Advice for New Bloggers is a new regular feature here at Sarah’s Cucina Bella. Inspired by Dine and Dish’s Adopt-A-Blogger event, and written with my adoptee in mind (Hi, Rachel! Click here to check out Fairy Cake Heaven), it appears every Tuesday.
I was stumped about what to talk about next. Fortunately Cate from Sweetnicks came to the rescue with a great idea: photos.
So, you are just starting out and trying to figure out this whole blogging thing, right? Figuring out what to post about and when to post and what to say is hard enough, but you need to take pictures too? Come on!
No, you really do need photos, particularly if you are a food blogger. People want to see your food. And they want to know what to expect when they make it. And, if nothing else, there are a lot of us out there who love food porn (heads out of the gutters, please. That means tasty looking pictures of food. Geez.).
It’s no secret that I am still learning the ropes of food photography myself. I’ve learned the hard way that the best photos happen during the day in natural sunlight and that at night, it’s very important to make sure you have enough lighting. Keeping the camera still helps, and the darker it is, the more important that becomes.
Do you need a fancy camera? No. It helps, but you don’t have to have one. The first trick is to learn to use the camera you have. No matter how many pixels it is, figure out how to take the best photos with the equipment you have. (And it’s a good idea to read that pesky manual. It actually does help.) And when you are ready, upgrade.
So what do I shoot with? I have a very handy and tiny Sony Cybershot
that is great for taking inconspicuous photos (like in public). Until recently though, my main camera was an 8 megapixel Canon ProShot Pro1. Although it isn’t made anymore, the PowerShot Pro1 is a powerful camera that takes great pictures when used correctly. It was really great for getting the hang of taking still life photos.
For Christmas this year, I upgraded. I was ready for more. And gosh, I love my new camera. It’s a (squeak of excitement) 10 megapixel Canon Digital Rebel XTi. Talk about power. But this is a camera that you need to spend time learning how to use right (thank you, Sonja, for helping me!). When used properly, the photos come out in exquisite detail (see above). There are better camera bodies, but this is right for me now. It’s like learning to ride a bike – you don’t go from training wheels on a Huffy to a giant Harley, so why would you do that with your camera?
If you are really serious about taking great photos, you may also want to invest in a Photo Studio in a Box. This handy, dandy box and lighting helps to make your photos look more professional with the perfect amount of shadow and highlights and a non-competing background. Cate tells me that they fold nice and flat so it won’t overtake a room in your house or anything. (This is next on my upgrade list.)
For photo editing, I used to use Microsoft Picture It! Premium 10, but really it wasn’t powerful enough for my needs. These days I have upgraded to Adobe Photoshop Elements 6, which is plenty powerful enough for beginner to intermediate photographers.
Need some more advice? Here are some good resources:
- The Food Photo 101 series from Nika’s Culinaria
- Still Life With …’s 2007 Guide to Food Photography Gear
- Matt Bites’ Notes About Photography
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