Using the same glasses and bowls for food photography becomes boring at some point. I have just a 2 or 3 types of glasses and some more types of bowls.
For my photography I need 2 or 3 glasses for a photo, so buying a set of 6 or 12 glasses is expensive, takes a lot of place in my cabinet and no use in the future (10 different sets – is too much). So I realized that I can use any type of jars for drinks or desserts, glasses for desserts instead of bowls, small bottles for drinks, etc. Put your imagination at play and you will discover a new world.
Sometimes I find in shops some food in nice and unique jars, small bottles for juice that I will never drink but I will buy them for my photography. It is an investment for future projects.
Here are some examples of my jars, small bottles, and glasses.
Here is a cognac glass for a blueberry dessert. There is a logo on the glass and I styled the glass so I can hide it.
This glass I borrowed from my mom. She has it from my grandmother. From a set of 6 this is the only one left. So, check your grandmother cabinets for old glasses or bowls.
For this smoothie I used a coconut oil jar. Very nice and interesting shape for a jar.
For this dessert I used champagne glasses. You can also use red or white wine glasses.
This small jars were filled with a vanilla dessert when I bought them. They weren’t very expensive and go so well with drinks, desserts, sauces or even as a small vase for some small flowers.
This is a small nutella jar. I got it as a gift and it goes so nice as a glass for juice or dessert.

I found this 6 jars in a second hand furniture store. They were so cheap so I bought all 6 of them. I use them for desserts and serve my guests. I am so in love with these small jars.
This is a small bottle that we have it in the shops with a carrot juice.
These are whiskey glasses used for dessert.
This small jar had peanut butter in the shop. Now I use it for drinks, desserts, sauces and other things in my photos.
As you can see, you can reused all the jars and glasses. When I find something that I like or looks nice I buy them and put them in some boxes in my studio. Sometimes it takes many months before use them, but I am always prepare.
Love your food, it’s a true art, beautiful
Thank you
Love your food; you are a real artist
Thank you
I love this idea!
Thank you
Love the idea of recycling containers. I may be guilty of buying food only because, it was in a pretty jar 😊
Thank you
Thank you so much for sharing this tip with the glasses. I don’t make a lot of desserts but after watching Masterchef, have been feeling inspired. I went to a Dessert Bar in Sydney and they had take away desserts in glass jars, which was great for transport and it arrived home in perfect order despite being jolted around in my camera bag. I like how you can see the dessert through the side of the glass, which can really push your creativity in terms of good presentation.
Thought you’d enjoy this post I wrote about a Sydney dessert bar I went to. I am a serious chocoholic! https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com/2016/05/20/my-affair-with-a-chocolate-mookie/
xx Rowena
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Oh wow! I was just looking through your whole list of food photography tips. So MANY great ideas, I will need to read through this many times over to gleam all the amazing advice. I love this post particularly about recycling different glasses to use in your food photography. I have been reusing my glass jam and peanut butter jars and even bought a fancy jar of honey as much for the honey as for the beautiful jar it was in.
Your photos are always so beautiful and inspiring. I keep trying to improve upon mine, but know that I still have a long way to go. Thank you so much for posting this fantastic resource and for visiting my blog so often and liking my posts, very much appreciated!
You are welcome. With time you will get more experience and you will learn more about photography. I am happy to help.
Very helpful tips and beautiful photos!
Thank you
Your photographs are absolutely gorgeous . Love them all..
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You are such a great photographer and so inspiring! I’m just getting into food blogging and keep thinking I needed to get some fancy glasses for beverages. Maybe I got something more handy and more authentic that I didn’t think about! Thanks so much!
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All your pictures are so pretty! It looks great!
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This isn’t really helpful. My food photography skills definitely need work.
Oops. Silly autocorrect. I meant to say it IS really helpful. Thank so much for the tips.
Wow such beautiful pictures! I love them. I am trying to figure out how to do good food pictures so these ideas are nice. Thank you for sharing!!
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Those pictures … just awesome! Thanks for the tips 🙂
Thank you
Last year I start to collect this kind of jars. Here, there is a store, Lidl, that has sweets, jogurt etc in beautiful jars and mugs. Yours are more beautiful! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you. I bought some sweets in jar from Lidl too.