Your Food Photography Checklist: A Guide to the Perfect Photo!

 There are so many things to remember when it comes to taking good food photos, that it is easy to forget to actively think of everything during a shoot. Because of this, I have gone ahead and a created a food photography checklist; items of concepts and tools to 'check off' during each of your shoots.  While not all items on this checklist will be used for each shoot, it will serve as a reminder of items to think about so that instead of worrying about forgetting something, you can just focus on creating! 

A brief disclaimer for your food photography checklist:

 This checklist will be a live document, so to speak. There will always be new tools and concepts that can get added to the list. But, to start you off, this will do. And by the way, my favorite part of this checklist is the food styling section, so be sure you read all the way through!  

Let's dive in!

Food Photography Checklist: Tools

These are items I always like to have on hand to help enhance a photo. It helps to have them sitting out before starting a shoot.

Tool

Purpose

- Spray bottle with water or water and glycerin

- Adds dew droplets and freshness to food

- Oil

- Makes food shine

- Tweezers

- To Arrange food without dirtying dishes

- Paper towels

- To wipe dishes and props clean

- Putty

- To hold food in place, or stand it up

- Toothpicks

- To hold food in place, or stand it up

- Makeup sponges

- To hold food in place, or stand it up

- Bounce cards and reflectors

- To bounce light back on food, and to enhance highlights or shadows

- Baby bounce cards and reflectors

- For small areas where you need to bounce light back on food or add shadows

- Light Diffuser

- Softens and spreads out shadows

- Fresh herbs

- For garnish on food

Food Photography Checklist: Planning and Execution

Planning

• Do you know what story you want to tell?

• Have you thought about what the mood of the photo should be?

  • Will the colors and lighting you are considering support that mood?

  • Did you review any photos online for inspiration?

  • Have you thought about the best angles to shoot from?

  • Are you going to fill the frame, or leave open space?

Execution: Color

• What color choice have you gone with?

• Did you reference the color wheel to ensure you have chosen colors that are harmonious together?

• Did you consider color psychology to help create the mood of your photo?

• Is there a color or garnish missing from your photo to help make the food pop?

• Have you kept your chosen colors to three or four max?

  • Just like when you use too many ingredients in a dish, sometimes using too many colors can become overwhelming, unless the specific purpose of that photo is to make the viewer feel a bit overwhelmed or chaotic.

  • Have you remembered that the color of your food will look different depending on what background it is sitting on?

The appearance of the color of the food can change based on the hue and shade of the background it sits on. In the picture below, photos of an avocado were taken, using the identical light source and avocado. Only the background changed. Notice how the photo with the lime green background makes the avocado look much more yellow. And it takes on a similar color to that background, making it somewhat disappear. Whereas, with the dark green background, more of the darker green flesh is brought out, and the avocado takes on a much cooler temperature feeling.

Execution: Lighting

• Are your shadows and highlights coming from the direction you want, creating balance within the photo?

• Is your light highlighting the subject the way you want it to?

• Are you using bounce cards to manipulate the light and shadows to create the mood you want?

  • For lighter and more cheery photos, you may use a white one. For more moody photos you may use a black bounce card, or no card at all.

In the photo of sage below, I have taken three photos. The first one with a white bounce card. The second one with no bounce card. The third one with a black bounce card. Notice how the we go from a brighter, happier photo, to a photo with a more dramatic effect just from changing one thing.

• Do you want to soften and spread shadows by using a diffuser?

• Have you checked to ensure that between your lighting and camera settings, that you have proper exposure?

• Are you using the metering tool on your camera to help you measure that exposure?

• Does the placement of your light wash any parts of the picture out? In contrast, does your lighting and shadow placement hide anything you want to highlight?

For example, note how in this photo below of fajitas, I placed the sour cream, a white ingredient, directly next to the light. It would have looked better had I swapped the position of the sour cream and shredded cheddar. Additionally, it would have created a better contrast. And in these photos, notice the placement of the cream and blueberries in the fruit bowl photo. In the first photo, the cream is closer to the light, and the blueberries are in the shadows. In the second photo they are swapped. Although the blueberries are still somewhat dark, based on how I lit them, they can still be seen better when sitting closer to the light.

Food Photography Checklist: Food Styling and Composition

Checklist

Explanation

- Have you wiped off the background, dishes, glasses, and utensils so that they are perfectly clean?

- Stray hairs, crumbs, sauces, and fingerprints removed.

- Have you intentionally left crumbs or sauces on the dishes, and utensils?

- Perhaps a fork should be dirty, if you have shown a bite taken. However, if the food has not been eaten yet in the photo, this would not make sense.

- Did you remember to include any props that can help tell your story?

- Think of all tools and ingredients used to make or garnish the recipe. You do not want to use any items that don't make sense in the photo. 

Notice how in this photo of the homemade whipped cream, I have included the beaters that were used to whip the cream.

Checklist

Explanation

- Have you garnished the food? 

- Don't just think of fresh herbs. Salt, pepper, parmesan, and oil are also items that can emphasize the food. They provide extra texture and dimension to the photo.

- Did you put any garnish on the background?

- If the photo feels like it is missing something, often it is that additional layer of garnish, or stray crumbs on the table.

- Have you added enough layers to the photo?

- Did you remember to include items like napkins, or textures to enhance the photo? For minimalistic shots, where I don't include layers, I like to have a strong shadow instead. This is a personal preference.

- Have you added a human element to the photo?

- A hand taking food, or dipping bread into soup. 

- Did you remember to take an action shot?

- A syrup pour, for example.

- Did you remember to spray the food with water?

- This is mostly used to add dew or droplets to produce, but also good for when your food doesn't look shiny enough, if it is meant to.

Look at the freshness that gets added to the photo, just by simply spraying fresh produce with water.

Checklist

Explanation

- Does the way you have your food and props setup lead the viewers eye in a specific direction or motion?

- This can be done with lines and shapes.

- Does your image feel balanced or symmetrical? 

- Does your image intentionally feel unbalance or unsymmetrical?

- When you look at the image, do your eyes immediately fall on the subject, or is it being distracted by other lines, shadows, or props?

- Are you shooting from the best angle?

- Have you added enough contrast to the photo?

- Contrast can be created with opposing textures, colors, lighting, and patterns.

- What cropping have you used?

- Did you consider the choice of cropping grid and ensure that the placement of props fall across the correct diagonals and curves? There are more grids than just the rule of thirds.

Notice how in this photo of these strawberry popsicles, the setup I used works for multiple cropping grids.

Well, there you have it!

 If you have other go-to items that you think should be on this food photography checklist, definitely leave a comment below, so I can add to it! I want to ensure this list is as comprehensive as it can be, so that it can help every one of you create the best photos you can! Happy shooting! 

Did you enjoy this article on Your Food Photography Checklist: A Guide to the Perfect Photo? Let me know what you thought by leaving me a comment below. You can also follow me on Instagram and use the hashtag #elizabethdworkinphotography  and #masterfoodphotography whenever you take a photo using one of my tips! I love hearing about how you're doing and seeing your creations!