Shooting the turkey: Adobe Stock gives five great tips for Thanksgiving food photography

posted Wednesday, November 25, 2015 at 1:00 PM EDT

Our friends over at Adobe Stock have some great tips for photographing your Thanksgiving dinner and making it look just as delicious as it tastes.

The tips include making sure to select the right food to focus on and picking the best angle to accentuate the subject, using natural light to light your food photos, and making sure to pay attention to your background.

For more detail and all of the awesome Thanksgiving photography tips, check out the excellent (and hunger-inducing) images below and take your food photography to the next level! And if you make food that looks as delicious as the food below, your guests (and your stomach) will thank you.

Focus: Chances are, the turkey is your dinner’s main feature. Try out different angles to highlight it. Or, why not capture it all? Your Thanksgiving dinner is a hero and the entire spread deserves attention, so an overhead shot works nicely.

Rustic Thanksgiving Dinner Photo Credit: ©evgenyb/94126016/Adobe Stock

Add Colors and Textures: Herbs and other toppings are your best friends when it comes to food photography. Mashed potates may be delicious but a bowl of beige is not attractive. A sprinkling of chives for example adds a pop of color, drawing attention to the dish by the color contrast.

Mashed potatoes with chives Photo Credit: ©chinook203/83484835/Adobe Stock

Light Source: Natural light is the optimum brightness for food photography so near a window in the daytime is best for getting the best set up. Camera flashes are best avoided as they can often lead your photos to have overly harsh contrast.

Candied Yams Photo Credit: ©JJAVA/18732186/Adobe Stock

Set the Scene: Consider your backdrop when dishing up your food. For a cool, modern look try a different background such as a slate or wood board which gives an edgy effect.

Pecan and cranberry autumn pie, overhead table scene with cut slice on rustic wood Photo Credit: ©Jenifoto/91883431/Adobe Stock

Feed the Atmosphere: Food shot on an isolated background is great when you want details of the ingredients themselves to really stand out. However, there are times when the addition of people in the shot can really enhance it. After all, Thanksgiving is made to be enjoyed with other people, so include the action – it adds to the authenticity.

Adobe Stock has a library of 45 million royalty-free, high-quality photos, videos, illustrations, and graphics available for use. You can either pay per image or subscribe to one of three plans: 10 images per month for $29.99/month when added to an existing Creative Cloud account, 10 images per month for $49.99/month as a separate Adobe Stock account, or 750 images per month for $199/month. The 10 image plans also offer rollover up to 120 images and provide options for additional images.

Until November 30th, you can get a risk-free month of 10 images for free!

Readers, with the holiday season about to kick into high gear, do you have any great food photography tips to share? Let us know in the comments below!

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