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.
Search words: chippy paint bench, farm bench, shabby chic bench (*Note: Make sure to check the size)
Plates: Wilton Armetale RWP | Purchased: Ebay | Search words: pewter plates, Wilton RWP, Wilton Armetale. (Note: While the plates look like, and are often tagged with pewter, they are actually aluminum. Although you can find knockoffs Armetale knock-offs that maybe pewter and not aluminum.
Flatware: Random pieces | Purchased: Ebay | Search words: vintage flatware, antique silverware
Plate: Enamel pie pan | Purchased: Etsy | Search words: enamel pie pan, enamelware
Fabric: Dishtowel | Purchased: Muhs Home
Platter: Brass platter | Search words: brass platter
- Canvas
- Sabre
- Gilt
- Serena & Lily
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One Kings Lane
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
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 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.
Kitchen Belleicious says
genius! The old metal pans, the spoons? I know someone who has plenty of that stuff but never thought to ask her if I could borrow them. So glad I read this post
Liz says
Wow, such an amazing resource!!! So many incredible ideas...thank you, both!!!
Lemons and Anchovies says
What an absolutely helpful, informative post. Thank you, Naomi and Sylvie, sharing with us!
Josie says
Love your finds. I am working on starting a food and art blog. My shopping is very budget, thrift stores are the best and if you frequent them often, you can
find great things.
Amanda says
What a great post - so many tips. I'm a novice with photography and am very short of props at the moment, but am off to Ebay right now!
Kim Bee says
This is fantastic. I need to order some of those spoons.
Chef Dennis says
thank you so much for sharing your secrets with us, I for one am at a loss when it comes to props, now I finally know how to look for them!
angela@spinachtiger says
Every picture is breathtaking. Glad to also find your blog. I love rustic myself and I have a strong love for shooting food with old spoons and pewter. Very wonderful post.
Georgie says
Thank s for sharing your insights it's all very helpful and great information. Oh' and sharing your friends with us.
Grace says
You must have been reading my mind. I needed this information more than I can say. I've been on the hunt for a cake stand for months and was searching again today. I think armed with this information I may finally find what I'm looking for. I admire the both of you very much, very talented and the best kind of inspiration. Thank you!