Food Photography Excercise: Less is More

This is the second exercise in the food photography series started by Aprana of My Diverse Kitchen. I was happy that this month's theme was "Less is More", which comes naturally to me. I never really use specific props for photography; I just click with the stuff that I see around. I'm working on this lazy attitude. It's just that by the time I'm done cooking, I'm too tired to take pictures, all I wanna do is eat.

I recently read a few articles which suggested keeping the props ready before you start cooking. So once you are done cooking all you have to do is take pictures. It's easier said than done, I have never imagined a shot before hand, all my imagination and creativity comes into action while I'm taking the picture and that is exactly the reason why I feel it's tiring. I should start planning even before I start cooking.

Though this is the usual way I take pictures, I realised one can be creative with just bare minimum stuff. I have been trying to push myself to use more props to take attractive pictures but this exercise changed my perspective. I have started to appreciate the minimalist approach towards food photography.

All pictures are taken with the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8.

Aperture :f/3.2   Shutterspeed : 1/80s   ISO : 200

Aperture :f/2.8   Shutterspeed : 1/25s   ISO : 500
 

Aperture f/2    Shutterspeed : 1/400s    ISO : 200
 

Aperture f/5    Shutterspeed : 1/100s    ISO : 200

Aperture f/3.2    Shutterspeed : 1/160s    ISO : 200

One other thing I realised looking at all the pictures above, is that I really need to find a way to diffuse light and use some kind of reflector to eliminate shadows.