I hope this simple explanation brings forth a new appreciation of food photography.
We are living in visual times, there is no doubt about that. Most people prefer to their information through imagery than text. Anyhow, this picture of Guatemalan morcilla is avery good example to talk about what goes behind the creation of a food picture. Usually an food picture starts with an idea which is usually turn into a sketch and list of possible ingredients and props needed to materialized the idea. For this Guatemalan morcilla picture, a trip to the market to get the necessary ingredients was necessary. Then, comes the lighting setup and props to find the right rhythm and color composition until one feels satisfied. Next, one goes to the kitchen to prepare the food. Once the food is ready, one must serve it really quickly into the setup one created earlier because food looks its best only for a few moments. At the photographing stage, one tries variations on the setup as quickly as possible. Last but not least, once one has a card full of pictures, comes the post-production where minor details are fixed and corrected. Photographic post-production often times takes longer than the actual time of photographic capture. In summary, oftentimes, the creation of a food picture takes three distinct stages: pre-production, production [the capture of photographic images] and post-production.
