Essential Gear For Food Photography!
Food and drink photography is becoming more and more popular. With more opportunities to turn a budding hobby into a profession. Now is a great time to get into food and drink photography. Or to upgrade your old equipment and hone your food and drink photography skills. But what equipment will you need? What food and drink photography equipment will best benefit your photography? If you find you’re asking yourself “What equipment do I need for food and drink photography” look no further.
This is my guide to the essential gear to food photography!
Why is food and drink photography equipment important?
People engage more with visuals. If you own or run a food and drink brand, bars, restaurant, hotel or cafe. Then having your food and drink captured beautifully in photos will vastly improve your brand identity and brand quality. Having worked in multiple hospitality venues I know this more than anyone.
For food bloggers today, it can be difficult. Believe me, i’m one myself. Separating yourself from the millions of other food bloggers is hard. A great way to achieve that is by working on your visuals. Having beautiful photos of your food or drink recipes will encourage people to check out the full post. So having the equipment to take better food and drink photos is essential.
Check out this post to see the full reasons why food and drink photography is important.
With that being said. What equipment is needed? What food blogger equipment is needed? Business owner equipment? Overall food and drink photography equipment? Luckily, when talking about food and drink photography. Whether you’re a food blogger or a professional photographer. The equipment you will need is much the same.
Food Photography Photo.
Essential Equipment and gear for food and drink photography
Disclosure, this post includes affiliate links in partnership with amazon affiliates. Meaning, If you purchase anything from the links below. I earn a small commission at no cost to you. Using amazon means i have the ability to promote only the products I like the most and use myself.
DLSR Camera
Although you can take stunning food and drink photos on your smartphone. A DLSR Camera will sure help you along.
In fact, If you’re completely new to food and drink photography I recommend starting with a smartphone. It’s always best to build your skills before applying them with the proper equipment.
However, if you have already started snapping food photos and/or drink photos. And are looking to upgrade your setup and buy a camera. Or perhaps upgrade your current camera. I have a few recommendations below.
Top tip: A camera lens will benefit your food photography more than the camera body will. If you already have a camera and are looking to upgrade. I recommend checking out the section on lenses first. See if any of them will fit your Camera. You will get a lot more for your money spending your budget on a new lens then a new camera.
Of course that will only apply to people who already have a DLSR Camera. If you do not have a camera. Depending on the size of your budget. I would recommend buying one of the cheaper cameras from the list below. Then spending the rest of your budget on a camera lens to upgrade said camera. For more on how to use the equipment you have for food and drink photography, check out my food photography book here.
Best Cameras For Food and Drink Photography
For the professional
Sony Alpha 7 III
Sony Alpha 7 III | Full-Frame Mirrorless Camera
Price: Was £2,000.00 Now £1,749.00
This is truly an amazing camera body to have. No question about it, this will take the utmost best food and drink photos.
Beginners Camera
Canon EOS 4000
Canon EOS 4000D DSLR Camera and EF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 III Lens Price:
Was £369.99 Now £299.90
This camera may be a beginners food photography camera. But that by no means makes it low quality. You will get amazing photos with this camera.
Top tip: Pair it with a Canon 50mm lens for amazing and versatile food shots.
Honorable camera mentions.
These are perfect for that in between budget. Can’t quite afford the Sony A7iii but looking for something more impressive than the Canon EOS 4000.
Camera Lens for food and drink photography
The Camera lens is important when it comes to food and drink photography. It’s the piece of equipment that is going to better the quality of your food and drink photography, better the focus and give you that crisp detail that’s ever so important within food and drink photography.
As i mentioned above. If you’re working with a small budget, the lens is where you want to spend that budget. Before considering buying a new camera, Always consider if it will be better for you to upgrade your camera lens. When it comes to food and drink photography. The answer to that question will almost always be upgrading the lens.
Just keep in mind you need to get a lens that will attach to your camera body. Not all will.
The Nifty Fifty
The nifty fifty refers to a 50mm Camera lens. This is generally the most popular camera lens for photographers. When upgrading to your first camera lens. The “nifty fifty” 50mm lens is always a great go to. You will instantly see the difference between a lens that comes with a camera and an upgraded lens.
Why is this lens perfect for food and drink photography? When looking for a camera lens. You will be looking for three factors. The “mm” “f/” and “Shutterspeed”. I won't go into too much detail regarding these factors here. You can find out all about them and how they affect food photography in my book, A Basic guide to food photography.
What I will say is the “mm” number is important to food and drink photography due to what it does. The mm basically refers to how close you can capture detail in a subject.
