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Photography is an integral part of blogging. Which post would you rather read?
Java Caramel Swirl Ice Cream  or Â
Your eyes often skim over unassuming text links, but a picture can reach out and grab you by the nose.
The longer I blog, the more clearly I realize that pictures really are key to bringing traffic to my site. Correction: good pictures are key to bringing traffic. If I scroll through Pinterest looking at ice cream recipes, I’m generally unimpressed by shadowy blobs when there are so many dazzling confections in Pinterest’s vaults.
In my quest to take those dazzling photographs, I’ve come across a lot of great resources that I would like to share with you. And trust me, even if you don’t have a food blog or any other kind of blog but still want to improve your photography, general tips for good photography can be applied to any outlet.
I bought my first DSLR camera at the beginning of this year, and now I get annoyed when I have to use a point-and-shoot. There are lots of people out there that will tell you that you can take good pictures with any kind of camera. I agree. A good picture is a good picture. However, a DSLR can take a photo from “good” to “dazzling.” It can also make a “Wow, that looks generic” picture into a “that ice cream looks good” photograph. And when you’re finding your feet in photography, a camera that does a lot of work for you is quite helpful. It’s amazing what a little bokeh will do to the general public.
The Nikon D5200 (shown here) is what I bought, and I have been very happy with it as a mid-level DSLR. There is a significant price difference between this camera and the next level up; and while I can’t compare the two because I’ve never used the D7100, I’ve been fully satisfied with the D5200 for ease of use and quality of photograph.
Why Nikon instead of Canon? Because I’ve heard that Nikon has better lenses, and most everyone I know uses Canon. I’ve never liked to follow the crowd.
Photo editing is definitely easier on high-quality pictures, just sayin’.
Currently I’m just using the 18-55 mm kit lens to shoot, but I hope to invest in a fixed lens very soon.
This lens or something similar is what I’m looking for:
I know I invested in a DSLR camera; but when it comes to editing software, I’m proof that you don’t have to invest in the latest equipment to survive. I’m not saying my pictures are as good as they could be with better editing software, but I’ve made out OK with this old Corel software that is basically the cheap version of Photoshop. This software has layer capabilities and a lot of things I haven’t even delved into yet, and it’s served my needs so far.
After I invest in a new lens, I would like to get Lightroom to edit my pictures. If anyone has any feedback on how well Lightroom works, especially for food photography, I’d love to hear it.
I like to think I’ve learned some things about photography in the past several months during my quest for improvement in my blog photography. Here are some of my tips:
1) Keep it natural. Don’t force a pose. The most powerful poses-for people or food-are those in which the subject looks natural. And you might as well not even *try* to get a horse to pose “properly”…
2) Use normal angles. Have a creative eye and imaginative touch, yes, but make good use of angles that are straight-on and level with your subject. Spoken from experience, too-close shots or shots taken looking up at me are not flattering to my nose. At all. Food feels the same way.
3) Use natural light, and plenty of it, whenever possible. This tip is not original with me, by any means. I hear it/see it in just about every photography video or blog post I come across.
4) No flash. Fake, fake, fake.
5) And kind of along the lines of the last point, please turn the little wheel on your DSLR camera from “A” to “M.” You won’t regret it. Scared of manual mode? Keep scrolling down this post and I’ll send you to some awesome places that will help you tremendously.
When I first got my camera, my mom came across this list of all kinds of basic photography tutorials. I credit that website with teaching me to use manual mode. This article about the basics of shooting in manual mode covers the three basic building blocks of manual mode: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Learn how they all relate to one another and you’re ready to start shooting!
Here are some other helpful articles:
Food Photography Basics
Improve Your Pictures with Scrapbook Paper
Food Photography: 10 Tips for the Pour Shot
Edible Perspective: a list of DSLR tutorials
Motion Food Photography
{Food Photography} A Few of My Tips and Tricks
Tips on Food Photography
Ten Household Items that Can Improve Your Food Photography
The Light Box
How to Build a Light Box
Here’s a very helpful video on food photography featuring one of my favorite food bloggers: Lindsey Ostrom from Pinch of Yum.
Lindsey has an e-book, called Tasty Food Photography, about food photography as well. Click here to view more details.
