There is a lot of smartphone photography equipment available to help make your photo shoots more efficient. But, what equipment do you really need? Everyone’s preferences and needs are different, so don’t assume that you necessarily need a lot of equipment. The best way to figure out what you need is to take pictures and make a note of the challenges that you’re facing. For whatever challenges you’re facing, there is an equipment solution to help you out.
In this post, I’m going to share my favorite equipment recommendations for iPhone food photography that has helped make my food shoots more efficient and successful.
This post contains affiliate links. Read the affiliate disclosure.
iPhone Food Photography Equipment
iPhone Tripod
The very first thing I recommend for how to improve your iPhone food photography is to consider getting a tripod to stabilize your iPhone camera. Now, I realize that we’re all used to just grabbing our iPhone when we need it and typically hold it to do everything, including taking pictures.
But, holding the iPhone can cause a lot of issues with food photography such as blurry images, poor angle choices and poor composition.
These issues arise because our hands aren’t as steady as we think they are and we only have two of them. When your iPhone camera is stabilized to the correct angle & position, your hands are free to do the other necessary steps involved with capturing a beautiful food image including adjusting your lighting, food styling, composition and camera settings.
The benefits of an iPhone tripod include:
- Stabilizes your iPhone camera at all three food photography angles
- Ability to position the camera vertically or horizontally with ease
- Prevents blurry images
- Prevents grainy-looking images
- Frees up your hands to move the food around within the frame
- Frees up your hands to make camera setting adjustments more easily
- Gives you more flexibility with your camera settings (supports shooting at slower shutter speeds)
There are a variety of iPhone tripods on the market, but I highly recommend the following setup:
Tripod with a Center Column
Getting a tripod with a center column is important because it helps you to position your iPhone for a secure overhead angle. Most iPhone-specific tripods do not support the overhead angle. The tripod I use is the Manfrotto 055, but you can definitely explore others that better match your budget.
READ MORE ABOUT: THE BEST TRIPOD SETUP FOR IPHONE FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY
Tripod with Ball Head
Getting a tripod with a ball head allows for easy rotation in any direction which helps you position the camera to the straight on angle and 3/4 angle with ease. Some tripods come with a ball head, but you can also buy the ball head separately from the tripod, if needed.
Metal iPhone Tripod Mount
The metal iPhone tripod mount is necessary to secure your iPhone to the tripod. This piece simply screws onto the tripod plate that comes with your tripod. Then, you just snap the tripod plate right into the ball head. This handy tool is made of metal, so it’s incredibly secure and stable and also allows you to position your iPhone camera vertically or horizontally without interfering with the screen.
Super Clamp
A super clamp is another option to secure your iPhone to your tripod if the metal iPhone tripod mount is not available. I have used both the super clamp and the metal iPhone tripod mount to test them out. I would recommend the metal iPhone tripod mount over the super clamp, though. The super clamp works fine, but you have to be careful when attaching it so the clamp doesn’t interfere with the iPhone screen too much.
Remote Shutter Release with Bluetooth
A remote shutter release helps you take pictures without having to touch your iPhone. Sometimes even the slightest press of the button can cause camera shake which could result in blurry images. The remote shutter helps you avoid camera shake completely and can be a great pairing when using a tripod. It’s super small and easy to bring with you. It’s also battery powered and connects to your iPhone via bluetooth.
Foldable Table
In food photography, no matter what camera you’re using, it’s important to have your equipment set up and ready to go before the food comes out. When you have a designated table for your photo shoot, it can help you develop more of a habit of getting set up ahead of time.
A foldable table is a nice option because you can move it around to different areas of your space and it folds up flat for easy storage.
Surfaces & Backdrops
Having a variety of surfaces and backdrops for your food shoots will help bring your creative vision to life. Surfaces and backdrops create can more consistency or more variety in your food images, depending on the look you’re going for.
Surfaces sit beneath the food and help set the foundation for your image. Backdrops sit behind the food and can help create a less distracting background.
A pro tip is to find surfaces that are beautiful, lightweight and durable. A vendor I like to recommend is Best Ever Backdrops and you can read more about them in the link below. Be sure to use my code “REGANBARONI” for 15% off any order from Best Ever Backdrops.
READ MORE ABOUT: THE BEST BACKDROPS FOR FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY
Large Diffuser
A large diffuser helps soften the light coming in from your window. It sits between your light source and your subject and creates more spread out light that is balanced and soft. Diffusers also come in a variety of sizes depending on your needs.
White & Black Foam Boards
White foam boards are super effective for bouncing light back to your subject when one side appears too dark.
