Learn To Photograph Markets

Some of my favorite things

When I travel, one of my favorite destinations is a good market. Markets combine a number of different skills - part architectural photography, sometimes portrait photography, often food photography. Trying to learn how to do better, I'm sumarizing what I know:

Photographing the Icons:

Many markets have icon's - signs, locations or objects that sumarizes the location. Getting a top quality picture of that is often up to timing - being there when the sun is setting or (sorry) rising. Getting your own take on a commonly photographed icon is often challenging, but it really helps set a collection of photos.

Lighting of Markets
Light is a great way to highlight a product - show off the freshness, shinnyness or detail. Many markets have strong point lights to show off product and you can use that lighting to your advantag if you see it. With the higher contrast comes exposure problems, but I'm sure you can sort that out.

The Presentation of Food:
Perhaps one of the reasons I like Markets so much is that so much of the work is done for you. The people selling product are trying to encourage people to buy and they do so by presenting the product in it's best possible light. It's up to you to capture that detail.

Diversity of Food:
One of the draws for the consumer is wide selection of products. Exploring a market you will see things that are rare or in better than normal supply. Sometimes putting all of the options in one frame will give your viewer a sense of the scale of supply available.

People in the Markets:
People in Markets are generally used to people being around and may not mind you taking photos of them. That said, it's worth asking before you take the photo.

It's about the Space:
And with some markets, the space alone is deserving in a photo essay. A building is so much more than the material that make it up - the details of how it is used and the people that inhabit the space make up much of the feelings about the space. If you can combine the market and the building, you can put both in better context.