I love everything about food photography. Those who work with food and take pictures of it (and are not professional photographers) know how hard it is to capture a great looking dish on camera.
It’s a huge challenge, especially for us food bloggers who didn’t have previous experience with camera, a DSLR camera specifically because hey, we all know how to take a picture, right? There is no rocket science behind it! Point your camera at the object and press the shutter button. Easy peasy. Well, it is not THAT easy! Actually, it is but if you are after amazing mouthwatering food pictures, you might want to learn how to use your DSLR camera’s manual settings.
Believe me, you will see the difference when you switch from automatic to manual on your DSLR camera. But…don’t expect the difference to happen instantly! Because it won’t! Well, what am I saying? Maybe it will for you! Everyone is different! But in general you need a lot of practice!
We had had a DSLR camera for a good while before we started using it to photograph food. I tell you this, me specifically – I wouldn’t use the manual settings. Never! I found them too complicated to even think about them. We used the camera to take pictures while on holidays. All I wanted to do was to press the shutter button and capture the beautiful mountain, ocean, monument, etc. that I saw at that very moment. I did not want to waste my time playing with various buttons.
It was Siim who learned a few things about our DSLR camera. He knew a bit about the various buttons and settings so he was our main photographer at the beginning. But having a DSLR camera and knowing a few things doesn’t make you a good photographer. You need to practice. You need to practice a lot! We would take pictures together. He behind the camera and me styling. Then him re-styling my styling and me reshooting his shots! After a while it kind of was not working for us. We realized that it was a waste of time having 2 people doing it.
So sometime at the beginning of 2016 he decided that it was time for me to start taking pictures. For real! Not asking him constantly annoying questions about how to change this and that and where setting is and why that doesn’t work. So I started learning food photography!
Guys, what a challenge it has been! I have been trying to spend as much time as possible reading, researching, studying food photography and admiring food pictures and hoping one day mine will look similar!
It’s a whole new world for me but I think I have been improving my photography skills. Slowly (to my liking) but still! When I check our old pictures taken with the same camera I don’t know whether to laugh or cry! Haha! To my defense we started as a YouTube channel and we did not pay attention to taking photos. Does it justify my lack of interest in camera back then?
What I love about food photography most are the props! The food styling! And when everything comes together you get an amazing picture! Of course when it’s not overexposed or underexposed…
It’s like a small victory every time I take picture I like!
For all those who are just starting food blogging, just one big advice: Be patient! You will need a lot of patience especially at the beginning. Unless you are a professional photographer!
I am just at the very beginning of this beautiful food photography journey and I love it! Even though many times I feel frustrating and helpless when I take several (like 20+) pictures and I see that something is wrong but still can’t figure out what it is exactly.
That frustrates me and after a long day of cooking/baking/video recording I just want to throw the camera out the window!!! But then again I calm myself down (sometimes it takes minutes, sometimes it takes waaaay more) and shoot again. I am not saying that it always work out for me. No! Not at all! I have many pictures that haven’t been uploaded because they just don’t work for me.
You see, like I’ve said at the beginning of this post, I didn’t like the various functions on the camera. Even though I am familiar with them now and I understand what to do with them, I wouldn’t write a post about them. When I read about them in my photography books or on the Internet, I say to myself: Yes, that’s pretty simple, why can’t I explain it in such easy to understand way? It’s not something I feel comfortable talking about. But I am already comfortable talking about other things such as food props, backgrounds, styling and other bits and pieces food photography related and this is what I would like to write about in the near future.
Until then get inspired by these quotes and keep blogging & photographing!
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