As a food blogger, photos are one of the most important aspects of my job! Here are my top iPhone Photography Tips for Food Bloggers. Though any blogger can apply the same concepts!
One of my most asked questions is, "what type of camera/lens do you use"? When I first started blogging, I was using my iPhone 6S. About two years in, I upgraded my phone to the iPhone X and that's what I shoot all my photos with.
Yep... No fancy DSLR or point and shoot here. Since starting my food blog just over four years ago, I've only ever captured photos on my phone.
Back in the beginning, I didn't edit any of my photos. From time to time I would slap an Instagram filter on them, but for the most part what I shot is what I would upload. Eventually I started playing around with the auto-crop and brightness.
Just about a year ago, I got more into photo editing. Here are my three go-to free phone apps I currently use to edit photos.
Apps for iPhone Photography
Once I take my photos, decided on a few, I'll take them into each of these apps and make some minor tweaks.
Lightroom
I mostly use Lightroom to auto-straighten the photos, if need be. Two other tools I really are the auto-light and enable lens corrections under optics. Lately, I've also been experimenting with the bright preset!
Snapseed
Once I have the edited photo from Lightroom, I'll take it into Snapseed and go into white balance. For the most part, I let the auto-temperature do it's thing. Sometimes I'll have to make some minor adjustments. After that, I'll see how it looks with the brighten curve layed over it. From there I'll increase the details then go into tune image. This is where you can adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, ambiance, highlights, shadows, and warmth. Once I'm happy with my image, I'll save it and move onto the next.
ColorStory
A couple months ago I started hearing more and more about presets. They give your photos and Instagram grid a nice cohesive feel. Most presets are too intense for me so I was never super interested, but then I discovered ColorStory. I actually saved several presets to my favorites, so I adjust each way down to create "my own preset". Try it out!
More iPhone Photography Tips for Food Bloggers
Lighting: Always try to shoot in natural lighting. An overcasting day is my favorite! Regardless of where you're taking photos, watch out for shadows.
Styling: Garnish food, add a cloth napkin in the shot for some texture, show featured ingredients off to the side, don't be afraid to play with your food.
Keep Practicing!
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