HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH FOOD. THE EASY WAY

A few days ago, a photographer friend told me: "Why do not you come one day to eat at home? I'll cook a fish. “
I brightened.”Perfect, I'll take a picture and post it in the recipe section of my blog," I said.
Her face changed. "No, you won’t. Because I am very shy, "she said. My friend, from Latin America, is one of the great documentary photographers of Catalunya and I assure you, when taking pictures, not a hair shy.
"In addition, you will not have lighting equipment as in your home.
Her comment struck me because a blogger friend, the English photographer John Robertson had told me something after sending me a recipe: "I just found the recipe on the Internet of the dish that I told you, but I fear they need a photographer to take Paco-style- pictures of food because theirs are very bad, "he wrote.

If they knew how I take the pictures of my recipes. Not be easier. I remember an advice that I read long ago in an American Photo magazine. It was about a photographer who, whenever possible, apply the KISS rule. Stood for KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid.
That’s exactly the way I take photos of my recipes. I have a small terrace where there is always north light, meaning that there’s never a direct sun. I put the dish freshly cooked, still smoking, at a table and photographed at 400 ASA, handheld, so I enter an attractive small depth of field. There are not bad, right?





Although I fear that in a meal for four people, Jordi Cotrina revealed my "secret.

FOTO JORDI COTRINA

And if you are not quick enough, you can have a mishap.



Not always I photograph the dishes with this technique. I also use a much more professional and complex technique, which I will explain the next day.