Go to the Article: 4 Simple Tips for Better Food Photography
Excellent tips, thank you so much! Any suggestions on a few types of DSLR cameras and lenses in a variety of price points? Also any suggestions on a tripod of choice?
Great tips Guys!! Just recently ordered a tripod and remote for my DSLR, hopefully that will improve my snaps
Is the third photo on this page photoshoped? How is it possible that the food is partial blured but not the plate on the same focus distance? I dont think this tutorial is trustworthy...
Any camera will do. The make of the camera will not affect the images. That's all up to the guy at the shutter.
OK. It seems what you are looking at is nothing but a depth of field effect from a macro lens. If you look closely at the grain on the table you'll see its consistent with the foreground. The rim of the plate is an intensely sharp object giving it the illusion of sharpness of focus. Usually people don't Photoshop stuff out of focus even though the filter is given the goofy name "unsharp mask".
Thank you Richard for your good explanation.
This is a classic example of a MAJOR problem of auto-focus cameras, which, as far as I know, includes ALL "smart" phones! Most people never know what the focal point or depth of field of their camera (or phone) is. When I got my first Nikon Photomic Ftn cameras 45 years ago, I studied mostly Ansel Adams' ideas on how to take a "good" photo. I'm afraid you MUST have a camera that specifically allows you to control the _f_-stop and the focal distance for every picture (and the shutter speed, if it's a film camera) if you really, truly, want consistently very good pictures.
Grant (& maybe others) of the ChefSteps team came out of Nathan Myhrvold's Modernist Cuisine team. See if your local library system has a copy of this rather incredible set of books, or, at least the "abridged" version Modernist Cuisine at Home. The photos in these volumes were, I'm sure, NOT taken on a smart phone!
Do you have any other recommendations for clean, simple backdrops? I use a lot of wooden boards and marble but want to change it up without having to spend a fortune. I also have some painted 2x4's to look like picnic tables. Anything else you guys can suggest?
It looks like the camera is focused on the front of the plate and slowly blurs towards the rear.
