Equipment Used in Food Photography

When taking your photos, you will undoubtedly need extra equipment other than the camera and lens. Your equipment needs will vary depending on the type of camera and light you use.  In this section, I will tell you about some of the equipment I frequently use in my shootings.

Tripods

Especially if you are shooting in daylight, a tripod should be an indispensable equipment for you. Changing light conditions during the day or depending on the location may force you to shoot at slow shutter speeds. There is a high risk of shake when shooting handheld at low shutter speeds (generally at shutter speeds of 1/125 and above. The slowest shutter speed at which your camera will not shake is equal to the focal length of your lens. If you are shooting with a 50 mm lens, the slowest shutter speed you can use when shooting handheld is 1/50. ) again, using low ISO values (because we do not want grain in our photos) makes camera shake inevitable in handheld shots. We can only prevent this shaking and the resulting blurriness in our photographs by using a tripod.

It is very important that the tripod we choose here is suitable for our camera and has the technical features to carry it. Before purchasing a tripod, make sure you choose a model that can support the combined weight of your camera and the heaviest lens you will use. Although some tripods made of carbon fiber are suitable for travel because they are lightweight, they may unfortunately be insufficient to prevent shaking when shooting with heavy professional cameras and lenses. In addition, if you frequently prefer bird's eye view (flatlay) shots, I recommend that you choose a tripod that can be positioned horizontally. Another advantage of using a tripod is that using live view while your camera is on the tripod helps you create more careful and perfect compositions without tiring yourself and without trial and error. I will be talking about this subject in detail in the composition techniques section.

USB Cable (Tethering Cable)

The USB cable allows you to connect your camera to your computer when shooting with a tripod, and to shoot from the computer via the software provided by the camera manufacturer or Lightroom (we will examine it in basic terms at the end of our book), without pressing the shutter button of your camera, and to view the frame you have taken live. It prevents camera shake, especially when shooting in low light conditions, and allows you to create more detailed compositions by looking at the larger computer screen, instantly see the result of your shot more clearly and make necessary changes.