If you're anything like us, you love to scroll through your social feeds and see photos of mouthwatering food. Burgers, brews, tacos, towering ice cream cones – we're game for snaps of all of it. Join in on the foodie fun and post your own envy-worthy dish pics with the help of our smartphone food photography tips. Your followers will be oooohhhing and ahhhhing in no time over your culinary captures.
The basic steps of smartphone food photography
- Use natural light. Camera flashes can emit a harsh light that will make your subject look grainy and uneven – two words you definitely don't want to come to mind when you're showing off food. If natural light is not available, no worries. Just be sure you have a good, bright spot to snap.
- Consider the framing. The most popular foodie accounts on Instagram give people a bird's-eye view of their meal, taken from above. If you're unable to grab an interesting angle while sitting, take a few seconds to stand up and snap the pic you want. Also, keep the background simple so your dish is the star of the frame. An accent like a tastefully ruffled napkin or the ingredients that went into making the dish are great choices.
- Shoot when your food is fresh. When it comes to taking a shot of your food, don't dilly-dally. Food can lose its visual appeal quickly, as cheese starts sweating and lettuce starts wilting. Food is meant to be eaten, so grab your pic and dig in!
- Use the right filters. Filters can add the right emotion to your photos, but overdoing it can make the image look unreal and even unappetizing. Instead of applying generic filters, you can adjust the color levels, saturation, hue and warmth manually to get the perfect image.
Best photo editing apps
VSCO: Sometimes we need inspiration before snapping the perfect shot. VSCO makes it easy to discover content and connect with friends and family before editing and posting pictures. VSCO filters are perfect for Instagram-worthy food photos (and everything else). Check out how to start a journal of your edited photos so you can keep them together!
Foodie: It's frustrating when “the perfect food photo" doesn't turn out the way we want. Whether it's the lighting or the angle of the photo you aren't satisfied with, Foodie can help. Foodie has 24 free filters specially designed to edit food photos. With this app, you can choose your favorite filter before adjusting the brightness, saturation and warmth. Foodie can even tell you if your phone camera is positioned flat. Our personal favorite filters are Yummy and Sweet Spring.
Snapseed: Easily intimidated by photo editing tools? Look no further. Snapseed offers a variety of straightforward and easy to use editing tools perfect for any level of photo editors. Check out the 'Healing' feature which removes unwanted elements from your photo and will help you capture the perfect shot. Food envy guaranteed!
Tap into our expertise
Today's tech is amazing, and you should experience all of it! Asurion Experts are here to help. Learn more about how to step up your smartphone photography game and about our services.