Behind the scenes of Food Photography

Blogging Marathon# 42: Week 3/ Day 3
Theme: Misc Food Related -- Behind the Food Photos
Topic: Behind the scenes of Food photography

After getting the backgrounds and props ready, it is time to take the photos of your yummy food. First thing to consider is the Lighting. Here's a previous post where I talked a little bit about Lighting. Finding good natural or artificial light is absolutely critical for food photography.

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Props for Food Photography

Blogging Marathon# 42: Week 3/ Day 2
Theme: Misc Food Related -- Behind the Food Photos
Topic: Props

Props used in a food photo can really make or break a food photo. A well styled and presented photo is a definite plus to any food blog. Props include your serve ware, napkins and everything else that is used in the photo.
I am always amazed how some bloggers have the eye for styling their pictures. The whole setup looks well thought of and the props are placed in strategic locations drawing the eye exactly to the main attraction or the hero of the photo which is the dish that is being presented. This is an art that some have within themselves and some of us need to see and learn. I'm not a very creative person, but I take inspiration from various sources to come up with something that is not exactly the copy of the original but a close representation of it. This below is one such inspired photo.

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Backgrounds for Food Photography

Blogging Marathon# 42: Week 3/ Day 1
Theme: Misc Food Related -- Behind the Food Photos
Topic: Food photography Backgrounds

We are starting our 3rd week of blogging marathon today and I took up an interesting theme that doesn't involve cooking. I am going to try and show you what goes behind the scenes in my house after the food is cooked and before the clicks are taken. First day is all about backgrounds that I use in my food photography and how you can make them at home.
When I started blogging in the pre-historic times (if you really want to know, that was 8 years back), I didn't give much thought to taking food photos, they were taken at night with flash on the dining table with absolutely no props and no sense of presentation. But through the years and watching some amazing food photos by fellow bloggers and food magazines, I've learnt that presentation is as important as the taste of food itself and since the virtual readers cannot taste your food, they need to feel it through their eyes. So every aspect of food photo is important including the backgrounds used for the photo.

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Eggless Black Forest Cake

Blogging Marathon# 33: Week 3/ Day 3
Theme: Eggless Cakes
Dish: Eggless Black Forest Cake

For the third day of BM# 33, we are celebrating my husband's birthday with an eggless Black Forest Cake. He was travelling on his actual birthday, so we are celebrating it over the weekend. 

Black forest cake brings back fond memories of enjoying time with family and friends back home. This was the usual pastry that we used to order at a bakery next to our school and this was also our favorite cake to order for birthdays and other occasions. Cool cakes, like this Pineapple Cool Cake, are quite famous in India. I remember black forest cake to be cool, moist and juicy -- not too sweet with super light frosting that was simply to die for.

It has been a very long time, infact many many years, that I ate this cake. But I wanted to recreate the cake as I remember it. So first I looked for an eggless chocolate recipe and found this Moist & Soft Chocolate Cake recipe @ Rak's Kitchen. Then I looked for black forest cake recipes for the filling and frosting ideas. After reading through a number of recipes I came up with below recipe.

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Banana Rose Milkshake (Bloggers' Buzz Photography Assignment)

This is our first assignment for Bloggers' Buzz Photography Club (#BBPC). We are required to take a photo of any food item using diffused Side lighting. Here's my attempt at doing it. Since this is a food photography assign post, the actual post is really short with  lots of pictures, so please bear with me. Thank you :0)

This is Banana Rose Milkshake that I made at least 3 times a week this summer. I saw the recipe on Hari Chandana's blog and loved it so much that I bought a big bottle of rose syrup from Indian store just to try this milkshake. Like any milkshake it is super eay to make and it tastes oh-so-good. I love the girly pink color and the aroma from the rose syrup is just too good. 

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Basic Set up for Food Photography

Blogging Marathon# 31: Week 4/ Day 1
Theme: Moderator's Choice/ Behind the Scenes of a Click
Dish: Banana Bread Oatmeal

We start the final week of Blogging Marathon today and my theme for this week is 'Moderator's Choice'. Our moderator, Valli, gave us 5 themes to choose from. For the first day I chose to show you behind the scenes of one of my click, Banana bread Oatmeal.

One of the most important aspect of food photography (or any photo in general) is lighting. Natural lighting is the cheapest and best option. The thing to note is not all light is is good for taking pictures, like for example harsh day light creates shadows that results in unappealing food photos. Light changes during the day and differs in intensity and color in different seasons. Knowing and understanding light is one of the biggest step towards taking better food photos.

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