Are you a food traveler? Do you feature your food excursions on a blog or in a diary? If so, taking photos of your meals and sharing them with your blog readers, friends or family is a great way to show them the foods you have enjoyed during your travels. There are a few things to keep in mind when taking pictures of food. Done the wrong way, the dish can look unappetizing and misleading. Done the right way, the dish can look so good you can taste it! Listed below are a few tips for taking great photos of food:

1. Focus: It is very important to keep every part of the food in focus and to shoot your photo at close range. You want the dish to look as realistic as possible, so if any part of the meal is out of focus, adjust the lighting and camera range until you get a good shot. If you have a digital SLR camera, and you really want to impress; turn off the automatic exposure setting on your camera and use a faster shutter speed (1/60th or 1/200th) coupled with a larger aperture (f/2 or f/2.8). Using these settings will keep the food in sharp focus while blurring the background; creating a very professional looking photograph. However, it will require you to take several test shots until you get the settings just right.


2. Angles: Because lighting often can’t be controlled in a restaurant environment, your camera angle really is the key to getting a great shot of your meal. Take several shots at different angles to test which angle gets the best photo of the dish. Often, the best angle from which to shoot a plate of food is from up above. Lift your camera about a foot directly over the dish (lens pointing at the dish), move the camera back towards your face about 4-5 inches (lens still pointing at the dish) and shoot. This may require you stand up. Make sure that you have also positioned the dish in the direction it was placed in front of you. There is a specific way the dish is to be placed on the table and a specific way it is to be viewed; this is the same position you want to use when photographing the plate.However, the one rule to remember when choosing an angle is to choose the angel that looks best to your eye (just make sure the lighting is good for a photo). If that means using an unusual angle to get the shot, do

I had fun recently making Peanut Butter Millionaire Shortbread, and since my girlfriend Mairi loves peanut butter I was keen to try out something else (any excuse to treat her!). I had the idea of doing a creme brulee, with jam set in the bottom of the ramekin. The result was fantastic!

Here's the recipe:

Heat about 300g of strawberry or redcurrant jam in a saucepan until it melts. Strain through a fine sieve then pour into the bottom of 6 or 7 ramekins, depending on their size. Place in the fridge to set. Crush some salted peanuts into small crumbs and toast in a frying pan until golden. Set aside.


Put 200ml of double cream, 200ml of milk and 120g of peanut butter into a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring with a whisk to incorporate the peanut butter. Set aside. Place 5 large egg yolks and 50g of caster sugar in a metal

How can a traveler navigate the Aussie city’s myriad Asian cuisines?

Often mistaken for the country’s capital – a title which in fact belongs to Canberra – Sydney is the most popular urban destination in Australia. What’s more, with flight prices falling (you can pick up a cheap flight to Sydney for less than £650 with dialaflight.com), it has become one of the world’s favourite tourist spots.

And it isn’t simply a big draw because of the stunning architecture and elegant sails of Sydney Opera House. Nor is it solely due to the 30-plus beaches which are nestled around this harbour town.

Alongside culture, landscape and weather, Sydney is now a foodie destination. And with a history of increased immigration from South East Asian countries – and other cultures further afield – Sydney now boasts one of the most diverse and experimental Asian food scenes in the world.
So where to go? And what to taste?

Any gastronomic trip through Sydney’s Chinatowns must begin with Spice I Am, which produces Thai cuisine and has done for more years than even the locals can remember. Unlike the Michelin-baiting offerings along the

When you’re deciding on a holiday destination, sometimes it’s better to lead with your stomach rather than your brain. Culinary tourism is growing in popularity as cheap flights become more common. Here’s a quick start guide for the ultimate European foodie destinations.

Gelato making in Italy

Primary designed for entrepreneurs wishing to make their own luxury ice creams, the Carpigiani Gelato University is an international school with a primary base in Bologna. This is an intensive course and not for the faint of heart; a semester at the school covers everything from how to make gelato to how to market it.

Tasting pastries in Paris

French food is famed for being intricate, and Parisian pastry chefs are widely regarded as some of the best in the world. A visit to Paris would not be complete without a visit to a patisserie. The sheer number of café’s may be overwhelming for a new tourist, but why not work your way through this guide to the top 38 cakes in the city of love?

Food markets in London

Take a self-catering trip to the British capital and indulge yourself with a day wandering around the famous

November is Prematurity Awareness Month, we'd like to share our new challenge of being a Preemie parent to our baby boy, Liam Jace who was born last October 30, 2011 at 3:10 am via c-section, I had severe preeclampsia, pneumonia and asthma. My OB, Dra. Domingo said he cried right away when they got him. He's premature at 32 weeks, he needs to be in NICU (neonatal intensive care unit)  for I don't know how many days. Hopefully he recovers fast so we can bring him home.