#47 – 5 tips to create compositions that don’t look staged

One of the biggest shifts in trends that we’ve seen is the shift from staged to natural style photography. Whether it is a big brand like McDonald’s or a smaller one, everyone is looking for photos that their audiences or customers can relate to. The more natural a photo is, the more relatable it is.

A photo that looks natural can make you want to buy the food or cook the recipe or even just drool looking at the photo. Whether you’re a photographer, food blogger, or taking photos of food for your purpose, you want your audience to either drool, buy the food or cook the recipe. The less staged your photos are, the higher the chances of it happening. 

Every client is different. While some might like the less staged style, others want it slightly cleaner, less messy, and a bit of a symmetrical kind of staged photography. It depends on the art direction.

If you are intentionally trying to make your compositions look less staged, here are techniques that can make your compositions look natural no matter who you’re creating them for, whether it is yourself or a client and what your food subject is.

1. Rule of Odds
   

Let’s start with the first technique and it has to do with numbers.

Odd numbers like 1,3,5,7 and so forth, are aesthetically more natural and complement each other. Even numbers, on the other hand, tend to compete with each other for attention, such as 2,4,6, and so forth. Especially when you have 2 or 4 of the same food. 

Imagine shooting 2 cups of coffee in a frame. They can be kept side by side or diagonally, but the viewer’s eyes will want to decide which one to look at. Because they both are the same, it’s hard to focus and second, the composition begins to look stiff. 

Odd numbers feel more playful, more natural, and easy on the eyes.

Try working with odd nos. If you have no choice but to work with even numbers, try using a shallow depth of field so that one is more in focus than the other which will allow the viewer to immediately understand which one is the hero and also soften the photo. 

So, one way to create more natural compositions is by falling back on the rule of odds.

2. Controlled Mess

The second way to create a more natural composition is by creating a slightly messy composition. This is a very tricky technique because it is very easy to underdo it or overdo it. When we want to create a natural look we want to show some spills, some scattering of ingredients like they happen in real life. So the key is to remember to make it look real.  

If you’re shooting chocolate cake and sifting cocoa powder to finish the cake, there might be a little powder that will fall off on the side too. That’s how it happens in reality. So if we can portray that in our photo, not only showing cocoa on the top of the cake but just a bit snowed on the side too, then immediately the viewer feels like it’s exactly what happens with them too. But we have to be mindful that it doesn’t look like the entire bag of cocoa slipped off our hands. That looks like you’re trying too hard. 

You can also not have just a speck of cocoa because that is too little and it looks like a mistake. It has to look realistic. 

That’s why the controlled mess is important and also where you show the mess. It has to be in relation to the main subject. Otherwise, the viewer will keep wondering how the cocoa sprinkled itself at the back when the cake is in the front. 

So keep a check on the amount of messiness and also how it relates to the hero subject because if either of those is missed, it looks like it was intentionally placed and takes away from the whole relatable aspect. 

When it is done right, it looks effortless, and natural and draws the viewer in as if it were happening to them, which is exactly what we want. 

3. Placement

The position of the hero subject can play a huge role in how the viewer feels about it. Try to remember the last Mcdonald’s ad you saw. Where was the burger placed in the frame? In the centre, right? 

That’s because the center of the frame takes the show. It is a powerful position. It is commanding and guess what else it could be, a bit stiff. 

The centre position is very bold and not everyone relates to bold. 

Something more natural and easy on the eyes could be a slight off-centre placement. This allows the viewer to wander around a little bit in the frame, it gives a little more opportunity to create a story and because it is not so much in your face, it looks more achievable. This makes the viewer relate to it more and it looks less staged. 

Compositions are so subjective and every food has a different impact. The impact of a chocolate cake in the centre of the frame will be different from the impact of 3 muffins in the centre of the frame. Each one has a different feel but overall, if we had to look at placement in general, the off-centre positions look more easy-going than the centre stage. 

4. Position of Props

The next technique is all about the placement of the props. This might not sound important but it can be a deal breaker. I’ve seen the simplest of compositions looking wow by the creativity of prop positioning.

A few ways that props can be positioned that look natural is one placed at irregular distances from each other, some are close to each other, some further apart, some touching each other and some overlapping with each other. 

Create a bit of unevenness in prop placement. Position them near, far, touching or separate. Bring a little dynamism because that is how it usually is in real life. Not everything is placed neatly side by side. We are all a little messy, so let that come out in the props too, but of course in a controlled and measured way. 

5. Cropping

Last but not least, a way to make compositions look less staged lies in the crop of a photo. how you crop a photo can make a huge difference in making it look staged. 

When we crop a frame, we are creating a story. That crop doesn’t break a story, it creates continuity in a story.

If you crop a photo where you see everything and then the photo ends, so does the imagination of the viewer. They see everything and don’t visualize anything further. But when you crop a photo so that only half of the props are visible, immediately the viewer begins to think of what lies beyond that frame. Their imagination starts playing. They can think of a scenario that might be happening and when they think of a scenario, it is usually something they can relate to. 

So instantly, that photo becomes a part of their visualization of the story and they can relate to it. It makes it look like they’re in it, they’re experiencing it and that story belongs to them.

Cropping the frame creates tension in a photo, allowing the viewer to weave their own version of a visual story around it, which is exactly what we want. We want our viewers to feel the connection, to feel it could happen to them, to feel that the recipe is achievable, and to feel like it is a moment in time and they are present. 

Cropping the main hero is not such a great idea unless that is your art direction. Cropping props and side dishes can be very powerful in taking away that staged and placed look and turning it into something that looks natural, as if it just happened by itself by chance, but only you know the secret of who created it. 

You might have known of each of these as compositional techniques but now you know how they can play their part in making compositions look natural, easy and relatable. 

There’s no right or wrong in composition because it is an art, afterall.

There are ways of being deliberate and intentional in our decisions so that we can create the compositions we desire, stiff or natural. Each one has its own place, charm and personality. 

Links mentioned –

Episode 12 – https://myfoodlens.com/12-powerful-visual-storytelling-in-food-photography/