If you love photographing your lunch and dinner, you may be wondering how to get appetizing, attractive shots worthy of any social media post. If you plan on taking pictures of multiple dishes at once, here are a few tips and tricks to use.

How to Successfully Photograph Multiple Dishes

1. Center on Food

The lunch or dinner dishes are the stars, so keep them in focus. Center the camera on the plates or a specific part of your meal that you want to highlight. Background elements should not be clearer than the delicious foods that compose your dishes.

2. Use Natural Light

Choose natural light over a flash when available. Sit by a window and let the sunshine highlight the plate in a natural way. To balance the illumination, use a white poster board next to the shadowy portion of your plate. It will reflect the light from outside and brighten dark spots. If you need to filter out some sunlight, shoot with a sheer gauze curtain covering the window.

3. Clean the Area

Even though the lunch or dinner plate is the focal point, a messy background is distracting. Make sure any silverware or linens are clean and neat, and move other plates you don’t want to include out of the shot. Even if you are planning an action shot with someone using a fork to dig into the dish, the utensils should be clean.

4. Take Multiple Shots

Photographers never take just one shot, whether they are shooting lunch or a fashion model. Take at least four pictures of the same plates, then review the results before selecting the perfect one to share. You can see which elements need adjusting, such as the angle or the light. You can also see if you want to change your focus from one plate to the next.

5. Shoot Different Angles

Try high and low angles as well as corner shots. Do a few close-ups as well as wide shots, and use the light to guide you around your plates. You will notice that certain items look better when shot from overhead while others look delectable from the side. When shooting in a restaurant, however, be respectful of other diners around you.