How to take beautiful images for your food Instagram

We asked Insta-king, Steve Steinfeld, the man behind the @thejoburgfoodie Instagram account, to share his tips for editing beautiful Instagram images.

Read more: Interview with The Jo’burg Foodie

Here are Steve’s top 3 tips for editing your food pics for Instagram

Consider the type of dish you’re photographing

A beautifully plated dessert or pasta might look better shot from the top, whereas a burger or a stack of flapjacks might have more impact when shot from the side. Play around with different angles to find the one that captures the dish in front of you to best effect.

A post shared by The Joburg Foodie (@thejoburgfoodie) on Feb 8, 2018 at 10:20pm PST

Make sure your dish is well lit

When you’re using the camera on your phone, the image quality is greatly affected by good lighting. During the day, natural light is fantastic – but at night(if you’re in a restaurant), rather use the flashlight setting on someone else’s phone or another light source to light up your dish.

A post shared by The Joburg Foodie (@thejoburgfoodie) on Dec 4, 2017 at 8:52am PST

Read more: 7 Steps to beautiful food photography

Don’t stick to generic filters

Food and dishes vary and one filter might not work for every single dish; rather experiment with the exposure, contrast, saturation and temperature settings. This allows for a more unprocessed appearance to an image. Do not overuse these settings either or you’ll end up with harsh, bright images that don’t look real. Food is about beautiful ingredients and should look organic. Steer clear of over-editing your images.

A post shared by The Joburg Foodie (@thejoburgfoodie) on Nov 18, 2017 at 3:28am PST

Read more: 7 South African foodie accounts you have to follow on Instagram