I’ll admit it — I am one of those people who take a photo of their food before they eat it.
Give me a big scoop of ice cream with caramel dripping down the side, a perfectly browned pepperoni pizza with melting, stringy cheese and I’ll give you #foodporn.
The act of photographing mouthwatering dinners or gooey desserts has become a meal-time ritual — in fact, for some, it’s a way of gaining social influence.
Jeremy Jacobowitz, founder of Brunch Boys, a foodie-centric media company and influencer with 400,000 Instagram followers, is hosting an entire workshop on how to capture the perfect Instagram-worthy shot of food and drink this Saturday.
Starting at Westlight at the top of The William Vale hotel, Jacobowitz will have participants test their Instagramming skills by taking photos of dishes and cocktails with the city’s skyline in the background and also during a brunch at Leuca that’ll feature sheep’s milk ricotta drizzled with hot honey and garlic, lemon ricotta pancakes sprinkled with toasted pine nut butter and splash of maple syrup, and its "OG Pizza" made with pepperoni and Fresno chili.
While munching and snapping away, guests also get to enjoy and photograph Bloody Marys by Svedka vodka and latte art by Bulletproof.
Jacobowitz will guide food photogs through a series of tips that’ll help capture the perfect shot and increase your social media presence.
I asked Jacobowitz for some pointers and tried to dig into why this workshop might be worthwhile via email on Wednesday:
What do you want participants to come out of the class with?
I want to show them a mix of simple things that they can easily do to improve their photos right away, and things they can begin to use, where with practice, they can vastly improve their photo skills.
Everyone is certainly taking more photos than ever before. I think it’s definitely becoming more of a shared interest, where photography used to be a niche hobby.
Why are the dishes from Leuca good for this lesson?
My life is WAY easier when the dishes look great, that’s half the battle. And I know the dishes from Leuca are already super photogenic! This way we can concentrate on just the photography side of things.
How have these skills helped you in your role as an influencer?
The most important thing to do as an influencer is to stand out, so the better your photos are, the more unique your content is, and the more you will stand out from the rest.
And finally, do you have 3-4 tips on how to create food porn to pass on to readers?
- Natural light is your best friend
- Look for interesting angles with each dish
- Look for some motion when you can (think cheese pull, yolk porn, etc.)
- For when you are ready to take it to the next level with a camera, make sure you shoot in raw
If you go: Tickets are $75 per person at eventbrite.com. The workshop begins at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at The William Vale, 111 N.12th St., Brooklyn.
