Although Home Chef customer Jeff Riley doesn’t use his MFA in photography for work, he has found a way to share his love of photography with the world.  Jeff has found joy taking pictures of his food creations and sharing them on social media. More specifically, taking pictures of his Home Chef dishes. Jeff takes inspiration from foodies in the Detroit area as well as up-and-coming restaurants in his community. With this inspiration, he started taking extra care when it came to photographing his meals.

What does it take to get a good food picture?

You don’t necessarily need to stand on the table to get a great picture! I take pride in the hard work of cooking. I want the photo to look as good as the time I spent making it. I make sure the plate is clean and that I have enough good lighting. The lighting is the biggest thing that’s going to impact the photo.

If it’s early enough, I use the window light that I have right behind my dinner table. If not, I bring in an extra light source, like a work light. Some things help make the composition more interesting, like using layers, color and texture giving the photo depth and drawing your eye to certain parts of the image. Overfilling the frame gives the eye paths to follow around the image.

Why is taking pictures of your food important to you?

My passion is photography. I love to take pictures of what I cook, my dogs, my girlfriend. My photos are my outlet to get the creative stuff out.

What your photo editing process like?

I use the phone app VSCO! I’ll try out a few different filters before picking the one that gives the look I want. The filters I tend to use the most are F2, 05 and AV8. Once I pick the filter I like, I adjust the exposure, contrast and the clarity of the photo all from the app to get the image just right. Then I’ll post it to Instagram and share with my followers.

What are your favorite Home Chef dishes to photograph, but more importantly, to eat?

I like so many of them! Definitely the Farmhouse Fried Chicken. My girlfriend really loved the Umami Burger and plating the Spooky Cottage Pie was great. I got a lot of Instagram likes with that one.

 

Thanks, Jeff!