Every food subject has a hero side. A side that is more flattering and appealing.
One of the simplest tricks to improve your composition and food photos is to present the food at it’s best, by finding the hero side!
How to Find The Hero Side of Food
To find the hero side of food, you need to look at every side from every angle.
The quickest way to do this is to put your food on set and spin or turn the plate or bowl. From the camera side, look at the dish to see what looks best.
When you think you’ve found the best side, position that side so it faces the camera. It’s super important to also look at the food through the camera to find the hero side of food.
Because what the camera sees is different from what our eyes see.
The Camera Sees Differently
Now you’ve found the best looking side, it’s time to test that side in camera.
To further make sure you’ve got the most flattering and appealing side of food, test a few angles and rotate the food as necessary.
You don’t need to go crazy viewing every angle from 0 to 90-degrees, but if you’re shooting at say 45-degrees, changing your camera angle by 10-degrees each way can help you find little adjustments that make the food look 10-times better.
The final image and hero shot has been retouched in Photoshop.
RELATED: 4 Ultimate Food Photography Lenses For Beautiful Photos
Examples
Because we’re visual learners, let’s look at some examples of how I got to the final shot in this Black Forest Cupcake and how I saw the hero side.
By spinning the cupcake towards the camera, I could look at each side to see what looks best. What am I looking for, and what does best describe?
I’m looking for:
- Interest in the swirl of the icing
- Height in the icing swirl
- Movement in the icing and cherry on top
- No damage (or the least) to the cupcake, icing or cupcake liner
- The best arrangement of chocolate shavings that reveal the icing
To put it simply, this cupcake is a good example of how important finding the hero side is. The cupcake either looked intricate and luxurious. OR it looked like a bit of a mess with all the toppings going on.
Just this small action, look it from a 4 to an 11 on the scale of drool-worthiness.
Hopefully this post can show you how the simple trick of finding the hero side of food can make a huge difference.
Great photography is made up of a lot of little things done well.
Matt Korinek
Some Other Food Examples To Find The Hero Side
Tom Yum Soup: by rotating the bowl clockwise, we can start to see more of the prawns and garnish.
Blood Orange & Gin Soda: by rotating the glass and positioning the ice cube at the back, we feel more invited into th scene and we can now start to see the lovely shine on top of the liquid from the backlight.
Oatmeal: focusing on the hero garnishes, but changing their positing to feature different sides and directions, this breakfast dish feels more luxurious and organic.
Can you see the difference just a little rotate makes? Let me know in the comments if you agree!
Julie Menghini
Another great post Rachel! I just love the details you provide in your courses. I’ve got them all and now just need 30 hour days to practice your techniques!
Rachel Korinek
Thanks for reading Julie! I’m all about those little details. It does take a while, but eventually, these things will become second nature 馃檪
Niamh Aspell
This is exactly how I feel! If only there were 30 hours in the day to practice…
Juil
Very useful concept. Do you ever mess with things on the food itself? The cherry on the cupcake for example.
Or do you find it is too dangerous to touch the food once it’s ready to photograph?
Rachel Korinek
Thanks for reading! Glad you liked it. Certainly. Once you’ve found the best side you can add those little things at the last minute. I did play around with the perfect shaped cherry at the end once I was happy with the best side. It will really depend on what it is you’re playing around with and if it’s easy or tough to play with. That comes with experience.
Kylie
Amazing post as usual! Both versions are drool-worthy and I’d be willing to eat either! 馃槈
Rachel Korinek
lol that’s so true! I’d eat willingly to eat this cupcake no matter what it looked like.
Alexandra
Thank you, Rachel! Now I know what went wrong with my food photography. It麓s really the small things that make a photo great! Hmmm, I definitely need more patience ;).
Omega Nanayakkara
The Hero Side! ~ Thank you Rachel for this educative post! I think I learn from you more than I do from any one else. The level of attention to detail that you demonstrate is one of the major things I learnt from you and try to apply to my work. The ‘ Hero side ‘ call for patience and visual skill and with practice I hope to apply this technique better! Thank you so much for all the knowledge Rachel! You are amazing.
Rachel Korinek
Oh thank you! That means a lot to me. Glad you liked the post. This will become second nature but it’s a simple trick that can really make waves in your photos! I look forward to hearing how this went for you with your next shoot 馃檪
Rachel Korinek
It does take patience indeed! There is a point where the becomes second nature and super fun! But it’s the smallest trick that makes such a huge difference!
Ross Alexander
Be honest, did you get into food photography for the art, or for the tasty food perks? 馃槢
Rachel Korinek
That’s definitely a plus side! I won’t arguable that….lol
JENNIFER R OSBORN
Super helpful. I didn’t realize such minute changes could affect a photo so much.
Can you link to the ice cubes in your blood orange and gin shot? They are perfection.
Thanks,
JEnnifer
Rachel Korinek
You sure can Jennifer! Such a simple and good trick. The ice cubes in this particular shot are actually from the grocery store. Most grocery store ice is clear and you can sometimes find ones that are square instead of a cylinder. Isn’t that cool!