These days, everyone and their grandmother takes photos of their food. We Instagram our lunches, snap pictures of our lattes and set the stage for what we eat. The question is, how do we do it well? I jumped at the chance to attend a food photography crash course to learn some tips from Brilynn Ferguson, the photographer behind the gorgeous Rock Lobster Cookbook, and Yuli Scheidt, Fat Girl Food Squad’s resident photographer. The event was in partnership with Render Magazine, a quarterly food and feminist publication that was gifted to me over the holidays from a friend who knows me very well.

I made my way over to Le Dolci Cupcakes and Cakes with my tools in hand: a DSLR camera and my charged Iphone.

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Here are the top tips I took away:

1.Flashes are evil and natural light is king. I was hoping to learn a magical tip on how to shoot beautiful photos in low light restaurants and bars but the truth is, there is none. Unless you’re planning to whip out a tripod in the middle of a dark restaurant, it’s best to go in the day and jostle for a window seat. Brilynn also suggested using items on the table to stabilize the camera – water glasses make great temporary tripods.

2. Learn your tools by practicing with like-minded people. As much as I love my DSLR, I still fumble over the settings. Brilynn walked me through some of the trickier settings like adjusting the white balance. For others, photo editing is a culprit. If you secretly love the way a friend edits their photos, ask them how they do it.

3. Humanize your photos by showing people in the shots. If a picture is looking flat, see what happens when you add your hand to the shot. If the burger is still boring, take a bite out of it. The best food photos tell a story.

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4. Give yourself permission to get the shot you want. Move things around. Stand up to get an arial view. Ask to sit near the window. Get your friend to put their hand in the frame. The best food photographers do all of these things. Just go for it.

It’s easy to feel self conscious about taking food photos in public. Someone in the workshop said, “Maybe you just have to pretend what you’re doing is important”. To that the Yuli said, “No. Believe what you’re doing is important. Because it is.” Some may call it playing with food. They call it photography. I left the crash course with more confidence to do what I need to do to get the shot I want.

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