Food Shots In 10 Minutes

In food photography, there are many ways you can save yourself time! I challenge you to practice often, maybe giving yourself short windows of time to see what you can create on a whim. A challenge like this is a great growth experience. Usually what I love about still life and food photography is that you can take you time, think, and capture the details. Keep a journal and note your inspirations along the way.

As you can imagine, photographing ice cream in Arizona can be difficult. Food photography already has its challenges, but adding something frozen and extreme heat together usually doesn't make for a happy combination as far as photo scenarios go. With things that melt/drip/wilt, you need to work quickly.

Of course, you will have your story already in mind, your hero of the shot will be known, and you may have already brainstormed the props you need. That is all time consuming!

Once you have those time consuming tasks done, you can capture your food shots in 10 minutes. Maybe your first few "quick shoots" aren't as successful as you hope, but do it a few times, and it will really help you figure out any weaknesses you have when it comes to your settings, composition and style.

Here are a few tips to shooting in 10 minutes!

1) Find your setting/stage first. Find your light. Get everything in place and ready to go before you bring out the food. This means the plates/tripod/back and base, etc.

2) Shoot in stages. When I was shooting the ice cream, I knew I would want images of the ice cream cones empty, and then the cones with ice cream in them. Then images of the ice cream cone with sprinkles. Thinking about these stages beforehand is key for step-by-step shots.

a tip about ice cream...

I softened the ice cream and scooped it into a cone. 

I put the filled cone back in the freezer to re-harden. I have found that softened ice cream that is re-frozen, freezes harder than it was before. Not sure why, but this is GOOD, because it melts more slowly than before...in my opinion. This will give you a few extra minutes of shoot time. 

3) Shoot your item quickly with variety

Your set up should be ready to go, and you are ready to shoot the hero!

You camera is set up, you have your light and now you will shoot in multiple angles and scenarios.

-Above

-45 degree

-eye level

-horizontal and vertical shots

Check the back of your camera rarely to save time.

Variety to think about depending on what you are shooting: 

stacked/not stack

frosted/not frosted

mixed/not mixed

bitten/not bitten

sliced/not sliced

whole/broken

Here are just a few examples of my 10 minute shoot the other day...most of these are overhead, and as you can see, the styling is very minimalist

..........and when your kids wake up early from naps and only give you 10 minutes, you will be okay because they will be satisfied stealing your props