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12 Tips to Capture Stunning Vegetable Photography

29 Jul

The post 12 Tips to Capture Stunning Vegetable Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.

Are you interested in vegetable photography? Then you’ve come to the right place.

In this article, you’ll find plenty of tips and tricks for photographing vegetables; if you’re a food photography beginner, you’ll learn how to get started, and if you’re already a food photography enthusiast, you’ll discover easy ways to improve your results.

Now, I’m not a botanist or a chef, so I apologize in advance if my example photos contain food that’s not technically a vegetable. And in photography, the categories are more flexible. (If you think of the most famous vegetable photographs, you’ll probably think of Edward Weston’s Pepper series, and peppers are technically a fruit!)

In any case, feel free to use these techniques with raw produce in general: fruits, vegetables, legumes, mushrooms, etc.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s get started.

1. Handpick your produce

selection of chili peppers on white — Canon 70D | 55mm | f/4.5 | 1/250s | ISO 100

If you were taking a professional portrait, you would cast your model, right? Well, the same should be true for vegetable photography – before getting out your camera, you need to carefully pick your “hero” subject.

If you’re photographing for commercial purposes, you might want to look for the shiniest, roundest, most perfect vegetable you can find.

However, if you’re doing a personal project or a still life, you can take some liberties. You don’t need to use the best looking product; instead, aim to find produce that looks interesting. Find a vegetable that complements the props you’re using or that features a noticeable texture, etc.

No matter what individual item you end up using, the point is that you take the time to choose. You should find a market or a store that allows you to pick the produce yourself (don’t order online!). And try to get to the store early in the day so you can have first pick of the produce. Also, avoid peak hours so that you can take your time.

Consider talking to the seller. Explain what you usually look for in products. Once you make friends, they can be of great help and may even give you some insider tips on how to treat the produce.

2. Pay careful attention to composition

The composition is the way you organize the items inside the frame. And the right composition will help the viewer navigate your picture.

There are many guidelines that can help improve vegetable photography compositions, but the most basic tip is to use the rule of thirds, which suggests that you position key elements a third of the way into the frame. And because most cameras and smartphones have a handy rule of thirds grid overlay, it’s an easy way to get started.

There are many other compositional guidelines you can follow, ranging from simple leading lines to more complex triangles and the rule of odds, so make sure you familiarize yourself with these composition tips.

3. Choose the right shutter speed, aperture, and ISO

vegetable photography tomatoes in a little bowl — Canon 70D | 55mm | f/8 | 1/100s | ISO 200

Your camera settings will determine both the exposure and the final look of your photos. So while getting a correct exposure is important, you also need to consider the impact that each setting will have on your shot.

Specifically, you’ll want to think about your three primary settings: shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.

A fast shutter speed is key when you have a moving element. In the case of vegetable photography, this could be a splash of water or even a hand that’s chopping the produce. Shutter speed is also helpful if you’re shooting handheld; the faster your shutter speed, the more likely you are to eliminate camera shake.

The aperture helps determine the depth of field. Smaller apertures give a deeper depth of field, while larger apertures will give you a nice background blur. Keep in mind that the focal length and the distance between the camera and the subject influence depth of field, as well.

Finally, there’s the ISO. This setting is often overlooked by beginner photographers, but a small ISO value will ensure a smooth image while a high ISO will introduce noise.

4. Change the angle of view

onions in different perspectives — Canon 70D | 42mm | f/4 | 1/100s | ISO 100

The position of the camera in relation to the subject is very important – it affects the composition, the depth of field, and it helps define what you are communicating with your picture.

There are three common angles used in food photography: down from above, table level, and a 45-degree angle that mimics the way you see food when you’re sitting down to eat. So use these as your starting points (though bear in mind that they are just guidelines, so feel free to move around until you find the perfect viewpoint.)

I advise you to get your main shot the way you initially envisioned it. Then experiment with other angles. You might happen upon a great perspective that you hadn’t considered!

5. Use color to make your photos stand out

complementary pepper colors — Canon 70D | 55mm | f/5.6 | 1/80s | ISO 100

Color can be a great way to improve your vegetable photography. The great thing about natural subjects such as vegetables is that they already have colors that work wonderfully together, so use these to your advantage. Find orange carrots with their green leaves or a colorful variety of chili peppers, then arrange them in striking compositions.

That said, you don’t necessarily need to use contrasting colors that make the subject pop – you can also go monochrome to create a mood or to help the viewer focus on shape and texture.

