Does Your Digital Camera Have a 'Food' Setting?

by Emily Farris, Posted Jul 22nd 2009 @ 1:00PM

Tomato and Olympus camera. Photo: Emily Farris.

These days, food porn seems almost to be giving the old-fashioned kind a run for its money. Everyone with a digital camera and an appetite fancies him or herself an amateur food pornographer, which is to say there's a lot of bad food photography out there alongside the good stuff.

Camera companies are catching on to the trend and trying to make a buck, with digital point and shoot models that are manufactured with food photography settings, like this Olympus which has a "cuisine" option, and this Sony, with its "gourmet food" mode. Chances are good that if you purchased a camera recently, it has some kind of food photography option and you don't even know it. If your food photographs are less than porntastic (like the tomato shot here), it might be worth your while to consult your camera's manual or look online to find out.

If you don't have a food setting, don't rush right out to buy a new camera that does.

One pro shutterbug's opinion, after the jump.

Owen Morris, who until recently was the food photographer for Kansas City's alternative weekly's Food Blog Fat City, says that if you and your point-and-shoot haven't mastered the art of food-tography, "It's more a worthwhile investment to borrow a copy of Photoshop and get comfortable playing around with its settings -- there are hundreds of good tutorials online -- then just be sure the pictures you take are with a high-quality setting on the camera."

Finally, as everyone who has ever photographed food (and/or naked people) told us: always use natural light.

Filed Under: Stores & Shopping, Food News, New Products
Tags: bloggers, cuisine, digital cameras, DigitalCameras, emily farris, EmilyFarris, food bloggers, food blogging, food photography, food settings, FoodBloggers, FoodBlogging, photography, stores-and-shopping

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-22-2009 @1:19PM The Hungry Traveler said... I stick with my D80 and prime lenses though I realize I could use a point and shoot as I'd be able to carry it with me more often.

Food photography is actually a large part of my site; hard to do well but when you get it,its great.

http://havestomachwilltravel.com/
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7-23-2009 @12:17AM ann lemons said... Uhhh...how about a few of those great tutorial websites?
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7-23-2009 @6:22AM Aris said... My wifes Panasonic TZ7 has a food mode. I couldn't believe it when I saw it.

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7-23-2009 @9:42AM Culinary School Finder said... Any other recommendations on a good camera for food shots? Everything I take looks like cardboard with ketchup on it :-)

Mike
http://www.culinaryschoolfinder.com
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7-23-2009 @12:51PM jen said... The mantra of using only natural light is pure bunk doled out by people who don't 1) know how to use artificial lighting and 2) understand the nature of light. It's laziness and ignorance.
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7-24-2009 @5:01PM extramsg said... Food settings are less important than a food camera. We need a camera that is less about megapixels and more about low light quality with good white balance. Big CCD, low f-stop, low-noise in high ISO, good auto white balance indoors and in shade, good macro, flash that doesn't overpower objects closeup, etc. Another great option that I bet no one has thought of is a steady-on flash. I sometimes use my blackberry's flash by turning on the video mode to give a nice white light in dark restaurants. It's inoffensive and doesn't overpower the objects (it's actually a little soft). Right now, the G10 seems to be the best point and shoot, but it's awfully expensive. Give me fewer megapixels and get that price around $200 and you'll sell the hell out of them.
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7-30-2009 @8:53PM Suzanne Pitner said... I have such trouble getting excellent food shots. It's good to know the newer cameras have a foodie setting. I'm in the market for one now, so as not to scare everyone away from my blog.

http://www.dinnermagic.net
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2-04-2010 @2:11PM Dominic said... The Lumix DMC-ZS7 has lots of new mode and I can't wait to try it out on all of the delicious recipes my wife prepares. http://www.dmc-zs7.com
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