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I know it can be quite annoying to see people taking photos of their food, especially in public places. Pero aminin, we all take snaps of our pretty-looking orders once in a while. I know it shouldn't be done EVERY TIME you have food in front of you, but taking snaps of our good-looking dishes won't hurt. There's a thing called food photography anyway. :) And let's face it, we all want to share photos of our well-deserved treat or newly discovered recipe or our little cafe latte.

In every barkada, there is always that annoying friend who takes photos of the food and lets everybody wait. In our group, that would proudly be me. Lol sorry not sorry! I love taking photos of just about anything, and food is no exception. I know some of you do, too.

To save us time (and to save our friends from pasmo), I'm posting a few tips for us to remember. Hopefully, these tips can help you decide which angle is best to use when taking photos of your instagrammable dish.

Master the art of flat lays.


Taking a photo of each of your dish has become quite outdated. These days, the top down or the flat lay shot has vastly become the most popular angle since it shows everything on your table in just a single shot. This angle is perfect if you want to show the details on top of your food. If you have a colorful table scene, a nice plating, some cute latte art, or a flat dish, then this angle is your best bet. 

Improve flat lays by using props.


Another reason why it's fun to take snaps on a top-down angle is that you can get creative. By adding your everyday gadgets like cellphone, camera, sunglasses or anything you have lying around the corner, you can instantly tell a story in your photo and make it look more interesting. 

Use someone's hands.


During brunch dates, avoid eye-rolls, judgement, and boring your friends while you take a few shots by letting them contribute. Ask them to pour milk on your cereal, drizzle syrup on your pancake, slice the steak, or let them slowly pick up/hold the food as if they are about to eat.


Show layers with the straight-on angle.


When capturing a stack of pancakes, a burger, a slice of cake, it is best to position your camera beside the subject to show its layers and height. Using the flat lay angle will only make your food flat, and will not correctly showcase what it is. You don't want people to think you're eating a bun instead of a burger.

Show both layers and the surface from a 45 degree angle.


When there is both depth/height in your food and some details on top, then the good ol' 45 degree angle shot works best. In these photos, I used this angle to show the puffiness of the egg in my pasta, the layers of the nigiri and maki, and the depth of my katsudon bowl, while still showing the details of their surfaces which is also essential.

Hold your cute little treat up against a good background.


When taking a photo of your ice cream, or cup of coffee, or snack, make it look more appealing by holding it up in front of a good view, or just the surrounding environment. This also tells a little story which is ideal for travel photos.

That's it for now. All these photos are taken by me (see more on my Instagram @innalucero). These are just the angles I personally use. But in order to have clear photos of your food, shoot in soft natural light. You can hop on to my other blog post where I shared 10 Tips on How to Take Good Photos Using Your Smartphone.


If you have something to add here, feel free to share in the comments :)

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How lucky are we to be living in this smartphone era where we can just easily take our phones out, snap, and share to the world? Without the need to use digital or film cameras, capturing moments have become very ordinary and effortless.

I've always loved taking photos, and since I cannot afford to purchase a decent camera, I make use of what I have which is just my phone. Thankfully, these days, smartphones now have amazing camera features that make our photographer dreams come true. Hashtag #iphoneography! In this post, I am going to share the tricks and guidelines I follow in order to produce good pictures by only using the essential gadget that we sorta cannot live without - our smartphones.

Just a quick reminder, while I do support taking instagram-worthy shots, I would also like to stress out the importance of really treasuring and living in the moment. It may be nice to have photos to look back and remember, but let us never forget to feel and enjoy the moment while its happening and not to be too caught up trying to get that perfect shot. This is something I try to remind myself everyday! Sometimes I get too busy trying to capture what’s in front of me when I should actually be embracing that moment and paying attention to my surroundings.

Anyway, going back to the real topic. Here are the few tips I live by when taking my photos. These are actually very BASIC rules, but important.

1. CLEAN YOUR CAMERA LENS

First things first - wipe off your camera lens before taking a photo. Ever wonder why sometimes your photos turn out to be foggy or washed-out? Or just something opposite to a clean, sharp photo? In most cases, it's because you didn't wipe off your camera's lens. We use our phones almost the entire day and so the camera lens may be covered with dust, dirt, or hand prints, so it's important to give it a good wipe using a cloth before snapping.