To use an example with food and drink. If you were taking a photo of say, an ice cold cocktail. A lower mm such as 20 or 30 would capture the whole drink but no details. A higher mm such as 50, 60 or 90mm would pick up the beads of condensation on the glass and the subtle detail on the garnish. You have a much closer focus point. Higher mm lenses are also consider Macro Lenses, perfect for super close up photography.
The higher the mm, generally, the higher the price. Which is why 50mm works great for food photography. It’s an affordable lens that has the perfect focus point for most foods and drinks.
I use a 50mm for 98% of my food and drink photography such as the example photos below.
Pea and mint soup food photography shot with 50mm lens.
Pasta salad food photography shot with 50mm lens.
Two of the best 50mm camera lenses for food and drink photography.
Nikon 50 mm
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR f/1.8G Lens - 50 mm
Price: £190.00
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM - camera lenses
Price: £109.99
The “f/” Number is also an important factor in food and drink photography. The lower the f/stop the closer the focus.
For example, In food photography. If you were to take a photo of a cake. You want the cake to be the focus point and the background to be blurred. A higher f/ such as f/5.6 would lead to the whole of your image being in focus. If you had a lens that could take that number down to f/1.8 or f/2.5 then you would be blurring out everything other than the cake.
Below are a few macro lenses that are perfect for food and drink photography and within budget.
Tripods for food and drink photography
A tripod will vastly help you with food and drink photography. Mainly, by doing two things. Firstly, having a tripod allows you to build your composition and frame around your camera. Rather than setting up your composition then moving around with your camera trying to find the perfect angle.
For the perfectionist, it's the way to go. It gives you a lot more control over the end image. Secondly, it gives you the ability to step away from your camera and move things around whilst taking photos. The way this works great in food photography is for them moments you want to add a human element to your food photography. Such as picking up a burger, or cutting a slice of cake.
Below is a list of the BEST Tripods for food and drink photography
Camera Tripod ESDDI 64
ESDDI 64 Inches Aluminum Tripod with Monopod 360 Degree Ball Head.
Price: £51.99
SAMTIAN 58inch/147cm Lightweight Aluminum Travel Camera Tripod with 3-Way Swivel Head.
Price: £36.59
Camera Tripods with lateral arms
A Tripod with a lateral arm is important for them, trendy overhead birds eye view shots. Getting that perfectly straight and centre shot from above is difficult but once achieved looks amazing. Having a tripod with a lateral arm will do that with no problem.
Top view of granola | Food and drink photography shot with a lateral arm tripod.
Artificial Lighting
Natural light will always be your best bet for food and drink photography. But you can’t always use natural light. There will be times when you can't shoot next to a window. Such as if you’re taking photos in a kitchen with no windows.
There are also moments when natural light just won't do. Such as when you're creating dark and moody food photos or trying to create a certain shadow in food and drink photography.
Wanting to turn your passion into a business? Wanting to become a professional food and drink photographer? Than artificial lighting is a must. Most bars and restaurants just won't have the natural light you need.
Buying the right artificial photography lighting can be difficult. There are so many options. Do you go for continuous lights or strobe lights? I’ve made it simple for you by listing the best lights for food and drink photography lighting below.
The lights I use for my food and drink photography
ESDDI Softbox Photography Lighting Kit 2
ESDDI Softbox Photography Lighting Kit 20 x 28 inch with 800W and 5500K Soft Lights.
Price: £73.99
A Guide To Food Photography Book
Above is some of the most helpful food and drink photography equipment to take your food and drink photography to the next level. If you’re a food blogger visuals are important and that equipment will help. If you run or own a food and drink brand, bar or restaurant then visuals are also important for your brand identity, This equipment will help you on your way.
Turning your passion into a business? That is some of the basic equipment to take your hobby professional.
However… Without the proper knowledge to use that equipment then its useless. Furthermore that is just a handful of equipment needed. There are also bounce cards, reflectors, diffusers and much more. Equipment that is cheap to buy or can even be made at home DIY style.
The most important piece of equipment you will ever need for your food photography isn’t the camera lens or the artificial lights. The most important equipment you will have is in fact one of the cheapest pieces of equipment you will own. And that all important food and drink equipment is the knowledge on how to use that equipment and how to take great photos.
Below is my book on food photography. It covers all the equipment you will need, how to use it and how to make it yourself. As Well as composition, lighting, creative food photography, tips and tricks for honing your food photography skills.
For everything you need to know for better your food photography in a neat, compact guide check out the food photography book below.
Food Photography Ebook: A guide to taking great food shots.
Price £4.99
Food Photography Paperback Book: A guide to taking great food shots.
Price £14.99
If you’re on the fence and wanting more information about the book. Check out this page here
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More Food And Drink Photography Resources
If you’re looking for more resources on food and drink photography, check out the pages below.