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Let me be honest with you. When we decided to start this series on food photography, I was elated because we’ll be able to share the inner-workings of this site. But now…now I’m terrified of telling you the wrong things because I’m not a professional. Did I mention we’re not experts on this?! Let that be a glaring disclaimer. However, we do hope the information in the series would help you, or at least inspire you to take better food photos. ** Don’t hesitate to ask any questions or offer advice. We’re open to learning and getting better at this, too. Sharing is caring! :) **

Here’s the low-down: We don’t have a macro photo studio, no insanely expensive equipment, flash or ‘umbrella’. All the photos you see here are not under any special lighting…just ambient fluorescent light in the kitchen, and incandescent in the dining room — horrible, yes? But we’ve worked around these limitations even with our basic photography tools and equipment (and so can you!):

1. Digital SLR camera (Nikon D80) with 18-135 mm lens. When we began Gourmeted.com, most of the photos were taken with a Nikon Coolpix 5200 point-and-shoot camera. Were the photos from the DSLR better? Yes, understandably. Is it “required” to take food photos? Absolutely not. We’ve used both for different purposes and although the DSLR camera is ideal for the quality and depth of the photos you can take, sometimes it’s just too big (and embarrassing) to bring to a restaurant, for example. We have yet to muster up the gumption to take photos at the restaurant with that big camera. Bottom line is, you don’t need to get an expensive camera to take decent photos. Come to think of it we’ve never used the Nikon Coolpix on a tripod, but I will try to do that to show you what’s possible and the differences between the shots in case you’re ready to take the leap from point-and-shoot and invest on a DSLR camera.

2. A digital UV filter - It’s used to protect the lens from dirt, splatter, etc. Replacing a UV filter is more pocket-friendly than replacing your lens.

3. Sunpak 9002DX tripod. It’s hard to rely on your own ’stillness’ when taking food photos and whether you’re using a point-and-shoot camera or the ‘big camera’, tripods will surely help. Well, that’s my personal opinion. We don’t use flash and the only way you can get more light into the camera without blurring the photos is to have longer exposures with the tripod. We get sharp pictures because of the tripod.

4. Nikon ML-L3 Infrared Remote Controller - Best way to do step-by-step photos while you’re doing the cooking yourself. This will also be very useful outside of the kitchen when you use your infra-red capable camera for taking family portraits.

5. Gray card - You see that pre-set white balance option with your camera? This is what you use to customize the white balance setting and not rely on the factory settings for different lighting (it’s not even satisfactory). Our gray card was free from one of last year’s issues of Digital Camera (the magazine is not cheap, but the gray card is free…good logic there coming from a woman…hah). You can also purchase it on Amazon on its own: here are examples.

6. Photoshop - From resizing, to fixing and cleaning photos, this is what we use. All photos we took that you see here has gone through this program. Photoshop can make a whole world of difference, making an ordinary photo into an extraordinary shot. If you’re serious about photography and getting great end results, I suggest you start learning it. There are other beginner photo editing softwares out there and I’ve never used them so I can’t really say anything about them. How did I learn Photoshop? I learned it on my own, getting frustrated, reading more, getting back to it again. It wasn’t easy but it was all worth it.

7. Camera manual - This is the last but definitely not the least. Unfortunately, a lot of people do not read their camera manual and it’s such a shame because there they go, spending what…$300 for a point-and-shoot digital camera or $1,200 for a DSLR and all they know to set it to is AUTO when taking photos? I find that heart-breaking. You will realize that you can do so much more with your toy if you take the time to read the manual. Even if you don’t understand all of it, at least you will know what your camera is capable of doing, and maybe someone else who knows more than you do can explain the other features.

These are all that we use!

Next up: Part II: The Unassuming Little Gray Card No One Told You About and How to Use It.

P.S. And yes, yes, we do have an online store now! We get referral fees to the tune of 4% when you purchase from the store. Proceeds will go to our annual purchase of a box of Williams-Sonoma homemade marshmallows. Hurray! Go shopping!

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