Room: PHOTOGRAPHY LORIS

A quite recent addition to the food photography blogging niche, Food Photography Guides largely seems to exist for the purpose of selling food photography lessons and Lightroom presets (there’s a “welcome” pop-up again fishing for your data). However the site also offers a number of free food guides and tutorials on its blog to hook you in.

If you are just starting out, there’s quite a lot of good advice to be found here, and the tone of the articles is personable and the content clear. Definitely one to keep an eye on in the future.

ose wanting to learn food photography often face a dilemma as to whether they should sign up for a food photography course or just try to learn on their own. With so many great free resources out there, you might well be asking what’s the point of doing a food photography course.

But although there is indeed plenty of great info out there, it’s important to remember that most of these blogs offer food photography tips for free in the hope of getting you to sign up for one of their own courses or workshops (fine, they have to cover their expenses somehow). Clearly then, they are going to hold back some of the most important information, otherwise there would be little point in anyone stepping up to the paid version.

Nonetheless, the free tips and advice some of these blogs offer can be really helpful for beginners. At the very least, they can be a great way of getting the basic knowledge under your belt beforehand, so as to be in a better position to get the most out of a course.

And who knows, in some cases the paid or subscription food photography lessons offered by these blogs might even be worth it too. Here at Best Food Photography we have no direct experience of the premium content offered by any of the sites we review here. However, we can say that if we were in the market for such a thing, we’d put our trust (and money) in some of these blogs more than others.

The majority of the blogs we feature here are clearly run by knowledgeable people with genuine professional food photography experience, and so they likely offer decent quality paid workshops etc. too. With that said though, judging by the quality of the free content provided, one or two of the others would not be worth investing good money in (or, to be perfectly honest, even worth just giving your email address to). For free though, they are absolutely fine. Especially if you are just starting out.

 

With these minor caveats out of the way, which are currently the best food photography blogs for learning about the creative and technical aspects of food photography?

What is Digital Photography School?

Digital Photography School is one the most popular and longest running photography blogs to date. It was founded by Darren Rowse who is a digital photography enthusiast. He created the website in order to share tips and advice to photographers who want to maximize their cameras.

Rowse used to own a digital camera review site and he has received numerous emails from his readers asking for various tips on how to make the most of their cameras. He came to a conclusion that while there are millions of cameras being purchased every year across the globe, a massive number of individuals could be using their cameras to achieve better results. His main focus on his articles in the past couple of years was mostly tips on cameras and because of that he decided to start a website purely dedicated on how to tips, thus giving birth to dPS or Digital Photography School in 2006.

How Does Digital Photography School Works?

This ‘School’ is not a formal one by any means. There are no classes, no teachers, no exams – rather it’s a challenging and enjoyable learning environment where they share tips and techniques to help you improve all aspects of your photography and in their Facebook Group where over 75,000 of individuals share what they’re learning, show their photos and ask and answer each other questions.

Furthermore, unlike most schools, the information in Digital Photography School is free. They do run limited advertising though, as well as affiliate programs and they promote their own resources to help the company cover costs and keep expanding. These affiliate links (largely to the Amazon book store) earn dPS a small commission on any purchases that anyone makes when they visit Amazon after clicking on one of their links, however there is no cost to their readers.

Featured Courses and Costs

Night Photography – $29

Photographer Jim Hamel is a specialist in Night Photography and is here to teach in a few hours what it would otherwise take you months – and endless trial and error -to learn about taking breath-taking photos at night.

In this online video course you will learn:

• How to master exposure at night to take your photos from average to amazing
• The secrets to finding the best subject matter and locations
• The must-have gear to get these stunning shots
• Detailed retouching techniques to make your photos pop
• What to look for and how to set up your shot
• All the technical aspects to nailing the shot

Lightroom Mastery: People & Portraits – $29

This brand new online video course from professional photographer Mike Newton will teach you all the Lightroom secrets the pro’s use to retouch portraits and turn average shots into stunning creations. The tools and techniques you’ll learn will help you transform your portraits.

In this course you’ll learn how to use:

• The adjustment brush
• Radial filter
• Cloning and healing brushes
• Mike’s very own Lightroom editing workflow for editing portraits
• Eyes and lip editing techniques
• Teeth whitening tips
• Skin editing techniques including blemish removal

 

Lightroom Mastery – $29

Photographer Mike Newton has helped tens of thousands of photographers learn Adobe Lightroom and is here to teach you exactly what you need to know to take your edits and efficiency in Lightroom to the next level.

In this course you’ll learn how to use:

• Use all the essential Lightroom editing tools
• Import and sort all your photos for maximum efficiency and storage.
• Master detailed retouching techniques to smooth skin, make eyes pop, whiten teeth, & more.
• Fix over/underexposed photos, reduce noise, & fix lens distortion
• Organise catalogs, folders, & collections so you can find any photo instantly.
• Create professional slideshows for showcasing your images
• Get photos ready to print at home, or perfected for the commercial printer.
• Create gorgeous panoramas and HDR images from right inside of Lightroom.
• Create physical books with your photos and order them directly from inside Lightroom

Photo Nuts and Shots Course – $29

In 10 practical video lessons, you’ll learn the tools, techniques and thought processes for producing amazing photos and gain real skills that you’ll use in every shot you take:

• Learn to harness light to convey emotion
• Understand the impact of great composition and how to achieve it
• Take the sharpest possible photos
• Discover how to adapt your camera’s exposure to produce the shot you want
• Master the concepts of shot perception, planning and execution – in any setting
• Know when to break the rules for creative effect
• Tap into your creativity to select and apply practical techniques that create amazing photos

Best of all, Neil’s tips are easy-to-understand and immediately actionable – so you’ll see an instant improvement in the quality of your images.

