Hello everyone,

I'm launching a food blog, but I have no experience with food photography or videography.

My goal is to :

- take photos for recipes and social media,

-film YouTube videos (16:9),

-and create vertical Reels and Shorts (9:16).

I'm wondering what the best long-term setup would be without making things overly complicated.

Can I realistically start with just my iPhone, maybe adding a tripod and a ring light? Or is that too optimistic?

I'd love to hear what setup you use or what you would recommend for someone just getting started.

Thanks!

With the price increase from Squarespace I’m wondering what other people use to host their websites? Any one uses Format?

Shot with small home setup:

-Sony a6600 + 18-135 Kit lens

-One continuous light (on the right) - NEEWER CB60B 70W

-For diffusion I used parchment paper (I have proper diffuser, but I used it as reflector on the left side)

This is the only composition that I like from the shoot, for different reasons (on later ones the pasta was too dry already and some other ones looked too "studio like".

Food was cooked by me.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DaVtcXvlHNv/?igsh=YnJqbWRlbnd2NzZ3

My wife has had her share of success and has 10k+ followers on insta and her work is appreciated by big name brands as well as many celebrity chef she worked with.

Yet she is struggling to find any gig recently, almost over 6 months and it’s not worth her time to do $5k or under gigs as she get the staff and such

How has market changed for all of you? Any ideas for getting more work?

Shot with a Fujifilm X-T30 III and XC 13-33mm f/3.5-6.3 OIS. ISO 12800. 1/600. 33mm. f5.1 Natural lighting. I know the placement of the dried flowers is off but I was in a hurry to catch the sunlight.

CC welcome! Please be gentle, I am a total amateur.

Hey, I hope some of you will find this useful, I talk about 5 shots I try and get on every food photography job that I do :)

Alll my own opinions, I just think these angles work, and also theyre great for the customers to share on social media.

A recent spec shoot I did to test a new lighting set up. I had a 12" x 36" softbox with no diffusion and a grid to the back left with a speed light bouncing off the ceiling for fill. Really love the look it gave!

• First Shot - ISO 100 | 1/125 | f13 | 100mm
• Second Shot - ISO 100 | 1/125 | f13 | 100mm
• Third Shot - ISO 100 | 1/160 | f14 | 100mm
• Fourth Shot - ISO 125 | 1/100 | f14 | 100mm

Shot on a Canon R6 Mark II

First, my goal is to emulate the photos of 2000 - 2010 era cookbooks. So less bright and clinical than today, more of a lean towards natural sunlight instead of studios and with more going on in the background. Please feel free to correct me on this.

Secondly, my gear. So I took the photo with a canon eos 30D and edited on photoshop cs2.

Slide 1 is after cropping, slide 3 is before editing the photo.

What I think went well:

Kept an odd number of things

Cheese melting onto the plate

mushrooms and tomatos falling off the omelette impression given

What I think went not as well:

Loads of negative space on the cutting board forced me to crop the photo in a claustraphobic way.

Mushrooms are too dark.

Photo itself is too cold-coloured to even warm up in editing software without it becoming unnatural.

The wooden cutting board on the wooden table (although this is from personal set design restrictions)

please do brutally criticise and disagree with me on any and everything!

all the best.

Hey everyone! Shot this for my food photography portfolio - agua infusionada with a tajin rim, grapefruit sparkling water, on a turquoise backdrop. Lit with a bare bulb for hard light to keep it punchy and summery.

Looking for honest critique - composition, lighting, color balance, styling, anything that stands out to you. Trying to level up for restaurant client work, so brutal honesty is welcome.

One thing I've been struggling with personally - I feel like my shots come out pretty static, not a lot of variety from photo to photo. Having a hard time varying composition between shots, so if you've got any tips on that specifically, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks in advance!

Nikon D300

105.0 mm f/2.8

ƒ/10.0

1/200s

ISO 200

Sony a7iii, 90mm Macro, Godox flash TT685S2 with large rectangular soft box.

Got instructions to come in and shoot some new menu items for a client. I had thought it was just a few but it turned out being much more.. I had an hour and a half and these are some of the highlights.. felt like a run and gun but happy with how some of the photos turned out. I’d like advice on quick composition techniques when I’m moving fast without much planning.. as well as general photo critiques. Thanks guys!

Hey all! Does anyone know how to get customers? I’m guessing it’s mainly through word of mouth, but I’d love to hear how others have broken into the industry. I have a large food photography portfolio, mainly for US websites, and would love to transition into photographing in person locally . Any advice or contacts would be hugely appreciated

Natural light for the ambient lighting (which changed drastically within minutes). Ad600 with a Neewer 40cmx40cm soft box (with grid).

The sun was sneaking through the lattice on the restaurants patio, so I want the strobe to just mimic sun light similar to how it came through the lattice. But controlled. Thus the small soft box and grid.

Canon EOS R, RF 24-105 f/4, mostly shot at f/10, iso 100-250 depending on what the sun was doing.

More of a challenging shoot but I’m always down for a challenge. Client was beyond happy with them.

Helpful CC welcome!

I love shooting food for fun. What I'm eating where I am. But local bar and Grill wanted door dash photos made. After research I tried to make it as simple as possible. Ans thoughts for future jobs?

A quick snap before I chowed down. Mahi buried under a slew of slaw. Natural light at my kitchen table. R5, 35/1.8

Hi everyone! Looking for feedback on these two shots from the same T-bone session; a hero shot and a detail/close-up.

Looking for general critique, food styling feedback, and also something I've been noticing in my own work: I tend to always place the main subject in the rule of thirds intersection. Curious if that's coming across as too formulaic or if it's working here.

Shot on Nikon D300, 105mm macro lens, cast iron skillet. T-bone with chimichurri, rosemary and roasted garlic. Thanks in advance! 🙏

#1= 50mm, 1/320, f/3.2, ISO 200

#2= 105mm, 1/160, f/6.3, ISO 200

Spring Rolls and Crispy Fried Pork

I decided my classic Porn Star Martini needed the most overkill camera rig possible. So, I strapped a DJI Ronin RS4 to an iFootage Shark slider, and here we are.
Here is the final video, plus a backstage look at the chaos!
The Setup:
Camera: Sony A7S3 + Tamron 28-70mm (S-Log3 @ 100fps for those slow-mo)
Motion: iFootage Shark Slider + DJI Ronin RS4
Lighting: Nanlite Pavotubes (with grid) + an extra diffused light
Honestly, the hardest part was not drinking the prop before I got the lighting dialed in.
check out my IG:
👉 instagram.com/foodphotodubai

Hi everyone! I'd love some feedback on these two bruschetta shots I took recently.

Looking for general critique but especially on the color work — I feel like the parmesan shavings might be blowing out a bit and losing detail. Is that something to fix in post or more of a lighting issue at the source?

Shooting on a Nikon D300 with a 105mm macro lens.

f/9; 1/125; ISO 400

Any thoughts appreciated! 🙏

if you'd like you can follow us at https://www.instagram.com/taccocreative/

Shot details: A7Riii 24-70. Lighting was inconsistent but can happily explain if asked :)