I like darkness in my photos and I like darker food photography. The American food magazine Gourmet made lovely, dark moody cover shots for each issue for a while and I loved them but I remember reading complaints about the in the press and on food blogs and now they are back to the usual oh ever so light food photography that obviously is what we are supposed to like and look at. It is a pity though.
As much as I love light, as much as I search for it in my photos, I just think that subdued tones and shadows are such important aspects of light that we should use them more often when we take photos. Some food look better in dark surroundings, it is enhanced by it and conveys feelings that a lighter set wouldn’t be able to do. Shadows creates structure, structure adds a three dimensional feeling to a two dimensional media, light does the same but we have to be careful to balance light and dark, volume and surface and through it transmit a vision of what we see. Sounds all muddled but I do think it pays off to take a good look at the food and spend some time thinking about what you see and how you want to transmit this!
3 Comments
July 3, 2008 at 8:20 am
These two photos are impressive with their darkness and light. The perfect way to ’see’ your words.
July 3, 2008 at 12:32 pm
thanks Tanna, that eggplant was one dark eggplant though!
July 5, 2008 at 7:10 pm
I like this photo a lot. Too bad Gourmet decided to change. Hmmm…
Paz