And you can always use the color wheel to discover new color palettes and color palette inspiration. Adobe has a wonderful tool called Adobe Color, and it’s available even if you don’t have a membership. It can even show you color trends and color palettes based on concepts and ideas.

6. Experiment with close-ups

Vegetable photography textures — Canon 70D | 55mm | f/8 | 1/50s | ISO 800

One of the things I enjoy most while shooting vegetables is getting up close and capturing wonderful textures and patterns.

If you’re shooting for commercial purposes, close-ups may be less feasible, but they’re great for personal projects. You don’t need lots of specialized gear, either; a macro lens is a big help, but you can also work with a telephoto or wide-angle lens and focus as close as possible.

Then, you can create your final result with some cropping in post-production. Keep in mind that you will be losing pixels with this process, so use the highest resolution camera that you have available.

7. Use light modifiers (and a tripod)

vegetable photography still life — Canon 70D | 45mm | f/8 | 1/100s | ISO 800

You can do great vegetable photography with natural light and a handheld camera. However, adding some accessories to your setup can help you achieve better results.

Light modifiers make a big difference whether you use artificial light or natural light. Use diffusers or lightboxes to soften the light and avoid hard shadows. And reflectors can bounce back the light to fill in the shadows, while flags can help you block and direct the light. All of these can be purchased for cheap, or you can DIY them.

A tripod is important when there isn’t lots of light for handholding. Plus, it can help with your compositions and special techniques like focus stacking.

8. Think about lighting direction and contrast

tomatoes in a bag — Canon 70D | 55mm | f/8 | 1/3s | ISO 100

Careful use of lighting will shape your photos the way you want them. In vegetable photography, you’ll often work with natural light, though you can also use artificial light to achieve a specific mood (or when you don’t have enough natural light available).

Either way, there are two main aspects of light you need to consider: its direction and its contrast. In other words, where is the light coming from and how harsh does the light appear?

If you want dark, defined shadows, you need hard light. If you prefer even lighting with diffused shadows, you need soft light.

As far as the lighting direction, backlighting offers many creative choices. Sidelighting helps to highlight texture and add depth. Frontal lights flatten the elements, which is great for flat-lay shots.

Feel free to experiment with different setups. And make sure you study the work of other photographers to determine what you like and how it’s done.

9. Use a complementary (or non-distracting) backdrop

artichokes with a pink backdrop — Canon 70D | 55mm | f/2.8 | 1/6s | ISO 100

As with any type of photography, the background is just as important as the subject. You should choose a background that complements the subject – or, at the very least, doesn’t distract from it.

You can’t go wrong with neutral, solid backgrounds. However, they can be a bit limiting for your creative vision. Wood backdrops are a nice match for vegetable photography, especially if you’re going for a rustic, just-harvested look. You can also use marbled tabletops or tiles if you want to create a kitchen feel.

The background will help you create the mood. Unfortunately, not everybody has the budget and the space to have a lot of backdrops at home, but you can always use printed sheets or digital backgrounds displayed on your TV or your computer.

10. Style before you shoot

many vegetables arranged together — Canon 70D | 28mm | f/8 | 1/80s | ISO 100

Styling is a big part of food photography, including vegetable photography. Even if you decide to isolate a single vegetable, that’s a styling choice, as is the decision to position it whole, chopped, peeled, etc.

If your vegetables aren’t isolated and you decide to introduce props, these will also require careful consideration. Do you want to present the food in a wicker basket or on a designer plate? Do you want to add cutlery? Do you plan to introduce a human element?

Different stylistic elements will help you to create your chosen ambiance and convey a specific message with your photos.

11. Enhance your vegetable photography with editing

If you want to really take your vegetable images to the next level, I highly recommend you do some editing.

Start by fine-tuning the composition using the Crop tool. Most programs like Photoshop or Lightroom even include some composition overlays to guide you while cropping.

You can adjust the white balance and exposure, if necessary, though I recommend you do the best you can while shooting in-camera to avoid having to fix problems in post-production.

(That said, try to shoot in RAW to maximize the amount of information you have to work with when processing.)

When editing vegetable photography, I recommend keeping it on the realistic side. Of course, you can add your own aesthetic style – by giving the file a vintage look or using warm tones to simulate the golden hour – but make sure you don’t overdo it.

