In today’s blog post I want to give you an overview over the basic food blogging equipment you need in order to start out as a food blogger.
At first, beginning a food blog can be quite a big and daunting task at first. You have this big vision of taking awesome food pics and sharing your wonderful recipes? However, you are unsure of the equipment you need? Then look no further! In this blog post I have summarized all the basic things you need in order to start taking amazing pictures of your recipes. Food photography hacks included!
We will look at topics like camera equipment, props, kitchenware and decoration items. I will only mention the essential food blogging equipment. Everything you need in order to start out. Nothing super fancy or advanced – just the basics to get you startet.
How to photograph for your food blog
First things first. Let’s talk about camera equipment. When you are just starting out you might want to take photos with your camera. That is okay for the beginning. Most phone cameras have a „depth of field“ or „portrait“ mode already. Try using these as it will make the background blurry, which will look more professional.
However, if you want to become serious about your food photography you should consider switching to a DSLR camera. It made all the difference for me and was a real game changer! For over three years I have been shooting with Nikon already and can highly recommend their cameras. Currently I am working with the Nikon D7500 which is a great camera also for beginners. Regarding the lens I am using a 35mm 1.8 lens. I like this lens because you can be pretty close to your dish and get a very nice blurry background.
Here are some food photography tips for beginners:
- Shoot with natural, diffuse light
- Using a flash for food photography is something I would not recommend as it distorts the colors in the picture.
- Shoot on automatic mode until you become comfortable trying the manual mode
- Use a portrait lens to get a nice bouquet effect
- Invest in a reflector and tripod – this is the reflector and tripod that I am using
Food Blogging Props
You will want to acquire a little selection of different kitchenware. Buy some nice plates, bowls, platters, forks, knifes, glasses and jars. Try to stay consistent with the style and color of the props you buy. When taking food photos it is always nice to have different props to choose from. There is nothing more boring than always using the same plate and same set of silverware on every photo you take!
I have probably up to 30 different plates, around 20 glasses, more little tea spoons than I can count and a couple different marble platters. This gives me a good choice to always arrange my food picture in a different style. Here are some of the spoons that I have ordered online:
Kitchen Towels and Background Fabrics
A range of different colored kitchen towels can’t be missed in your food photography equipment! Placing some kind of fabric on the area you are shooting makes it look smoother and blends together with the dish and the background. I like using kitchen towels for that. In the background I usually put a very smooth, silky white fabric to make the background blur out.
Food Blogging Equipment – Backdrops
Having a nice surface to place your dish upon is very important when it comes to successful food blogging. That is why I bought varies backgrounds for my photos. I recommend to get a darker and a lighter one. Marble and wood work really well for food pictures.
A great food photography tip is to go into your local hardware store and ask them for floor samples. These usually come in different awesome wood optics and I always ask them if I can take some samples home. Like this I have free background surfaces for my photos in different styles!
Here are a couple links to some background papers that I have bought on Amazon, which are very practical because you can roll them up and take with you when traveling:
Decoration items
I believe that you can make the most boring chia pudding look incredible with the art of food styling. In order to be able to make your creations look unique I suggest you get some fun decoration items to add more layers of interest to your photo! Sprinkles, flowers or coconut flakes work great. I also bought some tiny little cookie cutters to decorate my dishes with.
I recommend you also get seasonal decoration items to include in your food blogging equipment. For Easter I bought a couple of little Easter eggs, for Christmas I have golden stars and for Valentines Day heart postcards.
Here are two deco items that I have ordered and like very much:
- Mermaid Silicon Molds
- Little cookie cutters
This post contains affiliate links. All products & services recommended in this post are ones that I’ve personally used for my blog.
Do you want to take your food photography to the next level?
Finally I wanted to leave you with some more great support material on your way to becoming the next great food blogger out there. I have many more other articles on how to grow and develop your food blog! Make sure to have a look at my top ten food blogging tips for Instagram growth! There is also a YouTube video on it!
I also have my own food photography online course. It is a full fletched food blogging course that will teach you everything you need to know to kickstart your food blogging career!
You can sign up to my food blogging email list where I am sharing free cheat sheets and amazing food blogging tips from time to time. Definitely don’t miss out on this great opportunity:
xoxo,
