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Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Education Field Instructional

How to Take Better Coffee Photos

Chris Gampat
No Comments
05/13/2015
4 Mins read

Last Updated on 05/13/2015 by Chris Gampat

www.jonlow.com

All images by Jon Low. Used with permission.

Everyone loves shooting photos of coffee, and it’s a big hobby of photographer Jon Low’s. Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Jon begun shooting wedding professionally in 2007–since then it has been his source of bread and butter. In fact, Jon was member of WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographer International), and have since scored numerous accolades and 2nd placing in Bride/Groom Alone category.

Like every photographer, Jon has a type of work that he keeps special and dear to his heart–coffee photography. He loves the intricacies and documenting it all in the lifestyle fashion way that folks love.

Jon likes to tell his clients that he loves taking pretty pictures and offers some serious advice on how to take better coffee photos–like being a barista for a while.

Phoblographer: Talk to us about how you got into photography.

www.jonlow.com

Jon: Between carrying 17″ CRT monitors up and down as an IT professional, I find carrying 3kg camera a lot more manageable, and more satisfying. I love technology, and I love art. Photography marries both.

I started photographing weddings as a freelancer, juggling between my day job as an System Engineer, and Photo warrior by weekend photographing weddings. Started to learning the craft, run a small gallery place in Malaysia. Here I am going around photographing weddings.

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Phoblographer: Folks usually just like taking snapshots of their coffee and uploading them to their favorite social media sites, but a lot of your work looks like there is care and love involved. To you, what makes for an excellent coffee photo?

Jon: I do that myself. I take snapshots of my coffee, like anybody else would too. It helps that I love travel, and I love coffee, and above all I love photography. Some cafes with thoughtful interiors certainly help to make pretty pictures. I love cafes that go all out for finesse in delivering a coffee experience.

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A very big part of my coffee story came from a close buddy of mine. He was working his rank up to become a barista, and at this moment, he is rather good. A crowned champion ;). If I sound any intelligent when I speak coffee, that’s because I echoed him. On the occasions when I speak stupidly about coffee, well, that’s me adding salt to the coffee.

Hence, these experience, couple along with my travel, I took on a photo story project to photograph some of my favourite coffee joints in Melbourne. I am still at it though. I want to be back to photograph more. Not coffee cup, but the melting pot of coffee culture in Melbourne. Quite a shame, because it is rather self serving; but I love doing it.

To what makes an excellent coffee photo, you asked? To me, that experience of being part of the coffee culture, that’s the best part. With that, I think I would produce some really interesting work.

Phoblographer: True or false: Not every situation lends itself to the best coffee images. Why or not why?

Jon: False.

I like to tell my clients, or people. I only take pretty pictures. It’s true… well, partially true. I try my best to filter and show my best work for showcase. It’s the oldest photography trick I reckon.

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To me, when I photograph coffee images, I want to be photographing not just the coffee, but a series of photographs that give the sense, the vibes and a story of location.

The cafes, I’ve visited thus far, have no qualms in us photographing whilst having our cup of joe. As long as they allow us to photograph, I don’t think we would lend ourselves to get bad coffee images.

Phoblographer: Lots of coffee photos are all about a natural light look and something more familiar. But do you ever get tired of this? Have you ever thought about a different way of presenting the images?

05

Jon: You made me think. I am not a food photographer by trade, or would I be. Natural light was by instinct and convinience. The cafe that I visit, generally has great direction light. Or if not, I’ll figure out where there are interesting lights.

I would like to intiate a portrait of a barista holding the cup of coffee they brew. It can be an independant project by itself.

As to lighting the cup of coffee altogether, I have no plans. Maybe if a good idea come by, I would. Dry ice. The fog surrounding the cup of joe, that can be a pretty picture.

Phoblographer: Let’s consider you as a coffee photographer one year ago and you today; what are you doing differently and better? Elaborate, be specific.

Jon: Tough question to answer as I am not a coffee photographer. I’ll probably part time and learn up coffee. Be a barista, get into the culture, and photograph the coffee like they haven’t photograph before.

06

www.jonlow.com

www.jonlow.com

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barista cafes camera Coffee Photos Jon Low Photography
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Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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