Barbecue. Barbie. BBQ. How would you call it? Summer is the best season to kick back and enjoy the great outdoors, so invite some friends, put some delicious food on the grill! In lieu of National Grilling Month, count us in for outdoor cooking, preferably of the grilled kind. And while you’re at it, did you know you can earn from selling photographs of your grilled creations?
Absolutely Grillin’ Photography
If you’re the dedicated food photographer, throw some creativity into the food layouts. When there’s just one type of food, you can make it the main focus on a table setting. If there’s a lot of food, go for a top angle view to ensure everything is captured in the shot.
When in doubt, you can always go with the ingredients as the focal point of your photos. That takes away the headache of figuring out the color scheme of your plates and utensils. Because the food ingredients are already pretty vibrant, photographer Alexander Raths paired them with a plain background. The entire setting has a rustic feel and the layout is interesting enough to be part of a menu feature.
Photographer karandaev shows us that it’s not always about the meat when it comes to barbecue in the summer. Seafood looks great on the grill (and when grilled) too! Even if you don’t want to have the actual grill in the picture, you can take the shot from an angle to give it a different perspective.
Making The Most Out Of Limited Angles In Photos
Focusing on what goes on the grill itself, and the barbecued food might be great, but what about the table setting and other supporting details? Don’t forget the people, too. (There’s no barbecue without u. Let’s not celebrate National Grilling Day solo!)
Photographer Fabio Formaggio executed the scene perfectly by snapping it from an interesting viewpoint. Most barbecues happen in the late evenings when the lighting fades. This way, the scene doesn’t look staged or forced, and there’s enough light to go around from above.
Creativity With Different Perspectives
Are your friends and family taking photos with their smartphones for the ‘gram? Take advantage of their photo-taking moments and channel your creativity with unique angles. Contributor David Pereiras Villagrá shows us how it’s done with this smart scene down below.
Shooting With People In The Photos
Likewise, photographer warrengoldswain experiments with various angles, but his key concept remains the same. Everyone centers around the grill. The setting is perfectly sunny, outdoorsy and tinted with a very chilling-in-Dave’s-backyard kind of vibe. It’s a pretty simple setup, and has a very authentic feel to the photo set. Definitely has National Grilling Day vibes!
Photography will never get boring if you apply some creativity into taking your shots. With this in mind, not all barbecue themes need to be solely focused on the grill or the food. If you have people in the shot, think about incorporating some natural poses for an authentic scene. They don’t always have to be grinning maniacally while standing around a portable grill.
Food Focus In Photos
If you don’t want to include people and want to focus primarily on the food, layout the grilled goods creatively. Take a look at this photo by Germany-based contributor foodandmore. The background is a simple wood picnic table in a neutral color. Since the grilled food is already a natural striking hue, the white wood harmoniously pairs with them. The entire setting might look darker and different with a brown wood background.
When in doubt with the layout of food placement, refer to the rule of thirds. Usually, there is a focal point in photos that you should set while composing the layout. Check out this Rule of Thirds vector as a guide to your Golden Ratio positioning by dimajarm.
Contributor Алексей Безродний created an excellent visual guide to the golden proportions you can use while composing a photograph. I hope these tips help you with your National Grilling Day photography taking!
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