#90 – 5 quick tips to improve the lighting in your food photography

I don’t know one person who hasn’t struggled with lighting in their photography or doesn’t want to improve, and go one layer deeper into understanding lighting in food photography.

Here are a few quick tips/reminders if you feel stuck with your lighting or want to create more powerful photos.

Here’s exactly what you need to do to achieve these lighting results:

1. Distance makes the heart grow fonder:

The distance from the light source matters. If your shadows are too small and not impactful, create larger shadows by moving the composition closer to the light source.

The further you move the composition away from the light, the smaller the shadows get and they also get lighter, depending on how far you’ve moved. For darker shadows stay close to the light. This works well for moody photos or if you want more contrast in lights and darks.

2. Dancing shadows:

There’s nothing more captivating in a photo than a sense of movement. The placement of elements in a composition creates movement but to double the impact, use light to emphasize that sense of moving.

Use side-back light to create diagonal shadows so that it gives direction and enhances that diagonal-ness giving the viewer a feeling of movement in the photo. Side-back lighting is dynamic and moving. If you would like to learn more about sideback light, checkout episode 86.

3. Brush over the top (Be wary of this one):

If your flat lays/ top down photos are lacking depth or looking flat, and you would like to give them more oomph, your light source might be at the wrong height.

The bottom of your window/light source should ideally not be too high than the base of your flat lay composition else the light will brush the top of the composition and not create the desired shadows. The bottom of the soft box or window sill should extend at least to the bottom or slightly below the composition to create enough depth and deeper shadows.

A very tall light source like a wide, full height window might be too much light, again, depending on the composition. Try to block the top or use black boards to absorb the light to bring more depth in the photo. (PS – after years of missing this point, this simple understanding completely changed the lighting in my flat lays)

If you want to learn more about lighting in flat lays, tune into episode 35.

4. More from less:

There is nothing more fun than getting the most out of one setup. If you have the time, create a composition and take a photo in your desired lighting direction. Once you get that money shot, shoot the same composition in the other 2 lighting directions.

This will immediately start expanding your understanding about light, to the point that after a stage you’ll be able to visualize what a certain light will look like even before you’ve started creating it. You’ll also create 3 different photos from the same setup, more content for social media and your portfolio.

5. The power of softness:

We just went past Easter this year and social media was flooded with Easter egg photos. Most of them had a similar style of lighting: light so diffused that it looks dreamy and angelic.

The secret to that level of soft light lies in the size of the light source and distance from the light source. To create that dreamy style of soft lighting, use a large light source, add a diffuser, and make sure the subject is small. The larger the subject in relation to light, the harsher the light will be.

So, shooting 3-4 eggs placed very close to a large diffused light source like a window with curtains or a large soft box would give that soft effect.

There you have 5 quick tips or 5 quick reminders to step up your lighting game or to stay on top of your lighting game. If you use these tips to create photos, tag me on instagram. Nothing makes me happier than seeing you take action on everything you learn here.

Episode 86: Side Back Light

Episode 35: Flat Lay Photography