How to Click Black and White Photos of Food?

Almost everyone, who has tried their hand at food photography will tell your that food looks best in colour only. But it’s time to think out of the box -- food photos look better in black and white sometimes too. Times when there is little contrast between the colours of the food and background and they are not important to the image nor do they compliment each other.

People rarely venture this way, which is really sad because Black & White food photography has huge potential. It’s interesting to play with textures and lighting in a very different way than colour photography.

B&W photography takes a lot of practice to master. If you are a beginner, then the easiest way to learn is to click a photo and immediately change and camera settings to B&W and click an exact copy of the previous one. Do this for a couple of photos in different settings, against variety of background and during different time of the day. Compare the two photos and see which one looks best in B&W. Over a period of time, looking at a particular composition will tell you whether it will look good in B&W.  

Want some more tips about what to shoot in B&W and what to keep in mind while doing that? Read through these four pointers and feel free to experiment.

1. B&W photos speak of nostalgia. So the best way to cash in on B&W photos in food is to capture that nostalgic feeling. Something that will set your thinking and will take you down the memory lane.

2. Look for contrast and interesting shapes.  Something that is beautiful in colour need not look great in B&W, so select your subjects carefully.  For instance, strawberry ice-cream on a cone against a pale blue background would be a lovely soft colour photo, however, in B&W, everything will all be the same shade of gray.

3. Minimalistic approach works best while shooting in B&W. A frame which is full of a lot of things and many items of different colour and contrast will not look good in B&W, as it will look cluttered. Keep the frame as clean, simple and to-the-point as possible.

4.  Pay attention to lighting, shadows, reflections et al, as these are more prominently visible in B&W photos than in colour.