Colorful foods tend to look the best. Potatoes will look boring with yellow bell pepper, but red bell peppers look much better. There are also blue potatoes, purple cauliflower and other colorful things you can add. Spraying vegetables with a mist of water can make them look more appealing.
Professional food photographers have special stylists for setting up their food and they test out their setup with a "dummy". You're not a pro so you don't have to bother with such things, but if you shoot something like a parfait, plan in advance before bringing out the food.
Spicing it Up
If possible, try taking photos of the food served in different ways. For example, first take a photo of the whole pie, then another shot with a slice cut off, and a third picture of a single slice. Cookies can be placed in a pile, in a bowl – or take a photo of one cookie which has been bitten. If the food has a filling, cut or tear off a piece to show it off.
If the food looks boring, such as a pureed soup or a bowl of pudding, try a garnish. A sprig of coriander (cilantro) or parsley or a basil leaf works for many savory foods, or create a swirl with cream or even spices. Berries and nuts often work well for decorating desserts. You can also use props.
Props
Not all food photos need props, but sometimes they're a good way to spice up a photo. You could add a pretty oven mitten to a picture of baked goods, or a milk glass to go with the cookies. Drinks can be decorated with straws or fruit pieces.
Think of what ingredients went in the food and whether some of these be used as props. For example, cinnamon sticks with a cake that contains cinnamon or a chili pepper to complement a chili stew. Planning in advance helps, so you will have that extra chili left after you finish cooking.
Props don't always have to be edible or food related. With a Christmas dish you could use a Christmas ornament. A summer flower might make a great companion for a cooling cocktail.
Don't overdo your props! The focus should be on the food.
Using Flash
The previous article told to never use a flash, but that only goes for the built-in one. If you have a DSLR, consider getting an external flash. You can reflect it off the ceiling or a wall, and the result is not at all nasty like a normal flash, but well-lit and professional.
Even better, get a cable release or a radio transmitter release. Normally they are expensive, but the Cactus brand is very affordable. If your flash is off the camera, you can point it directly towards the food, reflect it off something or play other kinds of tricks with it.
You can use anything white or light-colored, even a sheet of paper, to act as a cheap reflector when lighting the picture (whether with a flash or a spotlight). It's a subtle effect but often creates a much better lighting
Processing the Image
You should learn the basics of image editing, so you can tweak contrast, white balance, and saturation and sharpen the picture with the unsharp mask tool. If you notice any unwanted crumbs and such, you can usually get rid of them with the clone tool. Don't go overboard when Photoshopping, a particular no-no with sharpening.
A good level of JPEG compression to use is 10-20% (some software may display that as 80-90% quality). That way the file size won't be too large, but the quality will still be high.
Some people add a watermark or a "signature" in their images to prevent image theft, or just to add some branding. Signatures are, however, fairly easy to remove just by cropping the photo.
See Also
Food Photography for Bloggers - the article covering the basics
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