7 compositions that you can use to improve your food Photography
- fleurvrakking
- 17 apr 2021
- 4 minuten om te lezen
Bijgewerkt op: 29 apr 2021
To make your photo more exciting, balanced and beautiful, it is wise to think about your composition while photographing food. Using compositional rules really helped me improving my photography. There are a number of standard photography composition guidelines that you can use as a guide. We discuss a number of composition guidelines below.
Composition
Composition is a basic concept in photography. When you look up composition in the Van Dale dictionary, you get ''ordering of the different parts into one whole ''. In photography, composition means directing the viewer's attention to a specific part of your photo.
Note the composition guidelines are a guideline for your composition, not rules. You don't have to stick to it, but it can help you create a beautiful composition. It is important that you know what the rationale behind these composition techniques is, so that you know when to apply which ones.
Storytelling
Where do you start with your composition? First, start thinking about what you want to shoot and what story you want to tell in your photo. Then think about which props help to tell the story and which make the food look better. This can be, for example, ingredients or kitchen utensils that have been used for the recipe.
1. Rule of thirds
This is actually the best-known composition rule in photography. The image is divided into 9 equal areas. By placing the subject on one of the four intersections of the grid, the viewer is drawn to the subject. This is the easiest composition rule to start with. Below you can also see that the front cupcake is placed at the bottom left intersection and that the cupcakes are placed at the back right at the top right intersection. The line of the candle is also flush with the left vertical intersection.
Swipe right to see the rule of thirds.
Tips: you can set a grid on your mobile and / or camera, so you can see the grid while making a photo. Google on your type of mobile / camera and find out how to set this up. This makes it easier to use this composition rule. You can also see the grid of the rule of thirds in Adobe Lightroom Classic when you are going to crop a photo, this way you can see how you can crop the photo in the best way possible.
2. Rule of Odds
This suggests that an image is more visually appealing if there are an odd number of subjects in your photo. When there are several objects in the frame, it is easier for your eyes to look at an odd number. It is a composition rule that is easy to apply and can also be combined with other composition rules such as the rule of thirds. In food photography you often photograph a group of subjects, such as several cupcakes or several bowls of soup.
In the photo above you can see that three mini turbans and 5 raspberries have been used. You can also see that lines are used in this photo, so that attention is automatically drawn to the mini turban at the bottom left.
3. Lines
When you look at a photo, your eyes are automatically drawn to lines. Use this when creating your composition. You often already use lines unconsciously, but try to consciously look at and apply one. Think about the direction in which you put the cutlery, your subject, your napkin and your props. There are different types of lines that you can use for your composition: straight, diagonal, curved and zigzag lines.
Diagonal lines mainly give direction to your photo. They direct the viewer's eye in a special direction and can add depth and dynamics to the photo. It transforms a boring photo into something interesting.
4. Negative space
Negative space is the extra space around a subject in your photo. Extra space can provide peace, simplicity and minimalism. It helps the viewer to focus on the main subject without being distracted. See what fits your topic, some topics come out better without much distraction.
In the first image you see a lot of negative space around the glass. In the second image you see negative space at the bottom right and a lot of negative space around the pouring bowl at the top. In the last image, there is a lot of negative space around the various parsnips.
5. Use a foreground for more depth
The presence of the objects in the foreground in a scene adds a sense of depth to the scene in a great way. A photo is of course always 2D. To give a scene more of a 3D feel, you can do by including a clear foreground in the image. In the second image above you can see that adding the little bowl with the blueberries creates more depth in the photo. Depth is also created by the glass of milk and the bananas behind the banana pancakes.
6. Symmetry
Symmetry looks nice and is achieved by precisely aligning the left and right sides of your subject. The opposite points must match. The more exact details match, the stronger the photo.
7. Golden ratio
The golden ratio is very similar to the rule of thirds, but they are not the same. With both lines the image is divided into 9 planes, only the difference is in the proportions. In the rule of thirds it is divided into 9 equal flags and in the golden section the division is made by a mathematical ratio. The middle surfaces are smaller than the outer surfaces.
TIP
When you edit your photos in Lightroom you will see a box with the rule of thirds by default. This frame can be adjusted by clicking 'o' on your keyboard. This way you can choose which composition best suits your composition and adjust the photo if necessary. You can apply this also when you are 'tethering'. Tethering is nothing more than being able to view what you just shot on the computer. You can do this by opening Adobe Lightroom on your computer and connecting your camera with a cable. You can also operate the camera via your computer and take photos from a distance.
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