Do you have trouble figuring out what is the best camera angle to use for your food shots? I find that with the students that I teach, this is a very common problem.
My students often teach me what I need to teach them. When I first started teaching, I would do a demo in class where I set up my camera while my colleague, who I was teaching the class with, would set up our food and props for the demo shot. A student asked me, “how do you know where to put your camera?”. I had to think for a few minutes. This has become so built in for me, that I realized I didn’t even think about it, I just sort of knew where to put it.
This was never taught to me in school that I can remember. I have two degrees from two different schools. Neither of these schools ever talked about food photography when I was there. So how did I know where to put my camera?
The answer is, I think that from years of shooting, I just learned it on my own. I’m sure that’s not what you want to hear, but it really is true with photography. The more you do it, the easier it will get. I promise!
So in the meantime, while you are learning how to improve your food photography, just know you will start to understand where your camera needs to be in order to show your food in the best way possible.
Table of Contents
Where to put your camera?
The food shooting scenario I am going to be talking about is the one where you are at home, and you have a little time to spend on your food shots. As I’ve mentioned before, I always shoot on a tripod. If you are not shooting on a tripod, you are really limiting yourself, and how you can work on your shot.
Here is what I do. Let’s say I’m working on that shot above of the rustic peach tart. I knew I wanted to get a real close up shot of the peaches. As it’s sitting on the table, I look at the tart, but not through the camera, and decide where I want my focus to be on the peaches.
Once I know where my focus will be, I know how to place my camera to get that part of the peach tart in focus. In that shot above, the camera was at about a 45 degree angle looking down into the tart. I took this with a 100mm macro lens so I could get nice and close to it.
You need the angle that will show your food the best, NOT the dish it’s in, or the bowl it’s in. You are not selling those. You are selling your food – and by selling I mean featuring in your image.
So look through your camera while it’s not on the tripod yet, and roughly compose your shot where you can see the food the best, THEN remember where you are roughly, put your camera on the tripod, then reframe your shot to what you want.
What’s The Best Camera Angle For Food Photos?
I get asked this all the time. The answer is, this totally depends on the type of food you are shooting. The way your food is plated will dictate WHERE you need to put your camera.
Now, some foods can look great when being photographed a few different ways. Like a pizza. That can look great at a 45 degree angle and also an overhead shot.
I’m going to break this down into the four most common camera angles to shoot food with.
1. 45 Degree Angle Also Called 3/4 View
This is probably the most common camera angle for shooting food.
Shooting at this angle with a longer lens, like the 100mm lens, or setting your zoom lens to something like 75mm or higher, you get to really see into your dish and in a lot of cases, only see the surface of what you are shooting on – there is no background (surface is the wood here – background would be what you would see beyond the surface, like a wall).
If you are one of the many bloggers who are still using a 50mm lens to get your shots, you will probably run out of your surface area unless you get right on top of your food. The 50mm lens is considered a wide lens for shooting one dish of food. Everyone who uses it has to get extremely close to their food to get a shot that doesn’t show lots of things in the background that you don’t want. This can be very limiting.
I would say for all my commercial jobs that I shoot, that this is probably the most common angle I use.
#2 The slightly lower angle, 30 degrees
When the food on the plate allows for this, I will lower the camera angle a little bit so that I can show a horizon line in the back of the shot and show a background. It was really nice to show how thick the side of the lamb is in this shot below.
Notice that the profile of the plate is very shallow. There is hardly any lip on the edge of the plate at all. If this was in a large bowl, I would have to raise the camera angle higher to see into it.
So I figure out where I want the focus to be AND what camera angle to use with the dish the food is on.
#3 The straight-on shot
This is a fun way to shoot some foods and is very common for burgers and sandwiches. When shooting burgers and sandwiches, you want to show what’s in them. If you put the top bun on (we call this the crown), you are covering the food, so you have to shoot from the side like this.
When I am shooting for a burger client, quite often the camera is a little bit lower than straight on and I am angling the camera up a little bit to see the food. This gives the burger a very heroic look.
#4 The overhead shot
This is a camera angle that we see all the time with food blogs. Some blogs use this too much I feel. It’s easier to make a composition this way because you are eliminating depth in the shot. Your food becomes shapes and colors that you place into your frame.
It’s a very fun way to shoot – just remember, please, don’t do this all the time, or it will get boring very fast.
The point here is to use different camera angles in order to keep your readers engaged. Mix it up! Try different camera angles if you are still learning this and are unsure of which camera angle to use.
#5 – What ever angle is needed to get the shot you want
So I have to mention that these top four camera angles above are just a guide to the most common ways to shoot food. This really does depend on the dishes and glasses your food or drinks are in.
