STEP BY STEP SET THE SCENE

A great food photograph isn’t just about the subject: complement the star of the show by choosing the backdrop and accessories with care

1 Choose a surface

This will be your background, so consider using a range of different objects and surfaces. For example, I tried using a cake tin, a baking tray, a marble slab and a frying pan. Having a range of objects from light to dark will allow you to show different tones in each image. They will also highlight different colours in the food. Using different surfaces will help give you more variety in your images.

2 Turn over a new leaf

I decided to turn some of the objects upside-down to reveal more texture and surface detail. For the main image, I used a baking tray – but instead of showing the food inside the clean tray, I turned the tray upside-down to reveal its scratches and burns. This complemented the bowl of soup, giving the image a bronze cast that enhanced the red in the soup. You don’t need to use objects in the normal way.

3 Consider how to present the food

There are many factors to bear in mind while you set up the food to be photographed. First, think about how much food you are going to show in the frame. As you can see here, I mostly styled the food in pairs, but positioned them in several different ways, for example next to each other or on top of each other. It’s a good idea not to be too regimental about how you place the food in the scene.

4 Add some extra interest

Sometimes you might not need to add anything to the food you’re shooting; with the sandwiches, for example, I felt I didn’t need anything else to appear in the image, as it would have overpowered the frame. With other dishes, I added mayonnaise to create a swirl, or added a few crackers as some side interest. When you’re selecting accessories, think about what you would actually eat with the food, as it will create more of a narrative. This led to me adding cocoa powder and raspberries to some chocolate brownies in one image.