Nothing dims a dish quite like bad lighting. If the meal looks drab, that’s often not because the recipe, camera or app is lacking; it’s the direction and quality of the light. And window light is one of the best, simplest things to work with, because it’s free in most houses, and it lets you judge shadows, texture, glare, color and more before you press the shutter.
Put a dish in the window, but keep it out of direct sun first. If sunlight is too bright, it creates harsh shadows, white hot-spots on plates, and glaring reflections on sauced items or utensils. Light is softer from a window covered by shade, thin drapes or a cloudy sky. Position the plate near the window until the food is well-illuminated. Then move it a few inches farther and notice how the shadows weaken. That tiny shift tells you more than changing a dozen camera settings.
Side lighting often works well because it highlights texture. You’ll see more detail in things like a crispy bread crust, ridges on pasta, lettuce and herbs, crumbs, sauce drips, and other textures if the light hits food from one side. Light directly in front of the camera can make a dish look flat. Light from behind can produce a beautiful rim-lighting effect, but then the front might be too dark unless you fill it in with some form of reflector.
Reflector doesn’t mean an expensive thing. It can be a sheet of white foam board, a white plate or even a folded, clean, white cloth napkin. Hold the thing opposite the window to fill in shadows on the far side of the dish. A small amount of light bounce can lift shadows, allowing them to lose some detail while holding their shapes. But when the fill light gets too strong, it can start to flatten the look, so move the reflector back away. Remember, you don’t want to eliminate all shadows, because too much detail means you’ll lose the sense of clarity and appetizing quality.
Before you shoot, look at surfaces, plate rims and more. Window light often reveals things like crumbs, fingerprints, spilled sauce and uneven napkin folds that are easy to miss otherwise. Clean the rim of the dish. Discard props that steal attention. Decide where to place focus. In a photo of a bowl of soup, you may want focus on the garnish. In a slice of layered cake, focus may be on the cut edge or middle cream layer. Good light makes the most sense when you aren’t fighting other aspects of your photo.
Shoot three photos of the exact same dish. One will have a direct side of window light, the next will have the window behind the dish, and the final version will add a card to help fill shadows on the side. Examine the pictures before editing them. Check out the texture, the shape of the shadows, the look of a white plate or napkin. Look at whether the dish looks believable. Improvement may be harder to recognize if you just say that a version looks “better.” If, on the other hand, you can explain why it looks better, you’re on the right track.