How to style food for photography – using Dream Donuts as your subject

What does it take to snap the perfect food pic?

Photographers and food stylists Kevin and Bryna Braganza from @TheFoodStudio.ca shared their top tips and tricks for capturing mouth-watering food content with your smartphone, using our Dream Donuts for inspiration.

The Reese’s Peanut Butter Cheesecake, Birthday Cake Confetti, and S’mores Dream Donuts are not only decadently delicious, they’re camera-ready too.

Here’s a few top food styling and photography tips from Kevin and Bryna:

Look for natural sunlight. When it comes to photographing food, Kevin and Bryna recommend using natural sunlight to light your shot. This gives you the best opportunity to avoid any colour correcting that may be needed in the editing phase. If natural light isn’t available, the next best option: artificial light positioned from the side, combined with a diffuser to offset any harsh light and a reflector to send light into the shadowy areas of your subject.

Get creative when styling your shot. When working with a subject as colourful and Instagram-worthy as the Dream Donuts, Kevin and Bryna encourage you to get creative.

Here are some things to think about:

○     Picking backdrops and props to complement your theme. For the Birthday Cake Dream Donut, for example, Kevin and Bryna love the idea of incorporating birthday candles, sprinkles and a bright pink tablecloth to bring the essence of this product to life.

○     Items such as an angular sponge can give an angled lift/tilt to your subjects, while wooden skewers can help prop things up and create a story within your image.

○     Podiums and different shaped blocks to add dimension and depth – you want to enhance the impact of your photo.

(Photo: Tim Hortons)

Use the rule of odds. The rule of odds states that when you’re including a group of subjects in your photo, an odd number, rather than an even number will produce a more interesting and more visually pleasing composition – and we couldn’t agree more. For example, a scene with three, five or seven donuts will be more visually compelling than two or four.

(Photo: Tim Hortons)

Bring in reinforcements. Whenever setting up a shot, Kevin and Bryna always use two important tools:

○     A tripod to hold your camera in place. This allows you to have both hands free to move and adjust the subjects in your shot.

○     The ‘rule of thirds’ grid on your camera. Typically found in the settings of your photo app, the grid breaks up the image into thirds both horizontally and vertically. Kevin and Bryna recommend placing subjects evenly at the four intersection points of these lines or along the four lines themselves to create a more powerful and balanced image.

(Photo: Tim Hortons)

Make your primary subject stand out. Don’t be afraid to play around with the different lens options on your smartphone. A favourite of Kevin and Bryna: portrait mode, helping the lens focus on a primary subject. The overall hierarchy of the image will draw the eye to the most important aspects of your photo.

(Photo: Tim Hortons)

Feeling inspired? If you’ve captured the perfect pic of our new Dream Donuts – tag #FeedYourFeed and @TimHortons on Instagram for a chance for your masterpiece to be re-shared on Tims Instagram page!