Grow.Cook.Shoot {food photo tips & more}

down on the farm 2 papers, elements, & art journal cards, click.masks 31, in my garden danglies

Lots to share today! With our 12 new art downloads, we’re celebrating summer in North America, along with vintage art geared towards farming, gardening, sewing, and nature. Here are some of the new products and how our team played with them (Sale ends Friday…newsletter details at end of post).

See layout details in our gallery here.

rachel shefveland. photos by michelle shefveland. down on the farm papers, elements, & art journal cards, click.masks 31, in my garden danglies

One of my favorite photography/scrapbooking subjects is food, either straight from the garden or farmer’s market or as a finished dish. The past few years we’ve made a concerted effort to eat as much organic and raw foods as possible, making for some beautiful (and cooperative) models!

Here are a few tips on how we like to capture life in the sharing of food (click to enlarge):

  • Take advantage of beautiful dawn or dusk light when photographing your garden. Celebrate light and bokeh in these shots!
  • Shoot from above for optimal focus and to beautifully capture a finished dish.
  • Use natural light when at all possible. Flash often makes food less appealing. Set the food by a window or shoot outside in light shade.
  • Use unique backdrops such as a wooden stump, concrete, old veggie crates, chipped paint old door. Be creative!
  • Avoid a shallow depth of field when shooting at eye level, as the main focal point food subject should be in focus.
  • Stock up on food props at thrift stores, yard sales, antique shops. Vintage linens, wood cutting boards, antique china, old silver are all great finds!
  • Show the preparation and serving of food.
  • Add people to the scene. The food is the focal point, but I like that I’m in the image as it’s my birthday.
  • Celebrate color. Here we paired a garage sale rag rug find with our strawberry harvest.
  • Use your hands as a storage vessel!
  • Show food right out of the oven on worn cookie sheets. Love this image, mostly because of the aged metal.
  • Have a sense of humor. This was our first year’s raspberry yield!
  • Document the whole process with photos…from growing, picking, cleaning, preparing, etc! Then share the story…here’s a two page spread of berry picking day. scrap.templates 36, simply friendship pak
  • Most of all, let your own creative energy guide you to do your own thing!

My food crush blog is Cannelle et Vanille. Her Basque heritage is evident in her passion for food and family traditions. Love!!!

Check out our healthy eating food photography/recipe Pinboard on Pinterest here.

See more of our food photography on my photography site here.

FYI…with summer in full swing, our What’s New newsletter went out Thursday morning this week. Check your inbox for our sale, new inspiration, and subscriber special offer. Sale ends Friday, June 29th.

Happy creating! Michelle

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