Canon Food Photography Lenses

Capturing the right kind of food – from shiny hunks of succulent meat to delicate desserts – can not only whet a viewer’s appetite, but also help you cash in on the art. Food photographer and food stylist

Maria Altynbaeva

been shooting food for magazines and restaurants for several years now. Today she shares her experience with two Canon lenses on the EOS 6D full-frame camera.

Full review of the Canon EOS R mirrorless camera

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

I primarily use this lens to capture food from above. If the composition is built on a table, you can just stand on a stool. It’s comfortable because you don’t have to get too high up, like you would do with a 100 mm lens, for example.

Another lens of 50 mm is suitable for food photography at an angle, when a part of interior should be in the frame i.e.e. not from close up .

“The Polentin is not suitable for shooting small compositions at close range. In this situation it distorts the proportions of subjects and their position in space.

Suitable compositions for the 50mm lens, top view on the left, interior composition on the right.

The lens has a fast aperture and a maximum aperture of f/1.4. What it gets you? First, you can take a picture with only a small part of it in focus. Sometimes it is necessary from the point of view of an artistic idea. Secondly, you can shoot handheld when there is little light. Keeping the aperture open allows you to keep the shutter speed large enough to keep the frame sharp, and the ISO speed not too high.

The minimum shutter speed for handheld photography is 1/160 second. If the shutter speed is slower i.e. 1/125, 1/100, etc.d. , sharpening suffers when shooting with natural light . The combination of fast shutter speed and aperture ratio allows you to shoot handheld at low light conditions.

I was able to shoot this handheld when it was not bright enough. Camera settings: aperture 3.5, shutter speed 1/160, ISO 800.

The lens can have a slight distortion when you take pictures from above: the image edges get rounded. This can be tweaked in the image editor using the Lens Correction Profile.

Bottom line

This lens is a good option for camera owners with a smaller image sensor. On a camera like this, a 50mm would work about the same as an 85mm. It won’t be as easy to shoot from above, but the distortions I wrote about will be greatly reduced if you shoot at an angle from a short distance. I myself have lived with this option for a long time.

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM

This lens is needed for angles because it gives minimal distortion, preserves the proportions of objects and their position in space. It’s not suitable for overhead shots in most cases. If the composition consists of more than one small plate, you have to climb very high. Most of the time it is uncomfortable.

This is a macro lens, t.e. food can be shot very close up. It allows you to focus very close to your subject minimum focus distance 31 cm .

Examples of good camera angles for a 100 mm lens.

100mm lens is darker than 50mm. So in the same light conditions, 100mm requires different adjustments, you have to: increase the ISO, open the aperture or take a longer shutter speed.

The minimum shutter speed for handheld photography is 1/200 sec. If it is slower like 1/160, 1/125, etc , you can set the shutter speed to a faster one.d. , your sharpness will suffer in natural light . That’s why you need to use a tripod more often with this lens.

You get good background blur even with artificial light, and the aperture is quite closed e.g. f/6.3 .

EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM creates a slight vignette darkening around the edges in your photos. It can be removed in the photo editor with the lens correction profile, but I like it most of the time.

Bottom line

I wouldn’t recommend getting a 100mm lens with a cropped sensor unless you are a big fan of macro photography. For medium sized compositions you need to move very far away from your subject. Few rooms allow it. Taking the shot from above would be unrealistic without a 5 meter stepladder. On a full frame camera, it may also be uncomfortable for working in small spaces.