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If you’re sitting down for dinner chances are you’re taking a photo of it and posting it up on Instagram. Food boasting has become a huge thing in South Africa and around the globe. With every meal becoming an opportunity to take some great shots, it’s a pretty big deal to know how to take food pictures for Instagram.
Search #food on Instagram, and you will see millions of perfect (and not-so-perfect) square-cropped images of breakfast, lunch and dinner, not to mention all those snacks in between. Here are a few of our top tips to get the perfect image that will have your Instagram followers drooling.
Just because you’re taking a photo using your phone doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be thinking about your photograph. Set up your picture. Think about how it will look within the frame. Play around with the placement of your delicious eats and your dinnerware. It doesn’t have to be fancy. A bite out of a slice of cake can look almost, if not more, delicious than a full slice. Check out our delicious cakes and desserts, here.
Indoor lighting can be harsh and can often make your shots look a bit flat. Take your food outside to find the best natural lighting and most complementary photography styles. This lighting is best for highlighting the pattern in your creamy cappuccino. We’ve just launched a breakfast menu in our Florida Road branch! Why not have a look at our menu?
Artists, designers and photographers use the rule of thirds when composing their visuals. Tap into your artistic eye with this golden ratio and train your mind on how to take food pictures for Instagram. Imagine your image divided into nine equal parts, by two equally spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines. The important elements of your picture should be placed along these lines or their intersections for a fresh energy and immediacy.
Short of depth is what we need to make a really good food photo look even more appealing! Use the blur tool to keep the background out of focus, drawing the eyes of your hungry Instagram friends to the food, which will be sharp and focused! The details of your burger will pop – you’ll even be able to see the tasty tiny seeds that sit on top of your fresh burger bun.
Keep those likes coming in with neatly arranged pictures and a sense of symmetry. If you are shooting fruit, for example, have more than one fruit of one colour, arranging them in colour-co-ordinated rows for a pop in your pictures. Sometimes food and neatness really just works!
Get up close and personal to your food subject. The photograph you are taking should brim with food. This type of shot is another type of angle you can work your Instagram food shots from, making sure that your feed is filled with interesting images that keep your friends hungry.
Take an overhead shot of your food, or duck down to meet your plate at about a 45-degree angle from the table. Shooting from directly above is a really flattering perspective for most food, while food with height, like stacked burgers or creamy milkshakes, shoot from a side angle.
While a busy image can sometimes please the eye, a simple and minimalistic background works a whole lot better, especially when shooting around such a small and tight-knit frame. Use a few serviettes to add texture and depth to an image, or play around with the placing of cutlery making your picture seem as natural as possible.
With the perfect composition and lighting and especially a delicious dish, you are sure to get the hang of how to take food pictures for Instagram. Your insta-worthy posts are ready to be shown off to the world! Try these tasty tips on your next visit to Butcher Block – we promise we don’t mind the flash. Find your nearest restaurant, here.
