Food & Drink is one of the main topics I cover on The Creative Cottage blog and my social media sites. I keep debating whether or not I should bite the bullet and save up for a professional camera. That would take about a $1K chunk out of my budget as I would also want to get a ring light, tripod, remote control, and a camera that has WiFi capabilities for automatically uploading images into the cloud.
I’ve included a couple of photos in this blog post to give you an idea of the types of images I’m currently using. I’m creating cellphone blog photography food images with my Android phone – a Samsung Galaxy S8. My cellphone is just about past its prime as Samsung is no longer providing security updates for this model. So, do I either wait and update to a new phone with a better camera once my current cellphone becomes obsolete, or do I save up for a DSLR camera with all the bells and whistles?
Up Your Photography Game with a LightBox
I think my in-between step is to crack out one of my light tents, which I use when taking photos of my fused glass pendants, and other shiny objects. I never really thought about using a diffuse lighting source, such as a light tent or tabletop lightbox for food photography. But, I’m trying to take my photography skills up a notch so I think it’s about time to liven up my food and beverage photos.
I’m not going to get into the details of using a light box in this post, that’s best left for a future article. The basic premise is you place the items you are photographing inside the lightweight canvas lightbox to avoid any hot spots from overhead lighting which can cause glare. Then you use 1 to 3 lights placed around the exterior of the light tent to softly diffuse the light onto the items being photographed and eliminate any shadows.
Vegan Falafel Salad
This image is one of the few dishes featured on The Creative Cottage that I didn’t make myself. I got this yummy delicious vegan falafel salad from one of my favorite restaurants in Boynton Beach, Florida – ChickPea!
And, apparently, it’s been a while since I last visited. They underwent brand reimaging and are now known as garbANZO. I’m pretty happy with how this cellphone photo came out as far as lighting, lack of shadows, etc.
Spaghetti a la Puttanesca
Spaghetti Puttanesca is a classic Italian dish featuring a robust tomato sauce filled with green olives, black olives, capers, and a bit of spicy red pepper flakes. You can make this dish as hot or spicy as you like by adjusting the amount of red pepper flakes. I like mine medium spicy but I often make it mild for my roommates and just sprinkle on a few more pepper flakes on my own individual serving.
This is another recipe on my list of future blog posts – guess that means I’ve got homework! I really like how this image came out. I don’t see any pesky shadows, and the lighting looks spot on. Not bad for a cellphone image. Man, I wish I had a bowl of spaghetti a la puttanesca to dig into right now – it looks delicious!
Chicken Cacciatore
Chicken cacciatore is one of my favorite recipes to make in my slow cooker. You simply dump all the ingredients into a crockpot and a few hours later it’s good to go served on top of noodles, rice, or a baked potato. I just checked my blog posts and I can’t believe I’ve never written up a recipe for this delicious meal.
The chicken cacciatore sauce features garlic, onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, and black olives. Overall I like this image but I think it could use a bit more illumination and if I used my lightbox I could probably eliminate the glare coming off my reading glasses.
Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookies
After a lifetime of eating wheat, barley, and other gluten-filled foods I developed an intolerance to gluten. That has me scrambling to find recipes for gluten-free blueberry muffins and other favorite bakery treats. I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour in this chocolate chip cookie recipe which makes a wonderful substitute for regular flour.
Normally, I’d say this photo needs a bit more illumination, but it was a cold and gloomy day when I tested this recipe. I was visiting my mom in way upstate NY and I woke up early one morning to near whiteout conditions – could barely make out the neighbors house just a few yards away. So, I actually like this moody, lowlight photo – it’s one of my favorites!
Salade Nicoise
The inspiration for this dish came from an old Salade Nicoise recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks: The Bakery Lane Soup Bowl. Bakery Lane was a restaurant in Burlington, VT that unfortunately is no longer in business. Back in the day my mom and I loved visiting this restaurant during our summer vacations when we were living in Lake Placid, NY. That was a fun trip that involved an exciting ferry ride to get from Essex, NY, and across Lake Champlain to reach Shelburne, Vermont on the other side.
While this Nicoise salad image looked fine on my cellphone, once I opened it on my desktop, I can see a few shadows. Using my lightbox should alleviate this problem and allow me to better illuminate the top of the salad for a more professional-looking image.
I’d love to hear all about your tips for taking better photos for your blog and/or social media sites. Drop me a line and let me know if you are using a professional camera, Android cellphone, or iPhone for your blog, Pinterest, or Instagram profiles.
Let’s Keep in Touch
Do you have any tips or tricks you’d like to share? Leave a comment on this post or shoot me an email: info@thecreativecottage.net and I just might feature your story in a future blog post.
Take care,
Lynn Smythe
Founder and Chief Blogger
The Creative Cottage
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