I love Food and Beverage Photography. It combines creativity with technical skill. I developed a spotlight system where I control exactly where the light falls and use the technical aspects of the camera to create the mood. All taken in manual mode. For example, I need to focus on a particular strong point of the dish or cocktail, I’ll do what is called low depth of focus field. A specific spot is in focus, and the rest of dish or cocktail is out of focus. The light I created is solely focused on that spot.

Understanding the type of restaurant is super important. For example, If you have a bright restaurant, I might go with brighter images… a cocktail bar open at night will want moody photos.

The style of what you are taking is important. For example, I’ll take photos of a cocktail and do what I call a hero shot. If I shoot a martini, I’ll have the martini glass above my camera. So I am shooting at an angle.

All this is super important in food and beverage photography.