Behind the scenes
The equipment we use for food photography
If you want to start your photography journey, or videography, we put together a super helpful list of what we currently use (and a wishlist), because the photography game is always upgrading and let’s be honest: it can get out of hand. Before we start, we want to highlight that it took a good amount of time to gather all the equipment we have today and the list is still growing (remember the wishlist?) So you only need a camera to start! ps: that includes a smartphone
A little mention before we dive deep, please note that some of the links below are affiliate links, which means we earn a small commission if you purchase through them. We love to use all the products listed below and recommend them (not the tripod.. you’ll see) because we believe in them! Let’s go!
CAMERA
We’re always missing out on not having the main camera with us, the Canon 80D and yes, we do have our phones, but there isn’t as much manual control that compares to a DSLR camera yet.
I bought this camera at 2AM a few years ago, because that’s when good decisions happen in life. It had a swivel screen and that was enough to finalise the order. I can tell you now that it was indeed a very good decision!
But, don’t judge me as the previous Nikon D3100 was bundled with the 18-55mm VR Lens Kit and a free coffee machine. Talk about influence, huh? We currently use the Nikon as a back up camera.
Anyway, let’s get serious: the camera provides great results, especially when paired with our favourite Macro lens. The initial purpose for the camera was to use it for YouTube, but we found it’s muuuch better to dive deep into food photography using the Canon 80D and simply use our phones for videos until we build our dream setup. We both use IPhone 11 and the camera quality is simply amazing.
A few main points for the specs fans out there:
- 24.2 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor
- 45-point all cross-type AF system with low-light sensitivity up to -3 EV
- Full HD 1080p video recording at up to 60 fps with Dual Pixel CMOS AF
- Vari-angle 3.0-inch touch screen LCD
- Built-in Wi-Fi and NFC
LENSES
The macro magic
The Canon 100mm 2.8 Macro lens – full name Canon Macro EF 100 1:2.8 L IS USM is our hero. It’s hard to make a photo look bad with this lens, but very easy at the same time due to the shallow depth of field. Efficient focus locking technology, rarely misses the target, feels like a very solid build and most importantly, the quality is just chef’s kiss!
Did someone ask yeah, but is it weather proof? Yes it is! Have we tried testing it? Not yet, thank you! As of right now, we like the indoors, controlled environment we shoot in, but never say never.
Both Helga and I believe this is a strong gear combination, the camera paired with this lens make a strong duo. Flat lays, any angled degree shots and the beautiful straight on shots that can make great use of depth of field and guiding the attention towards the subject – none of these are an obstacle for this beast. We are looking at a few other lenses for the future, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
If you are looking for the perfect lens to start in food photography, we highly recommend the Canon 100mm 2.8 Macro!
Although we are getting the job done with the 100mm Macro, lenses are a personal preference and what’s working for us, might not be the best for you. You can try the lenses in a camera store if you’re lucky to have one near you or rent them for a day and go wild. We also have the Canon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 and the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 in our backpack and we usually use them for wider shots.
LIGHT
This will be the forever changing aspect of our life. Currently, we rely a ton on natural light and reflectors. We’ve used almost anything under the sun to get results, such as: t-shirts wrapped around cardboards, drapery, curtains, Ikea shelves (that’s right!), some wooden masks with metal stands that are heavy enough to support some white boards vertically and so on.
We do have two artificial lights that we use when the sun goes down and we still have some shooting left to do. The main big light we use for photography is the Neewer 18-inch LED Ring Light and for videography the Yongnuo Studio 600 LED Video Light.
Recently, we purchased a new toy to play with: GODOX MS300-V Studio Flash light. I’ve used Speedlights in the past and they have been fantastic, but they are battery operated and it is time to have constant power and not focus on charging batteries every time we plan a shoot. The reason for choosing this type of light is to give us more control in our action shots, specifically sharper details. We also had to purchase a trigger together with this light and we decided to go for the Godox X2T-C Wireless Flash Trigger.
