Taking a hero food pic that will get a zillion likes on Instagram is hard work! There are people who do a passable job (um, me) and others who nail it every single time. Marc and Melissa Tantillo of Chicago/Milwaukee-based Siège Food + Photography are in the latter camp. We hit them up for the key points to getting drool-worthy pics:
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Light: The couple suggest getting a hand-held light or just use a flashlight from someone else’s phone. “It’s incredible how the quality of your photo can change” from adding light, says Melissa.
Composition: Use the rule of thirds. Think of your viewfinder as a tic-tac-toe board. Where the horizontal and vertical lines cross are rule-of-thirds points. You place your subject on one of the points or on one of the lines. iPhones have a grid setting so you don’t just have to visualize it. “If you have your grid on, you can line up the table or whatever you’re shooting with the grid on your phone and it automatically balances everything to the eye,” says Melissa.
Stabilization: Turning the camera’s grid lines on helps you “ground” the photo, says Melissa. Beyond that, try propping the camera on the table to reduce shakiness. Holding the phone with two hands or leaning against a stable object will also help.
