As you may have noticed, I’m not an expert photographer.  In fact, when I started Real Food Real Deals 9 months ago, I didn’t even realize that photography was an important element of a food blog.  I make my living as a writer, so that was my focus.  Many of my early posts didn’t have photos, and when I did start including photos, they weren’t cropped or edited at all.  Many had shadows across the images, and the food certainly didn’t look as appealing as it tasted.

In recent months I’ve made an effort to take better pictures and edit them to reflect the true deliciousness of my recipes.  Real food can be so tasty, and I want people to see that when they look at images of my recipes.  I attended the Springboard blogging conference in Boston this past September, and it opened my eyes to the importance of great photography on a food blog.  Amy Renea from A Nest for All Seasons gave a wonderful presentation about how to take dazzling pictures (or tweak pictures to make them look dazzling).  This is where I first learned about Foodgawker, Tastespotting, and Tasteologie.  These are three of the big food photo gallery websites that can bring greater traffic to a blog.  Amy shared that these sites are looking for pictures that are light, bright, and crisp, and that you need to write a good one-sentence “hook” to get people to click on the image and visit your website.

When I checked out these sites I thought the photos looked very professional, and I wasn’t sure if a little point-and-shoot camera like mine could generate that type of photo.  But as a child, my parents gave me the confidence to believe that I was capable of doing whatever I set my mind to do.  Even though I’m inexperienced when it comes to photography and I’m not a very creative person, I took that confidence to heart and I decided to learn how to take great pictures.  I’m still learning, but I’m getting better each day.

This bowl is actually a jack-o-lantern candle holder, and the dark surface is an armchair.

From one rookie to another, here are my tips for taking high-quality food photos:

1. Find a bright spot by a window, but make sure the sun isn’t shining directly on the spot.
2. Invest in a tri-fold foam presentation board (these run about $10 at craft stores).  Place it several feet behind your photo table and it will reflect the light coming in through the window.  Sometimes you’ll need this extra reflection and sometimes you won’t.  Experiment with it each time.
3. Set the stage with a few props, but don’t go crazy with props.  I find that the more I try to cram into the frame, the worse the picture ends up looking.
4. Contrast the food with a bowl or plate, and add a little color with a dish cloth or napkin.  When in doubt, white bowls and plates usually work well.  Check out second-hand stores for funky bowls and dish towels.  I just bought a couple cute bowls at Savers that I’m looking forward to using in a picture soon.  There’s no need to pay full price for photo props!
5. Take pictures from many different angles, including straight-on, three-quarters, and straight from above.  One type of photo that food gallery sites love is a focused foreground with a fuzzy background.
6. Experiment with light and dark colored placemats.  Sometimes my pictures come out very dark if the placemat is light, but they come out much better in the same spot if I swap the light placemat for a dark one.
7. Use an old weathered board or a large tile if you don’t have a table in your photo spot.  These will replicate the look of a rustic table or a countertop.
8. Edit your photos.  I don’t have Photoshop or any other fancy program, but basic photo editing programs are sufficient.  You don’t want to make major changes to the photo, so I do a lot of my editing in Paint and Windows Live Photo Gallery.  PicMonkey is also fun for editing photos because you can easily add watermarks or make collages.  At the very least, you’ll want to properly crop your photos so you don’t have a sloppy background and you’ll want to adjust the contrast or brightness of your photos to make them as “light, bright, and crisp” as possible.
9. Name your photos before posting them, and ideally include the name of your blog in the title. Also, set an “alternate text” for your photos.
10. Don’t be afraid of rejection.  Even if you’re a professional photographer, your photos will sometimes be rejected from these food gallery sites.  Don’t take it personally and keep submitting your best photos.

Food gallery sites love a focused foreground and a fuzzy background.

I’m not a great photographer yet, but I’m definitely improving.  Foodgawker has posted four of my pictures to date (and rejected many more), and Tasteologie has posted seven.  Healthy Aperture has posted eight of my images, and even though it’s a smaller site, I write a healthy food blog so Healthy Aperture brings readers who are highly interested in my content.  At this point, Tastespotting has been the pickiest, only accepting one of my photos.  I’ll break them down eventually.

I want other food bloggers to know that you can take great pictures and get a nice increase in traffic to your blog if you put the time into styling great photos.  If I can do it, so can you.

This is my first photo that Foodgawker accepted. I don’t think it’s a great photo because the background looks sloppy, but they liked it enough to post it. You never know unless you try.

If you have other suggestions or questions about  food photography, I’d love to hear them.