A few years ago, a friend told me that she wanted to get into food photography. I chuckled to myself a little because I could not imagine for the life of me how hard food photography would be. I previously worked at Picture People where my subjects were constantly moving, crying, screaming, sneezing, coughing, everything. How hard would it be to take a picture of food? It just sits there.
In the last few weeks or so, my view of food and product photography has been quite the opposite. When you’re selling photos of children to their parents, your main focus is to make sure the photo is centered, the lighting is good, and the child looks halfway decent. But when you’re trying to emphasize how special and amazing your products or the cookies you made are through photos, it can be tough to make a person feel connected enough to want more. Really tough.
I have been setting up makeshift photo studios in my kitchen, my living room and the baby’s room/office, driving my family crazy. I spend countless hours in front of my computer, trying to make something of what I have. I have all of these amazing editing programs because of my school, and I can’t figure out how to use any of them.
I just want a sharper photo and a plain white background. Is that really to much to ask?! Apparently, yes. I look at all of these amazing blogs with all of these amazing photos, and sometimes I just want to break down and cry. That may be a little over the top, but I know there is something I’m missing.
I was at the point where I wasn’t going to post anything today, just so I could work on editing my photos but I figured this would be a good time to seek advice from anyone who has gone down the same road before. So, while I try to make any sense out of Photoshop right now…I have this to ask of you.
What photo tutorials have you used that you find the most helpful? What are your favorite photo editing programs and why? And how the hell can I remove my ugly background? I’m going to check out my favorite blogs for inspiration and will share the tutorials I find the most useful. But in the meantime…help!
from house parties to housewife 
Amanda – Hanna has some knowledge about this stuff. Why don’t you email her? LY
So I don’t have a specific online tutorial I used, but I did find the Etsy blog and their photography tips to be super helpful. I did take a class over a year ago on photographing jewelry and we used a light box (which I had intended to buy but never did), but really what you need is natural light (either outside in a shady spot or by a window in your home). For me it’s been trial and error and a lot of practice. And I have Photoshop and really have no clue how to use it…mostly I use Picasa and PicMonkey to edit my photos. But I hear you, I am often so blown away (and I’ll admit, a little jealous) of the incredible product photography I see out there! Just keep practicing and take lots and lots of photos 🙂
I’m self taught as well but I had a huge advantage. I have 15 years of graphic design experience and part of my job is to art direct food photography shoots. My suggestion is, if you can call up local food studios and tell them you’re a student and would like to observe on set or something like that. And just watch everything they do. On set they have food stylist, prop stylist and photographers. They each bring their own skill set. I found it most valuable experience. Check out some of my work. I do this from my home studio as well and i’ve been accumulating props. http://www.dragonfruitphotography.com. Also read up on lighting. Northern light works better in food photography then south for some reason. And use white foam core to reflect the light on the other side of your food. As for photoshop. If you’re not familiar with it i’d suggest Lightroom. It’s a lot quicker to pick up. There are some good tutorials online. Good luck and have fun. Practice practice practice.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful response and advice! I will definitely check in with some food studios to see if I can observe! I’m going to check out your site right now 🙂