I feel somewhat of a fraud writing about food blogger photography tips and tricks since I’m relatively new to the whole thing. But then I realized: that newness is actually kind of useful. You know why? Because I still remember the things that I found difficult in the beginning AND because I’m still stumbling on neat little tips now. Which means I can share them with you!
With winter impending, light becomes a real issue for my food photographs and that means I end up taking a lot of pictures that can end up freakishly-hued. You know when your pictures end up either yellow or blue tinted because you just don’t have enough light OR because you’re using some kind of artificial light? I can show you how to fix that! Without needing a copy of Photoshop or an advanced degree. For free. Wooop!
So what we’re really going to do, in fancy pants photography terms, is adjust the White Balance of your photographs. This will get rid of any unwanted tint, hue or cast on your image. Which means the colors pop the way they’re supposed to and food looks way more appetizing. To do this, we’re going to use a free online photo editor called Pic Monkey. So first you need to go there. Go on!
Let’s take another look at our “before” picture, a shot of my delicious Strawberry Rosemary Dressing. It was late in the day and I took this out on my covered deck, which gives it that overcast blue tint you can see here. Not too pretty!
Once you’re on Pic Monkey:
- Upload your picture to the edit screen using the homepage.
- In the edit menu on the left hand side, go to the tab labelled “Color”.
- Click on “Neutral Picker” – your mouse cursor will become a little dropper tool.
- Take your dropper tool and click on the area of the picture that should be whitest.
- TA-DA! Witness your amazingness!
You’ll probably want to adjust the brightness settings after that, though. Just in case, here’s how you do that:
- To do that, go to the “Exposure” menu on the left.
- Drag the Brightness slider up or down until it looks good.
- Save and use on your awesome website.
And here is the “after” shot – much better!
If you want to learn lots more about food photography for bloggers, read this post of mine that walks you through my shooting progress, step by step – including edits.
Or check out this amazing e-book of food blogger photography tips, which is a complete BARGAIN!
It’s what I used to teach myself all of the basics and is perfect for the beginner starting out in food blogging as it takes you through everything from setting up a shoot, using the different settings on your camera and editing finished photos so that they shine.
Implementing the advice in this book is what got my very first photo accepted by Foodgawker & Tastespotting!
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