Here are some helpful sites I have found:
Foodgawker (the link takes you to my gallery on Foodgawker) – this is a photo/recipe sharing site, and your pictures have to be good to get accepted. I’ve submitted over 20 so far, and only 3 have been accepted. Lighting is a huge deal to Foodgawker, and the site doesn’t like pictures that are too up-close. Foodgawker is a good way to bring traffic to your food blog, and I’ve heard quite a few food bloggers credit Foodgawker for really getting their names out into the general public.
PicResize is an easy-to-use site that lets you batch resize pictures. This is great for certain things, like making slideshows for your blog.
PicMonkey is another great tool that I use mostly for resizing and cropping.
For ordering prints of personal photographs, I use Mpix.com. They do a great job for a good price. I especially love the wallets from this company; you can get them with a nice matte finish, and they even come die-cut with rounded corners and everything.
For making photobooks, I use Picaboo. They have a very easy-to-use software.
However, for ordering calendars, I prefer Shutterfly to Picaboo.
I hope this post was helpful. If you have any photography questions that you’d like to see addressed in a blog post, post them below in the comment section.
kim says
Thanks Briana! I have searched your site to learn how you overlay text onto your photos. Would you be willing to share what you have learned along the way? And your favorite tools to do this?
Thank you!
Briana Thomas says
Hi Kim! I used Canva (a free online program) for awhile, but I recently got Adobe Elements which I’ve been using and really like.
kim says
Thank you Briana!
Vicky Hadley says
Thank you so much for this information and links. I just starting my food blog and it’s been very helpful.
My husband bought me a nice camera because I just had twin boys. I much prefer taking pics of food. So much easier. LOL
Briana Thomas says
Yes – food holds still!
Johanna says
Hi Briana! I’m trying to figure out what camera to buy next. I’ve had a dslr for several years now and I’d like to sort of upgrade. So I’m looking into a Nikon (because, like you, I don’t like following the canon crowd). Nikon somehow intrigues me. So do you still own the D5200 or have you gotten something else? And, what other lenses might you use in the field (i.e. with horses or vacation)? Thank you! I’m a big fan of your site! :.)
Briana Thomas says
Hi Johanna! Yes, my D5200 is still going strong. I’ve had it for over two years now and I keep thinking that maybe I should upgrade, but really there’s no point because it still does everything I need it for! I use a 1.8 50mm prime lens almost exclusively. It works perfectly for food photography and portraiture. I would like to get a higher quality zoom lens than my old 18-555mm kit lens for snapshots and wildlife at some point, but I haven’t decided yet which one I want (photographing horses with a prime lens can be difficult). Basically all the pictures you see on this site are taken with my 50mm prime lens.
Johanna says
Thanks for your quick reply! Not to take up too much of your time, but I am waffling back and forth between getting something like what you have, OR getting one of these new mirrorless cameras. Intriguing. Do you have any thoughts there?
Briana Thomas says
I’m afraid I’m no expert on the world of cameras and haven’t done much research lately. I’ve never even heard of a mirrorless camera, so… 😛
Dirinda Westfall Lacen says
Here is her Facebook web site. She and her husband are leaving for Korea in the morning to document via photos the adoption of a little baby by some clients of theirs. https://www.facebook.com/thegraysphotography
Briana Thomas says
Awesome! Thanks!
Dirinda Westfall Lacen says
By the way, my photographer niece’s name is also Briana. Maybe you’ve heard of her, Briana Gray. She has won several awards by The Knot for her wedding photography.
Briana Thomas says
Wow – I don’t hear of many other Brianas. 🙂 I haven’t heard of your niece, but I might have to look her up!
Dirinda Westfall Lacen says
Also thank you for including the link in how to shoot in manual! I’ve been looking for something like that!
Dirinda Westfall Lacen says
Unfortunately, I live in Missouri so I am ineligible to be an Amazon affiliate. That stinks, doesn’t it? I can think of all kinds of fantastic products I could recommend to my readers! Haha!
Dirinda Westfall Lacen says
Once I’ve been blogging for a while, I just may have to invest in that Nikon camera! I hate spending that kind of money, but, as I said, once my blog has been running for a while I may be able to justify it. My niece is a professional photographer and she offers classes on how to use DSLR cameras. Thanks for the informative post! I’ll have to come back to read more of this one later!