect light and allow it to be bounced to any side. They can be a single white paper sheet, an open notebook or a white paper card. It is preferred to be a white color because of the reflection principles. White is the union of all colors, this way, a white card will reflect more light variations, while a blue card, for example, would reflect only blue light.

Other alternatives that also work in some cases are metallic surfaces, like aluminum foil or the back of a baking sheet. It might look great or not, depending of the light source, composition and subject you have. The difference is that metallic surfaces will not cause light to be diffused and softer; it will reach the subject with total power and more directed. White surfaces tend to spread it evenly. Experimentation when using fill cards will be needed!

Actually using Fill Cards

If you are using artificial light, a light reflector can be really helpful as well. With just a single source and one or two fill cards, the subject can get enough lighting to look great! It’s a tricky for getting the best from your equipment and available tools. There are photographers who don’t enjoy filling shadows by using fill cards, but it’s all up to the style you seek to follow.

To place the fill card inside the set you need to choose a location that the light will be improved and well distributed. Take care to don’t cover any lighting from the source. Perform movements and test the position until you find the best choice. There is the option to hold the card when performing the shoot or using an object to secure it. Sometimes I use longer exposure times and holding by hand might cause notable variations that will result on a blurry image. By the other side, using your hands allow to direct light better. It’s all about occasion!

See the example below of a basic photography setup using a fill card. This fill card was built with a large sheet of white card paper, cardboard and adhesive tape.

Simple Setup using fill light

I’ve shoot two different subjects to showcase the difference that a simple Fill Card can produce. In the image below, there’s a broccoli floret reached only by the light from the window (first image) and with the use of the fill card (second). A cloud has moved, but you can truly notice how the shadows changed.

Shoot without light reflector

Shoot using a light reflector

The other example is with a different color, yellow. See how the shadows decrease. The fill card was used in the second picture of the banana. None of these images went through treatment softwares after the processing by the camera. The aperture, ISO and shutter speed were kept the same in both cases.

Second Shoot without light reflector

Second Shoot with light reflector

So, Fill Cards can be a powerful tricky for you to use and discover. Grab a white paper sheet and give it a try! Using fill cards is easier than it looks like! This post is not about post production, but I thought it would be nice to share with you the final images after some manipulation:

Broccoli after enhancements

Banana after enhancements

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Shooting food can seem simple, but it needs more than just a good camera and suitable lenses. You need to have a perfect and fresh looking dish. Some professional food photographers would shoot a prepared meal, working together with a food stylist or Chef that is responsible for assembling, cleaning and creating the plate or subject.

The most important thing when talking about this kind of picture is the composition. The viewer can’t smell the food or try it when looking at the final image (even though the photographer could), so it’s needed to put a really good story and context on the table. How to do that? Some useful tips:

In food photography, the rule of thirds is a big trick

You can use the established and valuable rule also in the composition with eatable subjects. Divide the image into three parts, using straight lines (vertically and horizontally). Your subject should cover one of the lines or to be exactly at a meeting point. Some cameras have the option of showing these lines, especially on live view. This feature helps a lot!

Whole wheat pie crust with banana-cocoa filling, strawberries and walnuts

Empty space is full of meaning

As strange as it can sound, leaving a lot of empty space is very useful here. The observer will focus on the most important part of the image, as effect of the contrast created by the unoccupied area. Neutral colors work well, but textures, like fabrics and wood are also good options.

Fennel on top of hand painted card paper

Tell a true story

Context and atmosphere are essential in food photography. When creating a composition, start thinking about the message or messages that you want to leave. Backgrounds, the kind of dishware, the way it reflects the light and interact with the space. If you are shooting pasta, for example, perhaps it’s interesting to have flour and a rolling pin on the table. Be creative and try a lot of different options, it’s the moment for artistic food photography!

Preparation of a pie

Use symmetry and patterns

Use symmetry, create patterns and movements that will hold attention. It can be imaginary lines, repeated variations, change of colors, increase or decrease of size. The viewer should look at the image and recognize that the photographer wanted him to see that.

So, food photography is quite interesting and full of details. Creating an interesting and appealing composition for your food pictures can sound like a challenge at a first glance, but some tricks can change an amateur image into a delightful masterpiece. Experimentation is the key, grab a few elements, set your background, the context and don’t forget to have a good food photography lighting (natural light is awesome). I’m sure you will be hungry after the photo shoot!

Homemade ginger cookie

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