Here is a shot of drinks. When I shoot glasses, I like to make sure that you can see the back edge of the glass so that you can see the top of the drink.
In this shot, I am slightly higher than a straight on camera angle, in order to see a little bit of the top of the drinks and the back edge of each glass.
Obviously, if you are shooting a bowl of soup or a one-pot meal in a dutch oven, your camera angle will need to be at least at a 45 degree angle in order to see into your dish. You might need to be higher to look down into something.
So the next time you are setting up for a food shot, try a few different angles and see which one you like the best. In time you will start to get a sense of what looks best for your shots. The more you shoot, the easier this will become. I promise!
If you like this post, please share it on Facebook and sign up below so you don’t miss another post.
Erica
Thank you for the great examples! I’m excited to use these on my next shoot. Great job Christina!
Christina Peters
Hi Erica, You’r welcome and thanks for reading the blog!
Selena
Dear Christina,
Thanks a lot for sharing your experience and valuable tips on food photographing. This article about the camera angle helped me to understand what I get when I am shooting.
I am a fruit carving artist. I make fruit carving arrangements for different events and take photographs of the fruit displays at the restaurants for my portfolio . I am looking for the tips how to photograph large food objects, especially when there is no possibility to use a proper background, when there are many other stuff on the table as dishes, tableware, decorative things or flowers. I want to make good-looking, selling pictures of my works.
Have you had such experience and what’s your vision for photographing this kind of decorative food displays?
I will be much grateful for your tips on the matter.
And if you like to make a guest post on the topic, you are very welcome to do that on my fruit carving blog.
Christina Peters
Hi Selena, I suggest you put up a background to keep the shots looking clean. Like seamless paper. It’s very inexpensive and easy to transport. You put that up behind your subject to clean up the background.
Selena
Thanks for the advice Christina!
Christina Peters
Welcome!
Lyn Banks
Thanks Christina for the excellent tips which make perfect sense, especially when combined with the images used as examples. Looking forward to your next post.
Christina Peters
Hi Lyn! Thanks so much, glad you liked the post.
Deb @ Cooking on the Front Burner
Great article – wish I lived closer (than MN) – would love to take your classes. I am too interested in lighting since it is winter and can’t always shoot on the weekends. I’m currently using 2 softboxes that were a gift. Will look forward to that post!!
Christina Peters
Hi Deb, soft boxes works great. I’ll be talking about those.
Life Images by Jill
great tips with great illustrations. I will look forward to the post about lighting. It is something I really need to learn about. thanks!
Christina Peters
Hi Jill! Lighting is one of the most important things for any type of photography. It is something that also takes time to learn and to actually see the nuances with it. Stay tuned!
Jeff Parker
More excellent tips! I truly look forward to these posts. As a stylist, I have learned a lot from watching shooters, but I am usually more focused on making the food itself look appealing. It so helpful for me to understand this so that I can help the photographer get the shot… makes all of our jobs easier!! Thanks!
Christina Peters
Thanks Jeff! Glad you liked the post!
Marilyn @ Pink Martinis and Pearls
Great post, as always.
Christina Peters
Thanks Marilyn!
michelle
Christina,
I cannot thank you enough for you ability to show and tell. You make it very easy to understand. I worked 2 1/2 years straight on shooting food…. I found I needed a real stylist to make my work show any progress. I have broadened my horizons for my photography skills, but my love is shooting color, texture, and detail….. food! I love your shot of the peaches. My struggle seems to be in the lighting, of which I use only ambient light, or once in a while my Lowell Ego…. any tips?
Thank you !
Christina Peters
Hi Michelle, I always use a food stylist for prepared foods. It’s a fact of life, if you are not a good food stylist, you must hire one, or do a trade with them for shots. Once you understand your camera and how lenses work, it’s all about the lighting to get a great shot. I strongly suggest taking some photography lighting classes at your local college. I’m going to be frank here, I can’t stand the Lowell Ego lights. They are horrible for shooting food and I’m shocked how expensive they are for what you get. Your light source should never be on the surface you are shooting on. Doing that will completely crowd your set. You’re going to struggle with shadows in your food and getting the light where you need it. It’s very limiting to use those lights. I’m very aware that there are bloggers leading people astray by saying this is how you should shoot food. I’m going to be writing some lighting posts in the future to try to clear this up. Take a class in artificial lighting, not strobe lighting but incandescent lighting (using strobes [flashes] is a very advance step). This will help you immensely and hopefully show you what lights to use.
jodie richelle
Great tips and beautiful photos. Thanks!
Christina Peters
Welcome Jodie!