I think the holidays are the most wonderful time of the year – especially if Santa's bringing me one of the best mirrorless cameras this year – but it can often prove difficult to find the time to head out with my camera, while I feign Christmas cheer when visiting relatives, shop for last-minute gifts on Christmas Eve or fall asleep while watching Miracle on 34th Street, for the 34th time... If only there was an easily accessible subject I could quietly photograph among all the holiday chaos.
Well, maybe there is...
In keeping with the festive season’s penchant for feasting excess, there’s no better time to try your hand at a little food photography. I used my Nikon Z6 II, but not only are props – such as crackers, ornaments, and lights – readily available at this time of year, but you don’t need much camera equipment beyond a kit lens and a tripod.
You don’t even have to cook! Shop-bought food will look the part. You don’t have to brave the winter weather. And best of all, when you’re finished, you can tuck in!
1. Set the table
Diffused or indirect window light is a great way to illuminate food photography. If the light is lacking, consider illuminating your setup with an LED panel or even a household lamp. You could also use a reflector to bounce the natural light back onto the arrangement to fill shadows.
Begin by setting up empty plates and adding a few Christmas decorations to ‘sketch’ your composition without spoiling the food. I laid a tablecloth partially across the wooden table to provide multiple textures to add interest to the image.
2. Use a tripod and get the right lens
Food shots hinge on the arrangement. I put my camera on a tripod to roughly gauge the framing and keep it consistent, while I tweaked the arrangement of the food. If you’re shooting a static food display, use Exposure Delay Mode to avoid camera shake and mirror slap.
If you’re capturing movement, like pouring cream or a dusting of flour, a remote shutter release and burst mode is preferred. I used the Nikon Z 35mm f/1.8 S, but a ‘nifty fifty’ is a great alternative, like my DSLR-friendly Nkon AF-S 50mm f/1.4G ED. A kit lens would work well, too.
3. Add the figgy pudding
Once you’ve put together a rough layout and framed a rudimentary composition, you can begin to add in cold food items. If you’re photographing food that’s still cooking, try using similar-sized props in its stead so it doesn't cool or it spoils before you have time to photograph it.
I elected to keep my figgy pudding in its tub – before heating – so there was no danger of it collapsing while I moved items around and refined my composition. Try not to make your arrangement look too uniform; it should resemble a real Christmas spread that invites the viewer to sit at the table. Framing a chair or two will reinforce this.
4. Big up your bokeh
The festive season gives you an excellent excuse to add lots of bokeh to the background of your food shots. I put a Christmas tree behind my spread and opted for a simple string of white lights, so as not to distract too much from the food.
There are myriad of ways to increase the size of the bokeh: a wider aperture, longer focal length, physically moving the tree further back, or placing the camera closer to the point of focus. But bigger doesn’t always mean better. If the bokeh is too intrusive, it may detract from the subject.
5. Dial in your camera settings
I used single-point AF to focus on the figgy pudding. If you’re shooting a completely static food display, you can select your base ISO and dial in any shutter speed to compensate. I captured a hand pouring cream over my pudding and settled on 1/100 sec to freeze the movement, requiring me to up my ISO to 200.
I found that my Nikon's Flash white balance preset provided a neutral color temperature, which I could then tweak in post-production. Being able to freely alter white balance is one of many reasons why shooting RAW is always preferred.
6. Christmas color grading
Color grading allowed me to tweak individual colors within my image. After inputting general tonal edits in Adobe Lightroom Classic, I added magenta (+4) via the Tint slider and then headed into the Color Mixer’s Hue panel. I increased the intensity of Greens (+35), added red to Yellows (-20) and Oranges (-12), while using the Saturation panel to boost Reds, Oranges and Greens. I then used the Color Grading panel to add red to Midtones, orange to Highlights and blue to Shadows. Reds and greens really add to the festive vibe.
Quick tip: Photograph a flaming figgy pudding
After you’ve shot your festive spread, try capturing some frame-filling close-ups. My flaming figgy pud was shot with the Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S. Place the pud against a dark background to make the flames really pop and set your camera on a tripod. Use single-point AF to focus on the pudding and switch to manual focus to prevent hunting.
The flames burn brightest as soon as the pudding is lit, so enlist a friend to light it while you fire off a high-speed burst. I used 1/125 sec to freeze the flickering flames and a wide-open aperture to separate the pudding from the background. Always take great care when lighting a Christmas pudding – adult supervision is essential.
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If you're looking for more holiday-themed tutorials, learn how to shoot festive bokeh-filled close-ups using your Christmas tree.
And if you really enjoyed capturing a festive feast, then it might be worth checking out the best lenses for food photography and the best books on food photography.
