Farm and Food Photography Tips
6 tips to improve your photography skills to showcase your food, farm & fields
When your peak season begins to slow down, and you find yourself spending more time at the desk and less time in the field, utilize this time indoors to come up with a marketing plan and create content to share online.
Whether you’re sharing the images on your online storefront, on social media, or in email marketing campaigns, you want high-quality content that stands out among the competition.
Continue reading for 6 tips to improve your food photography skills and help you take better photos of the food on your farm and in your fields.
📱Consider the platforms you’ll share your photos on.
Are you in need of simple product photos for your online shop? Do you want you post pics of your crew in the fields on Instagram or Facebook? Will you need hi-res photos for printed materials?
Consider every platform you’ll be using your images for, and make a list. Then take a variety of pictures in both portrait mode and landscape. You can always crop and edit them later.
🥒 Food prep on the photography set.
Yes, you need to prep your food to be photo ready. And no, we don’t mean you have to chop or cook anything (although that might be part of it!). Consider how you want to present your different cuts of meat, raw fruits and vegetables, or value added products. Will the meat be raw or cooked? Should your vegetables be shot on the vine, or post-harvest? Should the fruits be whole, or cut?
No matter how you choose to capture your photos, make sure to properly “plate” your produce to show off its best features. That might include trimming branches or extra leaves, wiping off excess dirt, or simply spacing your harvested produce in a pleasing way to improve composition and whitespace. Don’t be afraid to play with your food!
💡 Lighting is key.
Good lighting is one of the most important criteria for good food photography. Always try to shoot with natural light.
Indirect daylight is best — take photos on an overcast day, or set up in a shady spot on a sunny day. Indirect lighting provides a bright, even glow, while reducing harsh shadows or blown out colors that may result from harsh, direct sunlight.
If you use artificial lighting, light from the side, and assume you may have to spend more time editing.
🖼 Pay attention to framing & composition
If this is your first foray into photography, try all the angles. Play around with the camera settings if you’re feeling experimental, or opt for the auto settings.
If you’re using an iPhone, try portrait mode for close-up photos of food — it’s a game changer for close-up photos and portraits of your crew.
As you grow more comfortable behind the camera, the angle you choose will depend on the subject you’re shooting and your personal preference.
3 widely used views in food photography include:
1. Eye Level
Shooting at eye level is just like it sounds: position the camera on the same level as the subject, which can forge a more intimate connection with the product.
2. Bird’s Eye View
The Birds Eye View is shot from above and offers a highly graphic, intentional feel. It highlights the product and surroundings, but you still need to pay attention to your background and individual elements.
3. 45 Degree Angle
The 45 degree angle, or 3/4 view, allows you to accentuate details on all sides of your product. This shot is particularly easy on the eye, as it utilizes the angle we see when we sit down to eat, so it can make your produce appear even more appetizing.
✍️ Learn to edit to optimize your content.
If you framed your products and used natural, diffused lighting, you shouldn’t need to edit much.
Your edits should be small and subtle; you may need to sharpen the image if shot on your phone. Increase contrast, brightness, and saturation, but only slightly. You want your images to look as natural and true-to-life as possible.
Cameras on our phones now now rival professional models. Both the iPhone, Andriod, and Google phones have an “Auto” photo editor function that minimizes hands-on editing, while still allowing you to manually adjust the settings. Scroll to the bottom for FREE photo editing tools.
✍️ Strategize how you will share new products.
Now that you’ve spent the time and energy to shoot and edit beautiful farm photos, you want to share them with your customers.
When you update inventory on GrownBy, ensure that your product descriptions and photos are accurate and consistent.
When adding new products, be sure to announce the new product to your followers and customers. Whether that’s updating your GrownBy account, sending an email to your CSA list, posting on your social media account, or updating the banner on your website, always announce your new or upcoming offerings.
This is an opportunity to share your farm’s story apart from the products you sell— showcase images of your field, track plant growth, or farming techniques to build up to the product announcement once you harvest and it’s ready for sale.
📸 Consider outsourcing as needed.
As farmers, we know that it takes a lot of time to shoot, edit, and upload photos and product descriptions of all your farm offerings. Between the planning to the planting, the weeding to the harvesting, it can be easy to forget to document the process and products along the way!
Ask your crew to share photos from their day in the field to capture process pics and landscapes at different times of day. Not only will this provide a variety of content, but new perspectives.
You may also want to consider hiring a local photographer to shoot your farm, crew, fields, and products. If you grow the same crops every year, one shoot can provide content for years, and is well worth the investment. Just be sure to properly credit photos.
While original content is best, www.unsplash.com is a phenomenal resource for high quality, free stock photography. Just search the product you’re looking for, and download for free — you don’t even need an account!
Free Editing Tools, Apps & Resources
CANVA offers free account access to a limited number of stock photos, photo editing, and designing templates for your marketing content. The paid subscription grants access to a wider range of stock photography.
Pixlr @pixlr
Canva @canva
Fotor @fotor
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Stay tuned for more information, tips, and inspiration for creating, marketing, and improving your product listings on your farm store. Follow along at @farmgenerationscoop and @grownbyapp.
