Living in the fast lane digital generation and social media world, food photography becomes our way to share what we eat or to showcase our talents. Answering such interest; The Foodie Magazine alongside Oktagon, Microsoft Lumia, and Shangri-La Jakarta held a special photography session last August for public.

It was to our complete surprise that the applicant numbers were skyrocketing amidst the limitation of the seats. The fifty lucky participants were able to have firsthand experience from our master photographer, Himawan Sutanto, on about the basics of good smartphone food photography.

As our notable food photographer who has been in the business for fifteen years now, Himawan has been entrusted by big brands such as McDonald’s, Kraft, Unilever, Ismaya, Indofood, Shangri-La Jakarta, Grand Hyatt Jakarta, and many more for their photography projects.

The rule of thumb of good food photography by using smartphone, says Himawan, is to optimize the appearance of food by utilizing the abundance of light. For example when in a restaurant, we often face the need to tackle the problem coming from the darker side of the object. Himawan advises the participants to seek a light reflector from tissue or the menu – be it black or white, to bounce the light against the dark side and therefore making our photo appears more inviting.

Other essentials that he shares are also regarding the styling, the angle, and to not use flash at all – especially when pointed directly. To shoot the food while it is still fresh and a good command in editing the pictures will also help to further enhance the quality.

The participants of this workshop were also taken to a smartphone food photography competition by using Microsoft Lumia 930 with its technological features. Furthermore, Shangri-La Jakarta provided the food of different genres from each of its restaurants as the objects for the competition. The winner with most feedbacks from his follower will get a chance to win the smartphone as well.

There will be more of similar workshop in the future for everyone and be sure to subscribe and stay tune to our updates through Instagram and Facebook. Until next time!

—–

Featured in THE FOODIE MAGAZINE Oct 2015 edition

Download it for free here via SCOOP!