Diptychs in food photography are a great way to showcase a food story. It’s something that I often think about when creating new work, even though I don’t always showcase my images using this composition method.

The great thing about Diptychs is that you can use new or old work, even ongoing work to create a story.

In this post we’re going to look at:

  • What is a diptych and why we use it in photography.
  • How it helps us tell a food story.
  • 3 steps to creating a beautiful diptych.
  • Examples of how I have used diptychs.
  • Ideas you can use for your diptychs.

Ready to create a Diptych? Let’s get into it.

What is a Diptych?

Pronounced like ‘dip-tik’, a diptych is a presentation of two images together that combined, tell a story. The images could be from the same shoot, or show similar subjects or present contrasting elements.

You could even present images from different shoots that when combined tell more of a story or show a theme than if they were on their own.

It’s All About The Story You Want to Tell.

The biggest consideration when creating a diptych is deciding what story you want to tell with your images.

Before you start, what is the message you want to viewer to receive? What do you want them to feel or discover? The answers to these questions will help you to craft and concept the two images.

If both of the images come from the same shoot, you’ll want to think about how to present the images differently. Some ideas of what you can do that are:

  • Using different focal lengths to capture your subjcect.
  • Shooting different angles.
  • Cooked vs uncooked food.
  • Wide vs narrow captures.
  • Different types of lighting.