This post may contain affiliate links which may give us a commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
When I first started blogging, I didn’t consider myself a food blogger. But, my blog has evolved, and today I definitely think it is my main niche. Food is my first passion, but only after starting my blog did I know photography would be a close second. With blogging, if you don’t have good photos, I’m sorry to say you won’t get as much traffic and attention for your recipes. I learned this the hard way, and now I’m sharing my food photography knowledge with you!
How To Improve Your Food Photography
Lighting
Lighting is a basic mistake many people make. For the best, brightest pictures you have to find the light in your home. I prefer on my back patio around 2-3pm. At this time the sun is not too harsh for me, but that might not be the case for you. One day, just experiment with an object, go around your home to find the best lighting. You’ll be surprised at how dramatically your picture taking skills will change!
Use A Tripod
Using a tripod changed my blogging career, it was at that moment I knew I had finally found my groove. The main reason why your picture might be blurry is because your hands aren’t steady! Using a tripod, set your camera so the timer goes off, I use a 2 second timer. That way, you hit the button, take your hand off the camera and there is absolutely no shaking. Now, it’s time to play around with your camera settings, but that’s a whole other article!
Plating and food styling.
It is so important to pay attention to your plating and food styling. Some food items are just easier to photo on their own like cupcakes. Cupcakes are so cute to begin with it’s pretty hard to mess them up. But, how about a burger? With something like this, I always exaggerate the toppings, just a squirt of ketchup won’t do. You have to build that baby:
Make sure you see every ingredient, and sometimes the messier the better with sauces! Also, never make your food look too perfect, perfect is intimidating and less likely that someone will click on your photo to go to your site for the recipe. Also, when styling your plates be aware of everything, especially the background. If taking picture inside your home, PLEASE make sure there isn’t a mess in the background. Nothing distracts me more than your messy kitchen counters.
Experiment with angles and different shots.
One of my biggest pet peeves is seeing the same picture from slightly different angles but nothing has moved, it’s basically just the same picture. Angles are extremely important and can change the entire feel of the picture, don’t get me wrong. Here is an example of my personal favorite angle:
Individual Frozen Key Lime Pies
But, think of throwing in some action shots as well, pretend like you are cutting into your slice of pie or taking a bite out of your cupcake. These type of shots makes your post seem more “human”, more real.
Edit your pictures!
If you don’t listen to anything but one of these tips, please let it be this one. A little editing goes a long way and there are tons of free editing websites out there. My favorite effects are to add sharpness and clarity, brighten, and boost the colors. Try it, you won’t be disappointed!
I hope you liked my tips on how to improve your food photography. And, I hope I haven’t made you too hungry!
Do you have any additional tips on how you improved your food photography?
Keep Reading
Do you want more photography tips? Here are a few posts you’ll find helpful:
- How To Overcome The Newbie Blogger Blues And Stay Motivated - Aug 18, 2014
- How to Improve Your Food Photography - Jul 28, 2014
- 5 Ways to Increase Your Newsletter Subscribers - Jun 18, 2014
My food photography is something I am and really need to work on. I’m just using my iPhone, but maybe I need to whip out the camera.
Great tips! Mine never look as good as I want them to.
Thank you for this! Simple, but good tips to remember. I blog a bit about food and never like the photos I use. Time to try a little harder! Thanks for the incentive.
Since I don’t have a great camera and rely on my iPhone, vsco cam (a free app!) is an absolute lifesaver – thank goodness for that Godsend!
One of the things I LOVE about the food photography that I’ve been working on improving is that it motivates me to clean my kitchen!!!!!! Still can’t make friends with my tripod though, and I’ve tried & tried!!
thank you, thank you!!!! I am not a food blogger per se but feature recipes sometimes. I am still taking pics on my phone camera.. 🙁 but your tips are great! pinning for the future!
Thanks for the tips! I dabble in recipes and really have been working on my photography!
I am always in awe when I see those beautiful food photos. Thanks for sharing such valuable info. Also, it’s lunch time here, and you just made me hungry real bad lol
I’m hungry and I need a tripod!
LOL Sandra! That is EXACTLY what I was going to say as well!
Great tips! I haven’t started using a tripod yet, but you’ve convinced me to try!
Thank you for sharing these tips. I am always interested in improving my skills, and now I am hungry.
Great post. I have just started paying more attention to my pics also. And I do realise that my better pic recipes have gotten way more notice. My action shots I guess i should use my timer also? I have no additional hands.. lol. My main problem though is that I cook at night, a lot of times after 10pm.. there goes my proper lighting.. sigh
Renz if you don’t have a nice flash, you can a little bit fake it sometimes (like put a baby sock over your camera flash to soften it) & look for other tips on photography blogs, like make sure to pull stuff away fr the backgrounds so the shadow isn’t too prominent. Sorry – on my phone but it is way harder to get a nice picture at night! But still, you can get them! 🙂
These are great tips, especially the one about using a tripod. There have been times when I’ve almost dropped the camera trying to snap and arrange.
Very good tips, totally irresistible food shots!
Nice ideas and pics thank you for sharing.
Linda
Now I’m hungry! Great information.
I don’t talk about food on my blog, but it seems like these tips could be used for almost anything. Thanks for the tips!
Be mindful of the background. This is something I do already when photographing items to sell on Etsy, but I think it’s important with food, too. If the photo is in some dank awful stained part of your kitchen, or the plate isn’t quite clean, or there’s a mountain of dirty dishes in the background, it instantly looks a lot less appealing—no matter how delicious your food looks.
Thanks for these tips! I’m still getting to know my DSLR camera. What lenses do you find you use the most often when shooting your food shots?
Great tips! What photo editing sites do you recommend?
I feel a bit to the contrary… If it looks too professional or ‘set-up’, and not just ‘normal and everyday’ I’m less likely to click on the post.
Food photography is suuuuch a mystery to me! BUT I want a tripod so bad for outfit posts!
I don’t do food, but these tips are great for photographing just about anything for your blog. I like that you’re showing that you don’t need a fancy studio to get a good photo! Thanks!