How can I photograph dishes for a menu so the background is easy to remove?
Asked 6/30/2015
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2 answers
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I need to photograph food for a restaurant menu and place the dishes on a transparent background. Cutting subjects out in Photoshop has been difficult, especially when I start with images that don’t separate cleanly from the background. Is there a better way to shoot the food so the edges come out clean and the background is easier to remove afterward?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
11y ago
2 Answers
2
What you need (if I understood correctly) is just a lot of contrast between background and your subject.
There are a lot of tutorials on the internet about this. I suggest you take a look at the "composing" sections here and there on different websites.
What I can really recommend are 2 options:
- A program that lets you "cut" quite precisely your subjects
- A tutorial on how to "detach" a subject from its background (German language but still understandable)
With the first one, you would basically select the area INSIDE what you need to cut and the area OUTSIDE it. An algorithm then provides you with a normally good result.
With the second one, you work with contrasts in channels in order to obtain a mask that you can apply to the original image. I would strongly suggest this option if you're working with people, because hairs are much easily selected this way.
Originally by user35383. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user35383
11y ago
0
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The easiest approach is to set up the shot so the food is clearly separated from the background before you edit.
Use a background color that is very different from the dish, plate, and garnish, with even, consistent lighting. A green cloth or other unique color can work well, as long as that color does not appear in the food or props. High contrast between subject and background makes masking much easier.
You’ll still usually remove the background in editing—there isn’t a camera setting that creates true transparency in a normal photo. Good shooting just makes the cutout cleaner.
If the background is a solid white or black in an existing image, some editors can help using blend modes or layer blending options, but for menu-quality results a proper mask/cutout is usually better.
So the professional-looking workflow is:
- Choose a clean, contrasting background.
- Light the food evenly and avoid messy shadows.
- Create a precise mask in editing.
In short: shoot for contrast, then mask the background out in post.
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