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This week, week 4 of my photography course with Sears Grilling and Social Fabric, I learned a lot about taking photographs of food while it is on the grill in an outdoor setting. We had already begun using our shiny, new grill…I mean, who couldn’t resist?! However, this week, we made a variety of meals so that I could further practice my photography.

We also learned more about the technical areas of photography, and I had fun playing around with several of the settings on my camera. When shooting outside, I was told it is important to avoid direct sunlight. This can make the images very harsh and unflattering, depending on the subject of your photos. Direct sunlight also causes the shadowed areas of a picture to be very dark, almost black.

I was also educated about the rule of thirds, which helps to great shots that are well-balanced and interesting. This isn’t a “must follow” rule for every single shot you take, but it will usually does help the photographer to keep the grid in mind when framing the subject and capturing the shot. This allows you to identify the four intersection points that you should take in in order to photograph a well-composed picture.

Common angles for food photography were also discussed this week. I was happy to learn more about these, because I have a tendency to just shoot my photos “straight on”. While it’s okay to do this, that angle is only one of several you can use to showcase food.

I also tried to incorporate the “From Above” angle – where the camera is positioned directly above the subject, which is completely centered in the frame. I think my above shots could have been better, but it gets hot hovering over a 500-degree grill while trying not to actually fall in it!

The “Diagonal” angle is another that I practiced with this week. This is basically just tilting the camera so that the subject begins in one corner and ends in the opposite corner.

White balance was another area of discussion in Week 4′s lessons. Most cameras have an auto setting for white balance as well as other settings that you can manually change as needed. These include tungsten, daylight/sunny, cloudy/shade, flash, and fluorescent. For most of my photos, I found the daylight/sunny setting to be the best for white balance.

Here are a few more photos from this week of preparing meals on the grill.

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Sears #CBias #GrillingIsHappiness. All photos and opinions are my own.