As my passion for food blogging has grown I have been trying to teach myself how to improve my photography. Lets face it, food pictures make or break your recipes. Something that tastes amazing may be unappetizing in pictures. On the flip side of the coin, I’ve had truly disgusting meals that looked fantastic.
As a food blogger, people tend to flock to visually amazing pictures. This is why there are so many sites to which bloggers can contribute pictures linked to their blog posts. These sites are often very selective in the pictures they allow. I have yet to get anything through Foodgawker’s iron gates, I recently got a couple pictures approved on Tastespotting and I’m very proud of my gallery on FindingVegan. But the goal is to produce better pictures that attract wider audiences.
Well, the goal other than convincing my mother that she can live without lettuce is to improve my food photography. So as I learn, I plan on posting some of the resources I find in blog posts.
broccoli raab with galleti pasta
The Boogie Blog – Food Photography Tips:
A very comprehensive blog post with sections on camera equipment, lighting, software, food styling, backgrounds & boards, angles, framing, and props & prop shopping. It’s full of beautiful pictures to inspire imitation. A couple select tips:
When photographing outdoors, only photograph in shaded areas. I repeat, only photograph in shaded areas
As a food blogger, you want your pictures to tell a story. Having at least one shot of the complete subject(s) will let the viewer know what they’re looking at.
Mint Pea Hummus
Health Blog Helper – The 10 Commandments of Food Photos:
Gives 10 tips for better food photography including going flash-free, using a tripod and editing your images before using them. It’s written in a cute slightly humorous way.
3. Honor thy tripod. You can get one of these little miracles for under 10 bucks. Without it, I can’t get that annoying “shaky photo” icon off the screen.
Chocolate Cherry Vegan Overnight Oats
Hollaback Health -Don’t Feel Guilty If… you have a Cheap Camera:
I may have an older DSLR but I still occasionally use a little $150 Cannon point and shoot. Especially if the lighting conditions are low. A lot of beginner or not for profit food bloggers don’t have the money to invest in all sorts of camera equipment (but a girl can dream). Leah gives a bunch of tips for taking fantastic food photos without all the doodads.
the crop tool is your BFF. No one wants to see a pic of your sandwich with a Dumpster in the background. If your food is the focus of the pic, crop unwanted background noise OUT!
Blueberry doughboy Smoothie in a bowl
Green Food, Green Thumb, High Heels – Food Photography
The experiences of an amateur food blogger with “sub standard equiment” are actually full of great and educational tidbits. I enjoyed some of the tips she had that some of the bigger sites seemed to be missing.
Make sure you have a splash of color in your photos. Color is what is eye catching. Napkins, place mats, flowers, utensils… anything can add a pop of color if you use it appropriately.
Rainier Cherries
Taylor Takes a Taste – Photography Tips, Tricks and Tutorials
Mariah from Pictures, Pups and Pies recommended this site. It’s not so much a single list of tips but links to other articles by Taylor to improve your food photography. It’s nice to see tips from one of the more successful food bloggers.
Canada Day Beet Salad
What are your favorite food blogging photography tips? Any favorite links you would like to share?
I'm an engineer, an animal lover, a runner and an ex-rower. I like medical devices, big ships and mountains. This is my journey teaching myself to make healthy foods and explore the world of vegan and vegetarian cuisine.
I thought these tips and tricks were helpful, from Taylor Takes a Taste. http://taylortakesataste.com/food-photography-tips-tricks-and-tutorials/
Thanks for sharing these photography links- I am looking forward to reading them! I get so frustrated when I am trying to shoot outside on a cloudy day and all of a sudden the sun comes out- I swear it happens all the time! I don’t have a good shady spot in my backyard either, so I end up having to move everything inside, next to a window. I would like to get a mini/travel diffusion disk (nothing big and hard to set up) for when this happens.
I hope you don’t mind if I add the link to the list. It has so much valuable information.
Not at all!! Glad you found it as useful as I did!
Thanks for this great post!! There is so much to learn about food photography! I am always trying to get better
This is definitely help me a lot!!
Thank you. I’m always trying to get better too, especially when I don’t have a budget to blow on actual classes.
I have not cracked Tastespotting yet. My blog title has more to do with me being a chef who takes photos than a great food photographer LOL.
You have some great tips here.
I get discouraged so quickly with the food gallery sites. When they reject something I get upset enough to stop submitting things to them for a while.
Thanks for posting these tips! I am definitely going to check these out. I’m relatively new to food blogging, but I have already figured out that the photos are everything and I was feeling a bit defeated because all I have is a little Canon point and shoot. I was thinking of saving up for a DSLR and then I found out how much they cost lol. Not any time soon!
My DSLR is an older model from 2006 (Pentax *ist). Maybe you can find one for cheap that someone is selling because they upgraded to something new. I’m dying to upgrade
Perfect timing for this post! I just decided this week to go through my hubbs dslr manual and get started with taking some better pictures!
I love my dslr. I pretend I don’t because it’s a little on the older side. I get frustrated with my point and shoot quickly.
great links – thankyou for sharing the love!
i know what you mean about getting discouraged… i got ironwalled by foodgawker too and gave up on trying. for now at least
It’s so hard not to feel like they play favorites. I get so upset when I see something that is so whitewashed you can barely see the food, yet they reject something bright and colourful for dull colors.
[...] an old post about blogging I wrote featuring some food photography links. And my previous food blogging tips blog [...]