Getting up close with food photography

When you're thinking about macro photography, food can often be left out of the conversation in favour of more traditional subjects such as insects and flowers. However, food photography is incredibly accessible, with an array of potential subjects within easy reach in your own home. Plus, you don't need to rely on good weather or your subject staying still to get great results.

But that's not to say it's always easy to get something that elevates your imagery from a snap of your lunch. One way to approach food photography differently is by using a macro lens to get in super close, creating stunning abstracts that have the power to fascinate the viewer. You can also try techniques such as focus stacking – now easier than ever thanks to innovative features found within some of Canon's latest cameras, such as the Canon EOS R10.

We challenged macro photographer Matt Doogue to give food photography a go. He's more accustomed to shooting macro out in the field, specialising in insects, plants and fungi, so staying indoors and shooting subjects in his kitchen turned out to be an exciting experience that has made him look at macro photography in a completely different way.

Here, he shares some of the things he discovered.

• Look for textures, shapes, colour and patterns
• Consider your lighting
• Choose the right macro lens
• Give focus stacking a go
• Explore different subjects
• Create intriguing images

Food that works particularly well for super-close macro shots is anything with an interesting texture, pattern, colour or shape. "Anything that's coated in sugar looks amazing because the sugar crystals look like diamonds when you photograph them up close," says Matt. "Most sweets will have textures, bumps and shapes that work well, plus you'll find that sweets often have vibrant colours – reds, yellows, pinks and greens.

"Beyond that, vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage and even onions have an interesting structure. The more natural the product, the better symmetry you have, whereas manufactured products such as sweets might yield better abstract results."

For Matt, lighting often plays a big role in his macro work, but food is very different from his usual subjects. "I didn't need to diffuse light anywhere near as much as I would for something shiny, such as a beetle," he says.

For this project, Matt purchased an inexpensive small softbox studio, although you could always have a go at making your own. He also used LED lights to bring out elements of the subject.

"You can also create a series, where each image looks completely different," Matt adds. "For example, with the sugar dummy images, it's a round circle with a black hole, but if I light it from different angles each time it can look completely different, even though the camera and the lens might be the same."

If you don't have any lighting available, you can also work with natural light – particularly if you can shoot food near a window and work with daylight. Using a reflector, even a homemade one constructed from kitchen foil, can help to throw light onto your subject too.

Although you can shoot food with lots of different types of lenses, for the best, most detailed results, you'll want to look for a lens bearing the "macro" designation.

There are options to suit a range of budgets and shooting styles. The Canon RF 85mm F2 MACRO IS STM lens is a fantastic option, being lightweight with a close focusing distance. The magnification ratio is 0.5x, but you can still create detailed shots, as well as pull back just a little to show more context if you'd like to. For those with a bigger budget who want to get as close as possible, the RF 100mm F2.8L MACRO IS USM is a superb choice, offering 1.4x magnification for those abstract otherworldly shots.

See our guides to the best beginner kit for macro photography and best Canon lenses for food photography for more advice. You can also use Canon's handy lens finder tool which tailors recommendations based on your camera, the genre you want to shoot, and which features you value most.

Focus stacking is a technique where images that have been shot with different focus points are merged together. You can do this manually using tools such as the Depth Compositing tool in Canon's Digital Photo Professional (DPP) software, but models such as the Canon EOS R10 and the EOS R7 enable you to do it all in-camera.

"That's going to save me so much time," says Matt. "With the EOS R10, I was able to take a 100-image focus stack in a minute, and the image was then quickly processed for me in-camera. When I've tried this technique before, I've had to buy a whole new high-end computer to deal with the image files and merge them together in image editing software. Now I can get the EOS R10 to create a composite and work quickly with a single image file, it has really inspired me to try this technique more often.

"Not only that, but the camera also gives you the individual images. That's great in case you later decide you didn't want a 'full stack' – for example, if you want more softness in the foreground. By giving you all the files you have the freedom or creativity to adjust things exactly as you want them."

All EOS R System cameras also feature a manual focus peaking display option, which uses bright colours to highlight the areas of your image that are in focus.

If you're new to food photography, you might find slowing down and working in a more considered way is a challenge. But it can also open your eyes to new ways of seeing your subject, acting as an opportunity to create new imagery and explore a more mindful side to your photography.

"I was blown away by the experience, particularly of shooting fruit pastille sweets," says Matt. "I got lost in the world of food. All these little things that you just pick up in a supermarket – you get them, you put them in your basket, you eat them; you don't actually look at them and appreciate the complexity and the design, especially of natural products. A lot of art is inspired by nature and you can see why when you photograph up close and you see these amazing designs and structures that nature itself has created."

Creating close-up abstracts gives you a superpower – the ability to captivate and intrigue with your photos. You can even create your own game of "food guessing" with your friends, family or social media following.

"I sent the picture of a fruit pastille [header image] to two geologists," says Matt. "I asked them to tell me what rock they thought it was. I was getting guesses of rose quartz and other things. They even broke into a bit of a debate about which it was!

"When I photographed cabbage, someone in my family said they never wanted to eat it again because of the details revealed in the close-up."

As with any art, photography is about making the viewer feel something, whether that's surprise, hunger, or, in this case, disgust. If it makes you feel strong emotions, it means it has served its purpose.

Giving food photography a go has opened Matt's eyes to the creative possibilities. "I definitely want to include more of the natural elements and more symmetry of plants, leaves and flowers in my photography," he says. "I'm also going to take a closer look at mushrooms and lichens, as well as patterns on trees and bark. If I can make a fruit pastille look like a crystalline painting, then I'm sure I can do something amazing with my typical subjects too."

Matt also hosts workshops and classes, and tackling this challenge has given him new ideas. "I always used to advise buying flowers to practise at home, but now I'll definitely be recommending food because I was just amazed by the things I could see."

Written by Astrid Pitman