Filming Food Tips from Domestika

Recently I came across a video learning portal called Domestika and there are so many creative projects in there. It's mostly in Spanish but the people are just so creative and colourful with their ideas. It's like Udemy but specifically focuses on arts and crafts. This is so cool and I learnt alot just from watching their course trailers and taking some of their courses.

• Domestika courses (ideas from trailers)

  • Create shapes in shadows by using cut out boards to block a light source

  • Use adobe colour wheel to get the best colour combination and make a sketch using these colours

  • Set up a mood board for a shot of ingredients and props and arrange them on a digital canvas first

  • Tether shoot a camera to capture action scenes like dusting, splashing, pouring, zesting

  • Make people taste the food through their eyes through texture (backdrop), colour, composition (ingredients breakdown), patterns and layers, flavours, smells

  • Storytell customs, behaviors, recipes, art, history, our environment, every ingredient and tablewarea character

  • Use a mindmap to map out parts, symbols, users, history, materials, etc. and select relevant ones for the project

  • Formulate “how might we” questions positively eg. how might we appreciate fresh water better?

  • Student Portfolio comments:

    • https://www.domestika.org/en/courses/706-food-photography-basic-techniques/projects

    • https://www.domestika.org/en/courses/1704-food-photography-in-full-color

    • https://www.domestika.org/en/courses/3029-professional-food-photography-take-dynamic-shots

    • https://www.domestika.org/en/courses/409-introduction-to-the-business-of-food-styling

    • https://www.domestika.org/en/courses/872-creating-culinary-photo-series

    • https://www.domestika.org/en/courses/2911-dark-mood-photography-for-culinary-projects/projects

    • Interesting course to hand draw food then scan into photoshop: https://www.domestika.org/en/courses/2008-illustrated-recipes-making-delicious-art

Lessons from Domestika courses

• https://www.domestika.org/en/courses/3287-introduction-to-food-photography-for-restaurants/

  • Do a brief and tour of the restaurant

  • Trial and error with light and food plates

  • Remake the food when it fades

  • Good restaurants use fresh real food to take photos, not in the studio, so expectations and reality are aligned for customers

  • Filter through photos and use 1 star to shortlist them

• https://www.domestika.org/en/courses/3295-food-photography-find-your-artistic-taste/

  • food photography 3 common angles: top down, 45 degrees, full frontal

• https://www.domestika.org/en/courses/4352-aesthetic-food-photography-for-beginners/

  • try using rule of thirds to compose food

  • triangles, odd number of items

  • every item in frame should tell a story about the food

  • you can humanize a photo by adding hands

  • mood-board photos from pinterest and prepare food items and props