How is that for a title? Every year Cree and I photograph for tourism bureaus and travels stories, and one thing remains consistent on these shoots; diversity of subject matter. Take last week in Alaska for example. The morning started with photographing moose at first light..wildlife check. Next was a stunning landscape image of glaciers and mountains…landscape check. Then onto the helicopter with models for 7 hours…aerials check. First location was photographing hiking with models on colorful tundra…adventure sports check. Finally back at the lodge at the end of the day and we had to photograph dining and food…food photography check. I have always loved diversity in my subject matter, and really enjoy photographing a lot of different things. I’m a generalist, which helps on many of my assignments. Just love the process of photography…
Food photography is probably last on most people’s list of something they want to photograph. But think about how important food is when you plan your vacation. In fact I think many travelers weigh food very highly in where they choose to travel. You go to Europe and photograph everything it has to offer…and come home with great photographs…except of food. I get it…you’re hungry, and want to eat! But before you drink that first beer or bite into that delicious meal, just take a 2 minutes to do a photo. And make sure to tilt the shot…
Here is an example. We were photographing a restaurant and food last week, and only had a few minutes to get some images. Now some food photography can take an hour for one dish, but for many travel and tourism assignments we don’t painstakingly set up food still life…more social media flare, quick and simple…but appetizing. We had flights of beer and some pizza to work with on a table near the outside dining area. We decided to blow the background out, and use the edge of sun/shade for simple natural light. We could have just photographed the food nice and square. But food often looks better and more dynamic by just tilting your camera slightly. Introducing a diagonal line into your image creates motion and tension, and will engage the viewer more. If you prefer, you could also tilt the image later in Photoshop. But for a simple food tip, try tilting your angle for a more dynamic food image. And then dive into lunch!