Frittatas and food photography tips - Happy Egg Tastemaker challenge

I am that person - the one who can't eat a cupcake or a fruit-packed bowl of granola without posting it online after applying a good filter. My camera pops out, often uninvited, at meals and post-work drinks. It's becoming one hell of a habit.

Photographing food is my way of appreciating it and sharing it with the world, and as a blogger it is is an important part of my work! When you're writing about food, it's important that your photos are good enough to eat..

I'm not the most gifted with a camera, however, and my photography knowledge is extremely basic. So when the Happy Egg Co. got in touch about their latest Tastemaker Challenge* for their chosen bloggers, I jumped at the chance! Armed with a box of six medium-sized eggs and a list of food photography tips written for us by Marte Marie Forsberg, we were instructed to whip up something tasty and share it through photography using Marte's advice! 

Photography and food - I was instantly won over.

With my ingredients, a box of Happy Egg Co. eggs and a fully charged iPhone (my weapon of choice) I was ready to crack on!

I decided to use a recipe I found in the most recent Waitrose magazine for a delicious Sunday brunch of Red Pepper, Spinach and Feta frittata.

Red Pepper, Spinach and Feta Frittata Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 chopped red pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 handful spinach
• 6 medium Happy Egg Co. eggs
• 50g crumbled feta cheese (or more, if you're a cheese fiend like me!)

(Serves 2)

Method:

1. Fry your red pepper and wilt your spinach. 
2. Mix the eggs, feta, pepper and spinach together and season.
3. Cook until mostly solid, then place under the grill to finish.
4. Serve outside on a Sunday with a side salad and a cup of tea

Simple!

This was a really quick, easy and tasty brunch to make and is healthy to boot!

So that's the cooking done - how did I get on with my food photography?

I'm used to trying to photograph my cooking along the way. However, I really wanted to focus on taking pictures once the cooking was done, when I was trying to capture the end result. This was when I felt I could play around with elements of the photos.

1. Light

Marte recommends paying close attention to your light source - 'try to use just one main light source to give a sharper picture'. I love natural lighting, so I decided to take my photos outside. It was a mildly sunny Sunday at midday so the light was soft, flattering and perfect!

2. Composition

Marte discusses 'telling a story' with composition and thinking about the arrangement in order to 'draw the eye of the viewer to the subject'. I tried a few composition techniques as you can see - my favourite is the simplest, with my dish slightly to one side of the photograph. I'm a fan of the 'one third' rule - subjects are more interesting when they're not central to the image.

I also tried out having two plates on focus rather than one, though I think I prefer having one dish.

3. Styling

I played around with this quite a lot! I wanted to use simple cutlery and nothing too flamboyant, as it's important for me to convey the real 'me'. I don't have fancy cookware. Marte mentions telling stories once more, stating that 'sometimes it's nice to have a few imperfections in your props' which I love the idea of. My styling is simple, and a realistic portrayal of a Sunday for me, and allows the food to speak for itself! I also played around again with composition and focus using the props I had, which I think worked well.

4. Colour

Frittata is a lovely vibrant dish and this one has reds, yellows, greens and whites all mixed in together! I wanted these to stand out against plainer, more neutral tones backgrounds, so my garden table was the perfect backdrop. I loved the contrast of textures of the background and props - wood, porcelain and metal. Marte advises not to let other colours distract from the focus, and that's exactly what I wanted to do.

5. Food

Of course, food is a vital component in food photography! Arrangement is key - and nobody wants to see one slice of frittata plonked on a plate! I loved Marte's advice on this theme: 'Subtle elements of life makes it look like the food is about to, or has been, nibbled on - and it breathes life into your scene'. I wanted my photos to be lively, so I tried one method and focused on food on a fork to being in the 'edible' element (see my previous photo!). I also added some crumbled feta and spinach onto the plate, and took a few photographs with my tea.

I had a lot of fun with this challenge, and am so pleased with my final photographs! I haven't yet been able to choose a favourite, but I'd love to know what you think - please let me know in the comments! I hope you found this post interesting as well - maybe you'll try out the recipe or some of Marte's photography tips! If you do, please tell me how you get on!

What's your top tip for capturing that perfect food photo?

Find out what other tastemakers have been doing through the hashtag #happyeggtastemakers

*This post was written in collaboration with the Happy Egg co., but as always all views and content unless quoted are my own!

RECIPE: Simple Sweet Potato Falafel and Roasted Vegetable Wrap

Sometimes you come across a recipe online that you know you just have to share. This is one of them.

I've recently been trying to cook more from scratch using fresh ingredients, herbs and spices and experimenting a little more in the kitchen. This has been spurred on by my 10km training, and with my run fast approaching I've been trying to fuel myself with better food.

I've taken to pinning recipes and finding them on Pinterest (I'm somewhat addicted!) and I stumbled across this recipe during one of my daily browsing sessions.

The falafels are a BBC Good Food recipe - so a trusted source which means you can't go wrong! I love falafels, but find them so expensive and wanted to find a homemade alternative which involves baking, not frying - thus making them healthier! I also wanted to make a batch to freeze, giving me falafels on demand!

I whipped these up one night after a run and although they took a little extra time, I found the cooking process calming. This recipe involves coleslaw too, but I wanted it solely for the falafels, so I ignored that part.

They were easy to make (peeling soft sweet potatoes is strangely satisfying!) and I was very impressed with the results!

I enjoyed three falafels hot from the oven in a wholemeal wrap with houmous, salad leaves and roasted vegetables and it made the perfect light meal. I froze the rest, so that I have some ready for lunch over the next week - office lunches can get dull! So far, I like to eat them in a salad with leaves, tomatoes, cucumber, tuna and balsamic vinegar.

Here's the BBC Good Food Sweet Potato Falafel recipe.

I used 1cal olive oil spray to oil the baking sheet and it worked like a guilt-free dream. I may use a little more in the future to ensure a crispier falafel, but otherwise they're perfect.

Follow the recipe and prep some roasted vegetables of your choice; I used mushrooms, peppers and courgette, but you could roast some tomatoes, leeks and red onions too. Once you've turned the falafels halfway through cooking, pop your vegetables into the oven.

In the meantime, grab a wholemeal tortilla, smooth on some houmous and add some salad leaves. Place your warm falafels and roasted vegetables into the tortilla once ready, and enjoy!

If you try these out, let me know what you think - or, if you have another falafel recipe, I'd love to know!