Tip 3 - Food Photography - Play all the angles

Another important aspect of food photography is the angle at which you take your photo. This can be different per product, a sandwich needs a different angle than a bowl of fruit, for example. I’ll cover the most common angles. 

45 degrees

This is probably one of the most common angles. It really focuses on the food and leave out most of background. A great angle if you want total focus on your dish. 

Food photo taken from a 45 degree angle

30 degrees

This angle is similar to the 45 degree angle. However it leaves more background. This is a good angle if you want to complement your product with some other items. This could be ingredients or ideas on how to serve the dish. Make sure that you blur out the background to keep the focus on the product. Most phone cameras have this option in macro mode/ portrait mode. Or you might be able to do it after taking the photos with certain apps.

A 30 degree angle show more of the background

180 degrees

180 degrees or an even slightly lower angle really works for food that you want to photograph from the side.  For example burgers, stacked sandwiches, ice coupes, smoothies, etc.

The 180 degree angle is great for ice coupes or smoothies

Overhead

This is a very popular angle. It is a great way to take a photo of a styled setup. It’s a nice way to play around with shapes and colours.

The overhead angle is great for showing patterns, shapes, colours.

My tip would be to take photos at different angles every time you photograph you food products. What might not seem like the right angle could be the winning shot. If you would like to learn more about food photography, you can sign up for one of my online courses, either one-to-one or in a group. Contact me at: karin@food-photography.ie

Also check out my other 2 tips: Food Photography Planning and Food Photography Lighting