Finding Props for Food Photography with Naomi Robinson | Summer Food Photography Series Part One

This week I am kicking off another photography series like I did last year with a number of guest posts from bloggers, photographers and stylists all sharing their best tips and tricks on creating beautiful images.  Today please welcome my very good friend and fellow food photography lover Naomi Robinson of Bakers Royale who is going to share her secrets to sourcing great props for food photography.

I’m so excited to be guest posting here at Gourmande in the Kitchen. Sylvie's blog is one of my favorite food blogs for many reasons - one of them being Sylvie's incredible photos.

Given the professional grade photography on Gourmande in the Kitchen, let’s start this off right; I'm a beginner when it comes to photography. So I'm not here to talk about any technical aspects of picture taking. I'm here to talk about the one thing I have managed to do well, despite my protesting wallet - food prop sourcing.

Since I get quite a few questions about my backgrounds and my props, Sylvie and I thought it might be helpful to share with you where and how I find them. My top shopping destinations are eBay and Etsy. I can't say I like one better than the other, nor can I say one is less expensive than the other. What I can say and recommend is checking both sites when sourcing something.

To simplify things I'm going to display photos with the props I'm most often asked questions about. I've included where they were purchased along with the search words I used to find them. Finding the right search words is the difference between having a just few or a lot of pages returned to you for browsing. Now my style is primarily rustic so the words most often used to describe that category, outside of vintage and antique, are primitive and chippy or chippy paint.

 

 

 

Background: Wood box | Purchased: Etsy | Search words: primitive box, chippy paint box

Pan: Cast iron pan | Purchased: Sur La Table

Fabric:Dishtowel | Purchased: Etsy | Search words: vintage kitchen farm towels

 

Background: Wood board | Purchased: eBay | Search words: primitive wood cutting boards, primitive bread boards

Pan:Pie tins | Purchased: Ebay | Search words: vintage pie pans, vintage pie tins

 

Background: Homemade wood board
Platter: Brass platter | Search words: brass platter

 

Since I primarily shoot with a rustic style, I shared my best sourcing places and tips for that. But here are a few other places that I also enjoy and shop at:

• Canvas
• Sabre
• Gilt
• Serena & Lily
• One Kings Lane

 

Thanks again, Sylvie, for having me here with your readers. I hope you guys enjoyed this!

Naomi Robinson is a self taught baker and the author of the blog Bakers Royale.  She’s armed  with an abundant reserve of passion and determination for baking and creating.  You can find her on Twitter @BakersRoyale and on Facebook 

Be sure to read the full Summer Food Photography Series:

Styling for Food Photography with Chantelle Grady | Summer Food Photography Series Part Two

Learning Your Camera and How to Shoot Moody Images with Peter Georgakopoulos | Summer Food Photography Series Part Three

Rules and Tips on Restaurant Photography with Brian Samuels | Summer Food Photography Series Part Four

Food Videography with Russell van Kraayenburg | Summer Food Photography Series Part Five

Q&A with Food Photographer Jim Scherer | Summer Food Photography Series Part Six

Sylvie

Sylvie Shirazi is the recipe developer and food photographer behind Gourmande in the Kitchen. For the last 10 years she's been making eating more healthfully easy and accessible with gluten-free, grain-free, paleo and vegan recipes that are free from processed ingredients.