Lobster Photography for The Dequesne Club

Nikon D800
Nikon 85mm f2.8 Tilt Shift lens shot at f5.6

It’s pretty easy to do great food photography, especially when you’re shooting something exotic.  To make this photo stand out, the key was to create as much shape as possible on the food and as much shape as possible on the plate.

The food – The food being shot is rarely the decision of the food photographer, so it’s hard to take credit for great looking food, but in this shot, the chef’s creation really “makes” to the photo.

The plate – One of the biggest mistakes that food photographers make is placing the lights too high.  If you keep the lights low, they tend to “skim” across the subject, creating both shape and texture.  That’s the key to great food photography, shape and texture…

Here’s a secret to making great food photos.  The closer you are to the food, the smaller your light source should be.  Like I said above, texture is important, and the larger the light source, the less texture it creates, and when you’re cropping in tight and the subject is really small, the light is even larger by comparison.