Photo Nuts and Bolts Course – $29

In 10 video lessons, you’ll discover the key photography concepts that will put you in creative control of your camera – increasing your technical confidence and helping you take amazing photos that stand out from the crowd.

Visual demonstrations make the lessons engaging and fun, and the downloadable course notes, exercises and resources provide a great reference – so what you learn sticks.

And because this is an online course, you can go through at your own pace and repeat any module as many times as you like.

Final Thoughts

Digital Photography is not a scam at all. The great thing about is that their website offer daily tips, resources and free tutorials that will help you get the most out your camera and create stunning photos itself and if you want to take your learning process to the next level, it is up to you if you want to purchase their in-depth video courses.

Shaw Academy is one of the leading online educational institutes and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Offering nearly 30 courses in varied fields, Shaw Academy invites everyone across the globe to benefit from its online education facility. In the year 2013, the academy was first founded by James Egan and Adrian Murphy, who themselves are much experienced and professional in the education field.

Where there are individuals who want to learn more and quench their thirst for knowledge, Shaw Academy stands strong since 3 years providing high quality education to its students. There are people who simply cannot afford to relocate to other countries and fulfil their wish to know more and learn more. This academy helps them achieve their dreams with the help of online education.

Shaw Academy conducts its education to the far-flung students across the globe via online system. With the help of new innovative ideas and technologies, students who are enrolled with Shaw Academy know how happy and satisfied they are with the learning procedure. Along with this online facility, CPD and NCFE have been accredited to the academy.

The academy focusses on the enhancement of a new way of learning and practicing skills. With a very cost effective programs, Shaw Academy has even deleted the barriers for linguistic problems. The online sessions which are being conducted via webinar are being translated into more than 7 different languages like German, English, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, etc. This way, Shaw Academy tries to overcome the linguistic problem in the education field as much as possible.

The programs are designed in such a way that a student can complete his or her course according to their flexibility and comfortability. The on demand courses throughout the other top-notch universities are being provided here at a very low cost with no biasness in quality. Shaw Academy has introduced one of the most wanted and on demand courses last year like Digital Marketing, Fast Track Business Success, Photoshop and Music.

With these courses, the academy has seen a great response of the students and they really seem to be impressed with the overall content material, audio visual modules and the concept of e-learning procedure. These course features help in receiving numerous positive reviews from their students.

The course notes and the online live sessions are translated in the above-mentioned languages. Students ask their questions via webinar classes by simply typing in the chat box.

Shaw Academy wants students and individuals from across the globe to be a part of the online education revolution. It is flexible, transparent, reasonable and cost effective as well. With the help of the highly professional, friendly and educated faculty staff members, students get motivated to practice the freedom of thought and are encouraged to achieve their goals.

REVIEW OF INTRODUCTION TO PHOTOGRAPHY

One of the most popular course is the Introduction to Photography by Shaw Academy. The course content and design is highly impressive. The program as a whole teaches you starting from beginner’s level on how to creatively control your camera, developing your eyes, areas of focus, handling yourself like a pro. The instructor teaches the techniques and tricks to capture that perfect shot in an easy to learn and practical way. The course content expertly covers the various critical concepts on how to develop visual signature, harnessing the light, broadening the subject range, and even explaining how to go ahead considering Photography as a Full Time or a Freelance profession. The course is thoroughly interesting and enjoyable and hence receives great positive reviews from students from across the world.

REVIEW OF INTRODUCTION TO LIGHTROOM

The Introduction to Lightroom course from Shaw Academy is another useful course which focuses on the fact that post-processing helps bringing out the extra creativity in images. Lightroom course also covers topics on batch-processing and photo-merging. Lightroom is a perfect software for beginners and this course teaches on how to use the program to its fullest potential. The course content is thorough and covers the program layout, import and export of photographs, basic and advanced tools, application of watermarks, spot removal, adjustments, etc. The course also consists of assignments which needs students to submit them for getting them reviewed so that the educators can gauge the performance of each student. Assignments and Course Quizzes help improve the students’ knowledge in this interesting course.

REVIEW OF INTRODUCTION TO PHOTOSHOP

Photoshop is considered to be the most powerful post production tools from Adobe. Shaw Academy’s Introduction to Photoshop course is a highly recommended course and has numerous positive feedback and reviews from its students. The course is designed by Adobe Certified Experts to help students learn and enhance their Photoshop skills course with full confidence. The course covers the mastering the basics and handling the post production of images like a professional. Few advanced techniques were explained in a simple manner but would be covered in detailed in the advance level course. The main highlights of the course are the digital fundamentals of Photoshop and camera, post capture, image enhancement, photography principles, final touches for the final go. The output of the post production of a project is the most important part of the Photoshop where once it gets released, it can never be altered.

REVIEW OF INTRODUCTION TO WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

The Wedding Photography course of Shaw Academy teaches us about how to vault from being an amateur photographer to a professional wedding photographer. Wedding Photography course helped us see the world from a new outlook and in our own style. It makes learn more about the business, professional techniques and handling the wedding projects like a perfect professional. Seasoned photographers or people who just love the colours of the wedding event can enjoy the course. The course is taught by Caroline, who taught the fundamentals and basics and concepts of a wedding photography. The current trend, posing of the bride, groom, the couple shots, the ethnic wedding, clicking pictures of family members, the wedding, the ring ceremony, the reception, etc. are some of the course contents covering every aspect of a wedding photography. The tips and techniques covered during the course helps in enhancing one’s skills as well as motivating to practice and achieve the results expected from this course.

CONCLUSION

Shaw Academy’s Photography courses are popular and receives great positive reviews from students across the world. Introduction to Photography and Photoshop courses are highly popular and generates quite an interest among students and beginners