You know the kind of impressive person who posts fancy photographs of foodstuffs, perhaps with a rustic style, with a full menu of dinner recipes, with painstaking perseverance and absolute devotion? With a triumph of feminine strength? And share photo of delicious food?
Well, I’m not one of those, for some time I had a food blog, in addition to this for the business, but it was a tragedy. In fact, the constancy in the food is not for me, as it is not in my comfort zone to tell a complete menu. As an artist and professional photographer, my priorities have never been the home atmosphere, the life of every day, the daily routine, on the contrary I always try to find the way to the absolute, a one-way ticket to get away from routine.
Art lives of hyperbole, but yesterday my friend Instagram Kristine Grinvalde (@kristinegrinvalde) inspired me, saying that I shoot the food like art, then I thought I’d share the rules to achieve a food photography different, that stands out and has the unique flavor of a work of art.
- Form: First, when I decide to make a food photography I try something that has a form, can be cookies, candy, fruit, anything can be, but must have an outlined shape.
- Emotion: for me the selected food must tell an emotion, one of those to which I and my brand are bound, if my brand has a fun component, brightness and geometrical composition will try to select one that includes these qualities.
- Raw material quality: best raw things, with the exception of items that can be cooked acquire a more interesting character to personality, emotion, color, shape, such as, for example, popcorn, cookies, donuts, the shape is important.
- Style: if what you want to photograph does not have the shape you want, cut, prepare, get to the form.
- Composition: always follow the rules of composition, is the rule of thirds, the golden section, the golden spiral, diagonal etc. The composition is the basis of any work of art, so by extension it is a food photo you want to take on an artistic level.
- color palette: what usually goes for photography is also true in the field of artistic photography, but with some additions. You can dare. The color is a competitive element within the aesthetics that we are going to create. Then you can choose from a palette of shades close to each other, or pastel colors or bright colors, or pop palette, or use complementary colors, BUT, but, always depending on the message you are communicating. The color is a fundamental part of the story.
- Complementary: complementary colors are pairs, red and green, yellow and purple, blue and orange, but not every red goes well with all the green, it must sounds well with each other. You can help yourself with the color wheel. The use of complementary emphasizes the content, the use of shades dampens the content of the aesthetic message.
- Background: a flat background is the best choice, we have to isolate our subject from the environment, remove the references and take on an artistic level. A white background, polar, is ideal at the beginning.
- Diaphragm: close as possible, in contrast to the fashions or certain kinds of photography who gain from the openings, in this case, light allowing, close and define.
- Light and shadow: the light as well as the shadows must be functional to your aesthetic message. A net light, with defined and graphic shadows can be perfect, as well as a soft light and open or no shadows. Where we want to bring the person who sees the photo? What was the initial emotion we chosen? You can use the shadows as a graphic composition, or their absence to bring the subject into a rarefied world.
- The aesthetic code: the encounter of your culture as part of the image with your personality. The code or reference codes must be consistent with the brand. For example, if realized marriages in a classic style, pop avoided, but if you have a sparkling brand, avoid classic choices and so on. The aesthetic code deserves serious thought, and testing before you get to be defined. You can mix codes that have overlapping areas, such as the minimal that lends itself as a bridge for other genres.
This way you can achieve a food photography that has an artistic cutting.
I can not wait to see your photos “#food_like_art” on instagram!
I am an Artist, located in Italy, the country of Art and Dolce Vita, in love with wabi sabi ceramics. I am specialized in art laboratories, helping people to meet the creative side of life, and helping creative entrepreneurs and companies with branding through my artworks with a dash of clean style to capture the harmony of life. I also work in Hospitals with clay therapy laboratory for children. This blog is my Artistic Salad, filled with creativity, beauty, joie de vivre, passion and tools for creative minds.
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