Day 1- Using Your Phone to take food pictures that sell

Each of our Thirty ways in thirty days topics is introduced on this blog. This post covers using your camera to take and sell food photography.

Your smartphone is probably one of the most valuable money earners that you own. Making money with your smartphone is a new idea that is taking the digital world by storm. Most people will own a smartphone with a camera that takes a half decent picture. 

Making money with Food Photography

Start with taking pictures of food. Images of food can be taken several times a day providing you with opportunity all the time to add to your portfolio. Whether you are at home or out and about, you literally have a digital camera in your pocket all the time.

Taking pictures of food is not all that difficult and most food photographers will talk you through a few basic rules.

5 Basic Tips to take images of Food

1. Make sure that the light is right. Rather use natural light than your flash setting on your camera. Move the plate close to a window to gain the natural light. There will be times when using a light box to take the picture may be necessary but when possible use natural light. Look up and learn a little bit about reflectors, once you're going these will make a difference to the outcome of your photography.    
2. Collect some basic equipment. Possibly one of the most useful pieces of kit will be a tripod. using a tripod means that you will be able to concentrate more on angles and the picture than dealing with a bit of shake. A mobile phone tripod doesn't cost much a can be found easily online.
3. Think about the props. When taking a picture of food, remember that the plates, napkins and in some cases even the tableware will influence the outcome of the image. Ensure that there is sufficient contrast to draw the viewers eye to the subject of the image.
4. Shoot from different angles. Food looks different at different angles and by taking shots from as many angles as possible you will have a wide selection of shots to choose from. Clients also like to have a variety of shots to choose from.
5. Charge a slightly lower fee to retain copyright. That way you can upload your best shots to a stock photo site and generate a passive income.

Every town and most villages have a pub and restaurants. This will provide plenty of opportunity to get some good pics under your belt. if your local pub restaurant has a regular blog or are building a new website new food pics will be especially useful. Alternatively you can ask to take some pics in return for some online reviews.

Whether you want to make money working for clients or building up a stock photo portfolio, it is really easy to do it once you get your head around your smartphone camera.

The iPhone is really popular for pics and has even been used to make award winning films. You are not limited by the camera, but rather by your own creativity. Remember too that your phone will come with plenty of built in software that will take it all one step further and you can use filters and other tools to take excellent photos.

Take a day or two to get your head around the phone. learn the difference between Jpeg, PNG and RAW images. RAW images are the best to download as they are the easiest to edit without losing image quality.

Smartphones have cameras with the capacity to take photos that were considered top of the range only a few years ago on a DSLR. Master the basics and use your phone to take some excellent food pics.

You don't have to own the expensive kit either, There are ways to make your own reflectors so research how to improvise, especially if you are starting out and don't have an equipment budget.

Food Stock Photography

Every day thousands of individuals and agencies buy stock photos online. Images of food are in particular demand. Provided the images are of good quality and meet the platform criteria your pictures will sell over and over again. This is another form of passive income

With all the images you can possibly collect at your fingertips you will want to find a place that you can sell them - frequently. There are specialist stock sites and to get you started have a look at Stockfood. They have several guidelines and criteria but once you're established you may even find you get some private jobs too.

You can also sell you Photos using the FOAP app.

30 Ways in 30 days

The 30 ways in 30 days short course from Brayve Digital will provide a step by step guide on how take the pictures, prepare them and submit them. The short course also provides a resource file for all the best places to submit your photos and a range of how to videos to show you exactly how. £30 covers every different day. £1 for a course each day for 30 days.

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