Food photography tips · Photography · Useful

Learning photography

Gabriela Lupu

rice potato pancakes dessert

I have been asked about online courses or books about photography or food photography many times. Learning about photography is a long process and takes time and practice, patience and love for this beautiful art. There is no recipe for learning or any magic trick. I am no expert, but I can share with you my learning process. It took me lots of years to get here and will take more years to move forward.

Photography started as a hobby and was a hobby for 4 – 5 years. I read a lot about it and most of the reading was online or from books because I couldn’t find a proper photography course in my city at that time.

Learn the basics and practice a lot. Be prepare for feedback. At the begging you will get a lot of bad reviews, but in time you will start to do better and your reviews will get better. Don’t be mad, people tend to forget that they were in your place too. Remember that you are just learning.

Another big step is to choose which part of photography you want to learn. Some people will say that photography is photography so you can shoot everything: food, people, landscape, etc. True. Learn the basic and you will shoot everything, but you will be a mediocre photographer shooting everything. If you want to be good choose something you like and then go back to learning some more. Be the best in an area of photography.

It took me years to decide what I wanted to shoot. I was shooting people, landscape, plants, but never felt like I really found my area. So in 2012, shooting some food in my house I discovered that I like it but I am no good at shooting food.

So I went back to learning. I searched on internet and found food photographers and their websites. Made a big list and start learning from them.  Also, I bought Styling Lighting Photographing Food Professional. This is a food photography book from Lara Ferroni. I love her style and I love this book. It helped me a lot to see what I was doing wrong and improve it.

Another thing that I did was to take a 30 days course of food photography: Learn food photography. It is free and helps you. Make time for it.

Now, I can tell you that the best way to learn about photography is to join a good course. If you can’t find one in your city try one online. But let it be a good one. If you settle for something cheap and bad you will waste money, but the most important, you will waste time and not learning anything.

Find a group of photographers in your area and go out shooting. Exchange ideas, technical stuff and as questions. Don’t be afraid.

If you have a good photographer in your area try and talk to him/her to take you under his/her wing. Pay him to go and work with him, or just intern for a studio. This is a good way to practice. Choose someone good, because you want to go forward, not back.

Go to workshops. Always find photographers that are good. A good workshop is not cheap but is a great way to learn from the photographer you really admire.

Good luck!

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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.

166 thoughts on “Learning photography”

  2. Thank you for sharing. We started with a phone cam went to a bridge and ended up on a DSLR now. We are seeing progress over the last months but there is so much more to learn and I fully agree with you – It will take you patience, practice and passion to keep evolving your photos. Best is if you can find a mentor who is willing to give you good feedback and tips.

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  6. Great post. As a food photographer myself I would say the thing that helped me most was assisting for other food photographers. Its a great way to start because youre learning the trade from someone who knows it, you meet clients and you get friendly with art directors and food stylists. I think when it comes to photography courses they can be overatted. I learnt more in 6 months of assisting a good photographer than I did in a 3 year degree in a photography. With food you’re always trying to tell a story. it’s always more than just a reproduction of the food you are photographing and I think that’s important to remember

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  7. Thank you so much for this information. I am a campervan chef and I need to take foodie photos for my blog and books and I really just have to make it up as I go along. I can’t afford a studio so have to improvise a lot and, although the camping crowd don’t expect super-swish photos, I do want to make them as professional and interesting as possible. So thank you for being generous enough to share the info about this free course. Happy eating!

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  9. Thank you for good links! btw I found you blog thanks for ” food photography tips” 😉

    But my question and for today I understood, that still you must have (at least) little bit of talent. For me is the most difficult to find good composition. Internet is full of pictures, but if you have to take a photo not about beautiful beef or cake… but about minced meat sauce with mashed potatoes…:) This is challenge..
    My blog is not up to date. I can see, that photos I made for future spring posts are much better, than these, I posted now and today. I can see technical development and growing. Still long way to go, but still..
    But how to find more talent ..:)? This is question.

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  17. Beautiful photography, I sighed myself up at learnfoodphotography.com as you recommend, I could use some improvement with it and after seeing your images am feeling inspired!

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  25. Thanks for the tips! Photography is still so much a new idea for me.
    I found Food Photography From Snapshots to Great Shots by Nicole S Young a useful book as well

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  37. I see a lot of grammar errors in this post, if you need an editor to check your posts for simple errors or to write posts for you, just hit me up.

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  38. Pingback: Learning Food Photography – Dianna Donnely's Real Food Meals and Books

  39. Great post:) I do photography as a hobby as well but since my little one was born I struggle to find time to do proper photos and turned to my phone to do quick snaps…:( Reading this article makes me wanna get my camera out again 🙂

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  41. Your photographs are beautiful and your information is good and helpful. I look forward to reading more. I too am an aspiring photographer and writer and Look for any information and help I can get.
    I also want to thank you for visiting and liking my latest post, “Donuts or Simply True Love” Most of my writing centers around my family and is mostly all from experience. I hope you will read more. I love to cook, but it is not my greatest passion. Photography has always been right up in the #1 or 2 spot. Thanks again,
    for everything.
    Sandy

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  46. Great advice! I find styling the hardest! I don’t want to take away from the food but at the same time props can heighten the photo. Did you find that the courses assisted with food styling?

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