It’s Food Photography Friday! I’m on a mission to learn the secrets of taking mouth-watering photos of food, and you’re invited! Each week I’ll share the story behind the shots, lessons I’ve learned, and of course, photos of tasty food.

Breakfast Time

We had heard good things about Times Coffee Shop in Kailua, Hawaii. Others must have heard as well because there was a line of people waiting to be seated when we arrive.

The wait isn’t terrible though. Twenty minutes later we are seated at a booth by a window with our orders before us.

Unfortunately, the food does not live up to the hype.

The fried rice is overly sweet and heavy on the garlic.

The banana pancakes shockingly don’t have any bananas and are mouth-puckeringly dry.

And the toast…well the toast isn’t half bad as far as toast goes.

A Lesson Learned

But here’s the thing: even though the food does not taste good, the dishes look downright delicious in the photos. The soft shadows of the sunlight streaming in from the window is perfect lighting for food and DOF is under control, so the important parts of the dish are in focus.

This was a revelation for me– the viewer cannot taste the food. Everything they feel about a dish is based on solely on your photo.

Your job is to make the food look delicious, even if it doesn’t taste good. The photo lives on forever but the bad taste only lasts until the last bite.

Unless you get food poisoning.

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See you next week for another Food Photography Friday where I’ll share another story and the lessons I’ve learned about taking delicious photos of food!