16 Apr Brewing Beauty: Essential Photography Tips for Capturing Tea’s True Colours
From bright orange to gorgeous green and pitch black, tea comes in an array of colours that excite the senses. Every hue tells a story, whether it’s the type of tea, where it originated, how it was oxidised, or how it was brewed.
Whether you’re a tea lover snapping pics for your socials or an aspiring or professional photographer, you need to know how camera settings, lighting, background, props, composition, and the right editing work to capture the true hues of every cup.
With the simple tips outlined here, you can take brew-tiful photographs that immortalise tea’s rich tones and different textures.
Optimising Camera Settings for Tea Photography
First, make sure that your camera’s white balance is set to the right lighting source, whether it’s sunshine, shade, or tungsten. This will help you get pictures of tea that look similar to what it does in real life and keep the colour from changing in undesirable ways.
Keeping your ISO setting low (between 100 and 400) will make your pictures clearer and have less grain.
For aperture, a wide setting (f/1.8–f/4) blurs the background just enough to be visible. A narrower setting (f/8–f/11) will keep the teacup and all its details sharp.
Last but not least, make sure your camera speed is fast enough to stop motion blur. If there isn’t much light, you should use a tripod to keep the shot steady. When shooting without a tripod, aim for a minimum shutter speed of 1/60 of a second.
Mastering Lighting for Tea Photography
To get the real tones of tea, you need light. Light from the sun, especially the soft, diffused sunshine near a window, makes the colour of tea pop. To keep the photograph from getting too dark or too bright, stay out of direct sunlight.
Backlighting is the way to go if you want to add more depth to your picture, and positioning a light source behind the teacup will make the tea glow, lighting up the frame.
However, sometimes, even natural light needs a little help. A white card or other reflector can soften shadows and spread light evenly across a scene.
Choosing the Right Background and Props
The background of a photograph of tea is critical because it can either make the subject stand out or overpower it.
Neutral colours, like brown, white, or wooden surfaces, create a soft contrast that lets the tea’s colour stand out without being overwhelmed. Dark backgrounds, like deep blue or black, make your shot more dramatic. They also look great with lighter or iced teas because they bring out their clarity and soft colours.
Capturing Tea in Different Settings
Photographing tea in different contexts is a wonderful way to capture various visual narratives.
For example, taking pictures of a tea ceremony is all about preserving the symbolic meaning of the event. Hands in motion, fragile cups, and quirky traditional teapots all contribute to an air of heritage.
Outdoor tea shots emphasise using natural lighting to extend this ceremonial mood logically. While shaded spaces provide gentle, diffused lighting that balances the scene and brings out the tea’s delicate colours.
Composition Techniques for Capturing the Perfect Shot
When composing your tea photograph, a few simple techniques can greatly enhance its visual impact.
Start with the rule of thirds, which involves dividing your frame into three equal parts horizontally and vertically. Placing key elements along these lines or at their intersections creates a more dynamic and balanced composition, naturally guiding the viewer’s eye through the scene.
Next, consider incorporating leading lines into your shot. Whether it’s a row of teacups or the edge of a table, lines in the scene can guide the viewer’s eye toward the subject, adding depth and a sense of direction.
Editing for Colour Accuracy and Enhancement
Colour correction is an essential part of enhancing your tea photographs. Start by adjusting the white balance, which corrects the colour temperature of your image. Artificial lighting can sometimes cast an unnatural colour, but tweaking the white balance ensures the true hues of the scene are represented.
You should also adjust the saturation and vibrance to bring your image to life. While saturation boosts all colours equally, vibrance enhances the less saturated tones, preserving delicate details and preventing oversaturation.
Lastly, colour grading goes beyond basic corrections by adding a stylistic touch to the image. By adjusting hues and tones, you can set a mood or atmosphere, often used in cinematic photography to evoke emotion or a specific feeling.
Capturing Tea’s Colour Spectrum
If you want professional-looking results showcasing your product photography skills or to get others excited about what you’re drinking, use these tips to capture every shade of tea perfectly:
Black Teas
Warm lighting is ideal for bringing out the colours of black tea, which range from deep amber to reddish-brown. To get the shot right, use natural light during the golden hours of sunrise and sunset or utilise tungsten or incandescent light.
You can also use warm-toned LED lights and reflectors or change your camera’s white balance settings to simulate a warmer colour temperature.
Green Teas
The light yellows and vivid greens of green tea photograph best in natural light. To do this, use the available light streaming through your studio or house windows or set up for your shoot outdoors.
If it’s not quite right, consider using diffusers or reflectors to manipulate the light and soften the shadows.
Herbal Teas
Herbal infusions, with colours ranging from bold reds to deep purples, require white balance adjustments to preserve their vibrancy.
You can change the white balance in photos by using camera presets, adjusting the colour and temperature tint manually, or using a white balance tool in your editing software after the fact.
Oolong Teas
When photographing oolong teas, you need to carefully adjust the white balance to capture their characteristic mix of yellow, green, and brown tones.
Consider using a grey card, as this can help you create a very accurate white balance, especially if you’re shooting in less-than-ideal lighting conditions.
That’s it. Put these tips to good use the next time you want to capture the true colours of a cuppa!
Teapro co-founder. Favourite tea - Long Jing Dragon Well Green Tea. Obsessed with film, photography and travelling.
- Tatjanahttps://teapro.co.uk/author/user1/
- Tatjanahttps://teapro.co.uk/author/user1/
- Tatjanahttps://teapro.co.uk/author/user1/
- Tatjanahttps://teapro.co.uk/author/user1/
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