A Quick Lesson in Food Photography: Lighting
It's amazing what lighting can do for the feel of your food photography.
One way you can easily manipulate the mood of your subject is to change the source of your light. Let me show you some examples!
Side Lighting
In the first photo above, the light is coming from a window to right of these delicious pears. The lighting is fairly soft and even but there's still some darker shadows to give depth.
Front Lighting
In the second photo, the light is coming from a window in front of the pears. The pears are very soft and evenly lit and the background is quite dark.
Back Lighting
In the last photo the light is coming from a window at the back of the pears. Everything is quite contrasty and the background is very light.
See how easy it is to change the look of your photos simply by switching up the source of the light? My current favorite is placing the light at the back of the subject - I love the contrast! Make sure to experiment and find the mood you like the best.
What do you think? Which mood from the photos above is YOUR favorite?
If you're still very much a beginner at food photography, make sure to check out my post about How to Take Better Photos With Any Camera!
Let me know if you guys enjoy these mini photography lessons!
I almost always gravitate toward side or back lit photos, but I find myself really liking this front lit... I think it must be how it brings out the color of the pears and the contrast with the dark background.
I like the middle one. TBH I am a fan of darker backgrounds myself. I am still learning how to position items myself. Playing with the light is fun. 🙂
It's a toss us! I love them all so much. I really like this comparison! So helpful. I currently shoot ALL of my food in a window sill so I don't have much say over where the light is coming from. Ha! But I want to get creative with it, and branch out. Thanks so much!
I love the middle one.
I like these lessons, keep 'em coming!
I'm no photographer, but these are all beautiful. The last one is especially gorgeous to me. Keep them coming! Maybe one day I'll even get to apply these;)
I'm no photographer, but these are all beautiful. The last one is especially gorgeous to me. Keep them coming! Maybe one day I'll even get to apply these;)
Always looking for tips, Thanks, your photos are great
This is helpful (and pretty!). I have recently started to pay more attention to the direction of the light and find myself almost always going with side-lit. But I like you explained each one.
Great post! It is a reminder that I'm quite a lazy food photographer and need to experiment much, more more.
I'd love to see more photo tips like this.
Fantastic foodie photographs and what a great idea it would be to make a book of favorite recipes...
Stock Photo