Food photography tips · Photography

Make time for your food photography

Gabriela Lupu

mix_christmas_res

Food photography has become more and more important through the years. Food photography is considered as one of the most difficult genres of photography but has more commercial value than wedding or portrait photography.

Many people asked me why is so hard to take good food photos? I will answer that everything in life is hard. Good photos come with years of experience, equipment, a stylist, a vision, etc. Many of food bloggers don’t have time to loose on settings or money on expensive equipment. They just want to take better photos of what they do right now.

I will say MAKE TIME. Make time to understand your camera, make time to read about styling a plate and how to improve your photos. A good photo  can save a bad food and can attract more people to read your recipe.

It took me a few years to decide what type of photography I wanna do. I did portraits and travel photography. After having the baby I continued to shoot portraits and travel and I start shooting food. It looked so simple, but when I shoot the first photos I did not like the result.

So I start reading and watching videos, bought a book, and shoot as much as I could. I don’t have a studio room, so every time I shoot I improvise a studio on my terrace or in my living room. It takes me 1 hour to put the lights and 30 min to take everything down. My baby sleeps 1.5 h – 2 h, so I don’t have enough time for studio lights. So I start learning about natural light and shooting with different backgrounds.

It’s a lot of work and not all the time I am happy with the final photo, but is good for the learning process. I have a huge list of food photographers and food bloggers that I like. I am looking everyday at minimum 20 great food photos. I have a notebook and I write down ideas.

Don’t invest a lot of money in an expensive camera just to take photos of your food for the blog. Is a huge mistake and you will be sorry. Don’t compare yourself to a professional  food photographer. You will never gone win. The only one person to compare with you. Your photos 2 months ago before learning about food photography and now.

This is what I do. I look back at my work and try to see if my photos are better or not.

In February 2012, I decided I wanna become a food photographer. It’s a long process but I am happy I found something that I love. Here you have an example of my evolution over 2 years and 10 months. The fist photo is actually the first food photo that I took.

food photo

As you can see  with a lot of reading and practice I managed to improve my food photography a lot. (using props, styling,lights, story)

Another example is some home made cookies. The same recipe, different photos in different years:

food photo

Exactly 2 years between these photos. I love the second one. Gives me a cold feeling, a winter feeling .

Photography changes every day, so I need to be aware of the new trends. I want more from my photos and I MAKE TIME to make them look good. So MAKE TIME.

Good light and great photos!

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Published by Gabriela Lupu

Hi. My name is Gabi and I am a professional photographer, a new mom and a wife. I wanna learn to cook healthy food for my little one, so I made this blog to share my cooking experiments with everyone. It's gone be a long and a bumpy ride but a funny one, so stay tune for news and enjoy my ride.

242 thoughts on “Make time for your food photography”

  1. So true! It takes just as long to style and edit photos as it does making the food! The visual part is my favourite 🙂 great pics!

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  3. I completely agree! My only problem is that i get so caught up in the making and eating/delivering that i end up forgetting to take good photos!!! (phone camera is a far as i go at the moment which is never good!)

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  5. Great post. Completely agree with your point that you should compare you only with you and how you have improved over time. Holds good for all things in life.

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  11. Thank you for the like of “Tremendous Response to ‘Remy’s Grinders’ Fundraiser for Bigg Play”. Also , I enjoyed your post “Make Time for Food Photography.” – JB

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  13. You are a beautiful photographer and have effectively emphasized the importance of working on your craft. I can take a picture of something (a brownie for instance) but it’s a very simple exercise for me. True food photographers (like yourself) have perfected the art of visualization and experience. Brava ❤

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  15. I really appreciated this post as I am just starting to blog and take food photos. I look forward to looking back in a few years to see how my photos have evolved! Beautiful photos:-)

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  16. Thanks for stopping by my blog and liking my Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream recipe. I have a lot to learn about food photography and styling and your blog offers a lot of tips and suggestions. Thanks!

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  18. I really have to make time. Most aren’t planned. I’ll have a photo inspiration and then have to run and get set up. LOL

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  22. I obviously need to work on my food photos. My problem is, I’m usually making the dish for dinner, and hungry people aren’t patient enough for me to take great pictures. I’ll probably repost with better pictures later. Thanks for the suggestions.

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  26. Hi thank you for your advice and inspirational blog! I am new to the food blogging scene but I am enjoying food photography and learning about as much as I enjoy making the food!

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  32. Thanks for looking at and liking our blog this morning. My husband did photography in school, so he takes my pictures. Over time I’m sure we will get more and more creative!

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  35. You just gave me the kick in the pants I needed! I already have a semi-pro camera and am passionate about photography. I just need to parlay that in to my new DIY blog. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  37. Thank you for putting words for my thoughts! I just started blogging, and my photos are less than ideal, I know, but you have given me some ideas I will most certainly look into so I can learn more and improve. You are absolutely right: decent food can look amazing withe right light and props. Thank you!

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  40. Hi Cooking Without Limits. I wanted to thank you for stopping by my blog and liking a few of my posts including ‘Salted Roasted Pumpkin Seeds’. I love your posts. They give me so much inspiration and new ideas on what to do with food photography. Thank you :). This post is one of my favourites of yours so far. It makes me wish it was pre-christmas again so I would have an excuse to make cookies!

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  41. I am also a photographer, still trying to find my niche. I have had a lot of interest in food photography. Your post is confidence building, i will try my hand at food photography.

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  42. Great tips. What I struggle the most with is that a lot of the cooking may happen at night when there is no good natural light at all. Some of the produce I can save until the following day and take pictures of then, but not everything. Those pictures get very yellow in my opinion. And i don’t really have the knowledge or time to put together a studio. I will definitely need to read a bit more about taking proper food photos. Mine are definitely in your 2012 category. 😉😄

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  43. Great tips! I definitely need to learn more about food photography, and I agree it’s one of the hardest things to photograph. Half the time the food just ends up looking shiny and gross

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  45. Great advice! I need to make some time and learn how to use my camera properly and perhaps invest in good lighting euipment. Do you have any recommendations for natural lighting?

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  47. Pingback: Photo Lab – Point of Focus | Hurry Before It Wilts

  48. you did improve…it’s always heartening to see that because our daily practice improves us so slowly. but when you look back years at a time, it’s really obvious.

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