Then vs now: How my food photography has evolved over time
To show you the difference, I’ve pulled examples from the archives that I will share throughout this post as side-by-side comparisons of old vs. new photos of the same or a similar dish.
If you go back even five years ago on my Instagram, you’ll see my photos weren’t always the high-quality images I’m proud of today.
Some of those early shots honestly make me cringe, but I love them too, because they remind me of where I started. It’s always been about sharing the food that I love to make, and I do the same thing now, just with better lighting.
I’m a self-taught food photographer, and in the early days of my blog, my goal was just to document my recipes to share them with friends and family. Fancy production value didn’t matter to me so much then, but I would sometimes get my friend Angelique to come take photos for me.
Over time, as my blog and following grew, so did my desire to improve my photography skills. Looking back over my old hard drives, the evolution has been more incredible than I realized, so I wanted to share how far I’ve come with you, along with the major changes I made on the way.
I found my style (then lost it… then found it again)
Every photographer has a distinct style, and it took me a while to settle into mine.
My food styling started off super simple. I’d have just a plate of food on a plain-ish background, maybe with a tea towel or one visual element added in. They looked natural, like quick snaps you could take on your iPhone… and mine were actually taken on an old iPhone for the first 2 years of the blog until I switched to DSLR for my first paid client shoot.
As we got closer to 2018 and 2019, the trends in food photography had shifted to more elaborate setups. Picture those complicated tablescapes you see in food magazines with lots of different items and ingredients, as well as the main dish.
I started trying to emulate the “fancy” food photographers by adding lots of props and backgrounds, thinking that was the right way to do it. Long story short, it wasn’t authentic to me.
Eventually, I found a happy medium between simple and elaborate. I circled back to a cleaner, more minimal style that lets the food shine.
These days, I focus more on thoughtful composition of the actual food on the plate, specifically, and careful lighting rather than throwing too many things in the frame. It took me some time (and a few bad napkin-styling experiments) to understand that simple doesn’t have to mean boring and that adding more things doesn’t always make the shot better.
2. I upgraded my equipment and process.
When I first started, my approach to my photography setup was super casual. I didn’t have any fancy gear or a studio space. I used what I had available, which was my home kitchen, natural California sunshine, and a phone camera (later a DSLR). Shoots tended to be quick and simple, and I found myself taking 50+ shots for one recipe because I didn’t know what I would end up liking.
Now, each shoot is more of a production. A simple blog recipe shoot now takes about two to four hours, not including planning and testing. For product shoots for clients, it can be as much as 30 to 60 minutes per shot after meticulous planning.
Over the years, I’ve invested in better equipment, especially lighting (continuous and flash), and I’ve created reliable systems that allow me to shoot efficiently, whether I’m working from my kitchen or converting a room into a temporary studio for a client shoot.
I always work to keep the focus on the product (in my food blog’s case, this would be the food), and sometimes, things don’t go to plan, and I have to improvise. I took a long while on my recent fried falafel recipe shoot, because yes, even falafel has a good side!
Upping my photography game has allowed me to work on some exciting client shoots for Tillamook, Nutella, All Recipes, RX Bar, and more. I have an upcoming product shoot for a brand that has the cutest branding and packaging, which only makes my job easier and more exciting.
3. I plan my shots out during the recipe testing phase.
One of the biggest shifts in my process is how much I plan ahead.
For every recipe, I know I need at least 2-3 hero shots of the final dish, step-by-step photos, ingredient photos, and some backups. When I test recipes, I’m not just thinking about taste and texture from a recipe perspective. I’m already visualizing what the end photos will look like. Which steps need a process shot? Would it be more helpful to show the mixture before or after blending? Each photo is planned for the final shoot during this testing time.
To guide me, I try to anticipate what my readers will need to see to feel confident making the recipe themselves. The photos are a tool to help me paint as clear a picture as possible of what making the recipe entails and what the final result should look like.
4. I edit less and more thoughtfully.
I used to rely heavily on editing, and I blame early Instagram. When I first started using Instagram, you’d slap a filter on a photo and call it a day, and it was okay because they all looked like that. The filters used to all look really fake. I do think they’ve gotten better, and now people either intentionally go for a bold filter or choose something subtle to lightly enhance the photo.
As I have grown more confident, I have realized that my ultimate goal with editing isn’t to make food look artificially “better” than it is. The goal is to make my dishes look as close to how they look in real life. It took a lot of effort to learn that cranking up the contrast on something isn’t necessarily better.
Now, my photos barely get edited at all. If anything, I just make small tweaks. I might enhance a specific color or adjust the lighting slightly, but I rarely do more than that. I aim to make the beauty of the plate look the same when it's captured in an image. Great lighting is what helps me do this.
Every couple of years, I look back at some of the photos I've taken—some I still love, and others I would approach differently now. I don’t necessarily want to change them, but I learn a lot from critiquing my own work.
What's next?
Next, I’m working now to level up my video game. I want to start a video series that teaches how to make each recipe, with better production value. I’ve historically shared stories along with my cooking videos instead of instructions, and have shot most of the overheads with my phone. We’ll see how it goes, but I will say—I’m looking forward to it.