How to make food photography in autumn

When you think of autumn, what comes to mind?

Colorful leaves, intense colors, a blazing fire, a cozy sweater and pumpkins galore. The challenge for food photographers is to capture all of this, because the best photography appeals to our memories, bringing back the smells, sounds and feel of autumn.

In this article, you'll find 5 tips for capturing an entire season in a single frame.

1) When photographing food use props

Create compositions with "non-edible" objects that you find around the house or in the garden, such as colorful leaves, autumn flowers, pine cones, warm blankets or tablecloths; this will allow you to add that autumn note to the photo without the extra expense.

Autumn is the harvest time: apples, pumpkins, grapes, figs, plums, so you can also cook and photograph traditional autumn dishes, such as jams, pastries, hot drinks. All these things perfectly convey the bright colors of autumn, the comfort of autumn evenings and the atmosphere of this time of year, to give that harmony inherent in autumn .

2) Find good color combinations

For your fall still lifes, try to select elements of no more than three shades of color for a single photo.

The main components of a great photo are good lighting and an interesting composition . Use natural lighting if there's a large window, or shoot with a warm strobe light source and reflectors of different sizes.

Try to find good color combinations in real life or use the color wheel to connect elements in your photos.

3) Use warm wallpapers to create a cozy atmosphere

Use warmer backgrounds , such as wood and fabrics, to create a comfortable, rustic and welcoming atmosphere. You can also tweak the white balance slightly towards warmer tones. These tricks allow you to create more traditional autumn images.ù

You can also choose fresher modern surfaces, such as gray or slightly blue stone, which work great for the contrast they create with the food itself and the images become more energetic and sharp.

Fall food is centered around ingredients like apples, cinnamon or pumpkins, and hot drinks. Use and cook these ingredients to make everything warmer and cozier, exactly what you need for fall.

4) Use natural lighting

As for lighting, the most important thing is to use natural light - with the use of a flash or stroboscope, food can turn out so plastic and unrealistic.

Backlighting or sidelighting can give the necessary contrast and create shadows and volume in the photo. Relax when photographing, and place the table by the window. Using an aperture smaller than f4 is not recommended.

Sometimes you need to block out some of the light to create a darker “fall afternoon” atmosphere; this can be done using black cardboard or foam board.

5) Trees and light

It's best to shoot in natural light, and if the weather permits, try shooting outdoors in the backyard as well. The way trees scatter sunlight , but at the same time let some rays of light fall on the plate, may amaze you.

This trick makes the image more active and alive.