Food Justice Photography

This summer MAFRA was fortunate to help organize a number of food justice focused photography workshops lead by Duncan McNairnay. The idea behind the workshops were that photos can help community organizations to tell the story of their food focused projects and individuals tell the story of their experiences with food. Food Matters Manitoba will be showcasing these food stories at their Gallery Exhibition and Annual General Meeting on September 18^th, 2012 from 2:30-4:30.

Duncan was kind enough to share his tips on composition, visual structure and editing with us, so please feel free to take these tips and use them in your food photography!

Composition
-proper composition means making the subject obvious
-everything in the frame must be there for a reason
-guides the viewer into seeing what you want them to see

Food shape. Photo by Joe

Shape

-the basic outline of an object usually has the greatest initial impact
-object captured against a plain background use shape
-silhouettes use shape for dramatic impact
-they even add mystery when familiar objects are captured at unusual angles

Line. Photo By Kreesta Doucette

Lines

-show direction and distance
-define edges and boundaries
-direct the viewer’s gaze
-eg. converging lines increase the sense of distance
-horizontal and vertical lines create stability and orientation, while diagonal lines create imbalance and movement

Potatoes texture. Photo by Julie Rempel

Texture

-appeals to our sense of touch
-reveals the nature of a surface, which helps us sense the weight or bulk of an object-requires side lighting to emphasize it

Flower and Light. Photo by Dayna Kroeker

Light
-is the photographer’s medium
-defines the subject, describing its depth, texture and colour
-can isolate the subject from the background, or accent one part of a larger object

Cookie tray motion. Photo by Jody

Visual Structure:

Motion

-captured at a slow speed, motion is displayed with blurring lines
-captured at a fast shutter speed, a travelling object implies motion while showing full  detail

Child's eye view of Campbell's soup. Photo by Kelsey

Perspective
-break the usual eye-level point of view – bird’s eye, worm’s eye
-used to simplify background – shooting upward can isolate a subject against the sky, avoiding the distractions of the horizon
-get closer!!

Neechi Rule of Thirds. Photo by Jody

Rule of Thirds
-placing the subject off centre creates a dynamic feeling, avoiding the static
-this creates a space that submits to – or interacts with – the subject
-eg. a moving object gains the space to move in to

Arbour frame. Photo by Jenna

Natural Framing
-find a viewpoint that uses the environment as a frame for the subject
-helps draw the eye towards the subject

Editing

Duncan also talked about using online software such as Picasa to do some editing on the photos. He suggested maximizing the size of the photo before deciding to print it out in a large size to make sure that the photo isn’t blurry. He also suggested doing auto colour edits as well as esperimenting with the balance of the fill light, highlights, shadows and colour temperature. Doing these kinds of edits can make a huge difference in the quality of the photo. There are also special filters that can be used to give photos a unique look.

Photo before editing

Photo after editing