For example, if your food is placed next to a window, the side closest to the window will be lit really well. However, the opposite side may appear a little too dark. When you place a piece of white foam board opposite the window (on the other side of your food), it will bounce the light from the window back to the darker side of the food. It’s a really cool trick and comes in handy on a lot of photo shoots.
Black foam boards can help eliminate unwanted light and by creating stronger contrast and shadows. You can place these near your food in different ways to see how the different placements affect the light on the food.
Light Stands & Clamps
Light stands and clamps are really helpful tools to have on hand during a photo shoot. Light stands can hold backdrops, diffusors and foam boards. The clamps will help attach these things to your light stand. Light stands and clamps come in a variety of sizes, so you can get what will fit your space the best.
Moment Lenses
Moment lenses are separate lenses that you can get for your smartphone. These come in handy for different perspectives and creating more variety in your food images. The newer iPhone models come with some great lenses now, so be sure to test those out first to see if you really need extra lenses.
The Moment lenses are made of very high quality glass and attach right to the Moment smartphone case. You will need to buy a special Moment smartphone case in order to attach the lenses to your smartphone. The lenses easily twist on and off of the case and are incredibly secure.
If you are using an iPhone, I recommend downloading the Pro Camera by Moment camera app to help you use the lenses more easily. This app is only available for the iPhone and allows you to switch between lenses much easier than trying match the lenses with the standard iPhone camera app that comes with your iPhone.
Artificial Lights
One of the biggest challenges in iPhone food photography is not having enough natural light to work with. If you can’t set up next to a window or you are shooting in a darker space, this is when I would recommend getting an artificial light to use with your iPhone camera. This does not include the flash on your smartphone camera and it does not include your overhead lights.
The type of artificial light I recommend when using your smartphone camera is a continuous light. Continuous lights don’t flash. You turn them on, adjust the power and move them around to light your subject in the right spot. So, you don’t need to worry about extra cables or syncing the light with your smartphone.
Think of the artificial light as your window, except this is a window that you can move around and control how bright or how dark it is. It takes a little getting used to, but it can be a real game-changer when it comes to improving your iPhone food photography lighting.
The continuous light setup I would recommend includes:
You will also need a light stand to hold your artificial light to the appropriate height and these were mentioned earlier the post.
Amaran 100d
The Amaran 100d light is a great light to use with your smartphone camera. It’s incredibly lightweight, so it’s easy to move around. It’s also very user-friendly if you’re just getting started with artificial light. You will set it up on a light stand, plug it in and adjust the power by twisting the small power knob on the back. This light needs to be plugged in, so be sure that you set up near an outlet or get an extension cable to provide more length.
EZ Glow Softbox
To help you modify the light coming from your artificial light, the EZ Glow Softbox is going to come in handy for a soft light look. A soft box helps you spread the light out more evenly over the food so it’s soft and balanced. This works similar to using a diffuser over your window when using natural light. It’s also super easy to set up because it works similar opening and closing an umbrella. You can get a variety of sizes, but I recommend starting with a 36″ octa-box.
Snoot Kit
A Snoot Kit will help you modify your artificial light as a more hard light look – similar to a very bright sunny day. This type of look creates stronger contrast and shadows and can make a bold impact on your food images. You simply place the snoot over your artificial light and it will create more direct light.
Think of your artificial light modifiers like this: The smaller the modifier (like a snoot), the more direct the light will be. The larger your modifier (like a soft box) the more spread out it will be.
External Hard Drive
I highly recommend storing your food images on an external hard drive or using iCloud to avoid iPhone storage issues. We all take a lot of images with our iPhones, so it’s important to back your photo library up to the cloud or store them on an external hard drive so you can be sure to never run out of storage.
Lens Cleaning Cloths
One of the first things you should do before taking food images with your iPhone camera is to clean off the lenses. You’d be surprised how dirty your smartphone lenses can get. Since they’re constantly exposed it’s very easy for them to pick up dust, fingerprints and other smudges. These lens cleaning cloths will help you keep your lenses crystal clear and clean. (Or, you could just use your shirt sleeve too). 😉
I will continue to add equipment for iPhone food photography as I discover new things that are helpful. If you have any equipment ideas that you’d like to share, please comment below! And, if you run into questions, feel free to reach out to me anytime and follow me on Instagram.
Happy Creating!
This post may contain affiliate links which means if you click or make a purchase through my site, I might make a small commission (at no extra cost to you). I only promote products and equipment that I actually use for my photography business. Your support helps me continue to produce educational content about photography. Thank you!
All images ©Regan Baroni 2023.
Comments +