2. TURN ON THE HDR

As per Google, HDR is "a high dynamic range (HDR) technique used in imaging and photography to reproduce a greater dynamic range of luminosity than is possible with standard digital imaging or photographic techniques. This is often achieved by capturing and then combining several different, narrower range, exposures of the same subject matter."

To simply put it, an HDR photo is a series of photos at varying exposure levels (from the over exposed to the underexposed) combined. I like turning on my HDR on my phone as my photos would appear more realistic. See samples below:






As you can see, photos on the left look overexposed and have that flashing light, which doesn't look good in my opinion. When the HDR is turned on, all details of the picture become more visible (like the clouds) and there aren't any harsh light.


I think all smartphones are equipped with the HDR feature. Make sure yours is turned on. However, as an HDR photo takes a series of images, it takes longer to process too, so it's not good to use it when you're shooting action shots or moving images.


3. LOOK FOR NATURAL LIGHT


I bet you know this rule by heart - don't pose against the light if you want clear, bright photos. Also, don't use flash. It makes a photo overexposed, or just washed out.


...Unless you're trying to capture your sexy silhouette against that beautiful sunset. Then you'd have to position against the light to achieve that. But if you want bright, well lit photos, then you gotta chase the light. 


Photos above were taken near the window where the light is. Especially when taking photos of your food, I think it's best to use natural lighting as much as possible.

4. LOCK THE FOCUS.

Another basic step that we all should have mastered by now - locking in the focus. Ensure your image has the correct parts in focus by tapping the subject in your screen. That way, the part where you want to emphasize is sharp and not blurred.




5. TAKE MULTIPLE SHOTS/USE BURST MODE

Let's be real. It doesn't take a single shot or two for us to be satisfied with our photos. Getting that perfect candid shot with the right pose and angle is undeniably hard, so having a hundred of photos to choose from would be helpful (Lol! But it's true!). Ask people to take multiple shots or to hold down the shutter button on your phone (burst mode) when taking pictures. And voila, options!





6. USE THE MAIN CAMERA, NOT THE FRONT

It's always fun to take selfies using the front camera, but if you want good pictures with high quality, your front camera is not your best bet. Use your back or main camera which has higher megapixels that will create a much clearer photo.




7. FOLLOW PROPER ALIGNMENT

Make sure the lines are properly straightened whether horizontally or vertically, especially when photographing landscapes and sceneries. However, if you weren't able to achieve this, then simply edit. Thanks to the many editing apps that we can download, we can easily rotate our photos and properly align them.




8. USE THE PORTRAIT MODE FOR A DSLR EFFECT

The newest advancement of a smartphone's camera app is the Portrait Mode, which essentially blurs the background while focusing on the subject, achieving that DSLR effect. The feature is not always perfect, as there are times when it struggles to properly separate the subject from the background, but it does create quite stunning images. I believe this is one of the best advancements of a smartphone's camera, and I have been obsessed of using this!

However, not all phones are equipped with this feature. For the iPhones, the Portrait Mode is available starting from the iPhone7+. I don't even have this feature as my iphone is a 6s! I just use Andy's. Haha. (Another tip is to use someone else's phone lol) For the Android phones, I think this feature is available in some of the latest releases. Just check if you have it!




Yep, all these photos were taken with just an iPhone, using the Portrait Mode. 

9. DON'T ZOOM.

Zooming increases the noise of the photo making it look grainy and pixelated. If you want a closer angle, then you have to move closer yourself.

Unless you're stalking someone from afar or taking a photo of your crush secretly...then go for the zoom. Lol.



10. LAST BUT NOT THE LEAST, ALWAYS ENHANCE/EDIT YOUR PHOTOS

After following these steps and finally having that instagram-worthy shot, it's time for the final but important step to take your photos to the next level -post processing.  Just use your creativity and find your style of editing by experimenting different adjustments to your images, or by using filters. I like my photos bright and saturated! 




Editing your photos will certainly make them look 100% better! Plus, your photos become well curated if you use a permanent filter/preset. Some of the editing apps I use are Lightroom, VSCO, and Snapseed. (Let me know if you need tips in editing this time. I'll try my best to help out!)

That's it! I hope you are reminded of these key tricks to make your photos look better. There are still many tips out there, but here I'm sticking to ten! Also, let me just say that I'm not claiming to be an expert in mobile photography. I just like taking pictures and sharing what I know, because sharing is caring!

What are your tips and tricks when taking photos? :)

Happy snapping! :)


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