How to Take Quality Photos

Taking photos is a key part of not only food but life in general as well. And with the advances in mobile phone camera technology, you don’t have to be a professional to be able to perfect the art of taking nice photos anymore! All you need to focus on is learning to have a good eye and the correct techniques. There are several techniques below to teach you how to take quality photos!

Gridlines

Using gridlines can be a helpful first and straightforward technique to taking quality photos. If using a phone camera, the camera app has a built in grid that you can select to use.

Within photographic composition you can split the photo up into 9 parts, three vertically and three horizontally. According to the Rule of Thirds theory, if you place points of interest in these intersections or along the lines, your photo will be more balanced, level, and allow viewers to interact with it more naturally. 

Image via Huawei

Focus

The focus of what part of the photo is clear and what is blurred is an important way to emphasize your desired subject and easily guide your audience’s eyes.

Quite often, the default focus in a picture is on the foreground, especially if there is not a specific subject in the photo. To adjust where you want your camera lens to focus, lightly press and hold on a camera while aiming at where you want your focus. Or on a mobile phone, tap the screen where you want to sharpen the view.

Many of the best photos include just one subject to be focused on so as to not overwhelm the viewer. So when taking a picture of a specific subject, spend some extra time setting up the shot and making sure it's perfect. Some professional photographers say that the subject shouldn't fill the entire frame, and that two-thirds of the photo should be negative space — that helps the subject stand out even more.

Photo via Food Photography Academy

Negative Space

Negative space simply refers to the areas around and between the subjects of an image — and it can take a photo from good to masterpiece! Negative space is often a large expanse of open sky, an empty field, a large wall, or water. For food, the negative space is often the background or other smaller items placed in the background.

When you include a lot of empty space in a photo, your subject will stand out more and help your viewer focus as well. Typically, the negative space can help emphasize and embolden the colors of your subject by diverting all attention towards it.

Image via Food Photography Academy

Learning how to take how quality photos requires just a couple simple lessons and a good eye for the right subjects! We can’t wait to see how you use these techniques and all the delicious masterpiece photos you post on Pepper soon!