Beginners Guide to Dark & Moody Food Photography
Dark food photography can be really powerful. While moody food photography isn’t necessarily what we want to see in summer, it’s the perfect look for darker, stormier seasons like autumn and winter. When I think of dark food photography I think of hearty, warming dishes like stews, soups and curries.
If you’ve ever wondered how to create moody food photography images, here are a few tricks to create dark food photography.
Food styling for dark food photography
Backdrops - It sounds obvious, but to shoot dark food images, you need to pick some dark backgrounds to work with. You could use the warm wood of a dining table, a wall in your home that is painted a dark colour, or if you want to invest in some food photography backgrounds, Club Backdrops are inexpensive, easy to store and easy to clean. They are great for all types of food photography, but they also have a specific ‘dark’ tab you can look through:
Props -To create dark food photos, you’ll also want to use majority dark props like wooden spoons, darker linens, dark green, blue, black ceramics etc. The food element in the photo should really pop and our eyes need to be drawn to the hero of the image. If you’ve got a brightly coloured prop in the corner of the image, most likely your viewers’ eyes will go there first instead of your food!
Despite what I’ve just written, rules are sometimes made to be broken! In this image below, I got a little playful with my props and used the white oat milk and the white salt to deliberately create a pop of contrast.
I wanted to highlight the salt to the viewer so they can imagine the chocolate and sea salt combo and I wanted them to see the milk and instantly remember the childhood nostalgia of cookies and milk.
Shooting dark food photography
Lighting - The main thing to keep in mind about lighting when you’re creating moody food images is to constrict your light. Whether you’re using a natural light source or artificial lighting, you don’t want your light to spill out over everything. Instead, restrict the light so it lands solely on your food and everything else is in shadow.
Black foam boards - You can create this dark food photography style inexpensively using black foam boards to create negative fill and deep shadows. Box in your scene on three sides, even creating a little ‘roof’ over the top of the scene with boards. Consider where the light is coming from and where you want the light to land on your scene - maybe raking in from the side or perhaps a little slither of light coming in from the front over the main subject. Then create an opening with the boards for the light to hit your scene. Take a few shots and see how it looks; you can move the cards to manipulate the light further.
Honeycomb grid - If you’re using artificial light with a softbox, you can purchase a honeycomb grid that looks like a honeycomb and sticks to the front of the softbox. This will restrict the light and prevent it from being really diffused and soft. This is another way of creating beautiful shadows and moody photos.
Post Production
So you’ve composed a delicious dark and moody food photo, now take it into your editing software to put the final sparkling touches on the image. I use Adobe Lightroom, so my editing tips are specific to that software. Keep in mind that every image will need a different set of global and local adjustments, but by and large, this is my process for moodier food photos.
Tone Curve - I start with the tone curve and dial back the shadows by dropping the curve towards the bottom left. (Keep an eye on your clipping indicators to make sure you’re not losing too much detail in the blacks and shadows, especially if the image is going to print.) I might lift the highlights here using the tone curve, or use the slider above to lift highlights.
Colour Temperature - I like to add a touch of blue to the shadows in my split toning, around 240. Alternatively, I might look at white balance and nudge it towards the blues a little.
Clarity - I add clarity to all my images, but especially in dark photography. In my opinion it’s best to make lots of smaller adjustments rather than cranking up just a few sliders, so I might bring clarity to around 15 or so.
Colour Correction - It’s important to remember in food photography, especially if you’re creating commercial work, that the food needs to look realistic. Of course, you can deepen and richen, that’s part of the editing process, but try not to alter the colours of the food so much that’s it no longer realistic. If a person made your recipe or bought the product, you don’t want them to be disappointed if the reality doesn’t remotely match the visuals.
Masking - use masking to target specific areas of the image. The radial gradient is brilliant for round bowls in food photography. I use a radial gradient to add texture, highlights or sharpness to specific food items in my images.
In summary, to create a dark and moody style:
Use dark props and surfaces
Constrict the light with dark foam boards
Add the final touches by deepening the shadows in your editing software
Take a more thorough look at my Lightroom workflow for product and food photography
I hope these dark food photography tips are helpful!
Calling food photographers! Are you looking for more guidance on your client processes, workflow, editing or pricing? I offer 1-1 mentoring sessions using the voice noting app, Voxer. If that’s you, I’d love to connect.
Helena is a professional photographer based in Bristol, specialising in product and food photography. She works with ethical and sustainable brands, creating joyful, story-telling product photos.