One more tip: If any of your vegetables have a dent or a damaged spot that’s distracting, feel free to fix it with the Clone Stamp or Healing tools.

12. Have fun with levitation (and other special effects)

creating a levitation onion photo (before and after) — Canon 70D | 38mm | f/6.3 | 1/80s | ISO 100

If you want to spice things up in your vegetable photography, try adding some special effects.

There are different choices that you can make – for example, you can do splash photography or chiaroscuro photography – but today I’d like to talk about levitation photography.

This is really trendy right now and it looks very impressive, but it all comes down to a simple composite. I’ll give you the basic steps, and you can then make your shot as elaborate as you want.

The levitation shot

You’ll need props to hold up the vegetables and arrange them in a pleasing composition. There’s no hard rule about this as you’re going to remove the items in Photoshop later; you can use toothpicks (like I used in the example image above), or you can use threads if you want to hang the food from outside the frame.

If you’re just starting out with levitation photography, try to use a very soft light. That way, you won’t have to deal with toothpick shadows (shadows are usually the hardest part of any composite). A dark background can provide a little extra help.

Once you have all the elements where you want them, position your camera and set the exposure. Make sure you adjust your settings manually as they need to be the same in all the pictures you use for the composite.

Once you capture the first photo, take away the subject and snap a picture of the empty background (remember, the settings and focus should stay the same!). For a simple shot like the one above, you’ll only need two images, but you can always take a picture of each element to achieve a more professional result.

Editing your photo

Start by opening both images as layers in Photoshop. Make sure the image with the subject is on top. Then add a Layer Mask and grab the Brush tool. Using black, paint over the toothpicks or threads that you used to hold up the vegetables.

The mask will hide the props and reveal the empty background from the other layer, creating the levitation effect. If part of the produce is covered by a holding prop, use the Clone Stamp tool or the Healing Brush to subtly remove it.

Vegetable photography tips: final words

Well, there you have it:

12 tips to take your vegetable photos to the next level.

All that’s left to do now is practice – and have fun!

Now over to you:

Which of these tips do you plan to implement in your own vegetable photography? Do you have any vegetable photo tips? Share your thoughts (and photos!) in the comments below!

Vegetable photography FAQs

How do you make vegetables look fresh?

Photograph them while they’re still fresh! Keep them away from heat while you prepare the scene and maybe spritz some water on them before the shot.

Can you photograph fruit in the same way as vegetables?

Yes. The same tips and techniques apply for fresh fruits, herbs, tubers, mushrooms, vegetables, and other types of raw produce.

Is vegetable photography only about fresh produce?

The most common use of the term vegetable photography refers to raw produce – once it’s cooked, it’s normally classified as “food photography.” However, you might run into a client or a photographer who also includes cooked vegetables in the “vegetable photography” category.

Is vegetable photography a kind of still life photography?

Yes, normally vegetable photography refers to a still life composition using raw produce. Although you can also do lifestyle photography shoots with vegetables.

Can you use cooked ingredients for vegetable photography?

You can use a cooked dish as part of the composition. However, vegetable photography normally has raw produce as the main subject.

The post 12 Tips to Capture Stunning Vegetable Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.

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Great Fruit and Vegetable Still Life Photography Ideas

05 Jun

The post Great Fruit and Vegetable Still Life Photography Ideas appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.

dps-fruit-and-vegetable-still-life-photography-ideas

Before there was photography, artists used paints and brushes to record their visions onto a canvas. Fruit and vegetable still life images were common subjects for many. Even today, in art schools, a fruit bowl might be an early subject. Learning to reproduce shapes, tones, color, and replicating the way light, shadow, smooth reflective objects, and dull matte objects look in the light – all those things would be part of your training.

Great Fruit and Vegetable Still Life Photography Ideas

We, as photographers, would do well to take a similar approach to our photography. We have it easier in many ways; not needing paints and brushes to create our images on a blank canvas. However, learning about light, composition, and technique are still foundational lessons.

If you are stuck at home, this could be a good opportunity to slow down, work on the kitchen table, relax with a slow-paced style of photography, and learn some new photography skills. A fruit and vegetable still life project could be just the way to spend a quiet day at home.

Subject selection

There are several reasons why fruits and vegetables make good still life subjects. They have interesting shapes, textures, colors, and details. As they are food, we can work to make them look especially appetizing, selecting the freshest and best subjects to be our “models.”

