As soon as I bought my first fancy lens, I thought for sure I was ready for FoodGawker. I hand selected, what I thought, were my finest photos and clicked submit. Seven rejections later, I gave up.
Fast forward to today, a year later, I randomly decided to face more rejection give it another shot. I submitted a Wild Harvest quiche photo on Sunday morning and didn’t give it a second thought. When I woke up on Monday morning, groggy from a full baking weekend, I checked my phone and sorted through emails. The usual. Spam, spam, boss, spam, FoodGawker?! Wait, what?
Upon reading accepted and clicking over to my FoodGawker profile, I felt accomplished. Perhaps more accomplished than my blogging self has ever felt. I looked through my old rejections, nodding in agreement with their feedback. Lighting issues were a biggie – I know how to combat that now.
I submitted six more photos, three of which were approved. This is an approval percentage that I can live with, an approval percentage that keeps my ego in check. I have a lot of learning, practice, patience, etc. etc., ahead of me before I feel comfortable writing a How to Get FoodGawker to Approve Every Photo post, but in the meantime… Here’s what I’ve learned:
1. Lighting. Natural light is key. Unless your kitchen has a gyrnom window, avoid taking pictures where you’re cooking. Find a window in your home that lets in a good amount of soft light. Avoid windows that let in too much light or you’ll find yourself with a ton of harsh shadows.
2. Composition. FoodGawker is not a fan of a tight photo. Judging from the photos above, I’d say that the area of interest is about 50-75% of the frame. The remaining 25-ish% is clean and doesn’t distract the viewer. Also, cropping the photo before submitting will allow you to have more control.
3. Sharpness. Other than the blurry lemon in the salmon cake photo, I haven’t had much luck with photos that have blurry backgrounds. If you’re like me and you’re into the low aperture look, try snapping shots with a high aperture that you plan on using solely for FoodGawker.
I hope, hope, hope that in another year I can write that How To that a sarcastically mentioned above, but until then, I hope these mini pointers help!
YAY for FoodGawker approval! I have yet to get anything approved.. Womp womp. But… I just picked up my new lens last night & I hope to change that soon.
A new lens is definitely good motivation! Can’t wait to see your pics 🙂
That’s awesome. Unfortunately, I feel like I’m never home when the natural light is best. Hello you work thing, you. But weekends I guess… Would love to actually “learn” more about photography than just guess my way through. I never visit food gawker, but I do love your salmon cake photo above. 🙂
Weekends, when there is no rush involved, is def the best time to experiment. Also, experiment when you’re not hungry and dying to eat the food your taking a picture of!!
Woohoo!! I’ve gotten a tiny bit better recently with my lighting, but still have the “composition–too tight” issues. Recently, I just started submitted to lessen know easier to get on food porn sites to help my ego. 🙂