Intro to Still Life & Food Photography

Introduction to Still Life & Food Photography will establish a foundational understanding of framing and composition, an awareness of lighting and how to arrange objects in a still life image to create story and communicate to the viewer. This module is 4 units totaling 2 1/2 hours of classroom instruction. We will discuss the framing guidelines of the rule of thirds and the golden rule. We will talk about creating context with your setting, how much to include and techniques to make your images stand out. For example, layering, texture, color, symmetry and the highlight and shadow balance. We’ll start out with a brief discussion of the history of the still life and how it’s used today. I’ll show many examples of foods photographed for restaurant and editorial assignments like reviews and advertising that I’ve done. We’ll also talk about larger settings called vignettes where more of the setting is included for context. We’ll also talk about crucial lighting and color information like mixing day light from a window with interior overhead lights and the effect that will have on your image. Bonus lesson: Included in this course is my class on focal lengths which includes a great demonstration on how different lens focal lengths can impact your image. This is particularly relevant in product and still life photography when you want your objects to appear true to life but be separate from the background. This course is included in my full “Intro to Digital Photography” course.