Here’s Your Guide To Instagramming Food Like A Pro
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If you didn’t photograph your brunch, did you even eat it? Debatable. But here’s another trendy truth. Everyone is over blurry snaps of your latte. If you’re gonna Insta your food, it better be good.
We can’t all carry pro-level cameras to every restaurant, so below, our photo-obsessed editors share their secrets to getting food blogger-level Instagrams with a plain old phone camera.
Be careful with backgrounds.
Avoid a busy background if you want the food to stand out. You don’t want to detract from the visual when what you’re eating already has a lot going on. But if you’re ‘gramming a simple smoothie or your coffee, bring on the background noise.
Plates matter.
There’s a reason why fine dining restaurants are known for bright white china. Patterned plates don’t have that same refined look. While you don’t need to go all Michelin-star, plates matter. For instance, avoid colorful plates unless you’re aware of complementary colors – or if you are all about the clashing aesthetic.
Beware the mess.
Wipe the edges of your plate to keep it clean for the sleekest ‘gram. Things that look good messy are still the intentional ones. Think gooey cheese or melting ice cream more than splatter or spills from serving.
Choose your focus.
Always choose your focus point. Your phone camera is pretty smart, but the default setting tends to try to make the whole photo clear. If you want to get that super crisp effect, manually select a point on your screen and just help your phone out a little.
Look at the whole frame.
If you’re taking pictures from above, symmetry is important. Your photo doesn’t have to exactly mirror itself, but you do want to consider the whole frame of the photo.
Adjust lighting manually.
Want to get fancy? You can play with adjusting lighting in your phone photos just like on a DSLR by moving your finger up or down when you choose a manual focus point.
Play with angles.
The straight from above shot is a classic, but don’t be afraid to switch it up. It’ll add some life to a shot to have some different dimensions going on.
Try some apps.
Forget Instagram’s filters, the Foodie app has filters for different types of food. Lightroom Mobile and Snapseed can also help bridge the gap between a full-sized camera and your phone’s.
Skip the Live photos.
You might want to turn off Live photos on an iPhone. As fun as the moving pics are, sometimes they don’t turn out as clearly as a regular still in Insta. If you want motion, use Boomerang.
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