After 10 years of visually documenting my food, I've learned a couple of things on food photography. I'm going to share with you all the equipment I use; everything from cameras to linens. Please keep in mind, I am not a professional photographer by any means and have no real education in photography. My food blog is a hobby I'm passionate about and I'm sharing with you the tools I use to produce pictures for my blog and social media outlets.
I will note that I have two different sets of equipment. I use smaller and lighter gear when shooting at a restaurant. When I'm shooting at home, I have bigger and heavier gear.
Camera Gear
I have two canon cameras I currently use. When shooting recipes at home I use my Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. When shooting outside of the home, I use a 7 year old Canon Rebel SL1. When I'm shooting video content for Instagram or Tiktok, I shoot with my Apple Iphone 12 Pro Max.
The lenses I use are simple. I use the 18-55mm kit lens on the Canon Rebel. I usually have a polarizer filter on my 18-55mm kit lens. On my Canon Mark IV I use the EF 24-105mm L lens that I purchased used. I also use a 50mm f/1.4 fixed lens. I use canon hoods on all of my lenses.
I also have 2 extra battery packs for each camera, you never want to be caught with a dead battery in the middle of shooting.
I also have scarf camera straps on both of my cameras so my neck doesn't ache from carrying my camera.
Lighting
Now that you know what cameras I use, now to talk about lighting and tripods. I try to use natural indirect light 90% of the time. The other 10% of the time I use artificial light.
When dining out, I carry with me the VILTROX L116T Key Light at 5600K at 20-30% brightness. In the past, I used to use a much smaller selfie ring light that can be clipped onto most cellphones.
When at home, I use a large light diffuser to help diffuse natural light in my living room where I shoot.
I also use 20in x 30in black and white foam boards I bought at my local dollar tree to help block and reflect light, respectively.
Lastly, I have a Neewer LED Softbox that I occasionally use at home as well.
Tripods
For my cellphone, I use an overhead phone stand when shooting video of me cooking. You can see it in the picture above. I really like this stand because you can angle your phone in a variety of ways, not just flat overhead. I also have a cellphone tripod with a blue tooth remote.
For my camera, I made the mistake of buying a cheap tripod that couldn't sustain the weight of my Canon Mark IV. That camera is expensive and I need a tripod that I can trust. My next splurge will be buying a Manfrotto Tripod with a Manfrotto quick release head.
Props
This is where I spend the bulk of my money. From backdrops, to different color plates and bowls. cutlery and linens.
My backdrops are all from erickson surfaces. Their surfaces are beautiful, handmade and sturdy. They are also available to make custom backdrops. Each one is double sided with your choice of pattern/color.
Many of my plates, linens, serving boards and cake stands come from Home Goods. I've also bought glassware at Dollar Tree. I love to get one of a kind bowls from the Ceramic League of Miami. I recently discovered Sugarboo & Co and have gotten some bowls there as well.
I also love checking out local antique shops for vintage cutlery and serving spoons.
Editing Software
I use Adobe Lightroom to edit all of my still images. For video, I use Vixer and InShot.
That's It
There you have it folks. That's everything I use to produce my pictures. Hopefully this helps you and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!
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