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.
Sukaina says
Naomi- so very generous of you to share all this here. Can't wait to spend some $$$!
Shumaila says
I LOOOOOOVE this post. This has been pinned, will be visited so often. Fabulous! Love Naomi's site and her photography! And what a well needed post for any food blogger.
Nami | Just One Cookbook says
Hi Sylvie & Naomi! Now I know where to get all these wonderful things! It might sound silly but I actually never thought of shopping these items in Ebay or Etsy! So this really opened my eyes and I also appreciate that you put keywords because sometimes I don't even know how to call things in proper name. BIG thanks to both ladies!!
Heather | Farmgirl Gourmet says
This is an awesome post Sylvie. I love all of the sourcing ideas. I was popping back and forth from this post to eBay. It was quite comical! 🙂 Thanks for inspiring us all!!
Heather
Danielle says
what a great post! I loved every second of it! Thank you for sharing. I'm passing it along to some of my blogging friends.
TidyMom says
This is awesome Naomi!......now I want to see where/how you store it all! lol
I would have never thought to look up brass trays!
TastefullyJulie says
I keep saying I'm going to make a rustic wooden board and I STILL haven't done it. Good to know I can look on ebay for one. Thanks!
Sanjeeta kk says
Thanks to both the lovely ladies for sharing such a useful post...a treasure to bookmark!
Aldy @ Al Dente Gourmet says
Hi Sylvie & Naomi,
Gorgeous guest post! Beautiful props and styling 🙂
Hugs <3
talons hauts & cacao says
wahouuu great post for me. I've just move to the USA this year and I need all the good deal to find stuff for my cooking blog ... Thank you so much 🙂