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#41 – How to shape light for dark & moody food photography with Haniyeh Nikoo

Jun 21, 2024

podcast episode – How to shape light for dark & moody food photography with Haniyeh Nikoo

Wedding photographers capture moments as they happen.

Landscape photographers capture landscapes as they appear in nature.

While those definitely require technique, creativity and skill, I feel food and product photographers have an extra role to create a scene/story when they photograph the subject.

We don’t have a ready-made scene to capture but instead need to create one from scratch. As food photographers we are visual storytellers and the most powerful way to tell a story is by creating a mood. Mood is the key to evoke emotions & make a viewer feel like they’re present in that scene.

Today’s phenomenal guest, Haniyeh Nikoo shares everything about dark and moody food photography. Former graphic designer, based in Berlin, Hani is a full-time food photographer for a local company and inspires the food photography community by sharing her personal and professional projects on social media.

my food lens episode

Photo by Haniyeh Nikoo

Here’s what the episode includes:

Haniyeh Talks about her photography style and how it has everything to do with light & mood.
Haniyeh talks about the importance of shaping the light for dark & moody photography.
She makes a point to balance highlights, shadows and contrast in photography.
Haniyeh takes us through the planning and process of a photoshoot.
She talks about how she decides the mood of a food photo.
She shares pro tips on how to create dark & moody photos.
Hani highlights some common mistakes photographers make while creating moody photos.
She talks about the importance of editing in creating moody photography.
Haniyeh shares how she draws inspiration for her beautiful images.
Haniyeh and Dyutima talk about how dark & moody photos perform on social media.