Staying indoors, this is a way to help you take ‘studio-quality’ food photos with just a smartphone

Surely you’ve encountered this situation: hungry at night when surfing the web and suddenly seeing your friends posting photos of food makes ‘the stomach more and more ravenous’. On the occasion of COVID-19 disease outbreaks, everyone isolating the community at home, we will implement a ‘studio-standard’ food photography project at home with smartphones to document ‘ revenge ‘these friends.

We will perform the photos with Find X2 – OPPO’s latest flagship smartphone. In addition to new configuration elements such as 120Hz AMOLED screen, beautiful design or 5G network, this machine is also equipped with a powerful imaging system, including a 48MP main camera, 12MP wide-angle camera and 2x 13MP zoom; The versatility in the focus makes it possible to create images with different perspectives, easy to choose!

The first step is to choose a shooting location, with the priority being the light. The more light there is, the more beautiful the image will be and the less noise there will be – and in a situation that isolates the community at home like this, our shooting site will definitely be the window frame!

Next is to choose the background to take a picture. There are many different ‘studio’ food photography styles, but it is probably easiest to shoot with a white background so that you don’t have to edit too much before creating a good photo. I will add a checkered canvas to make the background image not too empty, along with a more ‘home-made’ feel.

To clean out the trash on the street when taking photos by the window, I will close the transparent curtain. This is also a way to soften the outside light, avoiding harsh glare that is difficult to fix with photos taken with a smartphone.

Today we are going to try ‘Buttered Noodles’ with sausages. Ingredients for 2 people include 100 – 120g of noodles, 2 sausages, 2 eggs and margarine, salt and pepper. Steps to follow include:

Sprinkle with Oregano leaves for flavor and make the dish a highlight in the photo!

If you are asking food photographers what is most important in a shoot, then it is definitely the way to show and organize food. Besides these photographers is always a stylist, making sure that the food is nicely decorated and tastes good.

No matter how good your photography techniques are, the lighting and the accompanying props are all ‘up to standard’ but the food looks like a bunch of ‘messy’ images and photos can’t be good! Therefore, please pay attention to the presentation before taking a photo, a very important step!

Another way to make your food photos more beautiful, without feeling empty is to use the ingredients you have cooked to make ‘props’. Place them around your plate and try a flat-layered picture, then adjust their position until you feel like it is the best.

Next is to change the diagonal angle of view 45 degrees, shooting from a panoramic distance to try to “close” in a macro format. Although Find X2 is not equipped with a specialized camera for macro purposes, when it comes close to things, it automatically switches over to the super wide-angle camera with a very close focusing distance!

You can also switch between different types of cameras to create novel photos. Many photos can be erased, but the food is already in the stomach, then there is no one to take more! After selecting the most satisfactory photos, the final step is to edit (with Lightroom Mobile or Snapseed) to be ready to post.

Wishing you all the best food shots, as well as staying healthy during this plague season!