Food at the table

The constraint is appetising light and clean focus on a small subject close up. Work near a window and shoot toward or across the light rather than with it behind you — side and back light give food shape and glisten, while flat frontal light kills it. Aperture priority at f/4–5.6 keeps enough of the plate sharp without going so shallow that only one crumb is in focus, and the Tamron’s close focus lets you fill the frame at the long end. Tap the screen to place focus on the hero element — the nearest, most appetising bite.

Watch out for colour casts and too little depth of field. Overhead restaurant lights and mixed sources push food orange or green, so shoot RAW and set white balance so the whites read white. And resist going wide open: at this distance f/2.8 leaves almost nothing sharp — f/5.6 keeps the dish legible while still softening the background clutter.