How to Brainstorm Ideas for Food and Product Photography

It’s coming up with ideas that seems to get you stuck. At least that is what a lot of people tell me. It’s an issue with nearly every creative endeavor - the creative block. 

And when you are trying to come up with new and different ways to photograph your food and products, it’s even more of a challenge. You don’t want to do what everyone else does. 

I’m the same way. I used to hit creative blocks all the time. 

Then I started practicing my method for Idea Generation. Whenever I have a subject to photograph whether it’s a food such as soup or a salad, or a product like jewelry or a candle, I ask myself four questions. 

The answers to these questions lead to ideas for how I could photograph the subject. And I keep working on my answers until I have 10 solid ideas. 

Overtime, the questions and answers become a more natural process. Ideas are almost instantaneous. I rarely get stuck after doing this for over 10 years. 

Here are those questions. 

What ingredients were used to make it?

What tools did I use to make it?

What does this subject make me think of?

How would I present this to another person or how is it served or used?

Question one and two generate ideas for garnishes to use, fresh items to add to the frame, how-to shots, hints at flavors and scents for the viewer.

Question three helps you to create a mood with lighting and colors as well as generate ideas for the type of scene.

Question four gives ideas for how to package and present the subject, what to serve it in, the environment it would be served in.

Here is how I would answer the questions for a subject such as lentil soup and then a product such as a candle. 

Lentil Soup

What ingredients were used to make it?

Lentils, broth, carrots, celery, salt, pepper, herbs

What tools did I use to make it?

Saucepan, ladle, measuring cups, spoon

What does this subject make me think of?

Comfort, health and wellness, autumn, lunch, bread for dipping, crackers

How would I present this to another person or how is it served?

Bowl, mug, thermos, jar, on a tray, with sandwiches or a salad, with crackers or bread

From answering these questions I get the 10 ideas below.

10 Ideas for Photographing Lentil Soup

• Flatlay with all the ingredients

• Soup in saucepan with a ladle nearby

• Soup in a mug with warm browns, golds, and orange colors

• Soup in a bowl with crackers on the side

• Soup in bowls on a tray with crackers or bread

• Soup in saucepan on a tray with empty bowls or mugs and spoons on the side

• Soup in a jar or thermos prepping a to-go lunch

• Soup in a mug next to a salad

• Soup in a bowl on a plate with a half sandwich beside it

• Piece of rustic bread being dipped in a bowl of soup

Scented Candle

What ingredients were used to make it?

Wax, any scents associated - vanilla bean, fresh flowers, dried flowers, cotton balls, linen material, thyme, rosemary, lavender, lemons, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves

What tools did I use to make it?

Jars, wicks, lids, labels

What does this subject make me think of?

Autumn, winter, reading by the fire, comfort, blankets, table centerpiece, celebrations, intimate dining

How would I present this to another person or how is it served?

With matches, on a plate ready to burn, on a coffee table, as a gift with a bow or in a box, in a gift basket, with a book

From answering these questions I get the 10 ideas below.

10 Ideas for Photographing a Spiced Candle

• Candle surrounded by vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks and cloves

• Candle on a wood plate with matches next to it

• Tool flatlay with jars, wax, labels and other ingredients

• Candle with dried autumn leaves around it

• Candle lit, next to an open book on a table

• Blanket draped over the side of a couch or chair with candle lit on a table next to it

• Seasonal table centerpiece with candle in the center of a board surrounded by twigs, leaves, dried flowers, etc. 

• Candle lit in the center of a dining table with a bowl of salad nearby and two place settings

• Candle in a small gift basket with matches, a book, decorative tea bags and a mug

• Candle nestled in a small box with tissue or shredded paper
  
  

Here are a few photo examples with which of the questions led to the final photo. 

Learning outside your photography niche

Rather listen than read?
Just click play above.

Sometimes we put blinders on. We focus on exactly what we want to do, learn exactly how to do it, and nothing is going to distract us. 

While there are so many situations in life where this is advantageous when it comes to photography and styling it can cause us to miss out on loads of helpful information. 

I’ve been an advocate for learning outside of your niche since I began styling and photographing food over 11 years ago.

I call it the Apply It Back method. It’s when you learn about something else and then you apply what you learned back to your own photography and photography niche. It’s a way to grow your skill and more importantly evolve your individual style. 