ACCESSORIES
Tripod
One of the crucial elements for food photography is the tripod. Having a sturdy tripod makes work sooooo much easier. Our current tripod is Giottos MH5001. Lately we had some trouble with it and whilst it’s getting the job done, we need a change. The one thing we added to this tripod is the SMALLRIG Tripod Ball Head which rotates 360°.
Meanwhile, a smaller tripod that we highly recommend is the JOBY GorillaPod Kit and you will have a 360° ball head included too. The best thing about this tripod is that it is fully flexible and you can attach it onto everything! Yes, everything! It has wrappable legs and holds up to 3kgs. Did I hear you say bundle? If my hearing is right this was thrown in as a freebie with the backpack (we’ll get there shortly).
For top down shoots we currently use the Suptek Monitor Arm in combination with the SMALLRIG ball head.
Microphone
Any video needs good sound and good sound comes from a good microphone. I tried multiple mics in the past but the best one so far is the RØDE VideoMic GO II. The reason for choosing it was adaptability: hot shoe mount, 3.5mm jack and USB-C outputs + a shock mount included. By now you should know that I love a good bundle, so the mic had a RØDE Deluxe Windshield WS12 a.k.a. the dead cat included.
Graphic Tablets
When it comes to the final shot, a massive part of the job is retouching and editing images, a.k.a. the glorious post-production.
The results can be roughly the same if done with a keyboard and mouse, but it is much, much easier to get a graphic tablet or a pen display. There are other bits of hardware available, depending on how much you dabble in video editing for example, you can get what is called an ‘editor keyboard’ which looks like a DJ Mixing table.
The graphic tablet is made up of a surface that is recognizing a wireless pen input which has pressure sensitivity built into it, meaning it can sense how hard you are pressing on the surface and it will adjust your brush opacity and/or size in Photoshop or Lightroom. These tablets can do a lot and their key function is to make editing easier and faster and boy, do they do a good job at it!
Wacom has been a brand I’ve used for the last 15 years, my very first tablet was a Wacom Bamboo Small, used for more than 6 years and worked flawlessly. Second tablet was a step up, Intuos Pro Small, which came with extra levels of pressure and a more premium feel and eventually I saved up enough to make the jump onto a Cintiq 27 QHD Touch Display and I’ve been using it for many years now.
BACKPACK
When we do need to travel for shoots on location, our trusty, military grade backpack makes that journey safe for our gear. Lowepro ProTactic 450 AW II was discovered back in January 2023 and the rest is history. Super strong build, the zippers are not the smoothest ever, but they feel solid and the overall comfort level is just ok. Nothing fancy or flimsy, just a straight-up strong, wearable bunker for your gear.
To be completely honest, it’s the only one we’ve tried in recent years, but it instantly provided what we needed: safe travelling for all the gear, sturdy build and it’s not great that I need to mention this, but you may be interested to know and we appreciate how difficult it is to get inside the bag from the outside, which helps ease our mind when we are out and about.
SOFTWARE & ORGANIZATIONAL TOOLS
There are so many apps and softwares choices out there which help you edit your photos and videos and each of them has so many different features that we lost count. For editing food photos, we currently use Adobe Creative Cloud apps. I love spending my time editing in Photoshop and Helga’s weapon of choice is Lightroom Classic. For video editing our main software is Premiere Pro which is very easy to learn and use.
To organise my chaotic thoughts and ideas I use Notion. You can create a team project and invite everyone involved in order to have it all in one place. It is perfect because we can very easily share the tasks and ideas between us and have an organised schedule at the same time.
After many nights of research trying to find which website provider is the best, we came to a conclusion: WordPress. Yes, we created this website through WordPress, but you need a good hosting provider to run your website smoothly. For this, we use Hostinger. The plans are affordable, good protection and the most important bit – full control. Bonus point because they also have good bundles for domains and hosting plans. If you are looking to create your new website and launch your business, Hostinger helped us a lot and we have a little gift for you: 20% discount if you sign up HERE.