A Helpful Guide to Creating Instagram-Worthy Dishes

If you’re someone who takes pride in their cooking but wants to level up their dish game, then some tips to make your meals look more Instagram-worthy will certainly help elevate the dishes you create in the future.

Whether you’re looking to impress your Facebook friends or build a career as a food influencer or home chef, here are some tips for creating those all-important images.

1. Make full use of natural light

When you’re taking pictures, it’s important to be mindful of the light you’re capturing your visuals. If the lighting isn’t fantastic, then you’re likely going to get a photo of your food that, sadly, isn’t showcasing it in the way it deserves.

With that being said, try to make use of the natural light you have because this is the best type of light when capturing content.

If you’ve not got a lot of natural light, consider capturing your photos with a studio light so that you’ve got some extra lighting to hand.

1. Pick the right plate

The right plate is important because when you’re presenting your food on camera, you want it to be on a dish that looks flawless. Whether you go for something that’s porcelain white in colour or you’ve gone for a more geometric design, it’s got to look its best on camera. That means no cracks or dirt that shouldn’t be there.

The dish and the utensils, as well as other accessories you add for decor, are imperative to get right. To create a dish that’s wonderful in its appearance, consider using sodium alginate. This improves a food’s texture and stability on the plate.

1. Angles are everything

The angles you position yourself in to capture the dishes are important. Therefore, you want to look at what angles work through your camera lens. It’s a lot of experimenting in the early days of taking photography, especially when it comes to food as your model.

Consider what works best and be experimental in your approaches. If there’s an angle or style that feels a little out there, then it’s worth trying to see what results it provides. 

1. Remember your background

The background of your food is everything. If it’s a cluttered background, then it might take away from the food that’s in the foreground. Be aware of what background you’re using and make sure that it complements whatever you are capturing. It needs to be subtle enough that it doesn’t take away from the dish, but noticeable enough that it gives the picture itself depth. 

1. Editing is key

Editing is the final step after you’ve taken the photo. It’s a key part of the process and one that you can get right or wrong depending on your choices.

Be mindful of the quality you’ve already taken of the photo in its raw form. You may not need to add a lot, but experiment with different presets and custom configurations when editing your photos.

Creating Instagram-worthy photos just takes a little time to perfect, so use these tips for guidance.