I’ve grown to love taking “food portraits” over the past 12 months! Back at the start of 2018 I began getting working with a local golf club that also got me doing food photography on a more professional level. As I look back on all the food photography I’ve done this year I can definitely see loads of improvements between January and December. So while thinking up some fun “year-end” posts I’ve picked out my favorite five food photos, to make your mouth water.
A bartender shot
This is a more recent photograph, taken on Thanksgiving eve at Rivercrest Golf Club. Action shots like this is what make being a food photographer really fun! When I look at this photo I see it as something I would see in my instagram feed and think to myself “I wish I could take photos like that”! It’s not even like it’s a super complicated photos or anything- I just like everything about this shot.
I’d actually been watching the bar waiting for someone to order a drink so I could try to get a shot like this. This wasn’t at all staged and it turned out better than in my head (which believe me is hard to do)!
2. Nachos!
I took loads of photos of this plate, from all different angles but I just wasn’t liking how most of them were turning out… and then at some point it occurred to me I was trying to be too creative here. I realized that which nachos it’s usually everything that’s loaded on top of the chips that make people want nachos, right? Sometimes it’s better to be more simple and show each component making up the plate than it is to be super artsy trying to shoot your next masterpiece.
3. In the Kitchen
Getting action shots in the kitchen of chefs preparing foods is another thing I’m constantly envisioning myself doing a lot of. These are the shots where you can get more creative by showing more than just a stock food image.
4. Garnishing the Pasta
Every time I go to a food shoot I think about what sort of “accessories” I could possibly add to the photos to make them more “entertaining” to the viewer. Every time I look at this photo, and one the above, I just love everything about them both. But I also wonder how I could make the shots even more interesting.
5. Burrata
This is another instance where I took loads of various shots- trying to figure out which background I liked best, which angle looked best, what the focus of the dish should be. I chose this one in the end because after all… it was a beautiful day on a golf course and the driving range (in the background) was nearly full. Also there was a ledge just the right size for this dish to sit on!
6. Outdoor Kitchen
**All photos shot for Rivercrest Golf Club