People who specialize in food photography will often use the talents of “food stylists” who carefully pick just the right subjects. They then use tricks, much like a fashion makeup stylist would use, to make their “models” as flawless and stunning as possible.

If you have access to choice fruits and vegetables right now, by all means, go seek such subjects. On the other hand, if being restricted to home means you need to use that somewhat sad-looking collection of carrots from the bottom of the refrigerator, just take your photo in a different direction.

Types and styles

In the early-to-mid 1600s, the Netherlands saw the rise of a collection of artists we now refer to as the “Dutch Masters.” A realistic style, emphasis on dramatic directional lighting, and the play of light and shadow are earmarks of the look. A good example of a Dutch Golden Age still-life artist is Willem Kalf. See his image below, “Still Life with Lemon Peel.” Now, as a photographer, how might we emulate that look?

A favorite technique of mine for emulating the Dutch Master’s look is light painting. I discuss this at length in my DPS article, “Learn these Two Techniques for Dramatic Light-Painted Photos.”

A distinct advantage of still life photography is that shutter speed is not critical. If you need a multi-second exposure, no problem. Work from a tripod so your camera is rock-steady, lock up the mirror on a DSLR to minimize vibrations, and use a cable release or perhaps the 2-second timer to trip the shutter. Go to full-manual mode. Keep your ISO at the lowest setting to minimize noise. Select an aperture based on how much depth of field you seek, and select a shutter speed for however much time you need for the “painting.”

Grab your flashlight and paint away.

A favorite photographer I follow now on Instagram is Carlo Denino. Often with just a single fruit, vegetable, or other subjects, he produces exquisite light paintings. I encourage you to give his images a look and see if you can then emulate his style. I know from personal experience it’s not nearly as easy as it might look!

Lighting

Light Painting

Light painting is just one way you can go when doing fruit and vegetable still life images. Natural lighting can often be great and will require nothing more than your camera.

Dutch Master’s images were typically painted to look like they were illuminated by a single light source off to the side.

Find a window where you can place your subject and see if you can create the look. If you need a little fill to reduce the shadows, a simple reflector or even a white card can do the trick.

Non-conventional lights

Explore how other lights that would be considered non-conventional for photography, such as LED-flashlights, can work. Yes, they will not usually be as bright as standard photo lighting, and their color temperatures can vary. But they do have the advantages of being cheap, small and portable, and perhaps something you already have on hand. Use long exposures to compensate for their lower light output, and when you shoot in Raw mode, finding a good white balance will be much easier.

Flash

Speedlights can be another option. You will typically not want your light to come from the front of your subject, so your pop-up flash or hot-shoe-mounted Speedlight isn’t the best way to go. If you can, get the flash off the camera and fire it with a remote trigger. Or perhaps use a flash cord to get it away from the camera. If not, try bouncing the light off the ceiling, a wall or a reflector to redirect the light and soften it.

Tricks with conventional photo lighting

If you have dedicated photography lighting, that’s great. Give it a try and perhaps use your fruit and vegetable still life subjects to explore some new lighting techniques. Try different ways to modify the light with snoots, reflectors, flags, diffusion, gobos, colored gels, or whatever else you can think of.

Unrestricted by time or pressure to get it right quickly will open you up to experiments you might have never tried. If you fail twenty times but come up with a new and exciting technique just once, you can consider your experimental lighting play a great success.

Lighting direction

With their interesting colors and sometimes translucent nature, fruits and vegetables can lend themselves to some interesting lighting techniques. Rarely will you want to light from the front of the subject as this will produce rather flat and uninteresting light.

Instead, try side lighting to emphasize texture, backlighting to perhaps create some nice rim-lighting, or if you want to get some really creative looks, lighting through your subject.

Fruits and vegetables that can be sliced thin work great for this. For example, I made thin slices of a kiwi, then made a platform from a glass pie plate under which I placed an LED flashlight. The light shining up and through the slices really emphasized the color and detail. Citrus fruits work well for this technique too.

Experiment and see what you can create.

Backgrounds

As with any other photo subject, carefully consider the background when you stage your fruit and vegetable still life image. You will want a background that complements and doesn’t interfere with your subject.

Quite often, the best background will be the simplest. Consider using a completely white or black background if that works for the image you’re trying to create. Lightroom makes it very easy to blow out whites or totally blackout shadows with the adjustment brush aided by other tools like the clipping indicators and Auto and Range Mask. Paint out what you don’t want to keep the focus on your subject.

