Food Photography with an iPhone in Africa

Food Photography with an iPhone? I have been in love with my iPhone ever since I bought it, and on my recent trip to Africa (Rwanda and Ethiopia), I didn't carry my DSLR, so was forced to use my iPhone 6 for all the pictures. This was good as well as bad - bad because I couldn't do as much portrait photography as I usually do, and good because it forced me to try out other genre of photography which I had been avoiding so far.

My favourite Cafe in Musanze - the first day with Mr D

Often I associated Food Photography with women and so never tried out my hand at it. I agree its quite a sexist thing to say, but unfortunately that's how I looked at this art till sometime back :)

Anyway, that's not how I think, though I feel that women are inherently better at it than men. I have met far too many of these amazing women to have any doubts, whatsoever :)

I also have a travel channel now, and you are welcome to S U B S C R I B E to it.

I think this trip was also a lot about food, especially coffee. So following are a set of food images (not in any particular order) which not just depict the food I ate, but hopefully also my mood as I relished all of it :)

Traditional Ethiopian Coffee in Addis Ababa 

I found this cafe in Kigali after quite a bit of walking alone in the city, also my first food shot :)

Another one from a cafe in Musanze...I loved the food, but missed having someone with me to share my moments with...

My first breakfast in Musanze - lots of bananas, eggs and African tea

Delicious!

My favourite coffee pot! I should have stolen it!

Waiting for coffee and omelette to arrive while I waited to catch my jeep to go for the Gorilla hike...

And finally a typical rural Rwandan meal - Sorghum and Rocco Cabbage sauce

Tips on Mobile Food Photography:

I am no expert at it, so sharing some of my own learnings from a little bit of experimentation...

1. Always use natural light - keep food close to the window, or even out in the sun
2. DO NOT use flash - it spoils everything!
3. A good background is important - a neutral colour works best like wood, grey or even stone
4. Try different angles (though I didn't do that), though top works great with a mobile phone 
5. Editing is important as well - use apps like Snapseed & VSCOcam
6. Always collect stories with food - they make the shot even more interesting :)