Signe Birck: Natural Lighting in Food Photography

Signe Birck was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1985 and began her photography career in her twenties after completing a Danish apprenticeship in commercial photography around 2005. She turned professional and moved to New York City in 2012, where she has since collaborated with top chefs and restaurants like Aquavit. A key milestone was her nomination for the James Beard Photo Award in 2019, highlighting her impact in culinary visuals. Now based in NYC, her work is known for soft whites, rich browns, and vibrant greens, capturing food’s textures with a clean, minimalist eye.

Primary Genres: Food Photography, Still Life Photography
Primary Photography Style: Minimalism (natural lighting, clean) – Focuses on sparse compositions with soft, diffused light for refined images; Straight Photography (textural, appetizing) – Highlights details and textures to make dishes visually appealing without heavy alteration.
Key Message: Birck captures the essence of gastronomy, emphasizing texture, colour, and form through a minimalist lens to celebrate food as art.

Birck’s subjects centre on plated dishes, fresh ingredients, and culinary still lifes, often in collaboration with chefs at venues like Gramercy Tavern. Her aesthetic stands out with soft whites, rich browns, and vibrant greens, accentuating textures like crusty bread or glossy fruits under natural light. She shoots with a Canon 5D Mark IV and macro lenses (e.g., 100mm), using tripods for precision at speeds around 1/200s. Natural light from north-facing windows or diffusers creates a gentle sheen, avoiding flash for authenticity. In Lightroom, she subtly enhances warmth and clarity, softening shadows for a clean finish. Her prints, up to 20×24 inches, appear in cookbooks, ad campaigns for Bon Appétit, and exhibitions like the FoodPhoto Festival, where her black-and-white series showcased versatility.

For intermediate photographers, Birck’s minimalist style is a lesson in restraint and light management. Her digital workflow offers instant feedback, unlike film’s slower process, allowing quick tweaks in dynamic kitchen settings. Drawing from the zone system’s tonal control, she adapts it for colour by using soft light to highlight texture without overexposure. Try her methods with macro lenses and window light, keeping edits light to focus on composition—boosting warmth in Lightroom can elevate simple shots while preserving natural appeal.

Accolades:
- James Beard Photo Nominee (2019)
- Featured in Bon Appétit, Vogue, and Harper’s Bazaar
- Exhibited at FoodPhoto Festival, Vejle, Denmark (2017)
- Recognised in NYC food photography scene

Trivia:
- Cooks dishes for her own shoots to ensure authenticity.
- Inspired by Nordic light’s soft quality.
- Photographs her daily meals.
- Created a black-and-white dish series for the FoodPhoto Festival.

Lessons from this Photographer:

Birck’s minimalist setups teach photographers to let the subject shine by using natural light and sparse props, creating clean compositions that highlight texture. Her macro lens work encourages focusing on details like herb flecks or bread crusts, fostering precision in framing. Intermediate photographers can apply her Lightroom edits—subtle warmth and clarity boosts—to maintain authenticity, experimenting with window light for mood. Her hands-on cooking for shoots inspires deeper subject understanding, urging a mindset of collaboration to tell compelling stories.