Tips on How to Photograph Mexican Food

Mexican food has a lot of Spanish influence on it’s original mesoamerican cuisine and that is the reason this cuisine is so vibrant and colourful in its appearance. Photographing Mexican food is an absolute delight, provided you know the basics of the food. Knowing the history of the food and where it comes from will make a lot of difference in the way you look at it through your lens.

Mexican food is also predominantly vegetable-based and contains chillies, corn and beans in almost every second dish. Dishes that contain meat are the ones which were influenced by European settlers. Styling and photographing Mexican foods can be fun if you follow the basics of food photography and these four bonus tips in addition to that.

1. Do your homework well. Browse through as many pictures of Indian food as you can to get a hang of what you are dealing with. You can also check Indian Food Photography on Pinterest, which will give you a fair idea.

2. Mexican food usually contains a lot of mush.  From diced bits of meat and veggies to amorphous refried beans and rice, Mexican food is a minefield of mush. And simply put, mush is not good for our photographs. So avoid the mush. Don’t even try to work around it because even in the right light and perfect frame, mush kills the composition of the photo.

3. Mexican food does not by any chance mean small portions of food on the plate. They go for a plateful of whatever it is they are eating – from tacos, burritos, casseroles, tortilla soups et al. So try to find the perfect angle in which you can capture the entire plate without making it look like an overflowing plate in an obvious way.

4. Mexican food is all about corn, chilli pepper and jalapenos. If the dish you are shooting has any or all of these ingredients, then use them as props to style your food. This will not only add colour to your already colourful Mexican food, but will also give the viewer a hint of authenticity.