Don’t know where to start when taking food photos? A Cozy Kitchen shortlists her 5 Things To Know about light, flat lays, angles, color, and editing.
Adrianna Adarme, photographer and recipe writer, is the queen of comfort food over on her blog A Cozy Kitchen. With Latin-American roots in her cooking, Adrianna knows the exact path to anyone’s heart (through food, duh), and knows just as much about shooting every juicy drop. For our 5 Things To Know series, we sat down with her to talk everything food photography, and she’s given us her top 5 things to know below.
LIGHT / HOW DO YOU FIND THE BEST LIGHTING?
Adrianna’s favorite light to shoot with is when the sun is shining through a window, and she can diffuse it with a sheet diffuser. It’s perfect for playing with highlights and shadows, as well as illuminating all the best bits of your meal.
FLATLAYS / HOW DO YOU ARRANGE YOUR FLAT LAY?
The POV of your dish, flat lay is a photography angle that is usually top-down or directly overhead onto the subject. Adrianna recommends putting your main dish as the focal point of your image, arranging smaller dishes around it to add texture, colors, and more contrasting shadows.
ANGLES / HOW DO YOU CHOOSE THE BEST ANGLE?
Adrianna’s rule of thumb: for dishes with height and layers, shoot straight on instead of overhead to get the best shot of each layer. Her top 3 angles for shooting are directly overhead (flat lay), straight ahead, or at a ¾ angle to the subject, and this all depends on the best angle for the food you’re shooting.
COLOR PALETTES / HOW DO YOU CHOOSE YOUR COLOR PALETTE?
Go with your gut! Adrianna’s favorite colors are mauve, rose, green, and mustard, and she naturally gravitates towards these shades in her photography. She recommends trial and error to find colors that are both flattering together and appealing to you, and relying on intuition to see what works best to your tastes.
PHOTO EDITING / WHAT PHOTO EDITING APPS DO YOU USE?
Adobe Lightroom is Adrianna’s go-to editing app on both her mobile and laptop. She suggests editing on a bigger screen if you struggle to edit on a smaller device, but the built-in editing suite on Instagram is perfect if you just want to touch up a photo before posting.
Know any useful food content tips, or want to learn more? Get in touch or follow our socials to see more of our “5 Things To Know” series, and be sure to use the hashtag #MyJikoni if you use any of A Cozy Kitchen’s tips!