In food photography we use lots of tricks to make our life easier and also amazing photos. As a food blogger you need to show your food as good as you can. Sometimes all falls apart: the dressing doesn’t stay long on the salad, pasta is sticking together, the dessert looks like you just throw it on the plate, etc.
Our traditional Romanian “Ciorba de perisoare” (Sour soup with meatballs) was difficult for me to shoot until I found a trick to keep my meatballs on top. I used the lids from cough syrup. They are made from plastic and you can find them in different shapes. So keep them for your future projects.
As you can see in the final shots you can’t even tell I have them in the soup.
Another trick is to pick the fresh vegetables you can find. They look better on the camera.
Take the photos of the meats and vegetables before being fully cooked. They will look plump and juice. Remove them from the stove a bit early, take your photos and then finish cooking them.
To make the vegetables look fresh in a salad brush them with olive oil or mist with water.
To keep everything together you can use a toothpick. You can hide it in the back of the food.
For looping noodles or rearranging small crumbs you can use tweezers. Keep one in the kitchen just for this.
With a little patience and experience you will develop skills to make your food photography look good.
There are also tricks for food photography, but you can’t eat the food after. At the big shootings there is a golden rule. Don’t eat the food you shoot, because you don’t know what it is.
They use motor oil for syrup, glycerin to look fresh, cotton balls for illusion of steaming-hot foods, spray deodorant for frosty look, white glue instead of milk, shaving cream for cream, mashed potatoes with powdered sugar for ice cream and fake champagne made of water, soy sauce and Alka Seltzer for the bubbles.
Cooking Without Limits 
Great ideas!!
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Thanks so much for sharing. Great post.
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A friend of mine was entering photos of her cooking several years ago. I wish I had known about these tricks of the trade. Well done!! Great information.
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Well i never knew that !
I want to come to eat at your house. I am Romanian too. Are you willing to have guests? I do not have a blog about food, but I enjoy reading your passionate conversations about food, decorations, photography, and stuff. You are a wonderful human being!
Thank you. You are welcome anytime.
Thank you for sharing your education you have gained on your own through your hard work. Much appreciated!
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Now these are some tips I could use. Thank You!
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Thanks for this amazing infos. and I am trying so hard to mimic those magazines’ photos, I’ll never look at major production food pictures the same way!
Gabi, I am always SO pleased to see your ‘likes’ on my FoodTradeTrends.com posts! (That last one on the EU ad ban plan was a douzie, wasn’t it! Who even IMAGINES the likes of that would work — internationally?)
I was just reading through your tips on improving food photography. Great ideas. Thanks!
Doug Harris
Altavista VA
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Thanks for sharing these tricks. Will be very helpful for me
Your a very good photographer…. nice!
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I have always tried to photograph my food after cooking, but its so difficult. I always have to look for perfect lighting and such stuff, which can be really tiresome. But I am going to use your tricks…and share them.too if you don’t mind.
Please use and share
Thanks a ton
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Thank you for the tips. I just started my own Blog and think These tips are very useful!
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WOW–great web site. I’m now a follower and thank you for taking a look at Pecan Lodge.
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So we shouldn’t cry when our efforts don’t look like the photos!
Never
Totally useful and great post! No wonder my photos look so ‘homemade’ like the food I cooked! Hehe!
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Your blog is beautiful and filled with great information. I can’t wait to try some of your recipes.
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Thanks for the tips. I have shared them with others. I smiled at the ” don’t eat the food you shoot” as I once saw a documentary about these type tricks in photography that said you will never leave ok at food commercials the same way nor become hungry at the sight of a great looking burger on T.V. Lol. They were right. 😂
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Awesome tips, thanks for sharing!
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That was very interesting. Thanks for the education. Brick
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Great tips, thank you! I’m always eating the food I photograph, so I know I’ll never compete with the ‘faked’ photos.
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Brilliant post!
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A little late to the convo but thanks for sharing. I find food styling and photography entertaining and am mostly intrigued by the the ability to shoot the food as close to natural as possible. But I’ve also played with “cold food” displays where the food is prepared for nothing more than display, showing off technique and concept.
Nice
Reblogged this on How to Live Like a Princess… Even if you don't have a trust fund! and commented:
This is very clever!
Thanks for dropping by my blog and for the wonderful tips here, I needed them:)
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Nice tips! 🙃
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And here I’ve been stressing that my photos don’t look good enough despite my best efforts!
Pft- never again!
Thanks for busting that myth 😁
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thank you for these helpful tip……… Its gonna mean a lot to me
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Great ideas! Thank you so much for sharing!! 🙂
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Great tips. Thanks for sharing!
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Great ideas! I am going to have to use a few of these. I feel like my pictures never look as good as my food tastes!
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Wow, I didn’t know that, thanks for this very important infos.
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Oh man thanks so much for posting this because I always take super ugly food posts and that is super annoying when you know it looks and tastes good.
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useful tips to food photography. Thank you.
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