Of course, the other option you always have with photography is blurring, and thus simplifying, your background with a limited depth of field.

If you are a new photographer just trying to get your head around how depth of field works, the slow and deliberate nature of making fruit and vegetable still life images is a great way to experiment and understand the relationships of apertures, focal lengths, and their effects on depth of field.

Spritz things up

A favorite trick of food photographers looking to make their fruit and vegetable still life images look fresh and also add interest is to use a spray bottle to spritz their subjects with water. Sometimes to create larger droplets that hang better and last longer on the subject, they will add a bit of glycerine to the water.

Macro

The structure of living things is often fascinating, and being able to explore fruits and vegetables up close can reveal some really interesting things. Whether you use a dedicated macro lens, extension tubes, bellows, close-up filters, a reversed lens, or a combination of these, macro work is just the thing to divert your attention from your troubles while you focus on the unseen world.

Working inside in a controlled environment with no wind and complete control of the lighting will also help you learn macro techniques.

Tell a story

When making fruit and vegetable still life images, it can enhance your photo if you add other objects to help “tell a story” about your scene. Rather than simply take a photo of an apple, slice the apple, add a cutting board and a knife to invite the viewer to consider what might have been going on. Add props that enhance the theme and avoid those that distract. Consider what makes sense in that particular scene and things you would naturally find paired together.

High and low key

Fruit and vegetable still life photography can sometimes lend itself to high and low key renditions. To briefly define the terms, high-key is a lighting and exposure style that is very bright and contains little or no shadow. Contrast ratios, that being the difference between the lightest and darkest tones, are minimized. High-key photos will often have an “ethereal” look to them.

Low-key images are the opposite and typically quite dark, often with shadows that are totally black. They will often be quite contrasty with few mid-tones. Sometimes a low-key shot will use highlights in certain places to emphasize shape and form. Back and rim-lighting can lend itself well to a low-key look.

Here’s an exercise to try; take a fruit or vegetable, compose your shot, and make a “normal” exposure. Then, without moving the camera or subject, change the lighting and exposure to give it a high-key look. Now change the lighting and exposure again and see if you can get a low key look. This is a fun way to explore lighting techniques and understand the dramatic difference lighting can have on a scene.

Still life that moves

We call it “still” life because, most often, the subject doesn’t move during the exposure and is static. But need it be that way?

Fruits and vegetables can make great subjects for some dynamic images. In my article “Making the Shot: Your Guide to Creating Stunning High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash,” I show some fun ways to make some really exciting images. You’ll note that almost all of my subjects were fruits and vegetables.

There’s also this image from my “How to Use Multi-flash to Capture Compelling Action Photos” article. The orange pepper stood out nicely on a dark background and allowed me to make the stroboscopic image as it flew through the air.

Mom may have told you not to play with your food, but here, it’s entirely appropriate and a whole lot of fun.

Conclusion

Many of you may be homebound and looking for creative ways to keep up your photography practice. Making fruit and vegetable still life images has some advantages;

It uses subjects you may already have at home.
It lends itself to a variety of different lighting techniques.
Macro photography is a possibility.
You can explore all kinds of new techniques.
If you get some really good shots you may be able to sell them as stock images.
After you’re done, you can eat your subjects!

Have fun with your fruit and vegetable still life photography, and post some of your great shots in the comments below.

If you’d like feedback, critique, and have a question about how to do something better, post that too. I try to answer all comments and look forward to hearing from you. Best wishes and be well!

The post Great Fruit and Vegetable Still Life Photography Ideas appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.

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Weekly Photography Challenge – The Humble Vegetable

26 Mar

Earlier we looked at some artsy images of everyday objects – vegetables.

By Williamo!

Weekly Photography Challenge – the humble vegetable

This week we want you to go find some produce and photograph it! Think outside the box:

Try black and white
Shoot macro
Go for an abstract
Backlight it
Light paint it

By samandel.com

By Flavio~

By Lynn Friedman

By Amelia Crook

By woodleywonderworks

By Tristan Bowersox

By Gillie Rhodes

By Tim Geers

By jar []

Share your images below:

Simply upload your shot into the comment field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see or if you’d prefer upload them to your favourite photo sharing site and leave the link to them. Show me your best images in this week’s challenge. Sometimes it takes a while for an image to appear so be patient and try not to post the same image twice.

By David Reber

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The post Weekly Photography Challenge – The Humble Vegetable by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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