I have a thing against taking pictures of food, but I do take lots of pictures of beer. And I'm going to say beer is a food for this one... because I have zero pictures of actual food. From the MN State Fair this year. A take on a popular "food-on-a-stick" craze that is all the rage at fairs, here is "Beer-on-a-stick". A local craft brewer Summit does this every year, and you get a flight of three delicious craft beers, all on a handy stick you can walk around with to hold your beer!
That is a fantastic idea! With some of our bars (the ones with better/craft beers), you can get the traditional paddle: 5x100ml samples of beers so you can try them all/a large sample, before committing to a whole pint. Afterwards, you then order the pints of your favourite/s! I should have a photo around of the most recent paddle I had a couple weeks ago at an independent local brewery called Young Henry's. They had an ale and a lager, and then came out the creative: Peach bright ale, and a Bacon and Black Truffle Belgian style IPA.
I think food makes for a great subject visually. It can incorporate taste and smell in an image, it's textural and can have vivid colors. Plus it can be a cool way to show something you've created. But yeah, instagram has definitely ruined such things to an extent.I have a thing against taking pictures of food
-You're not the only one it seems. Is this a bi-product of the FB/Instagram age where everyone is posting pics from every restaurant they've ever gone to?
It's three fold. Part of it is I hate the aspect of taking pictures of food, especially in restaurants. I'm there to eat and enjoy myself, and while I love photography, I also believe taking too many photographs of something can kind of ruin the moment, especially a nice meal. Same with me going to concerts, I don't take pictures. I'm there to enjoy the show, not watch it through a 3" LCD screen. I don't hate people that do it, but as an example I saw this all over Vegas. You have all these wonderful restaurants and expensive meals, and people pulling out their cameras to take pictures of it to post online like it's their first time ever eating a good steak dinner. I don't mean it to sound snobby, I just find it kind of rude. Two. I don't find pictures of food very interesting. Although I love eating, it's just not a subject I care to photograph. The only food I take pictures of is upon request from my wife, as she is quite the cook and makes some pretty elaborate meals that she wants documented. Three. Food is actually hard to photograph, especially with plated meals. It's normally low light conditions, it's normally reflective in nature which makes using a strobe difficult, and it's also on a plate that is reflective in most cases. So pictures of food are either too dark, or when hit with a strobe get too many reflection points and it makes the photo look harsh. Only way I do it is with a good tripod, some spot lighting (non strobe), and a tripod. I do love pictures like others have taken revolving around the subject of food though. Like the fish pic Elizabeth posted, or the black and white one Aksalon posted. I just don't like snapping pics of food itself for the most part.
Those are all valid reasons, thanks for the explanation. I definitely agree about people recording or videoing concerts. I know people that take too many photos and it infringes on your experience as well as theirs. I agree that the best shots of "food" in this thread were around the subject; that shot from Elizabeth is fantastic.