Posted by Lately, I have felt I shoot more cooked food and fewer ingredients used in the dishes. It’s always the end product. However, slowly I am making a move.
It is interesting to see how an ingredient looks under the light. You may choose to tell a story or shoot it in all its glory.
There are two ways to shoot ingredients:
- Different ingredients together (might or might not belong to a recipe)
- One ingredient
Here are a few tips to help you through
Minimum colors: I use a tone-on-tone approach or choose a backdrop that highlights the ingredient.
Props: Props like an egg carton, steel sheet pans, wooden grocery boxes, butter knife, etc., that make sense with the ingredient.
A human element: Hold the ingredient or show it being used. For example: hold a bunch of herbs or carrots after being washed or lemons being squeezed, etc.
Show a simple process : Half popped peas, sliced/broken mushrooms, seasoning the vegetables, peeled apples, etc. make for beautiful images.
My tip is to choose an ingredient with textures and place it in such a way that you get a few shadows. In the end, I suggest you keep it simple and see the magic unfold.
Magic Ingredient 