Class Report
A Feast for the Eyes - Food Photography
Teacher: Kristen Finn (center), photographer
Photos: Kate Maloney
Location: &pizza, K Street NW location
Date: Nov. 16, 2014
See more photos of this class on Flickr!
Ever had an amazing meal you wanted to remember forever? At a recent KCDC class at &pizza, food photographer Kristen Finn shared her tricks for shooting pictures that will make your mouth water long after the fact.
The recipe for a great food photograph has two key ingredients. The first is a good-looking dish: colorful, fresh, and plated well. The staff at &pizza obliged, serving up seven beautiful pies for the students to practice photographing. (And then eat.)
The second ingredient is a decent light source. Kristen taught the class to use natural light and to avoid the green and blue tones of overhead fluorescents. The students placed the pizzas by the window so that the daylight could illuminate their shots.
Although there are many approaches to food photography, Kristen’s preferred focus is food culture, especially the community created around a shared meal. As a final exercise, she seated the students at the table, showed them how to arrange the pizza trays for a compelling photo, and took an overhead shot that captured both the food and the hands of the participants (see below). The photo conveys the experience of the moment, not just the prettiness of the pizzas.
