How To Set Up Lighting For Food Photography: Easy Ways

When we look at photos of food, it's easy for us to forget that the photos' delicious details are a result of a photographer's hard work. That's why we're going to look into how to set up lighting for food photography so you can flaunt the food in your own home.

Food Photography: Artificial Light Set-Up

Food photography lighting can be natural or artificial. In this post, we'll look into artificial ways on how to set up lighting for food photography.

Things you need:

1. Flash
2. Diffuser
3. Camera
4. Material to hold it up

• Position your food with style. You can use a backdrop like a crumpled white sheet or a large tea towel to add a layer of texture to your photos.
  
  
• Mount your diffuser up. Position your big diffuser six inches away facing the subject. You can use a stack of books on the bottom or a wooden box.
  
  
• Aim your flash to the middle of your diffuser one foot back. You can keep your flash upright using an extra tripod or its free stand. Otherwise, you can keep it upright with other materials around your house.
  
  
• Adjust the camera settings. You can adjust your camera settings so that it won't capture any ambient or natural light with these settings:
  - Shutter speed - 1/160
  - ISO - 100
  - Aperture - 3.5
  
  
• Take a no flash test shot. The resulting shot's frame should be black. This is to ensure ambient lighting does not interfere with the white balance.
  
  
• Take your test shot on the food. If you have a tripod, it will make adjustments in your shot easier.
  
  
• Check photos and make necessary adjustments. The best lighting for food photography is paired with good editing. Upload your test shots to the computer and make adjustments until you get the image you want.
  

Here are a few adjustment tips to note:

• Do not readjust the settings of your shutter speed and ISO
  
• You can adjust the aperture to get the background blur you want
  
• For underexposed or overexposed photos, you can adjust the flash output

Tips On Food Photography Lighting Basics

There are many ways to learn how to set up lighting for food photography. Here are some additional lighting tips for food:

• Use Natural light - is still the best way to shoot food. Indirect light near a window is the best lighting for food.
  
  
• Learn to filter light. If you find yourself working with strong light, you will need a filter to soften the glare.
  
  
• Learn to bounce light. To fill sharp shadows with light, reflectors or foam core boards can be used.
  
  
• Use a light tent. A light tent can give you excellent light in poorly lit areas. If you shoot when the sun is down, a light tent is a perfect investment.
  
  
• Don't use your flash. Don't use your flash directly on the food. The resulting photo is usually full of sharp highlights. You can use a white wall or some reflectors to make light bounce off.

Conclusion

Now that you know how to set up lighting for food photography artificially, you can start setting up a mini studio at home for those pastries you've wanted to boast about for so long.