Hello, I'm Dalia Colon, and
this is "WEDU Arts Plus."

if you eat an amazing meal,

but you don't post a pic on
Instagram, did it even happen?

In this first segment,
we'll learn hacks

for taking better food
photos from south Tampa

based photographer Chip Weiner.

(upbeat music)

- My name is Chip Weiner. I am
a photographer here in Tampa.

I have been a photo journalist
and a food photographer,

photographer in general,
probably for 30 years.

So way back in the days
of film is when I started.

I think I was
given a film camera

for high school graduation.

It's such a typical story,
and a lot of photographers,

older photographers
will tell you this,

that they've taken some pictures

and then they go in a dark room.

This photograph appears
on this piece of paper,

and fell in love like that,

which eventually
led into shooting

for Creative Loafing
newspaper here in Tampa

for the last 12 years,

doing everything
from photo journalism

to food photography for them.

They had a food critic
who would go in and eat

and then they would send me in

to take food photos
of what he ate.

There's kind of a
share generation now,

that people are around and
they want others to experience

what they have experienced.

That is relatively new,

especially with the
advent of Instagram.

Some tips as far as
taking some better photos.

First thing is put a little
extra effort into it.

Pay attention to what you're
seeing through the camera.

Desserts tend to
photograph the best,

because restaurants put
a lot of time and effort

into making them
just look awesome.

If you're going to
shoot in a restaurant,

don't be afraid to ask for
a table next to a window.

If you don't have a
large light source,

so if you don't have
that large window,

there are other ways.

Listen, I've seen people
light food photography

with their phone.

A lot of the photography that
I do at least on social media

is I call it run and gun,

no special consideration
from the kitchen,

no special consideration
from the restaurant.

I want to show in my photography
and I want to experience,

if you go into a restaurant

and you sit down and eat this
dish, what does it look like?

- The cool thing about Chip

is that he doesn't let
you know he's coming.

Now that's a good thing
'cause then you're not

running around, you know,
pulling out gold lobster tails

out of the freezer
and making it happen.

You know, he's a customer
just like anybody else,

but it's very impactful.

- What we're looking at is
these are some of the photos

that I've seen on Yelp.

I looked at an egg sandwich
at a restaurant recently,

and what I like to do first
is sometimes go online

to see what they're serving,
which is what I did.

And there, I saw some
photos and I went oh, okay,

it's shot in a styrofoam box.

It's a good looking food,
but it gives it no context.

So as I went in there,
I'm looking around,

how can we set this up so that
you get a feel of the place?

'Cause it's sort of
a nostalgic place.

And I went in and
reshot the egg sandwich

and it looks very different

from what I originally saw on
Yelp, not criticizing Yelp.

They have a lot of good
food photos on there,

but there are some on there

that could certainly
be improved.

So what I wanted to do
with the egg sandwich

is I wanted to show what the
context of the place was.

Again, it's a
nostalgic restaurant.

It's been around for a long time

and they had a lot
of nostalgia around.

So I put items on the table.

One of the things that I
encourage in food photography

is give food a presence.

Instead of shooting it from
above, shoot it from the side.

If something is tall, let it
be tall in your photograph.

Then show what's
in the background.

So this was at a brand
new restaurant in town.

Believe it or not,
that's grouper.

Brown food, by the way,

is really difficult
to photograph.

So what I did with
that same dish

was I put it on a plate, I put
something in the background.

I lit it a little different.

I added some color
and some candlelight,

and it's same dish just
with a very different view.

So that is a meat
dish served right here

at Factory 4914, which can
be a beautiful photograph.

Unfortunately, that one, there's
just not a lot of lighting

or composition consideration.

So I saw that and I
came in and again,

wanted to add some color,
wanted to add some background,

wanted to show this
is what it's like

to sit in this restaurant
and eat this dish.

It's got some candlelight,

it's got a nice drink
in the background.

I typically will
put some flatware in

so that you get some scale.

Everyone knows the
size of a fork.

They don't always know
like the size of a scallop,

which can be small or large.

And I think the last
one that we'll see there

really speaks to color.

How do you use color?

And you can go on any
retail website online

and buy a color wheel
for a couple of bucks.

Learn what complimentary
color is and use that.

Even if you're in a restaurant,

if you've got something blue,

a lot of times something
brown will go with that.

If you've got red,

a lot of times something
green will go with that.

So here's some tips
for people at home,

because one of the cool
things about cooking at home

is you control the whole place.

You're not waiting for
someone else to deliver food.

Go to a secondhand store

and find some different
kinds of dishes.

If you spend $10, you're
spending too much.

One tip that I will use strongly

is never shoot on a red plate.

Red does not render well
in digital photography

unless there's an
absolute reason to do it

and you know what you're doing.

White, light blue plates
tend to work well.

Darker plates are a
little tougher to render.

Put those muffins, stack
them up or cut them.

I love cutting food and
seeing the inside of it.

- Food only stays for
maybe a couple of minutes,

if not maybe an hour, but when
you get a fantastic photo,

that's a memory, that's
something that you can share

and project to other people
that can last a lifetime.

- One of the things that I
like putting food on Facebook,

for example, is to
encourage people.

If you're out taking
photos, make it better.

Take a little extra time to
really make that shot delicious

and make people want
to eat it and try it.

And when you're ready,

look online and learn
about two things,

aperture and shutter speed.

Those two things
interact on most cameras,

and if you learn
how to adjust those,

your food photography is going
to improve significantly.

(relaxed music)

- For information on Chip
Weiner's photography classes,

check out chipshotz.com.