The Beauty of Natural light for Food photography

So this may be a hot discussion topic for most food photographers as to what light do they prefer shooting food with..

Personally i love shooting food with natural light . It has a quality which no flash can replicate. Especially the gleaming Morning / Evening Light that comes through a window. Its hard sunlight but with a beautiful softness which does not make shadows look bad . The image below in an example of that light.

Shot for Sriracha, Bangalore

This was shot at 9am through the beautiful french windows of the restaurant. Thankfully i had the place all to myself and to my luck the restaurant was still not functional, so i could move my set around wherever i felt the light was great. Shooting for restaurants is always fun, as a photographer can ( at least i had the freedom to) come up with whatever concept i liked. Of course i made sure it had a connection. Sriracha’s Chef Vikas Seth is always so much fun to work with, as he has so many ideas but he also realises what is doable and what is not. He is super easy going and thats why i love working with him. I have done some of my best food work collaborating with him.

Coming back to daylight …A soft window light works best with most food images, you just have to decide how much light you want to let in . I do that mostly by adding diffusers or cutting it by black boards. I shot this sushi image with soft window light by adding a Diffuser sheet on the window.

Shot for Singkong

In my experience colours really pop with the window light effect . Thats why whenever i shoot food in a studio or where flash is required i try to recreate window light with my flash lights. I love that effect it has on the food .

Like the below dumpling image is shot with flashlight, but I have tried my best to create a soft daylight feel. I don’t like my daylight effects to look too warm, I like the effect of a cloudy day. This effect is what i use most for food that has a lot of colour.

Shot for Sriracha

Of course, i depend a lot on flash lights as not everywhere i shoot the natural light is conducive for my idea or shoot brief. So my flash lights are a necessity for most shoots to help me recreate daylight . I don’t believe in using too many lights for food shoots , light should be one directional just like the sun. All in all my ideal place to shoot food would be a place with big glass windows (without tints) and ample space.

So whats your opinion about shooting food with natural light ? Do write in about your experiences and what effect you love to get out of it.