Picture in your mind your favorite food.  Maybe that food is a delicious pepperoni pizza, a juicy steak, or a moist chocolate cake.  Now think of how it smells, how it tastes, and how it looks.

        Right about now your mouth is probably starting to water, and you may be starting to get hungry. 

        That image in your mind is probably really close to a perfect image.  Automatically, human beings imagine foods in their perfect forms.  Therefore, the photos used to advertise food products better be as close to perfect as you can get.

        As future food photographers, you must understand how to take that perfect image from your mind and turn it into a photograph that will make everyone’s mouth water.In food photography, there are three crucial parts to creating that mouthwatering picture:

(1)Preparation, (2) Presentation, and (3) Lighting.

        These three items will make or break your food photograph.  These three steps will determine which food items people will pick from the restaurant menus and the grocery stores.  These three photographic techniques will determine whether you are a professional or an amateur food photographer.

Preparation

        The food item must be prepared using the best ingredients.  If the produce is wilting or going bad at all, there is no chance of getting a good picture.  Also, it is very important that the food is not over- or under-cooked.  The colors of the food will be wrong and will not look appetizing in a photo.  Who wants to eat a burnt or doughy pizza?

Presentation

        A poorly presented meal is like a bad haircut.  Everybody will compliment it, but nobody will mean it. If the layers in your haircut are uneven, the haircut will look bad.  Well, if the layers of your seven layer cake are uneven, the cake will look bad too.  Symmetry is vital in both the preparation and presentation sections.

        Your meal should be a work of art.  Don’t forget that the dish, background, additional props, and colors used in the meal are all important parts of the presentation.

Lighting 

        The third and final part of the food-to-photo process is the most important.  If the lighting is done wrong, your preparation and presentation could be rendered completely useless.  If the photo is too dark, the food might look over-cooked.  If it is too bright it might wash out some of the details of your presentation.

        There are many different types of light, and each one will give you a different result.  Make sure to choose a type of light that will complement the color of the food and allow you focus on the most exquisite parts of the dish.  Also, make sure to only use one type of light.

        Food should be an exciting experience!  Take the time to make each of your food photographs an exciting and mouth-watering experience for everyone who sees it.