A lot of iPhone food photography challenges can be solved by using different equipment to help you. This post shares equipment for iPhone food photography that will help make your photo shoots more successful and efficient.

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iPhone Food Photography Equipment

iPhone Tripod

Stabilizing your iPhone during your food photo shoots is a game-changer. It’s a little more equipment to think about, but it has a lot of benefits when using your iPhone for food photography, which can ultimately help you take better food images.

The benefits of an iPhone tripod include:

Stabilizes your iPhone camera at all three food photography angles

• 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 using a tripod with a center column and a ball head and a metal iPhone tripod mount.

The center column is important because it allows you to position your iPhone for a secure overhead angle (along with a secure 3/4 angle and straight on angle). A lot of iPhone specific tripods do not support the overhead angle.

READ MORE ABOUT: THE BEST TRIPOD SETUP FOR IPHONE FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY

Tripod with Ball Head

The ball head allows for easy rotation in any direction. Some tripods come with a ball head, but you can also buy the ball head separately.

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 it right into the ball head. It’s 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 just requires a little more maneuvering and you have to be careful to attach the clamp so it doesn’t interfere with the iPhone’s 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 some camera shake with the iPhone resulting in blurry images. The remote shutter helps you avoid this completely. It’s super small and easy to bring with you. It’s also battery powered and connects 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 before the food comes out. When you have a designated space or table to use, it can help get you into more of a habit of getting prepared ahead of time.

A foldable table is nice to have so you can have a designated space to shoot your food. This may or may not be something you need depending on your space, but a foldable table is easy to move around can come in handy if you want to set up in different areas of your space. It also folds up flat for super easy storage.

Surfaces & Backdrops

Having a variety of surfaces and backdrops for your food shoots can help bring your creative vision to life. Surfaces and backdrops create can more consistency or more variety in your food images.

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. I recommend Best Ever Backdrops and you can read more about them in the link below.

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. They 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 simply twist on and off of the case and are incredibly secure.

Artificial Lights

One of the biggest challenges in iPhone food photography is not having enough light to work with. This is when I recommend getting an artificial light to use with your iPhone camera.

Continuous Lights

I recommend getting 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.

For example, when you are using natural light, you position your food next to a window. So, think of the artificial light as your “window.” Set it up next to your food, similar to a window and adjust how bright or how dark you need it to be. It takes a little practice, but it’s pretty easy to get used to.

AMARAN 100d

One light I would recommend specifically is the Amaran 100d with the Glow Octa Large Softbox to diffuse the light. You will also need a light stand to hold your light. You can also use your light stand to adjust your light to the appropriate height.

AMARAN MC (Smaller Light)

If you want to start with a much smaller light, check out the Amaran MC. Keep in mind that the smaller the light, the more direct it will be. So, if you’re looking to light your food in a more “natural light” way (where the light is spread out and even over the food), I highly recommend getting one of the larger Amaran lights.

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.