Here’s how it works for me:

• Landscape photography helps me see my horizon on food sets and keep the scene aligned.

• Learning about freezing motion in sports and nature photography helps me with food and drink action like pours and sprinkles. 

• Reading interior design books gives me ideas for color coordination and scenes. 

• Studying color psychology helps me with propping. 

• Floral design helps with color coordination and styling table scenes.

• People and portrait photography helps me with photographing my own hands in shots.

• Learning about natural light patterns and how to control them helps to improve even my phone photos and videos.

• Travel gives me ideas for how to reflect real life in my photos.

There are so many things to absorb outside of simply how to do food photography. All of our experiences and studies regardless of the focus and topic can be applied back to our art. 

Learning about other things isn’t time wasted. In fact, it can serve as an enjoyable creative break when you are feeling stuck or burned out. 

Fix a Sinking Spoon with Putty in the Photography Studio

One of my favorite tools in my photography studio is putty. I’ve shown you how to use it to keep tomatoes from rolling and to hold down the sides of a curling surface.

Have you ever had the problem of a spoon that’s just a little too short for the width of your dish? I call it the sinking spoon. Putty can fix that! This video shows you how. (Click CC at the bottom of the video if you’d like to read the captions.)

Why Transition to CreatingYOU.® Quick Courses?

Honestly, I’ve always been a teacher. It’s something that I’ve been reminded of again in recent months. 

It began with teaching group exercise in college and then evolved into more one-on-one encounters with personal training. I moved on to a career in academia developing curriculum to help people move more and eat well. That was followed by using the train-the-trainer model across the state of Kentucky to teach others how to teach others the curricula I’d developed. 

I think in explaining that you’ll see that there is no surprise things have come full circle for me. To a point where what I enjoy most is finding creative ways to teach others how to build skills and confidence in creating their own photos. 

When it came to teaching food and product styling and photography, the way I got into it was all wrong, though.

I jumped into the online teaching world powered by the ideas that I needed a big course that covered everything I could offer with a higher price tag to match. 

And I created that course - Confused to Confident (CtoC). And many of you have taken it. And many of you have let me know how much it helped you - with creating your photography style, understanding natural light, using your camera in manual mode, developing a step-by-step process from stove to set... 

Each time I re-watch it, I’m not going to lie, I’m a little impressed with myself that I put in all the work to create it. I’m extremely proud of it. It is a really great course. 

But having one big course misses the mark in many ways. 

• We all have different goals and one big course may not be focused enough to move you forward in the very specific area that you have your sights set on. 
  
  

• So much content at once can be way too much to take in. Yes, you get lifetime access, but life offers many distractions and there are many people who have not fully completed the course. This honestly makes me sad. I want you to finish the course and move forward.
  
  

• It is out of budget for some. CtoC really is moderately priced when it comes to courses of its size (it’s only $297), but I realize that this can be a lot to pay when you aren’t quite sure if each piece of it is what you need to learn. 
  
  

• Having that course is in some ways holding me back from diving deeper into some subjects and types of photography that I’d really like to teach about. 

So while CtoC will still exist, my focus over the coming months will go to CreatingYOU.® Quick Courses which has really been an idea on the back burner since the day I launched my single course.

I’ve just felt like I wasn’t allowed to create a suite of courses because of the distracting noise of others telling me - that’s not how you do it.

But my goal is to be approachable, accessible, and to teach things or a way of doing and looking at them that you likely haven’t experienced yet. CreatingYOU.® Quick Courses will allow me to do this. 

These workshop-style will be designed to finish in a day or less. Some may be a 60-minute workshops, while others may have a few modules and projects for you to complete as you work your way through. They will range from $29 to $79 each based on the topic and content within. 

Have some thoughts or needs? Reach out to me and let me know. I have an ongoing list of topics to teach about and I’d love to know what you would like to learn. 

The first to launch this summer will be Surface School. You’ll learn to break out of boredom with your photography surfaces in a way that will allow you to create photos that are specific to your style and brand.
More soon!

And free content certainly won’t be going away. Be sure to check out my 15-minute video training:

I also send loads of helpful tips through words, slides, and videos about 3 times a month to my subscribers. Sign up here:

Four Things More Important Than Your Lens

You’ve heard me talk about it before, your lens plays such a small role when it comes to food, product, and still life photography. In this video, I share four things that are so much more important that what lens we use while also defining what makes a photo truly yours.