Sunday, July 29, 2012

4 Basic Things About Foodography // A Guest Post by Nela

Photography is one of my passions, and one of the things that I do best with my photography skillz is taking pictures of...you guessed it.... FOOD. :D Combine my love for food and photography together and the results from it will blow your mind....from mouth-watering sensations that is. ;)

Now, I haven't been taking pictures of food for very long, not before I first received my DSLR camera last year.  But over the course of that time, I've learned a few things. Namely the important stuff that you should know when you're taking pictures of food. So let's get down to the basics, shall we? ;)





#1: Lighting 
Every article that you'll ever read about taking proper pictures of food will always say, that the most important thing to remember is the light. Lighting is everything in the photography world, especially in the region of food. Because good lighting makes the food appear more appetizing and appealing to the viewer. Natural light is always better than light from a bulb, but if you can't always get that natural light, make sure you tone down the flash on your camera, or if you're just like me, you turn off the flash completely, take the picture, and edit it later to the way you like it. :)






#2: Props
Now I'll admit that I don't use very many props in my pictures, mostly because I just don't have time for it, and I have no idea what I'm doing. :D But they're worth it if you want your photos to look more elegant. For me, when you look at a photo with props in it, it gives you a feeling that the food just's waiting for you to devour it. At least that's my impression. :)




#3: Perspective
It's always good to try different angles of your food subject. Because the same photos aren't going to cut it for many people. So try to get up close to the food (but not too close that you can't tell what it is), experiment different angles and find which ones work best for you.



#4: Focus
The focus gives the food a more depth of feeling to it. It's like when you're gazing at it, the world around disappears for a moment and you're lost in a daze as you bite into the food that's in front of you.  But be warned, too much bokeh (especially up front) can ruin the whole conception of the dish that your wanting to portray. Make sure the the focus is clear up front, and faded a bit in the back.
Trust me, you won't regret it  ;)



Well, those are the four basic things that I've learned from foodography.



 Do you have any tips on taking pictures of food?




I would love to know. :)



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Hi there! My name is Nela Holmes and I blog over at "Beloved Star" and Nel's Home Cooking. Some of my passions in life are photography, cooking, baking, reading, writing, martial arts, and blogging. I am a sinner saved by the grace of God, without Him I don't know where I'd be. 
So drop by for a visit sometime. I would love to meet you. :)

Friday, July 27, 2012

Evening Tennis









Playing tennis off the brick wall while the sun sets. Life is good.
~Mary Kate

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

One Year

Today marks the one year anniversary of this blog.
 I can't believe it's already been a year. I had no idea of the amazing online community of Christian teen bloggers (and a lot of them photographers).

My dear followers: Thank you! As fellow bloggers, you know how exciting it is to gain a new follower, and I was excited when each and everyone of you became a follower. Whether you're my newest follower or were one of my first few, thank you!



I can't wait to see what the next year brings to this blog! :)
~Mary Kate

Sunday, July 22, 2012

And I'm Off!

Today I left my house at 5:45AM.

I'll be gone for 2 1/2 weeks in sunny California.

I have several posts scheduled for while I'm away including some pretty special guest posts!


I'm excited for this opportunity and grateful that everything was able to work out the way it was planned. :)
I'm attending a summer program for up-coming high school seniors at one my top favorite colleges, Thomas Aquinas College.

If you want, you can visit the summer program's official blog {here} to see pictures throughout the two weeks.
Once that's done I'll be heading up the coast on the Amtrack train "Coast Starlight" to Napa Valley to visit this wonderful family:

I'll come back with a ton of pictures of gorgeous California and stories to tell!








~Mary Kate

P.S. All the pictures in this post are from my week in Ocean City, NJ this past June.

Friday, July 20, 2012

NYC // Times Square

The very last thing we did in NYC was see Times Square all lit up at night. It was pretty incredible. (I wrote about the first half of our day in this post.)





























~Mary Kate